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

“I want to taste you, Bowey…” I bit my lip, feeling unsure but willing to take directions.

Lowering my lips to his tip, I kissed it innocently before I opened my mouth. Keeping my lips tight, I pushed my mouth down on him when his hand combed into my hair, gently holding my head.

“Fuck, Evey.”

God, why do they make the devil irresistible if they want us to keep our damn halos?

Motivated by the grunts and groans leaving his mouth, I dragged my mouth back up his length. Repeating the motion, I found his balls, cupping them carefully while his forearm folded over his eyes like it would be easier to navigate pleasure when all he knew was pain.

With his hand still on my head holding me in place, I pushed my mouth down as far as I could go without choking. He groaned in a way that made me feel so empowered over this man who was too smart and strong for his own good.

Suddenly, I was an equal, all because I knew how to keep my teeth from biting probably the only part of himself he liked.

“Evey,” he barely bit off my name as he looked down at me when I felt his girth twitch against my tongue.

I wanted to watch him come undone and know what that tasted like the same way he knew. Wrapping my hand around him, I worked my mouth up and down while he fought the urge to moan out loud.

My tongue found the edge of his tip and toyed with him when his hand smoothed down to my cheek like I was too precious to know what evil truly tastes like.

Nothing about Bowey was evil enough to taste sour.

His jaw went slack, mouth falling open, and his moans fell to a silent scream when I felt him jerk until I tasted the bitter sweetness of the orgasm I was responsible for. Bowey tasted like my happily ever after and that was never going to get old.

Swallowing the power I felt, I smiled softly up at him when he let his body relax against the pillows, still breathing heavily. Cuddling up to him, I had forgotten about him calling this a gift—it wasn’t—it was expectations I had for my life.

Lying next to Bowen, I watched his chest rise when his hand resting on his chest caught my eye. Bowen’s Clave ring took up most of the real estate on his hand, glimmering in the dim lighting like a billboard claiming his loyalty to something other than me.

Well, I came first and all over it yet it still mocked me.

His soul was theirs.

His heart was mine, but I wanted all of him.

In my free time I had painted a design for his wedding ring that was going to be louder than his devotion to the cult. I hid it under his pillow for him to find later and had forgotten all about it until I pondered his words of a gift.

Reaching under the pillows, my hands patted the mattress looking for the black box when Bowen reached over and opened the small drawer of his bedside table, producing the box I knew was his from me. That wasn’t all that was in his grasp though when I spotted a smaller powder blue box hiding below it.

Dropping the black one in my hands, he leaned back, placing the blue one on the comforter between us. “Did you think that was the gift?” A smirk that was hard to miss filled his face with happiness as I opened the ring box for the first time.

I was waiting to look, still saving my firsts for him.

I never expected my breath to freeze up in my chest when I saw the smooth black signet’s surface engraved with an E outlined in diamonds and butterfly wings blooming off the flat side. It was perfect, just like him, and I was committed to making him see that nothing would tear us apart again.

Every night after CeCe forced us into bed, I would draw a heart over where his was somewhere deep inside his chest and tell him that one day we would be as crazy as his parents. We would be together forever, happily married, and not scared of the world coming between us.

He knew I was terrified of all the ways we could be ripped apart: my mom, her boyfriends, his parents getting sick of taking care of me, Bowey realizing I’m just a friend and nothing more. Every night he would kiss my head and whisper, “No refunds.”

One day we'll be crazy like them… No refunds. 

Picking up the ring, I saw the script engraved in the band that read: One day we’ll be crazy like them. I was proud of my creation as I handed it to Bowen while cuddling back into the nook of his arm. “You don’t have to like it…”

His lighthearted, drunken behavior was dissipating, but the orgasm I swallowed left a glow along his features that seemed more angelic and relaxed than usual.

“You aren’t going to believe this.” He sat up again, looking into my eyes as he reached for the blue box. I followed his bewildered expression as he bit his lip, making me nervous, down to his strong hands as he opened my fidgeting palms to place the box inside. “Go on, Evey.”

Pulling the ribbon loose, I opened the box to reveal a platinum band with a cluster of black diamonds at the top and script down the side that read: No refunds.

The familiar heatwave took my eyelids hostage and demanded tears as ransom when I slipped it onto my finger right on top of my engagement ring. Bowey was still there somewhere, and this proved it.

Taking off his