Chapter Nine

Tempest

" P lease," I moan, writhing in ecstasy as Dalton slams into me from behind, the hot spray of water cascading over us. One big hand grips my hip hard enough to leave bruises as he pounds into me, fucking me relentlessly against the slick tile wall of the shower.

"Louder, wife," he rasps against my ear, craning my head back with his fis wrapped around my hair. His lips glide down the side of my throat, his stubble scraping. "Let me hear you beg for it."

"Oh god, Dalton," I whimper immediately, my nails scrabbling against the wall for purchase. "Please, make me come. Please."

"That's it," he grunts and snaps his hips faster, driving into me with punishing strokes. "Christ, you sound so fucking sweet when you're begging, Tempest."

I'm so close, my body trembling on the razor's edge.

His teeth sink into the hollow of my throat, his hand slipping around my body. His thumb presses against my clit, and I shatter with a cry, the waves of my orgasm dragging me under. He groans as he follows me over, spilling into me again and again.

We stay just like that for a long moment, locked together, gasping for breath, before he pulls out with a groan.

"Fucking Christ, baby." He spins me around, pressing a hard kiss to my mouth.

I whimper, feeling boneless as he gently ushers me back under the hot spray of water to clean me up. He's so soft and gentle as he washes every inch of me, his lips brushing my forehead, but there's a furrow between his brows that worries me.

Ever since his grandfather's stroke, he's been…off in a way I can't explain. He's softer with me than ever. He tells me over and over that he loves me and that I'm the center of his world. He makes love to me until I can't think or move. But it's like that furrow between his brow never leaves.

He's hiding something, holding it back, and I can't figure it out. But it worries me.

As he helps me from the shower and carefully dries me off, I can't hold back any longer. "Is everything okay?"

I feel like a broken record just asking. I've asked the same damn question at least fifteen times in the last two days.

"Everything is fine, baby." He sounds like a broken record, too. But it's clearly not fine. I'm beginning to worry that arguing with his grandfather right before the elderly man had a stroke is tormenting him, and he's trying to hide it. Or, worse, he's slowly slipping away, locking his heart back behind those walls so nothing can touch it.

It's ironic, really. He's the one with abandonment issues, but I'm the one terrified I'm going to lose him. And I don't know what to do about it. All I know is that there's something he isn't telling me. Something that's eating at him.

And whatever it is…I'm beginning to think he's never going to tell me.

Every day, I fall deeper in love with him…and part of me is terrified that he's shuffling one step closer to breaking my heart entirely. That's not the way I imagined any of this happening after he told me that he loves me. And yet…here we are.

"I've got to go, baby."

I glance up to find him standing in front of me, already dressed for the day, smoothing his tie into place. My heart trembles, threatening to crack.

He leans down, placing a soft kiss on my shoulder and then the side of my neck. "I need to stop by the hospital before I head to the office."

"Okay," I whisper, ducking my head so he doesn't see the tears welling in my eyes.

His hand runs down the side of my face as I follow him out into his lavish bedroom suite. "I love you."

"I love you."

The door clicks shut behind him, leaving me alone. I flop down on the oversized bed, the dark sheets cool against my bare skin. Anxiety churns through me as I gaze out the massive windows at the immaculate landscaped lawn below.

Before I can second guess myself, I grab my phone and dial Triton's number, not even sure if he'll pick up. After the way we left things, I wouldn't blame him for ignoring my call. But I desperately need to hear his voice right now.

"Still mad at me?" I ask when he answers on the fourth ring.

"Depends on why you're calling," he mutters. "Leaving him already?"

"No, asshole. I'm calling because I miss you," I growl, scowling up at the ornate ceiling overhead. "We've never gone this long without talking. I don't like it!"

"Fuck." Triton huffs out a heavy breath. "I don't like it either, baby cousin." He pauses and I hear a muffled voice in the background. "Let me step out and we'll talk."

"You have someone in your room with you? Gross," I tease halfheartedly, trying to summon our usual banter.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

I roll my eyes. Of course he does. He always has some woman hanging around.

"Where's your man?" he asks, his tone sharpening.

"His grandfather had a stroke," I whisper, my throat tightening. "Dalton's…he's not himself."

Triton grunts noncommittally.

"Please, give him a chance," I plead softly. "You don't even know him."

"I know enough to know you're calling now because things aren't as peachy-fucking-keen as you want me to believe, baby cousin," he growls, cutting right to the quick. "Married life isn't all it cracked up to be, is it?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" I snap, sitting upright on the bed as frustration churns through me.

