“For a while,” the sorceress agreed, nodding. “But not forever. I see light and love, too. Well into old age.” She lifted up and resettled in her seat, a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. “And a daughter,” she added.
“That we know,” Natalia said.
“I’m speaking of the one after this.”
Huh. Two daughters. I was glad for it. I deserved it, and so did Natalia. No girls would be loved more in the world.
The woman sat back with a sigh. “Then again, I’ve been wrong before.” She glanced at her crystal ball. “I can look a little harder if you like? I may see something after all . . .”
“No,” Natalia and I answered at the same time.
“Well. I’ll be here next weekend, too.” She took a pack of cigarettes from somewhere under her table. “Do you have a light?”
“I quit,” I said.
“Right.”
I put my arm around Natalia and guided her away as she cast a final glance over her shoulder at the woman. “Feel better?” I asked.
“Me?” Natalia’s brows lifted. “I could’ve knocked you over with a feather, you were so interested in what she’d say.”
I chuckled. “Nah. I don’t believe in any of that.”
“Sure.” She rolled her eyes. “So you don’t think we’ll have a second girl?”
The thought put a smile on my face all the way back to the third-floor apartment we’d temporarily rented.
As Natalia changed, I opened all the windows overlooking a small courtyard. Fresh, cool air breezed in. I turned on the record player, sat on the edge of our bed to remove my shoes, and leaned back on the mattress with an arm behind my head. Something I hadn’t gotten to do very much in my old life—sit and listen to music.
I thought of the Badlands often—I couldn’t help it. It had been my life for twelve years. But between my childhood with my parents, my service at Costa’s compound, and the Calavera cartel, I’d lived several lifetimes. This one, with Natalia, would be just another adventure, and there was nobody I wanted by my side more.
Speaking of the she-devil, she strolled out of the bathroom in a black silk slip with lacy red edges that stopped just below the tops of her thighs. She smoothed her palms over her belly, curving her hands underneath and turning to the side so I could see how far along she was. I liked to watch her grow. To look at her as much as possible and commit these days to memory. Once the baby came, things would be a little more chaotic. Traveling around wouldn’t be as easy. I’d have to keep looking over my shoulder everywhere we went, with even more on the line.
But it was a good problem to have. After the life we’d led, I was confident there wasn’t anything my wife and I couldn’t take on.
She poured me a whisky neat from the bottle we’d picked up during our trip to the square and brought the glass and a lit candle to my bedside. “It’s Day of the Dead, and we didn’t do anything,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I think we should be thankful for an uneventful holiday for once.” I winked. “But yes, we honor those we’ve lost. Your mother. Our baby. My men, your father’s, too, and our friends.”
She nodded and glanced at her purse, where she kept the sonogram she’d received this time last year, and then to her suitcase, which held her mother’s wedding dress. They were two of the only things she’d brought from the Badlands.
Along with her White Monarch, of course.
I took her hand, brought it to my mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
With a smile, she passed me my drink. “How is it?”
I took a sip. “Not like the Zamoras’ blue agave,” I said. “But very nice.”
She took the glass from me, set it down on the nightstand, and climbed onto the bed on her hands and knees. The woman acted as if she wasn’t pregnant at all. Agile as ever—always down for anything, constantly on the move, participating in hand-to-hand combat despite my explicit prohibition. She was only twenty-two, though. At thirty-six, I probably had more aches and pains without carrying a human the size of a cantaloupe.
“You asked earlier if there’s anything I need,” she said.
“Tell me,” I responded. “You know I don’t rely on anyone to deliver my wishes to the gods. I make them happen myself. I will grant you anything.”
She climbed on top of me. “Just you.”
Straddling my waist, she opened my fly. Put me inside her. Rocked on me.
It wasn’t the throne I’d once envisioned for my underground queen, but I couldn’t complain.
Bienvenido al infierno. Welcome to Hell, my friends.
It happens to look and feel quite a lot like heaven.
“The fortune-teller said you picked a name. Was she right?” I asked.
Natalia leaned forward, still gyrating on me as her dark hair brushed her shoulders, eyes bright when they met mine. “Mel,” she said. “Short for Oyamel.”
“The forest where the monarchs make their winter homes,” I said. “The one you died in. I cursed those butterflies, mi amor.”
She smiled, her hands curling against my chest. “But I didn’t die,” she said. “They protected me.”
I cupped her jaw, touching my thumb to the corner of her mouth. “Every day I think to myself, I’ve never seen you more beautiful. How is it possible?” I took her hips. “Mel is very nice. Oyamel Cruz de la Rosa.”
“But to the rest of the world, she’ll be Mel Cristina Delgado.”
“Cristina?”
“For her Papá.”
“Do I get a say?” I asked. “We should put Bianca somewhere in there, too. Perhaps we pretend it’s your apellido.”
“And curse her with a long, traditional name?” She smiled. “Yes—let’s. Oyamel Bianca Cristina Delgado.”
