Page 64 of The Viper's Wife

“You need money,” he murmurs, “you come to me.”

“I’m not coming to you for?—”

He presses a kiss to my open mouth. I try to jerk back, but my head is caught against the wall. He’s trapping me with his hands as he kisses me again and again, driving his hips against mine until he draws an involuntary moan from my throat.

He drops his forehead to mine. “You don’t need to work. I’ll take care of you.”

He’s love-bombing me. Distantly, I’m aware of it, but thethought, the suggestion that someone else might take care of me?

“I want to work. Formymoney,” I whisper hoarsely. My thoughts are shreds of confetti. I don’t know what I’m saying. “I can’t rely on you.”

Nico exhales and releases me. He walks to the single couch in the room, sits, and plants his feet wide.

He looks like a fucking king.

“Then earn it,” he says. His gaze skates over my body, flashing heat through me.

I’m freezing and burning hot at the same time. “Nico.”

Without looking away from me, he reaches for his back pocket. “I know what you need.” He takes a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet and waves it at me. “This it?”

Heat throbs between my legs.

I thought this would be enough, to show him I wasn’t going to be the obedient wife he expected me to be.

And I was scared.

Scared to pack all my things and run away. I’d always dreamed of being strong enough to do it, but now that I’m on the precipice, I don’t know if I can jump.

My throat closes. I wonder if he’d take pity on me if I cried, or if he’d just laugh in my face.

I’m out of options.

There’s nothing else I can try that’s going to make him give me up.

He waves the bill at me. “I’m waiting.”

I clench my jaw.Fuckhim.

He wants to pay for a dance, I’ll do more than empty his pockets. I’ll make sure he’s had the best night of his life. And then after he’s lazy and sleepy from his release, I’ll grab my things and go.

I take slow, measured steps to the beat of the music until I’m within touching distance.

He leans forward, extending the bill until his fingers skate along my hip bone, and tucks it into my miniskirt.

Then he leans back, a hard outline straining his jeans and bored expectation on his face.

With his eyes on me, I sway my hips to a slow rhythm.

“Were you planning on bringing other men in here?” he asks in a low voice.

I turn and bend down, offering a full view of my ass. “Yes,” I lie.

I’m jerked back as Nico grabs my hips and squeezes. His thumb skates over my wet underwear, and I startle at the sensation.

“I don’t believe you. You know what I would’ve done to any man you brought here. You’re not that cruel.”

He places a lingering kiss on my panties, licking against my pussy—toe-curlingly hot—and then just as quickly, his hands disappear from my body.