✓ WICKED VOWS| JAKE (Book II )

41-Manners, Manners.

Ana's pov

He fucked me in his bed languidly, with deliberate fervor, every thrust calculated and unhurried as if he savored each dark moment. At the end of the fifth act of our carnal dance, we collapsed into bed, drenched in sweat and spent from the intensity of our encounters.

For the first time in my life, I slept beside a person—an alien comfort that I had never known.

Slivers of dawn light creeping through the blinds woke me up. I turned to my left to find Jake sleeping heavily, totally oblivious to the world. His square jaw, sprinkled with just the right amount of stubble, spoke of his very rugged sex appeal. Serene, from every angle, he slept. His lips were slightly open and his dark lashes fell lightly, shading his golden skin.

My eyes moved down the defined line of his Adam's apple, over the sculpted rise of his chest, where I'd been merely a moment ago. His voice was rich and low when he broke the silence. "Careful, darling. You might find yourself in love with me if you keep looking at me like that." One of his hands glided up to my neck, where his fingers brushed tenderly against my pulse.

"You think so?" I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.

"I know," he replied, insistent and warm to my skin. The stroke of his fingers made me want more—a need to kiss him again and stay wrapped up in the sheets with him all day. Was it really my husband's touch that I was craving? I longed for him to ravish me once more, to consume every part of me even if only for the night. I wanted to feel his touch upon me again, which would surely sear my skin and ignite that burning need within me. "Your pulse is quickening again, and your heart rate's leveling up. Is it lust I'm feeling, Anastasia?"

Before I could even react, I was leaning in to kiss him, but his hand, still resting around my neck, guided my head downward until my forehead met his pills. Was this a sign of rejection?

"Who the hell could reject you when you're sprawled here naked, wrapped around me like some devilish temptation?" He mumbled against my face, as though he had read the turmoil swirling in my mind. "You have to take your pills and eat some breakfast. Trust me, unless you do, you won't be free from the monster inside me if it is unleashed again." His voice was low and dark against my lips, each word ending with the undisguised hardness of his desire. He pressed a kiss into my mouth, both commanding and tender, then lifted me off him and set me on my feet.

He led me to the bathroom, where he held on to me with an unyielding grip.

He helped me wash my hair, very much like he did yesterday, but there was a new level of tender care in the things he did today. It was unreal and dazzling as if the world out there had come to a halt, or maybe I was lost in some dream. Jake left the bathroom first and came back with my clothes. What was his thing with my clothes these last two days? He picked out a strapless black top and casual beige high-waisted pants. Some weird combination that was both practical and provocative. Just as I reached for it, there was the sound of a gunshot from somewhere in the house. I jerked my eyes over to where my weapons were hidden, a jolt of panic at my throat.

How could someone have brought a weapon inside like that?

I quickly put on my pants, and from my hiding place in the dressing room, I took a gun and a dagger in. Following Jake, who had already gone out into whatever the danger was, my mind was at full tilt with ideas of what I would find. What I did find was far from what I had been expecting when I walked downstairs. There at the foot of the grand staircase stood Jake, facing a new, unexpected menace—a flying dagger.

This deadly intrusion was none other than my twin sister, always the embodiment of rebellion and chaos. "You missed, Red," Jake's voice cut through the tension, his gaze fixed on the dagger embedded in the wall just inches from his head. Inna never missed.