by Sybil Bartel
Crazed, rattled, more turned on than I’d ever been, a single word spilled out of my mouth. “More.”
His thumb dragged across my bottom lip. “Tell me what to call you,” he quietly commanded.
Chills raced up my spine.
Oh God.
“Decima?” His voice was too rough for a whisper. The name rasped from his lips, but it was gentler than anything I’d ever heard him say.
It scared the hell out of me. “She’s dead.” My voice shook.
He rubbed a finger between my eyebrows. “This creases every time I call you Kendall.”
“Chica,” I blurted. I hated it, and I loved it. For the exact same reason. Because when he said it, I heard the edge of softness in his voice I didn’t hear when he spoke any other words. But in the next instant, I knew why I never should’ve given in to his question.
His answering smile hit both sides of his mouth and lit up his face.
Guilt hit me square in the chest and I dropped my gaze.
I couldn’t look at a man who took every piece of personal information I gave him and acted as if I’d just given him the best gift he’d ever received. I wasn’t a fucking prize. I was a burden, the ultimate burden. Reality took hold and regret like I’d never experienced settled deep in my bones. I knew there was only one outcome if River found out I was with him. He would kill him.
I pushed André away.
Abrupt and swift, as if he’d anticipated my move, he grasped my chin and brought my face back up. “Eyes on me.” He searched my face. “What just happened?”
“Nothing,” I lied. I hadn’t even fucked him, and he already owned me. I wasn’t in trouble. I was completely fucked.
His eyebrows drew together, and he studied me for a moment before his expression shut down and he released me. “Upstairs,” he said curtly, taking a step back. “Get the shower going.”
For the first time since I’d walked into the house, I felt the cold air-conditioning. I wasn’t inhibited. I didn’t give a shit about being naked. But suddenly, I felt like I was on display, and it pissed me the hell off. I needed to take the distance he’d just offered and walk away, but a small part of me, the crazy desperate part, asked what if? What if this ex-marine was the man who could finally take down River Stephens? What if he could do what Candle never had? What if I could actually survive this?
The question was idiotic. Leveraging hope was a dead end, and my time since I’d stepped off the compound had been borrowed. No one left River Ranch. All in or sin out. That was the choice River gave every member when they joined or turned sixteen. Stay or die of sin. What the fuck kind of question was that?
Anger—at River, at Candle, at my fucking birth mother for whatever fucked-up weak excuse she gave for joining a goddamn cult—blossomed like a well-watered weed, and I aimed at the person who was closest. “Get the shower going? Do I look like a dog?”
His phone in his hand, his attention distracted, André glanced at me like I was nothing more than an interruption. “No,” he stated without an ounce of emotion.
That motherfucker. Did he think he could turn the tables on me? “Is this what you do?” Naked and irrational, I bit the question out. “Flip from Latin lover to Luna and Associates bodyguard? You’re so fucking cool, all it takes is a blink of an eye?” I snarled out a laugh. “No wonder you’re fucking single.” I spun and aimed at the stairs.
“Better single than a liar.”
My foot on the first step, I made the mistake of looking back. Except he wasn’t looking at me. His phone in his hand, his head down, he played the casual game like a fucking champion. “A five-year-old has better insults than you.”
“Wasn’t an insult, merely stating fact.” He didn’t even look up. “Take those stairs, chica.” There wasn’t an ounce of affection in the way he said chica. “Keep running.”
“Go fuck yourself,” I spat.
His thumbs flying across his phone as he texted someone, he shook his head like he was disgusted with me.
I stomped up the stairs.
A DOOR SLAMMED UPSTAIRS, AND I rubbed my hand over my face. “Dios mio.”
My cell lit up with an incoming call from Talon, and I stupidly answered. “What’s up?”
“I was just ’bout to ask you the same thing, Patrol.”
“Meaning?” I hedged.
“You fuckin’ with me right now?” he asked, incredulous.
I heard water turn on upstairs. “Believe me, if I had time to fuck with you, you’d know it.”
