8

Completely tipsy, I swayed my hips to the beat of the music while Jake kept tugging my waist tight against his pelvis. It made me a little uncomfortable, but the alcohol didn't allow me to resist it.

I would have hit him sober for his pushy behavior, but after all the self-doubt of the past few days, it felt incredibly good to be touched by a man like that. It gave me back some of the confidence I thought I had lost, and happy about the high, I turned to Jake and looked up at him sweetly, making him grin stupidly again.

"You look really cute after you've had a drink," he smiled, nudging my nose. "It's all red. Suits you."

Cute? Serious?

I was flattered, but cute wasn't the word I wanted to be used to describe me. After all, I was wearing this beautiful dress and found myself pretty sexy.

My gaze fell to the pool, where the half-naked women let their breasts bounce and it suddenly occurred to me that I probably had to show more skin to be found attractive.

I turned my back to Jake, tossing my brown hair to the side while still moving to the music.

"Would you please," I whispered playfully, looking over my shoulder at him. He raised his eyebrows in amazement at my bravery and put his hands on the zipper of my dress, cracking a dirty grin on his lips.

But before he could even move the zipper a millimeter, the music from inside suddenly stopped and curiously I looked to the patio door, where Odran immediately appeared and looked angrily at the crowd.

"Fuck," Jake breathed in my ear, who also immediately took his hands off me. My heart was racing with excitement and no one but Senan seemed to move. Completely overwhelmed with this situation, I turned to Jake and immediately got the shock of my life when I saw Rian standing behind him, aiming his pistol right at the back of Jake's head.

_I was totally sober again!_

"It's your decision, dearest wife. Do you want me to shoot him in the right hand or in the left foot," Rian smiled at me, but his eyes seemed emotionless while Jake stood still, but his hands were shaking uncontrollably with fear.

I stared at him wide-eyed, not really knowing what to say until he cocked the gun and held it close to the back of his head again, making Jake look at me with sheer panic in his eyes.

My heart was about to burst out of my chest, at least that's what it felt like, but Rian didn't seem to care about me, my feelings, or Jake's fears at all.

"You have three seconds before I shoot, Keeva," he warned me in his cold voice, and I looked overwhelmed at Jake, who nodded toward his foot.

"One..."

"Foot," I blurted out, startled, and Rian immediately aimed at Jake's right hand and pulled the trigger. The shot echoed from all sides and in a panic I closed my eyes for a moment to catch my breath.

Jake cried out in pain and when I opened my tear-streaked eyes again, he immediately fell to his knees in front of me while I watched him trembling, blaming all the blame for his pain on me.

"Shit," Jake cursed in a tortured voice, clutching his hand to his chest.

Angry about everything, I searched Rian's eyes, who didn't even bat an eyelash. It all seemed to pass him by without a trace.

"I said foot!" I accused him desperately and he just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

"And I demanded that you should decide and not him," he explained his actions and then looked past me at Senan. "In five minutes the house will be empty, otherwise this will happen to every fucking wanker I meet here!"

As all the people who had previously seemed frozen suddenly ran wild and stormed off the terrace, Rian grabbed Jake's hair again, forcing him to look up at him with a strong tug.

"One more time near her and it will be your head!"

Jake just nodded and then it was Senan who wanted to stand up for his best friend, but Odran held him back.

"And you," Rian addressed me while I was still struggling not to collapse from the shock. "Go change and get some sleep. We have an important business dinner tomorrow night."

Shocked at how normally he dealt with this exceptional situation, I wanted to say something else, to blame him, but I was just speechless. It was all too much for me. I suddenly felt guilty. Blame it on a man who just wanted to have fun and dance. At the same time, I realized why everyone held Rian in such high esteem. I had also lost the courage to stand up to him like everyone I knew...

With tears in my eyes, I turned and looked apologetically at Senan, who was still being held by Odran and just looked stunned.

As fast as my bare feet would carry me, I ran across the dark wooden floor in the living room and up the stairs, only to fall to my knees when I got to the room.

"Oh god," I started to cry and put my hands in front of my face. Only endless sobs came out of my mouth and it was only thanks to Nero and his nudge that I finally calmed down after a while.

I was still crying, but at least I was able to breathe again.

It was almost pitch dark in my room. Only the moonlight shone through the huge window, giving me a glimpse of everything around me.

Nero lay very quietly on my lap and lost in thought I stroked his rough fur in a constant rhythm while I went through the last few hours in my head and came to the conclusion that Jake would still have a functioning hand without me.

Why did I only have to try to rebuild my destroyed self-image on him? I really should stay away from alcohol.

Although I often drank with my cousins, they took care of me and knew me and my limitations. Nobody here knew me.

After realizing that I probably wouldn't get any sleep that night anyway, I got up cautiously and walked to the bathroom.

I took off the tight dress and picked out thin white pajama bottoms and a black tank top from all the bags. As soon as I changed, I slipped into my new flip flops and then patted my thigh.

Nero understood this gesture immediately and when I then quietly opened my door, he ran excitedly down the stairs and I hastily followed him.

It was quiet in the house, like everyone was asleep, but when I got to the living room, I saw Odran sitting on the couch, wearing a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants, watching a movie. When he noticed my gaze, he glanced over at me, then quickly turned back to the TV.