“. . . De la Rosa,” I added. “There won’t be any names left for the next girl.”
“Angelina,” she said at once.
My heart threatened to rupture, overflowing with love. Natalia understood what the name meant to me. Angelina it would be.
Natalia’s smile gave way to a moan as she used my chest as leverage to push back on me, her hips sliding faster.
After she’d been at it a while, I put my hands around the back of her neck and held her in place. I took over with a languid, easy rhythm. “Slow down with me. Relax.”
Apparently, this was what one did in the afterlife. He ate a good meal, drank fine whisky, and fucked his eight months pregnant wife. Nobody had to die. Nobody depended on us for anything. Nobody cared what we did. Because nobody knew we were still alive.
And nobody ever could.
It was a good life. One I was more grateful for considering I’d almost lost it. I had all I needed in my wife and our child—or children, as the old lady would have it.
* * *
So now you know the truth. It’s a lot of responsibility. Don’t tell anyone.
Want a little more of Cristiano and Natalia? Find out how to get your hands on a scorching hot anal deleted scene here.
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Also by Jessica Hawkins
Learn more at www.jessicahawkins.net
White Monarch Trilogy
“Exciting and suspenseful and sexy and breathtaking.” (USA Today Bestselling Author Lauren Rowe)
Violent Delights
Violent Ends
Violent Triumphs
* * *
Right Where I Want You
"An intelligently written, sexy, feel-good romance that packs an emotional punch…” (USA Today's HEA) A witty workplace romance filled with sexual tension and smart, fun enemies-to-lovers banter.
* * *
Something in the Way Series
“A tale of forbidden love in epic proportion… Brilliant” (New York Times bestselling author Corinne Michae
ls) Lake Kaplan falls for a handsome older man — but then her sister sets her sights on him too.
* * *
Something in the Way
Somebody Else’s Sky
Move the Stars
Lake + Manning
* * *
Slip of the Tongue Series
"Addictive. Painful. Captivating…an authentic, raw, and emotionally gripping must-read.” (Angie's Dreamy Reads) Her husband doesn’t want her anymore. The man next door would give up everything to have her.
* * *
Slip of the Tongue
The First Taste
Yours to Bare
* * *
Explicitly Yours Series
“Pretty Woman meets Indecent Proposal…a seductive series.”—(USA Today Bestselling Author Louise Bay) What if one night isn’t enough? A red-hot collection.
* * *
Possession
Domination
Provocation
Obsession
* * *
The Cityscape Series
Olivia has the perfect life—but something is missing. Handsome playboy David Dylan awakens a passion that she thought she’d lost a long time ago. Can she keep their combustible lust from spilling over into love?
* * *
Come Undone
Come Alive
Come Together
Acknowledgements
Endless thanks to my own personal Badlands, the proverbial village that helped me pull together this series. A thrilling, tasking journey not without its potholes—and payoff.
* * *
To my editor (never-let-me-down Maksim), Elizabeth London Editing: you put me through the wringer on this one, but I believe this time, the result were our best yet. Thank you for helping me bring Natalia and Cristiano to the world.
* * *
To the people on the ground, my beta Katie at Underline This Editing, proofreader Paige Maroney Smith, sensitivity readers, Chayo Ramón and Maria Dominguez—the foundation of the story was laid, but you helped make it a book.
* * *
To my release PA, Serena McDonald for rallying the troops and keeping things moving when I can’t.
* * *
And special thanks to the ones who’ve made my bookshelf look like a piece of art. The pages needed a home, and you gave them the most beautiful ones possible: Najla Qamber Designs for the cover designs (new and original), Michelle and Cameron for gracing the original covers, and Perrywinkle Photography for shooting them (with her camera . . . death’s day has come and gone).
It was a hot summer day when I met him on the construction site next to my parents' house. Under the sweat and dirt, Manning Sutter was as handsome as the sun was bright. He was older, darker, experienced. I wore a smiley-face t-shirt and had never even been kissed. Yet we saw something in each other that would link us in ways that couldn't be broken...no matter how hard we tried.
* * *
I loved Manning before I knew the meaning of the word. I was too young, he said. I would wait. Through all the carefully-chosen words hiding what we knew to be true, his struggle to keep me innocent, and infinitely-starry nights—I would wait. But I'd learn that no matter what you achieve in life, it means nothing if you suffer the heartbreak that comes with falling for someone you can never have. Because even though I saw Manning first, my older sister saw him next.
* * *
Something in the Way is book one in a USA Today bestselling saga of forbidden love.
1
Lake – 1993
It seemed unfair, spending three hours a day in a classroom during summer, only to wait another thirty minutes in the parking lot. There were things I could do about that, like walk home, or tell my parents my older sister was always late to pick me up—but either of those would inevitably lead to an argument or two. Dad would yell at Tiffany. She’d take her punishment out on me.
