I took my coffee and left the room. This was the only way I’d be able to make sure she listened to my apology. I wanted her to understand how I’d felt, and at least spend some time with me before she left tomorrow.
I couldn’t concentrate on anything else as I paced around the premises, waiting for enough time to have gone by to give her the chance to get ready. I’d never been nervous around a woman before, yet now my stomach churned and tumbled, my palms damp. I tapped my fingers against the side of my thigh—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Over and over. Feeling like I needed to get it all out of my system before I was to face her. I’d always done my best to try to hide my compulsions from her, wanting her to see me as perfect, but now I wondered if there was any point. She’d already seen that I was far from perfect. What difference would a little tapping make?
I got myself together then left the house, crossing the courtyard to the room I’d allocated her, where I knocked on the door.
A moment later, the door opened and Catalina stood in the doorway.
Dressed in emerald green lace, high heels, her dark hair loose around her shoulders, her full lips a striking slash of red, she took my breath away. Despite the outfit, she remained demure in her stance, not lifting her eyes to mine, though she must have wanted to pummel my chest.
Or perhaps I’d gotten all of this wrong, and she simply didn’t care.
I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me.
“Catalina, I wanted to say I’m sorry for what you saw yesterday.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. It’s not as though we’re a couple.”
My heart ached at the sadness in her words. “No, we’re not. You belong to someone else, and I guess I hadn’t realized how much that affected me until yesterday when I heard you with him.”
Her gaze flicked to mine. “You heard me?”
“Yes. I recognized the noises you made. It killed me to hear you make those sounds with someone else, and I was jealous—”
“You were jealous?”
I nodded. “Horribly.”
“But you know I belong to Torres.”
“That doesn’t stop me feeling things...”
She shook her head, glancing away. “I don’t want to hear this, Angel. I belong to someone else. I’m leaving tomorrow. Maybe it’s better for both of us this way.”
“You can’t mean that. After all these years...”
“You didn’t think of me that way for all those years. I was just a girl to you. It’s only sex between us, Angel. If that had never happened, then everything would be just as it was.”
I reached for her, but she didn’t take my hand. “You’re right. It made me see you in a different light, but it didn’t change who you are, Catalina. We’ve known each other our whole lives. We grew up together.”
“Stop it.” She put her hand up, her palm facing me. “Just stop. There’s no point in anything you’re saying. Nothing is going to change.”
Deep down, I knew she was right, but that didn’t stop me. I was crazy for her, and though I knew what our future held, I somehow wanted us to end in a good place. “I didn’t want you to hate me.”
She lifted her gaze to mine again, and tears shone in her eyes. “Hate you? How can I hate you? I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember even being alive. What’s happened between us over the last couple of days hasn’t changed anything for me—it’s only confirmed for me that the love isn’t like that between a brother and sister, because I’ve never felt that way about you, Angel. You’ve always been this gorgeous, unattainable boy in my life, and the strange thing is that you still are.”
I reached out, and this time she let me take her hand, her slender fingers enclosed within mine. “I’m right here.”
“Yes, you are, but this time tomorrow, I won’t be.”
I clenched my jaw. “And that knowledge kills me.”
She gave a sad smile. “What do you think it does to me?”
I tugged her closer and lowered my forehead to press to hers. “Fucking hell, Catalina. I don’t know if I can do this.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “We have to. Your father will kill me if I disgrace him. Elliot Torres will kill me if I betray him.”
I thought there was a good chance they’d kill me, too, but I wasn’t about to lay that on her shoulders as well. Anyway, I didn’t care what happened to me. All that mattered was that she stayed safe, and that was the reason I had no choice but to walk away.
I sniffed and forced myself to straighten, putting space between us.
“I got you a present for your birthday.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the box. “Don’t worry,” I added with a strained smile. “It isn’t a ring.”
She smiled back. “You got me a present?” She took the box from me and paused, holding it in her hands. “Do you remember how you used to bring me something every time you came back from school?”
I nodded. “Yes, I do. I should never have stopped.”
Catalina pressed her lips together, her brow crumpling, and I could see she was holding back more tears. “It doesn’t matter now. I’ll remember all the things you did do, not the few things you didn’t.”
She opened the box and choked back another sob when she saw the C necklace. She covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, thank you, Angel. It’s beautiful. I love it.”
“Here, let me.”
I took the box from her and removed the necklace. Then I moved behind her and, holding the necklace in one hand, swept her hair away with the other. I placed the chain around her neck and fitted the little catch into the adjoining hoop. The silver initial settled just above the swell of her breasts, and she lifted her hand and covered the jewelry with her palm. There was nothing but her bare shoulder and the emotion between us. I couldn’t help myself. I lowered my face and pressed a soft kiss to the hollow where her neck met her shoulder.
She let out a sigh and leaned the back of her body into the front of mine. I reacted to her immediately, my cock stiffening. I knew I should step away and put some space between us, but I couldn’t bring myself to take my face from her skin. Instead, I did exactly the opposite, kissing my way across her shoulder, slipping the straps of her dress down as I did so.
