The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 353

Chapter 353 Unexpected Reunion

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He had never imagined seeing her again beneath the glittering chandeliers of a private club, and certainly not tonight. The woman before him looked nothing like the frightened teen he remembered; time had sculpted her features, polished her confidence, turned innocence into a dangerous kind of grace.

Then again, he mused with a hollow laugh, he had changed even more.

A moment earlier, when he raised his glass at her, an unexpected wave of self–contempt had flooded him, cold and swift.

After Weston all but bundled Laura into the sleek midnight sedan, he drove without a word, engine humming like a threat, until the city lights thinned and his building rose out of the quiet street. Moments later, he ushered her into his apartment, the door snapping shut behind them like the closing of a cage.

“I said stop! Why drag me to this place, Weston? I want to go home! Do you hear me?” she shouted, breaking free from his grip and reaching for the door handle.

Her fingers barely brushed the brass handle before Weston’s hand clamped around her wrist and yanked her back. The next second, she found herself pinned against the cool plaster, his body an unyielding wall that stole the breath from her lungs.

Weston muttered, lips brushing her ear, “Why the rush, Laura? A moment ago at the club, you seemed to have all the time in the world.”

The mere mention of the club lit a fuse; Laura’s temper flared instantly, bright and volatile.

“Do you have any idea I was meeting friends? You pull a stunt like this and everyone’s going to get the wrong idea!”

“Wrong idea? Should a boyfriend really stand by, smiling, while his girlfriend hires a male escort?” His voice was ice as he closed his mouth over her earlobe, sucking hard.

A violent shiver rippled through her. Her ears had always been hypersensitive; the sudden heat of his mouth raised goose bumps across her skin.

“Weston, have you lost your mind…”

“Just giving you what you wanted, so you won’t have to pay another model for attention.”

A coil of anger twisted in his chest, hot and relentless.

He had seen her accept that young man’s drink, and the sight had ignited something feral inside him.

Worse than the rage was the fear–he way her eyes had fixed on the stranger, so intent it made Weston’s pulse stutter.

Has she fallen for him?

She was shallow, he reminded himself, years ago, she had chased Weston’s face, not Weston himself.

And now, just as casually, she was looking at someone else.

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09:59 Mon, 1 Sept

Chapter 353 Unexpected Reunion

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“You honestly think that pretty boy is better looking than me? Or that he can please you more? Laura, don’t you dare forget–you belong to me.” His teeth grazed her earlobe, then clamped down with possessive finality.

“Ow!” Laura cried, pain flaring. “What are you, some kind of dog? Stop biting me!”

“You should be grateful all I did was bite. If you’d taken things further with that man, my punishment wouldn’t have stopped there.”

He soothed the bitten spot with a languid sweep of his tongue, satisfied to see a distinct indentation–his mark–bloom against the delicate skin.

“So what if I do hire a model? We’re together on paper only–this isn’t real.”

“So you’ll continue doing so?” His voice sank into a dangerous hush.

An animal sense of danger crawled up Laura’s spine. She knew that if she dared to say yes, whatever Weston did next could drown her, and she would have no defense.

In terms of tricks, the man outclassed her by every mile; matching him was like fencing blindfolded against a master.

Refusing to show weakness in front of Weston, she lifted her chin provocatively. “Fine. You claim you can satisfy me? Then strip. Take every single piece of fabric off, one by one. Let’s see you prove it.”

Weston narrowed his eyes, the slate–gray irises sharpening until they felt like scalpels aimed straight at

her.

“Can’t do it, can you? Then quit bragging.” She placed two palms on his chest and pushed him back. “We’ll call tonight a draw, but next time, you’d better not-”

“Fine. I’ll strip.” Weston’s voice cracked clean through her protest, a whip–sharp promise.

“What?” Laura’s eyes flew wide, disbelief flooding them like sudden surf against rock.

Before she could blink, the famously ascetic barrister began unbuttoning. First, the cuff links clicked loose, then the collar parted, composure falling away with each precise motion.

One piece, then another–a jacket, the starched shirt, the belt–until a small pile grew at his polished

shoes.

Laura wavered, unsure whose sanity had snapped first–his for complying, or hers for challenging him.

Weston caught her chin between thumb and forefinger, forcing her dazed eyes up to his. “While we’re together, any pleasure you want, I’ll deliver. But if you ever hire another male model, I swear I’ll make you regret it.”

Quinn counted the days–five of them now–since she had been marooned on the island. Strangely, captivity felt like a vacation. Each morning, she woke when her body chose, read novels in a sun–bleached lounge, and strolled the shoreline while Julius handled the cooking.

Had she not been forced to stay, had her brother not awaited her elsewhere, such easy days might have been perfect.

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09:59 Mon, 1 Septt T

Chapter 353 Unexpected Reunion

She stepped onto the balcony, eyes tracking the indigo sheet of sea beyond the rocks.

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A wool sweater settled over her shoulders, warm and sudden. Julius moved beside her and murmured, “Easy, the wind’s fierce today. Don’t catch a chill.”

She studied him; faint bruised crescents darkened beneath his eyes. Even with medication, the man had been sleeping poorly, and she knew it.

The sudden thump–thump of rotors sliced through the quiet. Looking up, Quinn saw a helicopter sweep across the sky toward the island.

“Are they bringing supplies?” she asked, remembering that food and necessities were usually air–dropped.

In five days, she had not once witnessed an arrival, so the whirring machine felt oddly momentous.