“Oh, you’re fuckin’ with me all right. I ask a simple favor, send one of your men to check on my former employee, and next thing I know, you’re on Roark’s plane with your dick in your hand.”
Jesucristo. “You didn’t ask me to check on her, you said, and I quote, if she ain’t dead, fuckin’ fire her. And my dick’s not in my hand, asshole.”
“’Cause your gettin’ it wet instead? Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Patrol. What the fuck?”
“You got a point to this conversation, because I’m busy.”
“Yeah, I got a fuckin’ point. My point is that a few hours later, after you don’t call me and tell me what the fuck’s up, I get a call from Vikin’. Know why?”
Fuck me. “He wants to come over and suck your dick?”
Talon didn’t miss a beat. “My dick’s too big for his pretty little mouth, but apparently he’s not interested in the size of my cock, only how fast I can help him load sixty crates.”
“Stop talking.” I didn’t know who the fuck was listening, and I wasn’t going to risk another fucking word.
“I’ll fuckin’ stop talkin’ when you start talkin’.”
“Talerco,” I warned.
“Here’s the funny thing ’bout Vikin’.” He kept talking like I hadn’t said shit. “He’s honest as fuck with me. So, when I told him I had his back, he said it wasn’t his back I’d be coverin’.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shut my eyes. “You say one more name on this call, you’ll be risking more than your ass.”
“No fuckin’ kiddin’. Yours, mine, Vikin’s, your new fuckin’ biker friend’s, his woman’s and your men’s. I miss anyone?” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, that’s right, every fuckin’ family member in any of our families.” He dropped the amicable façade. “What the fuckin’ fuck?”
My head a damn mess, I extracted the incorrect detail in his statement and honed in on it. “She’s not his woman.”
“What?”
I didn’t respond. He’d figure it out.
“Christ,” he muttered after a second. “She’s yours now? Candle just decided he was done tappin’ that?”
“She was never his. And fuck you.”
“Goddamn, Patrol.” Talon half chuckled. “I knew this had to be more than you playin’ hero.”
I glanced upstairs, but the water was still running. “I gotta go. I’ll call Neil and tell him to get Tyler to help.” Talon didn’t need to be caught up in this. Neither did Neil for that matter, but he had the damn guns.
“Fuck that. How many times have you saved my ass? Not even a question. I’m in, but Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Patrol, you stepped in it.”
I didn’t bother arguing either point, Talon was stubborn as hell. “Call Tyler to help load the crates, or Marek.” Dane Marek was the reason we had the fucking guns in the first place. He was in a different unit than me and Talon, but we’d all been deployed together.
“Ink? That crazy fuck, he’s involved in this?”
Talon nicknamed everyone. Dane was Ink because he had a massive tattoo, and I was Patrol because that’s what I’d done downrange with my sniper rifle. “Yeah.” Sort of.
“Damn.” He drew the word out. “He still fuckin’ for money?”
Dane and two other guys in his unit, Alex Vega and Jared Brandt, had become paid escorts after we’d gotten out. They made bank off Miami’s richest and horniest women, but that wasn’t Dane’s primary source of income. Talon was right, Dane was crazy as
hell. He’d been a mercenary for three years. Two years ago, he’d called me in the middle of the night, asking for a ride. I drove my ass to a hanger at a municipal airport only to find him shot twice. Someone had removed the bullets—fuck, he’d probably done it himself—but he was still bleeding all over the place. I’d done what I could, but when he insisted on no hospitals, I’d called Talon. Talon had been a corpsman in the Marines, and he’d walked me through what to do, but I didn’t want to ever fucking repeat field triage. My place was behind the scope, not on the other end of a bullet’s path.
“Just call him if you need help.” Dane owed us.
“Gotcha covered.”
“Thanks. Later.” I started to hang up.
“So,” Talon stopped me. “You and Ke—”
“Stop,” I barked.
Talon burst out laughing. “Damn, Patrol, hope you got Teflon balls, brother. That woman scares the fuck outta me.”
“You’re an asshole.”
He laughed harder. “No denyin’ that.” He hung up.
I glanced at the stairs then at the backpack on the coffee table.