"Let me guess," he continues ruthlessly. "You're finding out that he's emotionally distant, just like your father? And you're trapped, just like your mom, in a marriage with a man who can't love you? I fucking tried to warn you, Tempest."

"Shut up! You don't know anything about him!" I shout, hating the smug judgment in his voice. As if he knows anything about Dalton.

Maybe he is distant and hiding things, but at least he's loyal. Triton has never been that. He hops from bed to bed like he's trying to fuck his way through every woman in the country.

"And neither do you," Triton retorts harshly.

"You know what? Never mind," I mutter, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "I never should've called. It's clear you're not ever going to give Dalton a fair chance."

"I don't owe him a chance, Tempest. He owes you one," Triton says bluntly before I can end the call. "Are you really sure he's even capable of giving you that?"

I disconnect and hurl my phone across the room with a strangled cry.

I desperately want to block out the question and ignore him, but dammit all, what if he's right? Isn't that exactly what I'm so afraid of? That Dalton's been so weird the last few days because he told me that he loves me and he regrets ever saying it?

That's the fear running rampant through me, laying waste to my heart—that he regrets what he said. That he only said it in the first place because he nearly lost his grandfather and was overwhelmed. And that he only continues to say it because he doesn't know how to take it back now.

That we never had a chance at all.

Curling up on my side, I wrap my arms tightly around myself, choking on a sob as tears spill down my face. My shoulders shake as misery pours out of me.

I don't even hear him come in. But I feel the bed dip as he crawls onto it behind me, pulling me up against his hard body, his arms around me.

"Baby," he breathes against the nape of my neck. "You're breaking my heart. What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," I lie. Naturally, my voice cracks on a sob.

He flips me over to face him, his hand coming up to brush the wetness from my cheeks. "Those tears say different, Tempest. So did the look on your face when I walked out of here half an hour ago. You were upset then, and you're crying now. Talk to me."

I stare up at him, my heart in my throat, bottom lip quivering. God, I love this man so much.

"I'm in love with you," I say.

His hazel eyes drift closed just like always, as if he's reveling in that simple truth, before they pop open again, piercing as they land on me.

"But m-maybe Triton was right, and this was a bad idea," I choke out, my voice cracking.

A flicker of vulnerability crosses his face, and I feel an entire corner of my heart cave in. "You regret marrying me?"

"No," I whisper, shaking my head vehemently as fresh tears spill over. Never. Not even now, when I'm so damn afraid he regrets it.

He cups my cheek, tilting my face up to meet his intense gaze. "Your cousin is wrong, Tempest. This isn't a mistake," he growls. "You and I could never be a mistake."

"Then why won't you tell me what's wrong?" I cry, my bottom lip trembling. "Ever since you told me that you love me, you've been different, like you regret saying it."

"Fuck," he growls, jaw clenching. "You think I regret telling you the truth?"

"Do you?"

"Hell no, baby. I'm so fucking in love with you it's terrifying, but I don't regret a single fucking thing."

Hope flares in my chest, bright and hot. "Then what's wrong? Please, just tell me," I plead quietly. "Not knowing is killing me because I know you're hiding something. I feel it."

He sighs heavily and sits up, pulling me with him. I burrow into him, clinging to his hard body.

"My heart was yours before I ever said I do, baby." More tears well in my eyes at his declaration, but he isn't finished. "But I know you don't trust me entirely," he says softly, brushing his thumb along my bottom lip.

"I do trust you," I protest, scanning his face, searching for answers…trying to understand what's going on in his head.

"You still doubt me, baby. You wouldn't be crying so hard if you didn't."

My teeth sink into my quivering lip because he's right. As much as I want to give myself over to him completely, as much as I trust him, some small part of me is still afraid that he can't give himself back to me the same way.

"Dalton, I…"

"It's not your fault, Tempest. You're being manipulated," he says.

My gaze flies to his, confusion coursing through me. "What are you talking about?"

"I should have told you already." He blows out a harsh breath, tensing. "But I'm still a fucking coward. When it comes to you, I think part of me always will be. Part of me will always be fucking terrified of losing you because I need you so goddamn much."

My heart clenches at his words. "Needing someone, being afraid of losing them, doesn't make you a coward, Dalton. It makes you human."

