by Pam Godwin
She and Tomas had that in common.
Luke didn’t want her here, for her own protection and his peace of mind. But Alejandro had instructed otherwise, and the reason for that wouldn’t make itself known until the entertainment began.
Given the tautness in her shoulders, she knew what was coming.
“She belongs to my brothers.” Vera slid a fingernail beneath Luke’s jaw, attempting to turn his attention back to her.
“Not this week, she doesn’t.” He gave Vera his eyes. “Tell me why you hate her.”
“Tell me why you want her.”
“She’s available, and that availability allows me to do anything I desire to her tight little body.”
As she mulled that over, her eyes dilated, and the rise and fall of her chest slowly sped up.
“If I were available…” She trailed her nail down his neck and hooked it beneath the tie. “What would you do to me?”
“Your answer first.” He captured her wrist, holding it immobile. “Why do you hate her?”
“She makes my brothers stupid.”
“Explain.”
“The whore is a distraction.” At the clench of his fingers around her arm, she narrowed her eyes. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You all turn into cavemen the way they fight over her.”
“I’m not fighting.”
“Semantics. I can’t help but wonder if she can cast spells with her pussy. Every man who falls in doesn’t come out with his brain intact.”
“That’s a pretty powerful trick.” He smiled, unable to deny the claim.
“It’s sorcery. My brothers need to get the fuck over her.”
Jealousy. That was the real answer to his question. Vera was insanely, viciously jealous of the attention that Hector’s sons gave to Gina. If he had to guess, Vera was in love with at least one of them.
“You know…” He released her wrist. “The best way to get over a woman is to send her home with another man.”
“You mean, send her home with you?” Her spine went ramrod straight. “You actually want to keep her?”
“Perhaps.” He stretched his arms along the back of the couch, reclining with his legs spread and his gaze locked on Gina. “There’s something quite enchanting about her.”
There was something, all right. She made him feel restless and possessive, like an alien predator trapped in his skin.
Tomas stood like a sentinel behind her, allowing Luke the opportunity to work on Vera. But his focus was shit. Every brain cell seemed to be on a single track, one that had nothing to do with the operation and everything to do with protecting his fighter.
Marco and Alejandro were the only other two men present tonight. Evidently, Omar didn’t attend family dinners, and Miguel was still out of town on business. A few scantily dressed cantina girls milled about the room, collecting empty glasses and taking orders.
The brothers didn’t give the girls the time of day. Nor did they seem the least bit concerned with him cozying up on the couch with Vera.
No, they only had eyes for Gina.
If either man touched her, the night would be over. He’d made that announcement the moment they arrived for dinner.
“They’ll never let you keep her.” Vera sniffed. “They’ll kill her before they let her leave the property.”
“They call her a whore, but you and I both know that’s bullshit. Who is she?”
“Don’t know.” She shrugged.
“Don’t know or won’t say?”
“Poor pathetic man.” Vera shook her head. “You’re bewitched by a woman who despises you.”
“Is that right? Have you watched us together on the cameras? Sleeping? Working out? Fucking?” He wrapped the last word in gravel and heat, marking the raising goosebumps along her arms. “Ask your question again.”
Her lashes fluttered, and two pink blooms rose to her cheeks. “If I was available, what would you do?”
“Let’s go for a drive tomorrow.”
“A drive? How would—?”
“I’ll borrow one of Marco’s hypercars.”
“He would never—”
“I can be very persuasive.” Not that persuasive. But he had another plan. Angling toward her, he gave her the full force of his gaze—the look that always got him laid. “I want to get out of here for a few hours. Just you and me. We’ll drive somewhere nearby.” He drifted closer, letting her feel his breath against her neck. “Then I’ll show you what I can do to you.”
“We don’t need to leave.” She was leaning, floating into him, caught in his snare. “I have my own room.”
“So do I.” He parted his lips around her earlobe, barely touching, but it was enough to melt her next breath.
“Mine doesn’t have cameras.”
