Hooked Up: Book 3 by Arianne Richmonde

you entering her front door! I saw you with my own eyes!” Pearl pushed me away, rapping her fists against my chest.
    I quietly closed the front door. Her suitcase was still outside, but I feared the whole building would be woken with the noise. For the next few minutes the banter continued; Pearl’s accusations and my defense. Yet I could hardly concentrate on the conversation: my eyes hooded with longing, my groin raging. All I wanted was for us to fuck and forget this Laura nonsense, but I had to calm Pearl down first. I could see it in her eyes, too—she wanted me urgently but her head was telling her to protect her heart. Yet, right now, her heart was telling her to make love to me. I could read it in her gaze, her tweaked nipples. She was hungry for me. Fucking ravenous.
    I stepped close to her again and took her flailing wrists. “Pearl, my darling—please, please let’s just be close. I’ve missed you like crazy.”
    “Bullshit! You haven’t even called me!”
    “I did call you. Today, actually, but your cell was switched off.”
    “Big deal! Finally, after all this time making me suffer, making me plan my life without you, you call. You call when you feel like a fuck! You want to be with Laura but you’re using me. For sex. Laura was right, you’re only in ‘lust’ with me—all your marriage talk was bullshit.”
    Yeah, a waiting jet and a huge rock of a ring is bullshit. I realized this Laura thing had taken over her mind. Not letting her see coherently. “NO! Pearl, I do want to marry you.”
    “Oh, so you can have little wifey waiting for you at home while you go off and have affairs! I’m not that kind of girl, Alexandre. Maybe there are plenty of women out there who would stand that kind of marriage for the luxuries you can provide with all your money, but I don’t care how rich you are! I just want a faithful husband; a man who sees only me.” Her eyes flashed like warning lights, the blue a deep, glimmering ultramarine.
    I kissed her hand. I dared not do more; her wrath was impressive, her fire blazing. “I only see you, Pearl, I swear. It’s been hell for me. I’ve missed you like crazy. I’ve been obsessing about you, night and day. Going around with a hard-on for two weeks—please calm me down, chérie—I feel like an animal. I need you. I need you baby.” Bad little speech that one. It made her rage all the more—it sounded as if I only wanted her for sex. The whole ‘books in the box’ saga was dredged up. More explanations while Pearl raised her eyebrows at me with suspicion and disdain. I explained the gift-wrapped box, the fact that I’d gone to Provence first, and why I hadn’t sent it by mail. I finally thought I’d won her over. But no.
    Not even close.
    “That doesn’t explain how Laura knew so much about me. She said you’d called me a “loony with a slutty past.” Pearl pushed me away again and tossed her head in disgust. “You told Laura my secrets, things about my private life. About Alessandra, because Laura just happened to know everything!”
    I had been able to explain my movements and reasons up until now, but not this. How did Laura have all that information? Sophie hadn’t spoken to her, and Elodie didn’t know that stuff. I thought back. Had Elodie listened in on one of my private conversations with Pearl? No. How the fuck did Laura know all this? The argument between Pearl and me went on, back and forth. Pearl not believing me. A bolt of rage shot through me.
    I shouted, “I don’t fucking know how Laura knew that stuff, but I love you, I want to marry you and I don’t want Laura fucking well near me! You have to believe me!” I roared so loudly that the sound echoed through the fresh, newly decorated apartment.
    Finally Pearl was silent. The drama had appeased her. I saw her breathing was erratic, her lips parted and her gaze flicked down to my crotch and then to my eyes. Her look said, Please just fuck me—I can’t take this mistrust.