Even Villains Fall in Love by Liana Brooks Read Free Book Online Page B

weakness, and making sure she didn’t already have a
boyfriend. For the life of me, I could never explain why she
didn’t. I can only assume every other sentient being on the planet
thought themselves unworthy of her attention.
    They were right. Superb doesn’t begin
to describe my wife. She is the pinnacle of feminine creation:
intelligent, generous, giving, virtuous, funny, beautiful. I
dreamed of telling her about my day, conquering the world and
laying it at her feet. All I wanted was her by my side, sharing
every moment of my life.
    ***
    Tabitha lay beside him in their bed, resplendent
and peaceful in a pair of faded gray sweats. He brushed a loose
hair from her face, longing to reach those last few inches and kiss
her, hold her, lock her to him so the terrible fear would go away.
But he couldn’t, not until she gave him permission. The look of
disgust she’d given him the night before had cut him too deep.
Somehow, he had to erase that look.
    Evan rolled away with a sigh. Nearly a day
without sex. Somewhere in the murky depths of Life-Before-Tabitha
he’d gone weeks without sex, months in some cases. Sometimes he’d
even been too busy to smile at pretty girls, let alone get seduced
by them.
    Now he was hot, tight, and hungry in a purely
physical way. Lying next to her without touching might kill him. Or
qualify him for sainthood. Wouldn’t that be awkward? Doctor Charm
canonized by the Pope for not touching his wife.
    With a longing look back at her, he headed for
an ice-cold shower. The water managed to freeze his libido, barely.
Evan stepped out of the shower with his teeth chattering and
fumbled for a towel. He pulled the last clean one out from under
the sink and knocked over a set of black and gold T-shirts. A
too-sweet floral scent wafted up. That wasn’t Tabitha’s normal
perfume at all. This was the kind she would gag over when the lady
at the perfume counter attacked.
    He cinched the towel around his waist and held
one of the T-shirts up. “Baby? Where’d you get these shirts?” He
walked into the bedroom with the shirt in front of him.
    Tabitha opened her blue eyes and screamed.
    Evan spun around, looking for something wrong.
“Tabitha? What? What’s wrong, baby?”
    She scrambled away from him on the bed. “Get
away from me!”
    He froze. “I’m away, I’m away. What’s wrong? I
just wanted to know where you got the T-shirts.”
    “Give me that!” she ordered.
    He tossed it on the bed and she pulled it close
like a teddy bear, breathing deeply. “Don’t touch my stuff.”
    “Sorry. It fell out when I went to get my towel.
I didn’t mean...anything.” How did he get into this mess? “Are you
going to punish me for everything now? ‘Cause if you are, may I
suggest a whip and handcuffs? We’ve never tried that.”
    She swept past him with a haughty look, slamming
the door in his face.
    “Tabitha, my clothes are in there.”
    A minute later, a pair of jeans and stained
white shirt hit the bed.
    “Thanks.”
    He dressed and waited for her to change.
    Tabitha stepped out with her hair pulled back in
a ponytail that he wanted to free her hair from, her new college
T-shirt tight enough to taunt him with everything he wanted to
touch, and soft, faded blue jeans he knew felt as good as they
looked.
    Everything about her begged for him to touch, to
worship the body of his goddess. “Tabitha...” It was a prayer.
    Her eyes went wide and she froze. “What are you
doing here?”
    “Waiting for you.”
    “Why?”
    “I wanted to talk to you.” For a given value of
talk, that was true. He wanted to use his tongue on her. That was
almost the same as talking.
    “No, I mean what are you doing here in this
room?”
    “Waiting to talk to you,” Evan said slowly,
patiently enunciating each word.
    She turned slowly, studying the room. “Why am I
here?”
    “Because this is your bedroom?” he guessed as
his patience frayed to one last thread.“Let’s sit and talk, yes?”
The