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"You picked my lock."

She sits up and pushes the hair out of her face.

"It was pretty simple."

"That's not the point."

"No, I don't suppose it is," she says softly.

I step into the room. "I told you this room was off-limits."

"I know." She stands, and the blanket falls to the floor. She's wearing an oversized T-shirt and not much else. "But after last night, I needed to know."

"You needed to know what?"

She comes toward me. "If you are human."

I tell myself to ignore the fact that every time she takes a step closer, I get a flash of her tiny panties. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I need to know if you are capable of feeling anything. And to do that, I needed to know more about you."

"And so you thought you'd just pick a lock and break into my library," I growl.

"I wanted to know who I married," she says. "I wanted to know if there's an actual person behind the ice-cold walls."

"And?"

"And I found this room."

She's infuriating.

"You had no right," I say.

I take another step forward.

"You gave me no choice."

She takes another.

"And that makes it right?"

My voice is rough and strained. I’m tense and wound tight. I have been ever since she came undone on my cock and made me come in my dress pants. Because I want more.

And now she's standing here in nothing but a T-shirt with her nipples pressing against the fabric, and I'm about to lose my goddamn mind.

"Maybe breaking in here was wrong," she says. "But I did it anyway because I deserve to know who my husband is."

"You think breaking into my private space gives you some kind of power?" I keep my voice even, but it’s raspy with need. "You think seeing my books and my family photographs means you know me?"

"I think it means you're not the monster you want me to believe you are."

"I am exactly the monster I want you to believe I am."

"No." She shakes her head. "I don't think you are."

"Then you're not paying attention."

"I'm paying plenty of attention." She takes another step, and now there's barely a foot between us. "This room doesn’t belong to a monster."