It wouldn’t do much good now anyway, with only two days of summer school left. I hadn’t gotten my license yet, so what right did I have to complain? Instead, I did what I had every other afternoon and took out one of the books I needed to read before summer ended.
Some pages later, Tiffany came around the corner, screeching to a stop at the curb. “Get in,” she said, as if I were making her late for something—even though I’d done nothing but wait in that same spot for forty-five minutes. “Come on. Hurry up.”
Gainfully unemployed, my nineteen-year-old sister lived at home, ate Mom and Dad’s food, and had an allowance my dad constantly threatened to cut off. She had one job only—take me to and from school.
Rolling through stop signs on the drive home, she explained the rush. “If Brad calls, I don’t want to miss it. I’ve been waiting ages for him to ask me out.”
It would’ve been easy not to care that she was driving fifteen miles over the speed limit—the windows were down, the breeze warm, and there were still six weeks left of summer. But Tiffany knew better. “You’re going to get pulled over, and Dad’ll take your car away,” I said.
“Maybe for a day, but I’d get it back.”
“Can’t you just call Brad and ask him out?”
“Not unless I want to look desperate,” she said with an air of knowing, as if she were imparting wisdom. In a way, she was. I had no idea about these things. “You want to watch music videos later?”
“I have reading to do.”
“You’ve been reading or doing homework all summer,” she said. “Your class is practically over. Relax.”
University of Southern California wasn’t looking for ‘relaxed’ students. According to Dad, summers were for “weeding out the lazy kids”—like my friends, who were probably at the beach. “I will, in two days.”
“Then we should do something this weekend. Something cheesy, like the Fun Zone at Balboa. Get ice cream bars, like we used to when we were kids.”
One thing about Tiffany, I could never predict what she’d say next. Most days, she didn’t want me anywhere near her. Others, she’d burst into my room, hop on my bed, and ramble on about her day. She had only two speeds—annoyed older sister or best friend. I preferred the latter . . . unless I was in the middle of studying for something important. “Maybe,” I said.
With an eye-roll, she turned up the radio for “Runaway Train” and sang all the way home. She parked along the curb of our cul-de-sac, close to the next-door lot where they were doing construction.
One of the hard-hatted men whistled at us. “Hey. Blondie.”
Tiffany looked through her window. “What?”
“Come here a sec.”
Why should it surprise me that Tiffany responded? If a man had eyes and they were aimed in her direction, she noticed. That might not have meant much if it only happened once in a while, but Tiffany was a California beauty through and through.
There’d been a lot of arguments about the construction since it’d started earlier that summer. My father didn’t like the noise, the dust, or the men he was sure were looking at my mom and sister. It hadn’t involved me, so I hadn’t paid much attention. But if he’d been that upset about the men looking at Tiffany, he definitely wouldn’t want her talking to them.
Tiffany slanted the rearview mirror, brushing her bangs side to side and forward again. She puckered her lips. “You have any lipstick?”
I carried tins of Candy Kisses lip balm in my backpack, flavors like cherry vanilla, bubblegum, and my favorite—watermelon. Here I was, entering junior year of high school, and I was still “too young” for makeup. Even though my friends wore it. Even though Tiffany had been granted that privilege the summer before her freshman year. I didn’t care too much about stuff like that, but I was still a little protective of my lip balm. My allowance was finite.
I rummaged through my pencil pouch until I found cherry vanilla and handed it over. It was nothing to Tiffany, who dug her finger into it, spread a ton over her lips, smacked them together, and tossed it into my lap. “Thanks.”
She got out
of the car, her Steve Madden platforms wobbling as she stepped over the curb into the dirt lot.
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and went to interrupt her conversation with the construction worker. “We’re not supposed to be over here.”
“Then why don’t you go inside?” she asked without looking at me. It wasn’t a suggestion.
The man looked down her top.
“And leave you out here alone?” I asked.
She’d rolled the waistband of her black denim skirt dangerously high. A short skirt and platforms didn’t seem like the kind of thing you wore around a construction site, but what did I know? Less than most sixteen-year-olds, Tiffany would say. Nineteen-year-olds, though—they knew a lot about a lot. Particularly how to dress around men.
“How long’s it take to build a house?” she asked him, sweeping her bangs aside. Realizing her mistake, she fixed them again. She spent at least ten minutes in the bathroom every morning plucking at them, fashioning them into a casual curl.
“Depends. We’re pretty quick.” He laughed into his fist. I looked behind us to see why. One of the workers had cocked an electric drill in front of his crotch. It spun around as he jutted his hips back and forth. It was stupid, but the other men on the site laughed.
I fingered the thin, gold bracelet around my wrist, a birthday gift from Dad. Tiffany and I didn’t always get along, but I didn’t want to leave her in a dangerous situation. These men were big and dirty. They were making me nervous. “I thought you were waiting for Brad’s call.”
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