Seducing my Ex-husband back (Claire) novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17

FRACTURED TRUTH

-CLAIRE POV-

He didn’t need more.

In one movement, he carried me down the hall, my legs wrapped around his waist, my arms clinging to his shoulders.

The bedroom door was open, the bed unmade, the sheets tangled from the last time we had been here.

He didn’t bother with finesse.

He dropped me onto the mattress, and I bounced once before he was on me again, his weight pressing me into the softness beneath us.

I spread my legs, my body moving on instinct, and his eyes darkened further as he took in the sight of me beneath him.

He reached for his shirt, fingers working the buttons with quick, furious movements,

The fabric fell away, revealing the hard planes of his chest, the ridges of muscle that flexed as he moved.

I reached for him, my hands sliding up his arms, feeling the tension in him, the barely leashed control. He caught my wrists, pinning them above my head with one hand, his grip unyielding.

I gasped, my back arching, my body straining against his hold.

“You don’t get to touch me,” he growled, his free hand sliding down my body, tracing the curve of my waist, my hip, my thigh.

“Not this time.”

I whimpered, but I didn’t fight him. His touch was fire, and I was already burning.

His hand slid between my legs, his fingers rough against the sensitive skin of my inner thighs. I gasped, my hips jerking, but he held me down, his weight keeping me in place.

His fingers found me, slipping through the wetness that had gathered there, and I moaned, my head falling back against the bed.

“You’re already so wet for me,” he muttered, his voice rough

The heat built between us, desperate and consuming.

His fingers worked me with skillful accuracy, bringing me to the edge before pulling back, again and again, until I was trembling beneath him.

“Please,” I gasped, my hips lifting, seeking more friction.

He positioned himself between my legs, the hard length of him pressing against me. For a moment, we stayed like that, balanced on the ridge of everything.

He enters me in one sharp motion, and I gasp….half pain, half surrender. But just when it’s too much….when I’m right on the edge….I falter.

My hands press against his chest.

“Wait.”

He stops. Eyes scanning mine.

“What?”

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Chapter 17

+15 Bonus

I stare up at the ceiling, chest heaving, the words clawing out of me before I can stop them.

“What if I’m not the woman you think I am?”

Silence.

His weight still holding me down, his breath hot on my skin–but the room turns cold. Because for once, I’m not sure which

answer I’m more afraid of:

That he’ll lie.

Or that he won’t.

Alexander pulls back slightly, his hands moving to frame my face. His green eyes search mine in the dim light, and I see something shift there. Something softer. More real.

“Claire,” he says, his voice gentler now. “Who do you think I think you are?”

The question catches me off guard. I expected comfort. Empty promises. Pretty lies wrapped in prettier words.

“Perfect,” I whisper. “Strong. Unbroken. The woman who came back transformed and ready to conquer the world.”

His thumb traces my cheekbone. “You think I don’t see the cracks?”

“Don’t you?”

A slow smile spreads across his face, but there’s something sad in it. “Darling, I fell in love with the cracks. The way you cry during dog commercials. The way you check the locks three times before bed. The way you still flinch when someone raises

their voice.”

My breath catches.

“I know you still wake up some nights thinking about him,” he continues, his voice steady.

“I know you came back for revenge, not for me. I know you’re using me, at least partially, to get back at the man who destroyed

you.”

The words should hurt. It should make him pull away. Instead, his grip on me tightens.

“And I don’t care,” he says.

“Because somewhere between your prearranged seduction and your perfectly planned revenge, something real happened. You started letting me see the woman behind the armor.”

“Alexander….”

“I’m not trying to fix you,” he says, echoing his earlier words. “I’m trying to love all of you. The strong parts and the broken parts. The parts that plan revenge and the parts that still cry over what you lost.”

The tears come before I can stop them. Hot and fast and full of everything I’ve been holding back.

“I don’t know how to be loved like that,” I admit. “Richard wanted me to be small and grateful. You want me… whole.”

“I want you real,” he corrects.

“I want the woman who’s brave enough to come back and claim her power. But I also want the woman who’s scared she’s not enough. Because they’re the same person, Claire. And she’s extraordinary.”

He kisses me then, soft and slow, like he’s making a promise. When he pulls back, his eyes are serious.

“So let me ask you again,” he says. “Are you the woman I think you are?”

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Chapter 17

+15 Bonus

I think about it. Really think about it.

I’m the woman who loved too much and learned to love smarter. Who broke apart and put herself back together with gold in the

cracks.

Who came back for revenge but found something better.

I’m flawed and fierce and still figuring it out.

I’m exactly who I’m supposed to be.

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