Page 74 of Sinister Vows

“Wife,” He snapped and then sighed, dropping his forehead to mine. “Truce, remember?”

I clenched my jaw to keep myself from telling him that the truce was over, because the truth was, I didn’t want our progress to go backward.

But I was angry.

So, I sighed and forced my body to relax in his arms and he kissed my temple in response.

“We’ll be up to my office in a moment to see the doctor,” Nico replied to Molly who gave a curt nod and backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. “What happened to make you faint?”

“I don’t know,” I groaned, pulling back for space. “I think it was the heat, I don’t know.”

His brow creased again but he kept the retort of disagreement to himself. “I shouldn’t have let you go out all day long. I should have been there with you.”

I waved it off and leaned back against the counter, as emotions bubbled up in my chest. But then I felt something tighten lower in my abdomen and I turned away from him as realization dawned on me.

“What is it?” He asked, watching me in the mirror, “Ari, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head as my nose burned with stupid useless tears. “Nothing.”

“Tell me,” he demanded, standing next to me as I dropped my head and gave in to the urge to cry. “Hey,” he rubbed his hand up my back soothingly as tears hit the marble countertop, “talk to me.”

“I have cramps,” I said, feeling stupid and pathetic that I was crying over it. “It means my period is going to start soon.”

He took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his chest and I went willingly frankly because I was too worn down to fight his comfort. “Getting your period is upsetting you? I thought the idea of being pregnant upset you.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I begged the tears to stop. “Hormones are a fucking cunt sometimes.”

“Could you possibly be a little upset that you aren’t pregnant after all? Even though the test already told us you weren’t.”

“No, that’s stupid,” I snapped and then groaned, “Stop talking to me.”

He chuckled and ran his hands up and down my back, “Let’s go get you checked out and we will go from there.”

“Whatever,” I sighed, feeling a bit better for being rude to him when he didn’t deserve it. As I said, hormones were weird.

Chapter 17 – Nico

Isatinthearmchair at the side of the bed and watched Arianna sleep. It was almost four am and I just let her go to sleep a few hours ago, so she was positively comatose. She lay flat on her stomach with her arms stretched out at each side, naked and covered with the cool white sheet to keep her from getting overheated again.

Her new wedding ring set sparkled on her ring finger and the sight of it made my cock hard, regardless of how spent it was from the last few days. After tonight alone, I would be raw for days. I knew it wasn’t right to use her body to ease the fear inside of me, but I didn’t have any other option.

When I heard Molly scream for help after she and Ari went down to our bedroom earlier in the afternoon, my heart seized in my chest. It didn’t matter who I was in the middle of meeting with, I jumped up and ran towards her. It wasn’t until I laid eyes on Ari myself, alive and well, that I took a breath.

I was afraid something had happened to her.

I didn’t expect to find her with bloodied knuckles from the nose of a woman I had a casual affair with before we met, that was for sure. Nonetheless, I had to pry Arianna’s hand from Edna’s throat to get her to let go.

I think it was at that moment that I realized I was falling in love with her.

My wife.

My once-upon-a-time enemy.

And now my ally.

Or at least I considered her my ally, but she had been ready to cut ties completely when she thought I had invited Edna on board when she was gone.

I smirked to myself remembering the fire burning inside of her when I discovered what riled her up so much.