The dress fell from her body, leaving her in only panties and heels, and I spun her around in my arms, needing my mouth on hers. We sought each other like two people desperate for air and we were each other’s oxygen. Our mouths crashed together, and we kissed hungrily, our tongues dancing, like we’d never get enough. Her small hands tugged at the buttons of my shirt, and before I’d barely realized what was happening, she undone them all and yanked the shirt from my shoulders. Her bare breasts pressed up against my naked chest, and I didn’t think I’d ever experienced anything so perfect. Feeling her against me was like coming home.
I slid my hands down her smooth back, and then beneath the waistband of her panties to cup her bottom, yanking her harder against me as we kissed. My cock throbbed, growing harder than I’d ever felt before. Her hands went between us, yanking at the button of my fly and dragging down the zipper. All I wanted was for us to be naked together. I knew it was wrong, but we both needed this.
I helped her to undo my pants, and then I toed off my shoes and kicked them and the pants away. My cock was sandwiched between us, but she arched her body away and reached in to hold me, just like I’d taught her. Her hand around my cock felt incredible.
“Oh, God, Catalina.”
I wasn’t thinking anymore, completely caught up in the moment. All I wanted was her—to hell with the rest of the world. We were made for each other, and if I didn’t take her as mine in that very moment, I felt like I would cease to exist.
Chapter Twenty-six
Present Day
ANGELO PUSHED HIS HAND into my panties, his fingers slipping between my folds. He stopped to circle my clit a couple of times and then moved lower, parting me. I was already wet, and he hooked his finger f
orward, pushing inside the channel where no other man had been.
It didn’t hurt, and bliss swept through me. I had hold of his cock, working his length just how he’d shown me. We kissed in frantic nips and licks, both of us desperate for each other.
“The bed,” Angel gasped against my lips.
He pressed me backward, and the backs of my legs hit with the bed, then he half lifted me, scooping me up under my thighs and throwing me down, my back hitting the mattress.
Angel stood over me, gazing down at my body. “Oh, fuck, Catalina. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
He was beautiful, too, just as I’d always known he would be. Not hugely muscular or big, but perfectly defined, from his biceps, to his pectoral muscles, to his abdominals and the dip of his navel with the thin line of hair tracing down to the thatch of curls which his cock proudly stood out from.
He dropped to his knees on the bed and reached out to hook the sides of my panties. Then he rolled them down my thighs and threw them to one side. “Spread your legs,” he told me.
I did as he said, opening myself up to him. And he ducked his head, his mouth covering my mound. His tongue delved inside me, and I arched my back from the bed, my hands finding the soft curls of his hair. He licked every fold, up and down, then moving to the nub of nerves at the juncture and focusing on that spot until I was gasping and mewling with pleasure.
“Oh, God, Angelo. I want you. I’ve only ever wanted you.”
He lifted his head to look at me, his lips and chin wet with my arousal, and I nodded to tell him it was what I wanted.
I pulled him up my body, and he kissed my stomach and breasts as he went. He settled himself between my thighs and kissed me again, and I tasted myself on his tongue. I wrapped my heels around his hips, wanting more. His cock nudged my entrance, and I stiffened, but only in anticipation.
“Are you sure?” he asked, looking deeply into my eyes.
I lifted my hips, meeting him. “Yes, I’m sure.”
This was stupid and crazy, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was him.
He nudged forward, and the head of his cock pushed inside me. I sucked a breath over my teeth, but he kissed me again, remaining still inside me, giving me time, and I relaxed. Angel nudged forward, slipping in, inch by inch. I felt a moment of resistance and then a sharp pain. I cried out, clinging harder to his shoulders, my nails digging into his skin.
He lifted back slightly, gazing into my eyes, troubled. “Are you okay?”
He was inside me. My beautiful Angelo was inside me.
“Yes, I love you. Keep going.”
“I love you, too.”
He moved slowly at first, giving me time to get used to this new sensation. The stinging pain ebbed away, giving way to a different feeling.
Pleasure coiled tight inside me, and Angelo moved faster, his hips slamming into mine. He held his body slightly above me and reached between us to rub my clit. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to block out the sight of his gorgeous face scrunched up in concentration, but needing to focus as well. Ecstasy burst in sparks on the backs of my eyelids, and suddenly I broke free, soaring upward. My back arched, my pussy clenching tight around his cock.
“Oh, fuck. I’m coming,” Angelo groaned.
I felt him jerk inside me as the throes of my orgasm swept me away, over and over. I loved having him inside me, and knowing he’d spilled himself into me only made me feel closer to him. It was like he’d given me a gift. The best one of all.
I clung to him, still breathing heavily, his heartbeat thudding against mine as he grew soft inside my body. I pressed my face into his neck, loving how his skin felt against my lips, the scent of him filling my senses.
Angel’s voice came from above me. “Oh, God. What have I done?”
That definitely wasn’t the thing I’d expected to hear moments after losing my virginity.
I lifted my face to look at him. “What?”
“I’ve just taken the one thing Torres paid all that money for.” He stared at me in horror. “I’ve made you as worthless as all the other women here.”
