The sickened luna’s last chance

Ella

As I stood in Alexander’s shower later that night, hot water cascading down my back, my fingers kept drifting up to my mouth. I couldn’t stop touchin my lips. The ghost of Alexander’s kiss still lingered there, no matter how hard I scrubbed at the skin.

I hadn’t meant for it to be so… intense. I’d only wanted to shut the journalists up, to prove our “love” was real. But the moment our lips touched, something had ignited between us. I couldn’t deny it.

I’d never been kissed like that before. Hell, I’d never been kissed by Alexander at all. Five years of marriage, and it took a PR crisis for him to finally kiss

me.

Well… I had been the one to kiss him. And the moment we had been out of sight, he had walked away from me like I was nothing.

The whole situation felt so damn pathetic. And I felt even more pathetic for actually caring.

I shut off the water and stood dripping in the shower and reached for a towel just as the bathroom door swung open.

“What the fuck!” I screamed, clutching the towel to my chest as Alexander strode in, already unbuttoning his shirt.

His eyes went wide. “Shit!” He whirled around, covering his eyes with one hand. “I didn’t know you were in here.”

“Obviously!” My heart was going wild in my chest as I hastily wrapped the towel around myself and stumbled out of the shower. “Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?”

“I’m not used to sharing a bathroom,” Alexander snapped with his back still turned to me.

I moved to step past him, but as I tried to squeeze by, my damp shoulder brushed against his arm. A jolt of electricity shot through me at the contact.

Alexander froze, his body suddenly going rigid. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he turned his head toward me.

We were close. Too close. Close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in his green eyes, could feel the warmth of his breath against my cheek. My gaze dropped to his lips–those same lips that had been on mine just hours ago.

The air between us crackled with static electricity as we looked at each other. For a moment, I thought he might kiss me again, right there in that steamy bathroom with nothing but a towel between us.

Part of me wanted him to.

Alexander swallowed. “Ella.” The sound of my name on his tongue sounded strained, like he was holding back.

Did he want me, too, I wondered? Did he secretly spend nights during the past five years wondering what it would be like to finally be together as man

and wife?

stunt you pulled today at the press

I blinked. “What?”

time, but we shouldn’t make a habit

then he would

why did his words make my

nasty, traitorous little feeling back down and locked it

Chapter 1

by me,” I said, lining my chid. “It’s not like I enjoyed it

muscle in Alexander’s jaw Ucked. “Good. Then we’re

ignoring the way my skin

up in bed with a book open in my lap although I hadn’t read Ia

my silk nightgowns, the pale blue one with the lace trim that had sat unworn in my drawer for years I’d bought it hack when i’d stit believed Alexander might someday want me–back when i was still naive enough to think fated mates always

it because

that was what

sweatpants, I forced myself

to stay on his side. Neither

I said, “Lonly kissed you because you weren’t doing

scoffed. “Right. And here I

flatter yourself.” I set my book on the nightstand. “I hate kissing you.

“The feeling is mutual.”

at least we can agree on

and rolled over, turning his back to me. Within minutes, his breathing had evened out, indicating he

sleep. I lay there for a long time,

was certain he was asleep did

if Alexander had given us a real chance? What would our marriage have

to have Alexander’s hands on my body, his lips on my skin, our bodies joining in

a warm pool of honey form low in my belly, a feeling that I knew all too well but had

was twenty–two years old and still a virgin. That fact was a humiliation that I kept buried deep inside. I’d been married for five years, and my husband had never once touched me–had never even

little ones toddling around their feet or nursing at their breasts. They had mates who loved them, who marked them, who claimed

and a death sentence because my mate

do when this was all over? When