His rush of victory was instantly strangled by a fist of guilt. He felt Gina’s eyes on him before he looked in her direction.
Their gazes clashed and tangled, yelling soundlessly and swinging invisible punches. Disgust steamed from the cracks in her expression, her hands flexing into white-knuckled weapons on her lap.
Did she not like seeing him with another woman? Or just this woman?
If only he could tell her this was a job, that he was serving a greater cause.
But that was the problem. He wasn’t here to pursue romantic interests. Gina was collateral. A means to an end. He didn’t owe her an explanation. She’d put herself in the cartel’s grasp, and not once had he promised to get her out.
This wasn’t about her.
Returning his attention to Vera, he embraced the vow he’d made to his team and their newest member, Tula Gomez.
He was holding Tula’s sister in his arms. She was alive and growing pliable by the second. Bedding her was the quickest and surest way to get inside her—in her head, in her trust—to locate the key to finishing this mission.
Molding his lips around her earlobe, he suckled it like a clit. The technique lay in the pressure of his tongue, the precise amount of suction and friction, and the low, vibrating hum in the back of his throat. He did it exactly as he’d been taught by Van and Liv, the mechanics executed with an unrivaled skill that was so effective her head fell back, and her breathing careened out of control.
He felt nothing.
Lost to his tongue, she moaned, gasped, and arched her back as her hands grappled for a landing place. Frantic fingers grazed his flaccid cock, and he swatted them away, repulsed and suddenly, irrationally angry.
Old hang-ups rose to the surface. He’d been trained to lick and suck, pleasure and serve. All for a master who had bought him and ultimately died at the hands of his friends. But he’d never felt more like a whore than he did right now.
He didn’t want this woman. His heart wanted someone else.
Since when did his heart have a say in sex? It was inconceivable, yet the damn thing hammered at him, demanding he change course and find another way.
He slowed the roll of his tongue, hating the taste of her skin, the scent of her hair, and the sounds of her gasps. Easing back, he grimaced inwardly at the sight of her body splayed in lust.
With her legs parted as far as the dress allowed, her hand moved between her thighs, stroking her greedy cunt. Eyes bedazzled, tits heaving over the bodice, she was ripe and ready.
From just a kiss on her ear.
So goddamn easy.
He could fuck her right here. She would fall apart on his cock and beg for more, guaranteeing him access to her room, her bed, and the thoughts in her head. He wouldn’t even need to resort to orgasm denial. The way she was looking at him now—eyes hooded and thighs trembling—she would sing her secrets in just a few thrusts.
His move.
Voices murmured around him. Ice clinked in glasses. Soft, classical Spanish music thrummed from hidden speakers, and somewhere deep in his soul, his sense of loyalty won. Loyalty to his friends, his family, and their mission.
He slid a hand along Vera’s inner thigh, the skin damp and hot, quiv
ering beneath his touch. Slipping his other hand beneath her head, he threaded his fingers through her hair. Coarse hair. Straight. Too short and all wrong.
Focus, asshole.
He leaned toward her face, and she lifted her mouth, offering, silently pleading for a kiss. He wouldn’t fuck her here. Not in front of Gina. She was too much of a distraction. Even now, he felt her gaze pounding blow after blow against his back.
Maybe he imagined it, hoping for it like a desperate douchebag.
Clearing his mind, he focused on the plump, red-stained mouth before him, the lips he could conquer and ruin for all others. He’d made women come from just a kiss, and with her fingers vigorously working between her legs, she was already climbing, panting. A puddle of lust and need in his hands.
A breath away from her mouth, he paused, wrestling with the inescapable urge to steal a glimpse behind him. He had to know if she was watching.
If she cared.
Tilting his neck, his gaze unerringly latched onto her waiting eyes. Punishing eyes, flaring with all the violence and scorn of a damaging storm. Despite the distance, the rage in her barely contained breaths blazed a fire around him, burning him alive.
