CHAPTER NINE - BEDROOM

"Sarah! Open the damned door!"

Lorenzo angrily thumped on the wooden door again, and this time it was loud enough to make Sarah jump up and hurriedly unlock and open the door, for fear that the alpha would wake the live-in housekeeper. Despite the fact that his voice had been only a grim whisper through the wooden door ,Sarah was in no doubt that her husband was absolutely livid.

Sarah stood staring up at Lorenzo in the dim light and was surprised by the flash of hot fury on his face, which was so quickly masked beneath the more familiar mask of icy indifference, that Sarah wasn't sure if she had imagined the emotion.

"What are you doing here?" Lorenzo asked stiffly.

"I've decided to move into this room," Sarah informed him, not quite succeeding in keeping the anxiety from her voice, and Lorenzo’s jaw clenched.

Sarah had not anticipated having this conversation until morning.

Lorenzo was full of surprises today.

Sarah had known that he would be upset about her moving out of their bedroom. Lorenzo enjoyed sex with her and seemed happy to have his omega conveniently within arm's reach.

Still, it was completely out of character for him to actually come thumping on the bedroom door, demanding an explanation in the dead of night!

Sarah had expected a cold and controlled conversation about it over the breakfast table. The light from the landing was just bright enough for Sarah to see the stormy emotion brewing in her husband's eyes, and she swallowed a lump of disappointment when the emotion was doused in ice.

"I can see that," he gritted out. "I think the pertinent question is why?" And she could see that it just about killed Lorenzo to ask it.

"I'd feel like a hypocrite if I stayed in the master bedroom with you." Sarah shrugged again. "Just this morning I told you I wanted a divorce, so it wouldn't feel right if I continued to share your bed as if we'd never had that conversation."

"You're being ridiculous," Lorenzo said dismissively.

"No...I think I'm actually making sense for the first time in nearly two years."

"My wife" — Lorenzo placed sarcastic emphasis on the last word-"sleeps with me. You will come back to our bedroom, if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming!"

"I-I...m-may have to sleep with you, Lorenzo ,"Sarah conceded, knowing that if he chose to do as he threatened, the omega would definitely lose to Lorenzo’s superior size and strength.

"But I won't be having sex with you anymore."

"You would deny me, your husband, Your alpha, this basic marital right?" He sounded frankly astonished by that, as astonished as Sarah felt for even daring to say the words.

"Yes, and you were never for a day were my alpha, we never had a bond."

Lorenzo eyes narrowed and he took a threatening step toward her.

"What's to stop me from just taking what belongs to me?" Lorenzo asked speculatively, ignoring Sarah refusal to accept him as her alpha, his eyes raking dismissively over Sarah’s thin ,slender, shivering, T-shirt-clad body.

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and hunched her shoulders defensively.

"I don't belong to you," Sarah said softly yet firmly.

"Well, I certainly forked out huge amounts of money for you. That feels like ownership to me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sarah protested in frustration, and Lorenzo laughed softly.

"And you're still singing the same tired old tune," Lorenzo mocked. "This is beside the point. I have no wish to rehash these details, it achieves nothing.

Come on, we're going to bed!" He grabbed Sarah’s hand and tugged her back toward their bedroom a few doors down the hall.

Sarah was so shocked by the abrupt gesture that she stumbled along behind Lorenzo , before instinct kicked in and she dug in her heels, leaving him to practically drag Sarah the last few feet.

Sarah was out of breath and furious when Lorenzo finally released her hand. They were in the master bedroom, facing each other, and Sarah glared at him...refusing to be intimidated by his scowl.

"When did you become the Neanderthal Man Lorenzo ? I never thought you would resort to caveman tactics." Lorenzo didn't like being called a barbarian, not his suave, sophisticated, and rigid husband.

Sarah could see it in the way his mouth thinned and his eyes blazed, the said caveman grabbed her wrist and dragged Sarah up against him.

"You haven't seen the Neanderthal in me yet, cara. I advise you not to push me on this, not unless you want things to get really ugly between us." Lorenzo used his whole body to intimidate Sarah, leaning over and into her, nose to nose.

"I don't see how things can get any uglier," she whispered.

"You really don't want to find out how much worse it can get, trust me on that." Lorenzo’s eyes bored into hers ,and his breath came in small, shallow gasps.

Sarah was suddenly aware of how closely he was pressed against her and felt a betraying flash of heat uncoiling in the pit of her stomach and radiating outward.

Even though Lorenzo never really let himself go to bed, he was still an incredible lover, and despite, or maybe because of, the clinical precision with which he conducted the act, he always made sure she climaxed.

But Sarah would have traded any number of those orgasms for a kiss, or even a show of affection afterward, but she couldn't help her reaction to him.

Lorenzo could always make her melt.

Chemistry was a terrible thing; sometimes it simply sparked between the wrong people.