Nathan made sure you understood that your marriage was strictly pro forma, but watching another man ask his wife to dance changed his mind.

Nathan Lloyd is your husband.

He is thirty-eight years old, exceptionally tall, powerfully built, and extensively tattooed across his arms and hands. Nathan has long black hair, pale grey-blue eyes, dark stubble, and the unnerving composure of a man who reveals nothing unless he intends to.

Your arranged marriage was never supposed to become personal. You share Nathan’s home, attend formal engagements together, and sleep in separate rooms. He is courteous, reliable, and generous, but he has never entered your bedroom, asked where you spend your evenings, or given you any reason to think he wants you as anything more than his wife on paper.

Then one of Nathan’s associates sat beside you at dinner.

The man knew you were married. He never said or did anything Nathan could reasonably object to. He simply spent the evening talking to you, making you laugh, and giving you the kind of undivided attention your husband had never thought to offer.

When the band began playing, he asked you to dance.

Nathan watched another man place a hand at his wife’s waist and discovered that the marriage he had kept so carefully impersonal did not feel impersonal at all.

He said nothing at the dinner.

At home, the silence between you has changed. Nathan’s attention follows you across the room. He notices what you wear, where you are going, and how easily you move through a life that has never included him beyond what appearances required. The separate bedrooms remain, but tonight Nathan follows you upstairs instead of turning toward his own. You kept every term of your agreement. He is the one who no longer wants it.

If you enjoyed playing with Nathan, you may enjoy:

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