He presses a kiss to my temple, his arms tightening around me. "I know that. At least, I'm learning that," he says. "But I'm worried as fuck that you won't believe a goddamn word I have to say when you hear it because of how badly I've been fucking this all up from the beginning. There wouldn't have been room for manipulation if I wasn't such a fucking coward. You'd have known from the beginning exactly how I felt."

I stare at him for a long moment, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You're scaring me," I whisper, my voice shaking. "W-what are you talking about?"

He hesitates, hazel eyes searching mine, before sighing heavily. "The day I was released from jail, and I saw you with Triton, I started looking into him." His jaw clenches. "I was jealous as hell, afraid you were in love with him."

My nose wrinkles at the thought and Dalton shrugs ruefully.

"I didn't know he was your cousin," he says. "I stopped looking when I found that out, but when he was so fucking angry about the marriage, I asked my investigator to dig deeper."

He pauses, and I hold my breath, terrified of what he might say next. Terrified it will shatter the already cracking foundation of my world.

"Triton hates me because he's after your company, baby."

My brows furrow. "Dalton, that's not…"

"I know you don't want to believe me, but I'm telling you the truth, sweetheart," he says gently, cupping my cheek. "He didn't want this marriage to happen so the company would go to him. He owes people money—a lot of money. He's been holding them off with promises that Evernight would pass to him soon."

"No," I say again, louder this time, denial welling up from the pit of my stomach. "He wouldn't do that, Dalton. He's my best friend. I'd know if he owed people money. If he wanted my company."

But even as the words leave my mouth, I know. As much as I don't want to admit it, as much as I want to cling to the image of the cousin I love, the best friend I trust… I know .

Everything Triton has said, everything he's done, all the hateful things he's tried to convince me about Dalton… He's been manipulating me, pouring poison in my ear to convince me that Dalton will never love me, that he could never love me. And when I married him anyway, he was angry, furious, even.

He needs me to believe our marriage is a sinking ship headed for doom. It's the only way he gets what he wants.

And I let him do it.

I scramble off Dalton's lap as shame and guilt crash through me in a tidal wave, threatening to bowl me over. My chest feels too tight, my lungs incapable of drawing breath.

Dalton rises to his feet, following me.

"Don't," I rasp, my voice shaking as badly as my hands. "You can't just…"

But he's already there, those strong arms closing around me from behind, pulling my back against the solid wall of his chest.

I choke on a sob, the sound tearing from my throat.

"I can, Tempest. I will," he growls, his breath hot against my ear. "Don't you get it yet? You're my entire fucking world, baby. I love you."

"Dalton," I whimper, his name a plea. Tears spill down my cheeks, hot and shameful. "He's m-my b-best friend."

And he tried to destroy everything.

"I know, baby. I know." His voice gentles, his hold tightening as I shatter in his arms. He turns me to face him, tucking my head beneath his chin.

I burrow into him, violent sobs wracking my frame as I mourn the man I thought I knew. The man trying to destroy everything I have—my marriage, my trust in Dalton, everything.

And god, I almost let him. All this time, all those little seeds of doubt he's been planting have been taking root, growing, sprouting. They turned into bands of poisonous ivy, trying to jerk me from Dalton's arms.

"I'm sorry," I gasp, clinging to Dalton like he's the only thing keeping me from drowning. "I'm so sorry."

He scoops me up effortlessly, cradling me to his chest as he carries me back to the bed. As he lowers us, he shifts me onto his lap.

I bury my face in the crook of his neck, wrecked, guilty.

"Never apologize to me, baby. You've done everything right. This is on me for not getting my head out of my ass sooner, and on him for being a manipulative, selfish prick."

"I'm so stupid," I mumble into his throat, my tears soaking his skin.

He cups my face, tilting my head back to meet his fierce hazel gaze. "No, you're not. It's not stupid to trust the people you love." His thumbs brush my wet cheeks, his expression hardening. "But he isn't fucking touching your company, Tempest. You're mine to protect, my world. I'll burn his to the goddamn ground before I let him hurt you again."

The conviction in his voice and the unyielding steel of his eyes send a shiver racing through me. In this moment, I have no doubt that he would raze everything Triton holds dear to ash and rubble. For me.

Because he loves me. Fiercely, wildly, in a way that steals my breath. Certainty fills me, burning hot as the sun as it brands it's way onto my soul. This man isn't incapable of love. It's been right there all along, beating in his chest like a thing alive.

He loves me. Enough to topple kingdoms and wage war for me.

Triton doesn't get to take that way. This man is mine, and I'm not giving him up. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.