Christ.
I grabbed the backpack and took the stairs two at a time. Despite her slamming the bedroom door to the master suite, she hadn’t locked it. Not that it would’ve stopped me. I kept replaying her one-eighty, and I was a fucking idiot to not have picked up on it immediately.
I took ten seconds to step out of my boots, dump the backpack on the bed and strip my pants and boxers. Then I strode into the bathroom, mission focused.
In the glass shower with her back to me, she was fucking gorgeous, but her scarred skin stood out. I stared at her branding. The flesh raised, the lines of the letters a quarter-inch thick, I couldn’t imagine how much it’d hurt. I didn’t want to. It enraged me.
Inhaling, then letting my breath out slow, I stepped into the shower.
She turned under the hot spray and jumped when she saw me. “What the fuck?” she snapped. “Get out.”
Careful not to touch her, I reached around her sexy-as-hell curves and grabbed a bar of soap. “You know what I think?”
“I don’t give a flying fuck. Get. Out.” She crossed her arms.
It was a simple gesture, but it validated everything I’d been thinking. “You’re scared.” I soaped my arms.
Her nostrils flared as she glared at me. “You think this is cute? Invading my privacy?”
“You weren’t thinking about privacy when you stripped in front of me in the living room.” I took my time soaping my chest.
Her gaze strayed to my pecs for a second. Then she looked back up and sneered. “You’re such an asshole.” Despite her mouth, with her hair slicked back, she looked like a different woman, younger, softer.
I ignored her insult. “But you’re not scared for you. In fact, I’m pretty sure you honestly want someone to dump your head on Stephen’s lap. I think you want him to have to cough up two million. Which is shortsighted, because he’ll never pay out. He’ll just shoot whoever shows up with your head.” I stepped toward the hot spray, and she moved out of my way. “But like I said, that’s not what scares you.” I held her angry glare. “You’re scared something’s gonna happen to me.”
“You sealed your own fate when you knocked on Candle’s door.”
“Did I?” I rinsed my arms. “Because I was thinking this was set in motion the first time I laid eyes on you.”
She turned to walk out of the shower.
“Don’t make me grab you from behind, chica,” I warned. “Because I will.” I was done prancing around her.
She took a step.
I dropped the soap and moved. One arm caught her around the waist, the other across her chest, and I swung us around and stepped under the water. She had two choices. Fight or keep her mouth shut.
Thank fuck, she did the latter.
I moved a hand up to her neck and grasped her jaw. My other one dropped to her pussy and I cupped her. Angling her head out of the water, I put my lips against her neck. “I chose to be here, chica. I can take care of myself, and I’m going to protect you. Nothing’s gonna happen to me or you. You hear me?”
Her body stiffened in my arms, but she didn’t say anything.
“I chose to be here,” I repeated. “I chose you.” I brushed my thumb across her cheek.
“You’re suicidal,” she whispered.
I rubbed three fingers across her wet folds, and my dick pulsed against her back. “You’re not taking on any guilt over this.”
Her hips arched into my hand. “Just fuck me.”
“Tell me you know what I want.” I slid my middle finger through her wetness.
She shivered and pushed back into my cock. “You don’t want to be my fuck toy. You want feelings and bullshit, and the goddamn baggage that comes with it. You want your dick wet and your ego stroked. You want everything. All at once.”
Because I’d lost my damn mind, I fucking smiled. “That’s a good start.” I shoved a finger inside her and bit her neck. “I also want you to know you’re safe with me.” I shoved a second finger inside her tight heat. “And I want you to say my name when you come.”
She growled, at me, at my invasion, and she arched her back. “Give me your goddamn cock.”
I stroked into her went cunt twice, then I pulled my fingers out and barked a command. “Hands on the wall.”
Her palms slapped against the tile.
I grabbed her hips, but I didn’t have to pull them back. She was already shoving her sexy ass toward me. “That’s it, chica.” Fuck, she was gorgeous. Dropping to one knee, I spread her glorious ass and licked the length of her sweet cunt.
