I tensed and quickly turned around to face Braden, giving him a shake of my head. “Leave it.”
He didn’t leave it.
He gently took hold of my wrist and pulled me behind him so he could lean into the stranger’s face. “My wife is very beautiful. But to you she’s invisible. Understood?”
The stranger nodded. “Understood.”
I understood too. I understood I was mortified.
Not wanting to cause more of a scene, I let Braden hold my hand as we walked up the beach but as soon as we were out of sight I tugged out of his hold.
“You’re pissed off.” He sighed.
“Yes, I’m pissed off. There was no need to speak to him that way. It was embarrassing. You were peeing all over me.”
I heard his snort of laughter but didn’t dare look at him because I was afraid I’d kill him.
“That arsehole was ogling you all f**king day and ignoring every warning look I gave him. I don’t appreciate another man staring at my wife like he’s imagining f**king her when he knows I’m standing right f**king there.”
“Is dropping the f-bomb three times really necessary?”
He sighed, heavily this time. “You’re still pissed off.”
Yes, I’m still pissed off. “I’m confused. You overreacted and you know you overreacted. I’m just thinking the overreaction had nothing to do with that idiot staring at my br**sts.”
Instead of agreeing, instead of telling me he was bothered by the unspoken issue that was on our minds, Braden shook his head impatiently and began striding toward the villa without me.
***
Dinner was a quiet affair.
I’d spent the rest of the afternoon lying by the pool with my headphones on listening to Bastille while Braden took a walk around the resort. By the time he came back I was in the shower. When I got out of the shower to get ready for dinner, he got in. Afterward Braden attempted conversation with me. I grunted answers at him, not so much pissed at him anymore as pissed that he’d given me reason on our honeymoon to be pissed at him.
He’d scowled at me when I strode out of the walk-in wearing a figure-hugging blue dress. The fabric was a thin, stretchy jersey, so although it covered me, it pretty much left little to the imagination. It was a hot dress and I’d bought it for my hot husband.
At the time the thought hadn’t been to torture him, but I was pissed, so now it was about torturing him.
Our walk to dinner was quiet. The night before we’d dined at the Oceanview, a restaurant situated on the beach. Tonight I silently led us to the Great Room in the main house of the resort.
That silence reigned between us all through dinner.
The tension between us was thickening and I could tell Braden was losing patience with it. Or me, rather.
Deciding the best thing for us was to get a good night’s sleep and put the stupid argument behind us, I quietly suggested we leave out drinks tonight and just return to the room. I took his brusque nod as agreement.
Dinner over, we strolled back to the villa. I kicked off my heels to sink my feet into sand, only reluctantly trailing back onto the landscaped path to our villa, all the while secretly dreading a quiet night in with annoyed silence and no sex.
Inside the air-conditioned heaven, I threw my heels to the floor and padded on cool tiles toward the bedroom. I heard Braden’s footsteps behind me seconds before I found myself jerked back against his body.
I gasped at the sudden movement, my breath hitching as one hand coasted roughly up my stomach to cup my breast, while the other gripped lightly to my hair. Braden gently tugged my head back, exposing my neck. Those familiar shivers tingled through me as he kneaded my breast, and pressed hot, wet kisses down the side of my neck.
Just as abruptly as he’d pulled me to him, Braden pushed me forward until I hit the bed. My torso bowed over the end of it as he nudged my legs open with his feet. In the same motion he slipped his hands under the hem of my tight dress and shoved the fabric upward until it hit me midback, baring my ass to him.
By this point my breathing was as hot and heavy as his.
Cool air touched my skin as Braden tugged my panties down. I stepped out of them and kicked them aside, quickly widening my stance again and biting back a moan at the feel of Braden’s erection pressing against my ass.
His fingers dug into my h*ps as he tormented me with the promise of him.