Chapter 17 - Maxim

Pearl's eyebrows raise in surprise as she looks at me. "I was looking for you. I figured we should probably talk after the argument."

"You found me." I cross my arms, glancing at her hand on the door handle. "I didn't think you were the kind who's going to want to talk after a fight. I thought there'd be the silent treatment. Wait till I buy you something nice."

"I've made enough money to buy myself something nice if I want it. This marriage isn't going to work if we're not going to communicate with each other."

The muscle in my jaw ticks as I look at her, wondering if she realizes the irony of what she's saying right now. Pearl is standing here talking about communication when she doesn't even tell me her previous name.

I didn't think there was going to be anything more infuriating in my life than dealing with her. And yet the silent treatment that we were giving each other was worse.

Pearl lets go of the handle leaning against the wall, crossing her arms. "Unless you don't want to talk. We don't have to talk right now. We could spend the rest of our married lives avoiding each other and maybe we'd start to think that that would be a good marriage."

"I have appearances to upkeep; you're not going to avoid me."

"Good to know that the only reason you want to spend time with me is because of appearances. Here I thought it might have been my sparkling personality."

"It might have been your sparkling personality, if you were willing to tell me the truth for once in your fucking life."

"I don't think you can accuse me of never telling you the truth in my life when we've only known each other for a few weeks."

"And you think that makes a difference?" I scowl, hands curling in fists at my side, knuckles turning white, nails digging into my palms. "Fuck, Pearl. I am your husband; I'm fucking pissed about you hiding things from me. You need to, no, you will have to trust me."

"You can be pissed all you want. I don't trust people easily and to be quite honest, you've done very little that's worth my trust. "

"Sure, surviving a forest fire with you is worth nothing. Got it."

"I don't see why you need to make this so difficult."

I see red as I look at her. For a second I consider storming out and not coming home again. She can know what it's like to live alone. Hell, I could give the order to have her trapped in this house for the rest of her miserable fucking life.

Then I will never find out what she's keeping from me.

"We need to set the terms for a marriage." I grit my teeth together, nodding to the office door. "We can go in there and talk."

Pearl opens the door, taking her time to stand in the doorway looking at the wallpaper and the mosaic of tropical flowers hidden deep within the dark lines. "This is kind of opposite to the office I picture you in. I thought there would be more shrunken heads. Maybe some knives and swords hanging on the wall."

"Sadly, my shrunken head collection is in California."

When the corner of her mouth twitches, I get the feeling that maybe this is going to work out. Maybe we won't spend the rest of our lives hating each other and I can have a marriage that looks more like that of my cousins.

"I don't want to spend the rest of the day fighting with you," Pearl says. She goes to the bookshelf, running her fingers along with gilded spines of books. "I think that the two of us need to find a way to talk to each other without it devolving into a fight every single time. You're right about having to set terms."

"There you go with your contracts again."

"You were the one who brought it up. Contracts are a good thing. After all, that's marriage, especially one like ours, without love, but a contract."

"Just sit down before you do my head in, woman." I gesture to one of the chairs on the other side of my desk and she crosses the room, taking her sweet time. The tight jeans she wears hugs her every curve and I know that peeling them off her would be a good way to end this fight.

I learned a long time ago that you can't fix everything in life with sex.

Pearl sits down, crossing one leg over the other, her arms stretching out on the chair. "Just because we walked down the aisle, said vows, and kissed the other day doesn't mean that I'm going to be able to tell you everything about me and everything else that you might want to know right away. I spent the last seven years of my life living with people who only want to know things about you to abuse you, to use them against you. I don't trust easily."

"It's very self-aware of you, but I'm your husband. If there's one person in the world you should trust, it's me."

"I trust you to keep me alive, keep people from coming after me. Hell, I might even trust you to spend time with me. But I don't trust you with parts of me that made me who I am. Not yet."

Sitting down behind my desk, I roll the chair closer, fingers drumming on the leather desk pad. "I told you before that I'm not interested in playing any fucking games."

"And this isn't a fucking game. This is the life we're going to share. Set your terms."

"You're to obey me. Especially when we're in public. There's no more of sassing me back, getting under my skin, playing whose dick is bigger. Not in front of my family. If you do it at home, expect your attitude to be dealt with in the bedroom."

"You think you can just fuck me into submission?"

"I can try."

Espresso eyes roll but those full lips pull at the corners. "I think you wildly overestimate yourself."

Getting up from the desk, I cross the room, bracing myself on either arm of the chair, leaning into her personal space.

I can smell the mint on her breath from the gum she was chewing maybe an hour ago.

