I lay back on the lounge chair in the shade while looking over the pool. We were on the top of a hill, so the city of Florence could be seen past the property a few miles into the distance. I read a book on my lap while I relaxed in my swimsuit, enjoying the summer heat while my cold drink perspired.
Every few pages, my mind would start to wander.
Wander to the man I met a few nights ago.
He didn’t have a name, and his business card was even more unusual. The only detail was the sketch of a black skull. It was fossilized bone with a snake protruding out of the eye socket. I googled anything related to skulls online but couldn’t find anything relevant.
I had no idea who this guy was.
But when I noticed him in the bar, I thought he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
With fair skin that reminded me of snow and blue eyes like the Arctic Sea, he was a pretty man on a rugged frame. He was ripped and lean with muscle, all the striations in his forearms noticeable with the slight movements he made. His forearms and neck were corded, a man so tight that even his veins protruded through the skin.
His jawline was his sexiest feature, with a light shadow of hair that hardly covered the strong bones of his features. His t-shirt fit him snugly, fighting the planes of his pecs and the individual grooves of muscle that pressed against his shirt. On top of that, he was tall. When he stood up to join me, I could see he had to be easily over six feet tall.
It’d been ages since I’d had good sex, passionate sex with a handsome man after a night on the town. I even missed the mediocre sex I received from men I never called again. Sex with my husband was nothing but work, a duty I had to fulfill because of the promise I’d made.
A promise I’ll regret for the rest of my life.
Seeing a man like that across the room only made me miss it more, made me want to sink my claws into his back and ask him to fuck me in the bathroom. When he touched my thigh, I wanted to go home with him right then and there.
And that kiss…
I’d touched myself to that kiss so many times.
It always made me come good and hard.
But I wanted the real thing. I wanted real passion, real lust. I wanted a man on top of me, a man whom I desired. When I’d agreed to the trade, I hadn’t realized exactly what I was giving up. I hadn’t realized that my selfless act would be the dumbest and most humiliating choice of my life.
Now I was stuck here—until death do us part.
I wanted to call that man the next time my husband was away, but it was so risky. If I ever got caught, I knew terrible things would happen. I would be fine, but my lover would be tortured and killed.
I never had been specifically asked to be faithful to him, especially since he wasn’t faithful to me, but I assumed it was implied.
Maria, the housemaid, came to my side. “Mrs. Salazar?”
I lifted my sunglasses to look at her. “Yes?”
“Mr. Salazar is asking for you.”
“Did he say what he wanted?”
“No, Mrs. Salazar.” Maria returned to the house.
I grabbed my cover-up and tied it around my body before I walked into the house. It was a big place, two stories and ten thousand square feet—and that wasn’t including the backyard, the pool, or the front yard. From an outside point of view, some people might think I was lucky to live such a luxurious life, but I’d take my tiny apartment over this any day.
I walked into the house and found him in the living room. His jacket was thrown across the couch, and he stood in his slacks and his collared shirt. He was fifteen years older than me, and his age showed in the corners of his eyes and his mouth. He wasn’t the ugliest man in the world, but I didn’t find him the least bit attractive. He had oily hair that seemed to be saturated with hair gel, and even his eyebrows seemed greasy without product. He had the hairiest chest I’d ever seen, and that was just one of his many turn-offs. “Hello, Lucian.” I wore heeled