Alejandro leaned over her chair, speaking in Spanish, trying to get her attention. But her gaze remained on Luke, blistering his skin and manipulating the flow of his blood.
He fucking adored her for that. In the space of one look, she roused the darkest, most twisted parts of his nature, stirring awake uncontrollable desires and stretching them beneath his skin.
His balls tightened. His cock swelled, and he had to reach and make a crude adjustment. The feelings she unleashed in him were unwieldy. Monstrous. Impossible to tame. And the dangerous surge only intensified when Alejandro got in her face.
Luke seethed, fighting the vicious explosion inside him. Pulling his hand from Vera’s thigh, he veered his mouth past her lips and spoke in her ear. “I’ll give you some time to think about this.”
It was the best he could do without completely destroying his progress with her.
Pushing off the couch, he crossed the room in a few unstoppable strides and grabbed Gina’s arm. With a hard tug, he had her off the chair and out of Alejandro’s reach.
“Is there a problem?” he asked the stocky muscle head.
“No hay problema.” The man glared daggers. “But I find it odd this…she…” His English broke up as he searched for the right words.
“She watches you.” Marco strolled forward with a hand in his pocket and an arm around a scowling Vera. “Why is this?” He nodded at Gina. “This man-hater stares at you with venom, sure. But something else lurks between her eyes and yours. I want to know what it is.”
Marco wasn’t an idiot. None of them were. They didn’t run the largest, meanest, most dangerous cartel in Mexico on luck. They knew what they were doing, and the biggest part of that was understanding their enemies.
“I give her things.” Luke tightened his grip on Gina’s arm as she angrily tried to jerk away.
“Things?” Marco rubbed his jaw. “What things?”
He met Vera’s eyes and shaped the word like a kiss. “Orgasms.”
Her gaze dipped to his mouth, darkening with hunger.
Marco threw his head back and laughed. “This, I don’t believe. The whore is incapable of pleasure.”
“Perhaps you’re incapable of giving it.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
Sudden, heavy silence clotted the room, the atmosphere too strained to breathe.
Well, fuck. He’d just thrown down the gauntlet, challenging the cartel in their own house.
“Prove it.” Marco’s command fell like thunder through the room. “Show me this power you claim to have over women.”
Burn in hell.
Luke had a mind to tell the motherfucker how he felt about being ordered around. But doing so would end with his body rotting in whatever hole the cartel deemed deep enough.
Carefully, he released Gina’s arm, and carefully, he clasped his hands behind him. “What did you have in mind?”
“This isn’t necessary.” Vera tensed.
“Yes, it is.” Marco paced beside her. “You watched the monitors this morning. The whore fought him, rather pathetically. She did not come.”
“Since you were spying on me,” Luke said, “you know she tried to sneak out before Alejandro came by. You also know that I brought her to the point of begging and denied her release. It’s called punishment.”
Marco and Vera shared a look. Yeah, they’d seen the whole damn show. He’d counted on it.
“You seem to know your way around a woman’s body, Mr. Smith.” Vera touched her throat, toying with a wisp of hair. “But how many of your untamed whores reciprocate?” She flicked a hand at Gina and laughed mockingly. “This one would never put her mouth on you. Not without biting off your dick.”
“Exactamente.” Marco studied him with a pensive mien.
“You’re wrong.” Luke knew how to control the human jaw and feed in his cock without so much as a scratch.
Alejandro gulped back a swig of tequila and lowered into a nearby chair. He was the brother to keep an eye on. The quiet ones were usually shifty and underhanded, the ones who stabbed their victims during consoling hugs and hid the bodies under their beds.
“I’m curious.” Marco paused behind Vera and slid his hands around her waist. “If given the choice, whose face would you fuck? My beautiful sister’s?” He reached up and caressed Vera’s cleavage, prompting her lashes to lower submissively. “Or the bruised face of a whore?”
His gorgeous fighter. Hands down. No question.
But this wasn’t about his personal preference. The cartel loved their games. Every play had a price, and the wrong move would be costly.
