Salt in the Wound

The first time I meet the devil, he knows my name.

The second time I meet him, the truth becomes clear: Mark Trevena is to be my husband.

No matter that we don't know each other.   No matter that he's older than me; shameless and sinful; the owner of a secret club where the powerful come to play.   My father has spoken, and I'll be the devil's bride the minute I graduate from college.

Except my future husband has one condition for this arranged marriage: we have to pretend it's real.  

He'll teach me, he says.   How to pretend to be his in pain and pleasure both.   How to pretend to arch and writhe under his touch.   But his lessons are teaching me something else entirely. . .

. . . that Mark Trevena wants me in a way that's not pretend at all.  

And no matter how I might fight it, the devil will have his due.