Her chest rises and falls, the vein in her neck throbbing as she looks up at me. Her tongue darts out to wet her bottom lip and that's when I lean in further, closing the distance between us, dragging her lip between my teeth.

Pearl lets out a low moan before planting her hands on my chest and pushing me back a step. "I don't know what you think you're trying to start right now, but it's not working."

I kneel in front of her, putting my hands on either side of her knees and pushing them apart before reaching down to her feet and taking off the little heels she wears. I throw them to the other side of the room, smirking when she puts one foot on my chest ready to push me back again.

"Aren't you tired of this game of tug of war we keep playing?"

"I don't know, it seems to get you going pretty good."

I take my time tracing my fingers up the seams of her jeans, pressing hard against her core before reaching for the button.

Pearl stops where my hands are going before getting up from the chair. "It's my turn," she says.

As I stand, she gets to the ground in front of me.

If I thought, she was beautiful before it doesn't compare to the way she looks on her knees. Especially now when I slip my shirt off, tossing it onto the desk. Her gaze traces the pattern of the tattoos as she palms my cock through my pants.

She rakes her nails along my pelvis, tracing the waistband before pulling the zipper down.

Pearl makes quick work of the material, dragging it down my legs. I kick it out of the way, standing before her naked with my throbbing erection in my hand. Her nails press lightly against my balls as she cups them while dragging her tongue along the underside of my cock.

She traces it, teasing the seam between the shaft and the head, her eyes burning with lust. My length bobs in front of her mouth as she licks her way back down, squeezing my balls harder as she does.

"If you keep playing, I'm going to shove my cock down your throat and make you gag."

Pearl sits back on her heels, slender fingers reaching for the little buttons of her blouse. She takes her time opening them before slipping the blouse from her shoulders and allowing it to flutter to the floor.

My gaze drops to her breasts, her nipples pressing against the thin lace that covers them. With a coy smile, she rolls her nipples between her fingers, head falling back on a moan as she pinches them. I don't miss a beat, hips jerking forward to press the head of my cock against her gaping mouth.

She hums around me as she hollows her cheeks and takes my length. Her tongue swirls around me, stroking harder with each bob of her head. Gripping the back of her head, I thrust deeper into her mouth, hitting the back of her throat. The soft sound she makes only encourages me, throbbing as I pull out before diving back in. Her hot and wet mouth wraps tighter around me, her moans growing louder as she toys with herself while taking me deeper.

"Fuck, Pearl. You're such a greedy little slut for me, aren't you? Look at you, taking my cock so good."

She grazes her teeth along the underside as I pull out of her mouth. Her little pout makes me want to slam back into her, pouring myself down her throat when I come but I don't, instead, I haul her to her feet.

"Bend over the fucking desk."

Pearl does as I say, swiping the loose pens from the top of the desk and onto the floor.

Her back arches and her ass sticks in the air as I reach for her jeans, forcing the tight material down her thighs.

I shove her thong to the side, not bothering to waste any time as I plunge into her tight pussy. "You're going to take my cock like a good girl, and you're not going to come until I tell you to, understood?"

"I don't think I'm going to last that long."

Bending over her, I grab a fistful of the chocolate curls, hauling her head back and biting down on her earlobe. "You better. If you come before I tell you that you can, I'm going to spend the next year edging you and never giving you the release you crave.

Panic flashes in her eyes as she shifts her hips backward, trying to make me move though I'm not ready to give her what she wants yet.

Instead, I keep her head pulled back and loop one arm around her hips. My fingers press against her clit through the thin material. I slap it, smirking when she yelps.

"You like it when I'm rough with you, don't you?" My voice is raspy. I flip my tongue against the shell of her ear, rolling my hips and grinding my cock harder against her pulsing walls.

Pearl gasps, pushing back onto me again. "Please. I need you."

Docile Pearl is a version of her personality that I find impossible to resist.

At her begging, I pull back and slam into her over and over, I feel like a man possessed as her tight little core milks my cock.

"Oh God, let me come, Maxim." She cries out in desperation.

"So greedy, come for me, come hard, baby."

Her legs start to shake, pussy clamping around me. Her hands curl into claws, reaching for anything that she can to hold onto as she comes. Her arousal coats me, sending me over the edge of an orgasm. I pound into her, rolling my hips and pinching her clit, loving the way she suctions around me as I empty myself into her.

When I pull out, she's dripping cum down the inside of her thighs. It's sexy as sin and I have no intention of being done with her yet.

I smack her ass, leaving a bright red handprint behind. "Get your ass upstairs. I'm not done negotiating with you yet."

Lust burns like an inferno in her gaze as she abandons the rest of her clothing and races out of the room, the hunt is on.