What did Marco want out of this? To see if Luke was too cowardly to tempt Gina’s teeth? Or if he was stupid enough to take the risk? Maybe this had nothing to do with him? Could it be a test of Vera’s loyalty? Or Gina’s?
The biggest mindfuck of all was the way Marco continued to fondle Vera’s tits after referring to her as his sister.
Luke shuddered. “How are you related? Same mother? Father?”
Neither option made sense. Tula Gomez shared a father with Marco and a mother with Vera. Vera’s father was unknown.
“It’s not important.” Marco punctuated the point by palming one of her heavy breasts and kissing her neck. “You have a great mouth, don’t you, mi reina?” His eyes lifted to Luke while he nibbled. “Hot, wet suction. No one gives head like my sister.”
Alejandro watched from the chair, his heated expression vacillating somewhere between disgust and lust.
Incest aside, Luke wanted to leave the lovebirds to it and haul Gina out of there. The fastest way out was the path of least resistance, and Marco wanted a show.
Vera would offer no resistance. Luke only needed to snap his fingers, and she would be on his cock like a fly on honey.
He sensed her staring and reluctantly met her eyes. What he saw there was blatant desire, but beneath the thirst lay a shining gleam of vulnerability.
What were her stakes in this? Yesterday, she wanted nothing to do with him. Now, seeing him with Gina, she was playing right into his plan. But what if her role here wasn’t so black and white? Everyone was playing a game. For some, it was a game of survival.
“Make a decision.” Marco smoothed a hand down Vera’s arm. “Whose throat will you fuck, John Smith?”
“I thought you didn’t share your sister.”
“I make the rules and change them as I please.”
“You know what I think?” Luke rested a hand on Gina’s lower back. “You’re setting me up.”
She went rigid, and he flattened his palm, waiting for her to feel him, to listen to his touch.
“Setting you up how?” Marco’s face turned to marble.
“You tell me.” He was stalling.
Moving his thumb, he stroked her spine. Tapped.
Stroked again. Only Tomas stood behind them. Cameras were there, but to anyone monitoring them, it would just look like nervous fidgeting.
Make a move, Gina.
He circled his thumb, applying pressure, releasing, and tapping again. Sending her a message.
This is your choice.
He could force her to suck his cock. Or he could make her watch him face-fuck her archenemy. If she didn’t give him some sort of signal, he would choose her. Her mouth. Her body. He wanted her heart.
The sickest part of him hoped it would come to that. He wanted to shove himself so deep in her throat that she felt him in her chest. He wanted to lose control in her body, torment her with passion, and wreck her as thoroughly as she was wrecking him.
On the heels of those thoughts, he felt the mission unraveling in his hands. For the life of him, he couldn’t choose Vera. Or his friends. Or their cause. Not this time.
“I’m only interested,” Marco said, “in seeing which mouth you intend to take.”
Luke increased the rhythm of his thumb, silently urging Gina to make a decision. “Maybe I want both. At the same time.”
Both women bristled.
“No-no-no.” Marco wagged a finger, grinning. “That is not the deal.”
“All right.” He dropped his hand from Gina’s back. “I made my decision.”
At the edge of his vision, she flexed her hands into fists and stared at her feet. His neck stiffened as she drew in a breath. Then she turned toward him and slowly moved her arm.
The moment her fingers touched his cock, his pulse burst into a gallop. Blood rushed to his groin, and he swelled, hardened, throbbed.
His desire for her was visceral, but it wasn’t just based in lust. The most benign things set it off. Like the sound of her Rs rolling on her tongue. The intoxicating taste in the air when she yelled in his face. The way her scent carried through his nose and hit his brain with comforting familiarity.
And the feel of her hand curling around his erection through the suit pants.
Her touch wasn’t benign at all. It was detrimental to his job. He wanted this tiny little warrior with a ferocity that felt foreign. Inexplicable. Completely out of his depth.
