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

“Tell me what to do again and see what happens, Bowen. Seriously, do it and see what happens,” her voice was smooth and playful. Whatever was going to happen was part of her game, and I was curious to see what her mind cooked up while this buzzed.

I had her pinned against the bed as she pushed herself into my crotch desperately. Leaning down, my hand released her hair, moving around to her throat instead as I whispered, “Don’t pretend you don’t like me telling you what to do.”

I made sure my hand around her throat was loose enough when I stood back up. Straightening my elbow, I let my other palm land against her ass in a sharp, dense slap, dragging a raspy moan from her parted lips.

Her hands pulled up her slip immediately, revealing her entire perky ass to me, barely covered by white lace panties while her hips lifted off the bed like she was asking for more. My hand grasped her thigh as I watched her skin turn pink. The feeling of liking it was making my dick hard on command.

My demons responded to pain and apparently hers did too.

Giving her another serving of my hand, I watched her writher against the sheets like I was touching her pussy instead. I couldn’t take my eyes off her when she rolled over, producing her panties from under her slip. She twirled them around her finger in the air like a white flag, surrendering. “Okay, okay, you win...”

I wanted to just give into her right then and there. I debated telling her Elias was moving to LA to push her into telling me the truth, but it wasn’t the right time. Reluctantly peeling myself from her, I watched her bite her finger around a smile.

I walked away, the way I had to before I fell into the trap. “I’ll fuck you when you start telling the truth, Eve, get dressed.”

It was getting hard, trust me, to keep up the calm exterior when everything inside me raged to be between her legs again. Those perfectly slender legs that begged to be bitten, grabbed, pushed open to leave her permanently on display.

Everything ached; felt starved enough to throw me into some hallucination just to act like a placebo.

Eve sat up with her slip still pushed up to her hips, scoffing at me leaving her high and dry. Pushing my hand down into my jeans, I looked at my phone for the time debating if I had enough time to relieve myself when it was clear I didn’t.

Tossing her a sweater from the drawer, it hit her face lightly as I walked over to the bed, letting my hands smooth up her legs before throwing her over my shoulder. She didn’t try to escape, simply hung there like it was her rightful spot—the angel on my shoulder to balance all the demons on the other side.

Carrying her downstairs was easy; she weighed nothing, which also meant a pit stop for food to soak up the alcohol in her system was necessary. We were about to be in an environment with every watchful eye on us making sure our ‘arranged’ marriage was going smoothly. She had to recover from her buzz and do it quickly.

Grabbing my keys and a black bomber, I didn’t let her go. I didn’t plan to let her walk her own ass to the car, she’d run back inside, lock the door and put a chair in front of it just to get her way. She’s scrappy and resourceful like that.

Yanking the car door open, I dropped her down onto the seat carefully, minding her head, making sure the sweater landed in her lap for safe keeping. She was still in just a slip with nothing under it and had no fucking shoes on, while I was wearing nothing much more appropriate for this occasion.

We were already going to be sized up, and now there was a bullseye on our backs.

“Can you try to act like you care, please?” I pushed the seatbelt in like she was completely incapable. Closing the door and slipping inside myself, she was still huffing at the idea of going. “I’m not a good liar, sorry.”

“But you’re good at keeping secrets… so keep the fact that you’re happy they’re dead a secret.”

Her hand landed on my thigh while I pulled out of the driveway, and when I glanced over at her I found her lips curling up into a small smile when she whispered, “Thank you for making me go.”

Somehow in all the loss happening, things felt stable. I felt more stable than I had ever felt. My legs were always traumatized with intoxication and wobbly at best, but with her I felt stronger than the need to be in constant haze.

In-N-Out used to be Eve’s favorite place before she fled LA and now it seemed like food was the least of her priorities. I couldn’t judge much; I was still on a liquid diet.

Rolling down the window, I ordered what she used to order times two because Eve had a way of expecting you to be tortured right along with her. Her eyes lit up to a teal blue realizing I remembered her order, and this was about as peaceful as I was going to get her to be today.

Pulling away from the window, I knew I had to lay down the law. “The Clave will be at the wake for your mom. Everyone. Entire families. It’s a big deal.” She twisted in her seat, trying to face me as much as possible, listening to me carefully as I continued. “We’re being monitored, Eve. You can do whatever you want as long as it looks like nothing is wrong between us.”

She squinted at me as I passed the food over. “What’s