Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46 Making It Official

Nara sat up straighter. “Julian?”

He had posted for the first time in his life.

Julian’s caption read, “My wife.”

The photo was Nora in profile, reading a contract.

F

From the angle of it, he’d taken the shot on his way out of the room without her noticing, and looking at it made her face go warm.

She went back to the bedroom. Julian had already showered and was in bed with only the lamp on.

He was in silk pajamas with the collar open and a book in his hands, and the warm light sitting over him made the whole picture something she had to look away from.

Julian put the book down. “Finished?”

The air in that room had gone somewhere she hadn’t agreed to.

“Mm.” Nora felt strange standing there. “Did somebody hack your account?”

He worked out what she meant and looked straight at her. “No. Making it official.”

The look put heat in her face. “Oh.”

He went back to his book. “Everybody follows somebody else’s marriage. Your own is better.”

Somewhere under that flat, cold voice she caught something awkward, and under that, something close to shy. Is it? Is your own really better?

Her face went hot, and she went to shower.

When she came out, the book was put away and Julian was on his phone doing something she couldn’t see.

Nora lay down beside him under her own blanket. “Don’t stay on that too long. Get some sleep.”

It had been a long day. She shut her eyes and started to go under.

“Nora.”

“Mm.” She answered from somewhere half asleep.

“Nora!”

The voice came down cold and annoyed, and before she’d gotten her eyes open there was weight on top of

her.

Her eyes opened on Julian’s face inches from hers, and on the chest his open pajama top wasn’t covering. Every trace of sleep left her.

Chapter 46 Making It Official

“What… what are you doing?”

ora got a hand up against his chest as he came down. “Sir, your body is in no shape for anything strenuous.”

The lamp threw a warm yellow light across the bed.

Julian had half his weight on her. Her cheeks were flushed and her mouth was right there.

He’d never had much interest in any of this, and now something switched on all at once.

He leaned down a little further. “Do you want to?”

“I… I don’t.” His abs were practically in her face, and she swallowed hard.

Sick or not, he was built.

He smelled faintly of the herbs in his medicine, and it wasn’t a bad smell at all.

She wasn’t against the idea. She was against being steamrolled into it.

Finished

Julian looked down at her. The strap of her nightgown had slid off her shoulder and left a long stretch of bare skin.

His mouth went dry, and a want he’d never felt in his life climbed all the way to the top. He wanted her.

Through the thin silk of the blanket, Nora could feel exactly how much he wanted her.

Everything in her went cold, and she was half a second from driving a knee up between his legs.

Julian rolled off the bed instead. “Go to sleep.” His voice came out low, held together by nothing but will.

Nora’s leg was still cocked for it when he walked into the bathroom, and a second later the shower came on.

It took her a moment to catch up. She’d assumed somebody that domineering would take what he wanted and not ask twice.

Instead he’d rolled over and walked out.

Sleep was gone. When Julian came back to bed she asked him, “Cold shower?”

He gave her a long look. “Yes.”

“About that.” She was a little embarrassed saying it. “In your condition you shouldn’t be taking cold showers. It’s bad for you.”

Her shoulder was still bare above the blanket, so he pulled the blanket up over her. “Then stop starting fires.”

Nora stared at him. She hadn’t done one thing.

She thought about it and decided to be serious with him. “You’re a grown man and you’re not well. Cold showers on a regular basis are going to do real damage.”

Julian turned his head toward her. “A cold shower is the only solution you’ve got?”

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Chapter 46 Making It Official

She gave it honest thought. “Actually, no. There are other ways to take the edge off.”

there.” Something darkened in the way he looked at her, and his voice came out rough.

Nora sat up and reached for her phone. “Hold on. I’ll pull up some porn for you, and I’ll order you a few things. They make realistic dolls. Pick an actress and I’ll order one custom.”

Julian watched her scroll through the options in complete seriousness while she asked him which model he preferred and which actress he liked.

“Nora!”

A wave of cold came off him.

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