Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Madison had a lot of questions, but one jumped to the front of the list.
“We can talk here? Todd has no idea—”
“None.”
“He’ll know when I left the spa. I’ll bet he had someone following us.”
Matt nodded grimly. “I took care of him.”
That didn’t surprise her. Todd only thought he was smart, but what he really had was money and people in his back pocket. Matt actually had brains and skills.
Madison crossed her arms over her chest and backed away, trying to adopt a casual pose, like nothing bothered her. “That will piss him off.”
“I only give a shit about you. You’re avoiding me, and it’s about more than the electronic eyes and ears on us at Todd’s place. What’s wrong?”
How did she even explain this without sounding ridiculous and insecure? Matt was living in the same apartment as her husband, suffering his chokeworthy personality while protecting her, and she was struggling to get past what he’d done while they were separated. Yes, because she’d been completely in love with him from the beginning, while he’d obviously had his head—and all the protruding parts of his body—up other women’s vaginas. Because she worried Matt viewed her as a trophy, he would win if he outplayed Todd, not because he actually loved her.
No one but your father loved you before you married me. No one is going to love you after, either.
Madison tried to shake Todd’s nasty comment from her head and approach this like a rational adult. All she wanted to do was scream and cry and make Matt tell her that nothing her husband had spewed was true.
“Look at me,” Matt wrapped his hand around her nape in an unyielding grip and forced her gaze to his. “What did that bastard say to you?”
“Did you also fuck Liv Lawson the night you took Hannah Jamison to bed?”
He stiffened. He didn’t reply…but the guilt on his face said everything.
“So, that’s a yes. I guess you also fucked ninety-two other women while we were separated. Tabitha Drake and Isabelle Vázquez, really? They’re my friends. They were at my sweet sixteen party. They went with me, Haisley, Gracelyn, and Charli on our high school graduation girls’ trip. They helped me celebrate my twenty-first birthday. When I go back to Lafayette, I’ll have to look at them and know—” Madison bit her lip, refusing to finish her sentence. “And you didn’t tell me. You didn’t think to mention even once that you fucked half of the single women in Lafayette. God, I feel like an idiot for believing I meant anything special to you.” She tried to jerk from his grasp. “Let go.”
“Never. Ask me who I would rather have been fucking? And who didn’t give me a goddamn choice because she married someone else?” He yanked her closer until he pressed every inch of his hard body against her, and she hated the excitement that flared in her veins. “Even though you called yourself Mrs. Someone-Else, I couldn’t get over you. No matter how many women I fucked or how much I told myself you didn’t matter, you were always there like the itch I couldn’t scratch. A hunger I couldn’t sate. A craving I couldn’t slake. Not one of those women made me feel like you. Not even close. I. Want. You.”
Madison studied his implacable scowl. He never once wavered, never once blinked.
“If that’s true, why didn’t you come after me? I wanted you to.” She teared up. “And you didn’t.”
“Honey, I was about to roll out of town and drive to DC when I heard about your engagement. That’s no bullshit. Ask Nash. He was there. Better yet, ask Haisley. Despite the fact I could never give you the wealth and power Todd could, I asked her where to find you that night. I was determined to cross the country and claim the woman I believed was mine. Instead, you said ‘yes’ to another man and let him put his fucking ring on your finger.”
“I never cared about Todd’s money or prestige. I didn’t want any of that.” She’d just wanted someone to love her, and she’d been convinced Matt hadn’t. That hole in her heart had left her vulnerable to Todd’s manipulations, and she had stupidly allowed him to trap her. In fact, she was probably letting him trick her again. But that didn’t erase the hurt she felt in knowing exactly how many women he had given pleasure. “You never asked me what I wanted. You just ghosted me…like every other guy.”
Oh, god. She was going to cry. She was going to blubber and show him her naked pain. He’d know then just how much he’d crushed her. He probably already did because she couldn’t seem to shut up. He had so much power over her body. He owned her foolish heart. With a few words, he could destroy her.