THE CONTROL: An Arranged Marriage Romance by Elena Monroe (ebook reader android .txt) 📕

and pulled my shirt off, feeling her eyes eat up every inch of me. I turned around, tossing it on the floor before twisting the knob for the hot water of my shower. The steam filled up the bathroom quickly, and I watched her wiggle out of her silk shorts with the ruffles that made her look like Snow White before the bad shit happened.

“What are you doing? This is a private room.”

“I’m showering with my husband. Problem? It’s not touching, kissing, sex—it’s showering.” Her tone left a lot to be desired when she lost the melody of her princess mode.

She didn’t realize it, but princess mode was just foreplay. This tone was coming from the real Eve, my Eve, and she had always been the one dragging me into loving her even if I didn’t want myself to feel that way now for her own sake.

The real Eve had me by the balls.

Watching her remove her tank top over her head, I saw her shirtless the way I had been since she moved in. It’s hard to avoid when she’s less than shy.

Stepping closer to me, her hands found my belt, undoing it with a minimal amount of grace. Eve was horny, and she was over being polite about it.

Imagine waiting until this moment to finally have sex and be turned down.

Imagine courting this girl for a year and keeping your dick in check.

Grabbing her hands with too much force, I stopped her from unzipping my jeans when I felt her fingers dance against my crotch. “Please.” It came out strained and couldn’t even bring myself to look at her directly.

“We’ve seen each other come already, Bowey. One shower isn’t going to break us...” I could hear the pain in her voice, but I was so desensitized and detached, I didn’t know how to fix it.

Fixing it any way but how she was asking me to.

“I can’t, Eve. I just can’t. Please understand.” I was begging when I didn’t even ask permission or apologize. I felt like I skipped some steps on my sad journey.

“Can’t we try? For me, Bowey? We can go slow. We can just touch ourselves again.”

I felt defeated by her eyes soaked in tears and her shaking hands still on my undone jeans. I gave into a girl I used to imagine kissing one day only to lose her, then finally have her return to do just that—kiss.

One kiss with the love of your life isn’t just a kiss. It’s a promise to own parts of you. 

It’s a fire sale and everything has to go.

“Shower. That’s it, Eve. I mean it. Innocent.” I knew I was being callous, but I was willing to do anything but what she wanted.

I wanted to glaze over the trying to make it work stage and slip right into silent contempt.

“It wasn’t innocent even when we were kids, Bowey. We were one hormone short of doing bad things before we were old enough to be doing them.” She bit her lip and forced me to remember exactly how long I’ve been sporting blue balls.

Not waiting for her, I pushed my jeans down, letting myself fall out of my boxer briefs. Feeling the same kind of exposure I felt when I was younger, I stepped into the shower quickly while cupping myself.

Eve was less shy, her body on full display and perfectly groomed in the way you’d think was a standard for whatever brainwashing they did to her.

Catching myself staring at her body, tracing her with my eyes, I looked away with a warmth in my cheeks. “I’m your fiancé, Bowey, you can look. You can touch too...”

Standing under the shower head, I let the water run down my body, still cupping myself from her wandering eyes even though she was behind me. I wasn’t falling into that trap again.

Suddenly, I felt her lips touch my back and my dick grew even more solid in my hands with a dull ache collecting in my balls that was too much to ignore. I had been ignoring all the trouble she stirred up in my jeans, each time more painful and uncomfortable.

“Eve,” I warned, but she managed to lodge herself between myself and the shower wall, demanding I look at her. “I want you, is that what you want to hear, Evey? That it physically hurts to not know how to make you feel good. Stop pushing me to the edge of reason.”

The steam created enough fog to make me comfortable enough to stop clenching my junk, and I pushed my palms into the shower tile around her. Her hands took it as an invitation to creep lightly up my ribs as she looked at me with her lip between her teeth that used to have a gap. She began kissing up my chest to my neck, and it felt so good that I couldn’t focus anymore as she spoke against my skin.

“You don’t have to be afraid… It's just like collecting all our firsts together.” Her body was covered in droplets of water that made my dick pulse and my balls get tight the same way they do when I have to stop neglecting the needs of my cock. I wanted to wrap my hand around myself and stroke it the way I knew would feel like an exhale, but the thought of her lips was too distracting.

My head bowed down to meet her halfway, finally giving in to my first real kiss before I regretted my next few decisions. Her soft, full lips pushed onto mine right before they fell open, letting a moan run away into my mouth.

My palms leaned into the tiles, giving her more access to my mouth while her fingers threaded into my hair, pulling me closer. I had no choice but to follow her lead