“Fuuuuck.” Her half growl, half moan filled the shower.
I sank two fingers back inside her and took her clit between my teeth.
Water falling, her cunt dripping, her whole body shook as I rotated my fingers and rubbed deep inside her. Hitting her G-spot, tonguing her clit between my teeth, she stared to go off.
I backed off her clit and stood. “Not yet, chica.” I stroked into her once more then pulled out and fisted myself. Rubbing the head of my dick through her desire, I kicked her legs further apart. “You on the pill, baby girl?”
“No,” she panted. “Fuck me, now.”
I shoved into her.
Dios fucking mio.
My head fell back, my eyes closed, and I sucked in a breath as my dick almost exploded. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Seated all the way to hilt, her sweet, tight pussy clenching around me, I bottomed out. “You okay, chica?”
“Oh my God,” she panted. “You’re so big.”
Her body, her cunt, her voice, every damn thing about her had me ready to mark her as mine. “Jesucristo. You’re fucking perfect.” Palming one hard nipple, then twisting the other, I reared back then shoved into her one slow, torturous inch at a time. Her wet pussy pulsed around my cock like she was made for me. Pulling almost all the way out, I drove back into her all at once.
We both groaned.
I wrapped an arm around her and dragged my lips across her ear. “I’m not wearing a condom, chica.”
She melted into me. “I’m clean.”
“Ditto.” I stupidly hadn’t been thinking about that. I wanted her so damn bad, all I could think about was taking her. I thrust in and out, forcing myself to temper my pace. “Fuck, I wanna come inside you.” I’d fucked a lot of women, some more than once, but never had I wanted to leave my mark on a woman as bad as I wanted to with this woman. It didn’t make sense, and I didn’t fucking care. I just wanted more.
“Oh God,” she whimpered.
I sucked in a breath through my teeth and reared back. Slamming into her, I grabbed a handful of her hair. “You know what that would feel like, beautiful?” Mierda, she was tight.
“No,” she grunted on a deep thrust. “Because no one’s ever come inside me.”
Like a shockwave hitting, a tremor shook me, then I forced myself to go still. One breath, two, guilt hit me square in
the chest. I shut the water off and pulled out.
“What are you doing?”
“Come here, beautiful.” I scooped her up.
“Put me down!” The barked order was more out of shock than protest, because she didn’t struggle in my arms.
“I’m taking you to bed.” I wasn’t gonna be like every other asshole who’d ever taken advantage of her. “Put your arms around me, chica.” I wasn’t fucking her in the shower.
Shockingly, she didn’t tell me to fuck off. But she also didn’t touch me. “I don’t need a damn bed.”
“You’re getting one.” I should’ve been fucking ecstatic no man had ever left his mark in her, but I wasn’t. I was incomprehensibly pissed.
“Why?” she bit out. “Because your scruples suddenly mandate it? You should be glad I’m not some slut letting every Tom, cock and Harry pump his load inside my cunt.”
“Jesucristo, chica.” I carried her into the bedroom.
“It doesn’t make it any fucking holier to take the Lord’s name in vain in Spanish.”
She looked so damn vulnerable in my arms, I couldn’t fucking reconcile her small frame with her mouth. “First of all, it’s Tom, Dick, and Harry, not cock.” I reluctantly set her on the bed. “Second, since when are you worried about taking his name in vain? You got a mouth that’d put any marine to shame.” I half expected her to kick me, but she didn’t even dish out a comment. Before I could get a knee on the bed, she was pushing herself back against the headboard.
“I changed my mind.” She brought her legs up.
I paused. “What?”
She turned to look out the window. “Leave.”
For half a second, I studied her. Her head turned, her voice suddenly quiet, her arms protectively around herself, she didn’t look like she wanted me to leave. She looked like she was steeling herself.
Fuck this. I crawled over her. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” I cupped her cheek and made her look at me. “Don’t be defensive with me.”
She pulled out of my grasp. “I’m not some special flower you need to coax into fucking. There’s no psychological bullshit behind it. You had me. Now you don’t.”
I studied her. “You saying no?”
