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?

then he stepped back and coldly said, “That stunt you pulled today at the press conference

I blinked. “What?”

shouldn’t make a habit of it. Not with a

it should have. Nine months. We had agreed on nine months, and then he would

words make my chest hurt like I’d

quickly shoved that nasty, traitorous little feeling back

Chapter 1

chid. “It’s

in Alexander’s jaw Ucked. “Good. Then we’re on the came

without another word, ignoring the

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

wearing one of 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

was just wearing it

was

and Alexander emerged in a cloud of steam, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants, I forced myself not to look at the defined muscles of his abdomen or the

slid into bed beside me, taking care to stay on his side.

I snapped my book shut. “Just so we’re clear,” I said, “Lonly kissed you because

here I thought you just

book on the nightstand. “I hate

“The feeling is mutual.”

we can agree

back to me. Within minutes, his breathing had evened out, indicating

for a long time, just staring up

once I was certain he was asleep

been different? What if Alexander had given us a real

have Alexander’s hands on my

I knew all too well but had only acted on in the darkness of my old bedroom

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 kissed me until today, and that was just for show, and he wouldn’t have

at their breasts. They had

wolf and a death sentence because

this was all