Forever Wicked: A Wicked Lovers Novella (1001 Dark Nights) by Shayla Black Read Free Book Online Page A

please.”
    Michaela didn’t show her disappointment. “Of course. I’ll condition it, too. Now that winter is coming, you’ll need a little extra moisture.”
    Sure. Whatever.
    Gia leaned back, lowering her head into one of Jason’s sinks as Michaela wet her hair. Stacia approached her with several bottles of nail polish and asked her to pick one for her pedicure. Absently, she picked a peachy-bronze color and sighed as Michaela began to shampoo her. Gia knew she should relax and enjoy the pampering. She hadn’t had any in the last year. Instead, the worry that the temporary nanny wouldn’t remember to read Tony Jr. a bedtime story distracted her. And the hope that Jason would soon be in a better mood ran a close second.
    An hour later, she stared at herself in the mirror, blinking in surprise. With a few snips of the scissors, the brandishing of a blow dryer, and some turns of a curling iron, Michaela had transformed her hair into something beautiful, full of body and shine. Stacia had finished her pedi, and now shaped and buffed her fingernails.
    Afterward, she emerged from the bathroom. A baby-doll nightie in a blush color, trimmed with beige lace that would cup her breasts and flirt with her thighs, lay strewn across the bed. A very small thong accompanied it. A pair of new champagne-hued Louboutin stilettos sat on top of their box, their bows glittering, the red soles a bright warning.
    “I’m supposed to put all this on?” she asked no one in particular.
    “Not yet,” Michaela answered, then turned to her assistant.
    Gia caught sight of a pot of wax heating as Stacia set up what looked like a wide massage table and covered it with a clean sheet. Her stomach dropped. Jason really meant everything he’d said. He intended to take her to bed. For that, he’d want her waxed. After all, why shouldn’t he insist on his money’s worth? Remembering how much she’d hurt him and how much she owed him, she eased onto the table, vowing not to give her husband any more of herself than her body.
     
    * * * *
     
    Scrubbing a hand down his face, Jason paced his kitchen. The scents of the savory garlic-herb roasted chicken and vegetables blended with the delicious aroma of yeasty bread. He should be hungry by now. Starved, even. Hell, he couldn’t notice a damn thing but the clock ticking, his dick aching, and that wretched pain only Gia could make him feel gouging his chest.
    His wife had chosen money. He’d offered her the funds in desperation, never imagining that she’d take them. Rather, he’d clung to the hope that she had agreed to meet him at the Mexican restaurant because she wanted to resume their marriage. In truth, Jason had been worried that Gia had come to seek a divorce. He’d been prepared to talk fast to convince her otherwise. But never had he imagined that she’d actually take him up on his wretched offer and sell herself.
    Apparently, she wasn’t different from the rest, after all.
    The only saving grace to this situation was that his mother had been gone when he’d returned home late Sunday. Not surprisingly, she’d taken the cash on his dresser. Later, she’d texted to say that she had found a new friend while consoling herself at Neiman’s. Apparently, the man had invited her to dinner at The French Room. Jason hadn’t seen Samantha since. Her new friend must be “entertaining” her. Hell, if the guy had enough money, he’d probably be husband number five.
    Finally, the two beauticians he’d hired to take care of Gia’s personal needs made their way down the stairs, implements all packaged up in their roller bags. He exchanged a few words with the quiet blonde, but didn’t hear a lot beyond the fact that his wife was finished and waiting for him upstairs.
    More eager than he wanted to be, Jason paid the women and tipped them amply before he tossed together a dinner tray, added a chilled bottle of wine, and headed up to find his bride.
    His heart raced as he reached the closed