“They’re not worthless! They’re good, and funny, and supportive. I mean, not all of them, but they’re not worthless.”
He pressed his forehead to my shoulder, his skin still damp. “You know what I mean. Torres is going to be furious.”
“Will he even know?”
“Oh, he’ll know, and the moment he realizes, you’ll be the first person within his reach that he’ll be able to take his anger out on.”
My blood ran cold. “You think he’ll hurt me?”
“When he realizes you’re not what he paid for—what he waited eight years for? Yes, absolutely, I think he’ll hurt you, and then he’ll come here and start a war with my father. A war I’ll be responsible for.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered in dismay.
He held me closer. “You have nothing to be sorry for. This is all on me.”
I shook my head. “No, it isn’t. I wanted you, too. I could have said no, but I wanted you more than anything else in the world. Even if I die at Torres’s hand, I still wouldn’t change getting to experience what it was like to be with you like this.”
He stared into my eyes, his hand against my cheek, and then leaned in and kissed me again, slow and deep, and I knew I meant every word of what I’d just said. My heart finally felt whole.
He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to mine again. “We’re going to have to leave.”
I reared back from him in alarm. “What?”
“We don’t have any choice. Both Torres and my father will be here tomorrow, and then it’ll be too late. We need to go, tonight.”
My thoughts went to Dani and what had happened to her.
Terror clutched me. “We can’t. We’ll be shot.”
“I can drive you out. I’ll somehow get you into the trunk of my car, and we’ll just drive straight out of here. I’m the boss’s son—no one is going to stop me and search the car.”
“But what if they do?”
“Then I’ll say you had nothing to do with it. That I’ve taken you against your will. Tell them I raped you, if that’s what it takes.”
I shook my head again, frantic, tears filling my eyes. “No, I’ll never say that.”
He caught my chin in his hand, fixing my gaze with his. “You have to, Catalina. There’s no other way.”
“When?” I asked, my voice a whisper.
“Later. Tonight. Go and pack up a few belongings, but keep it limited to one small bag, okay?”
“Okay.”
I could barely believe this was happening. How had everything changed so quickly?
We climbed off the bed, and I used the bathroom to wipe the semen from between my legs and quickly pull on my clothes. I was thankful I’d been given contraception a month earlier in preparation for being given to Torres. While I’d love to have Angelo’s baby one day, I knew now wasn’t the time. I felt tender between my thighs, but I hadn’t bled too much. Already, I missed being naked with him. I missed his presence even when he was still right beside me.
“Just try to act as normal as possible for the rest of the day,” he told me before we left the room. “Everyone will expect you to be nervous about tomorrow, so if anyone asks, just say that.”
I put my hand to the necklace he’d given me, trying to draw strength from it. “I will.”
He leaned in and kissed me again, a goodbye kiss. “I love you, Catalina. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realize that.”
I blinked back fresh tears. “I love you, too, Angel. I always have.”
We hugged, briefly, fiercely, and then he let me go and walked from the room.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Present Day
I WAS WIRED, UNABLE to keep still. My mind whirred. Where the fuck was I going to go once I’d gotten Catalina out of here? We wouldn’t have much time. People would notice she was gone by the morning, if not befo
re. The moment they noticed both of us were missing, someone would be sent straight to my apartment to catch us there. My father had control over all my accounts and businesses, and I knew he’d cancel all my credit cards. I understood how his mind worked. I had a little cash in my wallet, but that was all. We could get to the nearest town, and I could withdraw more before he canceled the accounts, but that would also be leaving a trail for him to follow.
Fuck.
I went to the office. He must have more money in here somewhere. There was a safe which I didn’t have the combination to, but maybe he’d have a little petty cash lying around.
Rounding the desk, I pulled open the drawers, one after the other. I wasn’t expecting him back until morning, and he’d probably notice we’d gone before he saw someone had gone through his desk.
I couldn’t even bring myself to feel bad for my father for the giant pile of shit I was about to drop him into. Torres was going to be furious with him for losing Catalina, but how was I supposed to give any sympathy to a man who’d sold a child as payment for the death of her mother?
I blamed myself, too. I should have stepped in sooner.
My fingers touched cool metal, and I pulled out a small lock-box. It was locked, but another quick search found the tiny key that fitted the lock. I flipped open the lid.
Bingo.
It wasn’t much—just a few hundred dollars—but it would help. At least I’d be able to buy us a couple of nights in a motel without leaving a trace for my father or Torres to find us. My car was also going to cause us a problem. Both my father and Torres had friends in high places, and I was sure they’d be able to pay a bribe to some cops to put a trace on the vehicle.
Pocketing the money, I went to my bedroom and packed the small bag I’d brought with me when my father had invited me to take over from him for the week. I wanted to get it into my car before tonight. The less I had to think about while we were making our escape, the better. I didn’t want anyone asking me where I was going if they saw me with the bag. But more than that, I didn’t want anyone to see me with Catalina. The moment I did anything to raise the suspicions of one of the other men, they’d contact my father, and it would be game over.
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