I liked it better when I was shopping...

Without paying any more attention to him, I ran to the window front and opened it to let Nero out, who I hurriedly padded after.

"Wait," I called him, but he ran down the stairs to the beach without listening to me. I was suddenly afraid he was going to run away, but when I got to the bottom of the sand and looked to the right, I saw where, or rather who he was headed for.

Rian sat farther away in the sand, still dressed in his black shirt and pants. He had only taken off his shoes and socks and placed them next to him.

The moon gave me enough view of him that I could clearly see him smiling at Nero's excited manner. Only when he had stroked him extensively and Nero ran to the water did he look at me and his facial expressions became serious again.

Overwhelmed, I avoided his gaze and crossed my arms nervously to look at the dark sea and listen to the sound of the waves, but despite everything I felt that he was still studying me. It was like a slight burning sensation on the skin...

Inside me, the longer I stood there awkwardly, the feeling spread that I should just go back inside, but somehow I couldn't.

I then nervously pulled my feet out of the flip flops to rummage around in the sand with them. It felt warm and soft and reluctantly I looked back at Rian, whose eyes met mine.

For a while I felt like I wasn't breathing, like my heart wasn't beating, like I was lost in this gray-blue ocean, but I pulled myself away and looked up at the black sky to take a deep breath.

"Come here," I heard him unexpectedly and wanted to ignore it, but when he then said a definite "now!" breathed, I turned to him and slowly walked towards him, eyes fixed on my bare feet.

I stopped right next to him and nervously waited for him to say anything, but he didn't say anything, just silently took my hand, which sent that tingling sensation through my body again, which I was trying to resist.

He carefully pulled me down so that I sat sideways on his lap without being able to do anything about it. His hand was still clasped in mine and with my heart beating fast I watched as his thumb caressed the back of my hand tenderly...

RIAN POV

She stared at our hands with her fawn eyes and I could feel her tension just from the fact that she hardly dared to breathe, but that was good because she should learn something from the night.

It didn't matter if something was going on between us or not, if she still wanted it or not. She was my wife now and my wife, no one would dare touch her. Just the thought of that motherfucker putting his hands on her dress made me so angry again that I had to pull myself together not to freak out again.

I should have shot him in the head, but Senan saw him as something of a brother, so I pulled myself together... Anyone else wouldn't have survived!

"Can you tell me what you actually want from me," she suddenly asked uncertainly into the silence and glanced at me fleetingly. She was about to look down again, but I cupped her chin in my hand and turned her face to mine, making her swallow hard and her eyes widen.

"What I want? That you act like my wife and not like one of those cheap whores from Senan."

Her irises darted nervously across my face, while looking at her eyes I suddenly got goosebumps that totally took me by surprise and that I didn't know at all in this way.

"Well," she said, slightly bitchy, which made me raise an eyebrow questioningly. "It's all your fault."

She put her hand on mine and freed her chin from my grip to hurry to her feet.

"What do you mean by that?" I demanded, annoyed that she just got up and wanted to leave. "Keeva!" I raised my voice as she made no move to stop.

Yes, this woman would be my downfall and I knew that after only two days.

She stomped through the sand, but I quickly found my way to my feet and ran after her, then grabbed her arm tightly and turned her around to face me.

When I suddenly recognized the tears in her eyes, my heart stopped for a second and I fought against feeling anything like sympathy, but I couldn't help it, although I didn't let it show it hurt her again to see like this.

"You keep making me feel like I'm measuring myself against women I can't reach! Besides, you have no interest in me other than the piece of paper that increases your voter base!" I grabbed her arm, but immediately took it back in my hand to hold her tight.

"Do you really want me to show interest in you?!" I asked her angrily, putting her hand firmly on my trembling chest. "There's nothing in there, Keeva. At least nothing that would make you happy, and you certainly don't have to compete with women who show up at Senan's parties!"

She looked at me through sobs and then rolled her eyes, driving me insane again inside.

"I'm not talking about them," she then explained, taking a deep breath. "I'm talking about the blonde and the fire alarm!"

I couldn't help but grin at her choice of words and when she saw the corners of my mouth twitch, she unexpectedly smiled mildly too.

"Rian," she murmured, pulling her hand away from my chest in the same instant. "I'm serious. I know it's just a sham marriage, but I feel like shit watching beauty after beauty walk in here."

"Beauties?" I repeated, unable to help but cup her face in my hands. "These aren't beauties and you don't need to compete with them at all. Do you think I thought you were beautiful with that tight frock earlier? Sexy maybe, for one night, but the way you're standing in front of me now, like that I imagine true beauty. There's nothing fake about you, nothing fake. This is the real Keeva, almost making me lose my control!"

She looked at me in shock and parted her lips ever so slightly to take a deep breath in and out. Her chest heaved slightly under her deep breaths and she made me want to turn away so as not to lose myself.

I let go of her, trying not to let myself be carried away, but without being able to prevent it, she suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine.

It was an indescribable feeling and I realized in that moment that I couldn't ignore being attracted to her any longer. I cupped her waist, pulling her closer to me and just allowing myself to hand over control to her for the moment.