He blinked in surprise. “She said that?” I nodded, wanting to cover my face as I relived the moments. The cruelty in her words. The hate in her eyes. For a second, his expression scared me.
A flash of…triumph? Would he feel that now?
Of course he should. Because it was what he’d been working for. The reason I was here. My sole purpose in his life was to exact vengeance on the woman who’d arrived today and twisted a blade in my heart.
He was frowning again, though. “That upset you? Was there more?”
“She…” My voice faltered, and I tried again. “She said everyone knows that…that I’m a whore.” I couldn’t hold back the sob that followed. It shuddered through my body. When I spoke again, it was barely a whisper. “I’m not a whore.”
His eyes moved over my face, but I didn’t care that he was seeing the puffy eyes and my runny nose. Other things hurt so much more. “I’m not…” I whispered again. “I’m not a whore.”
“Jesus,” he exhaled. His hands slid around my shoulders and then he was drawing me toward him, gathering me against his chest. I didn’t resist. My heart was hollow with weeping, and I needed to draw in his strength – whether it was mine to use or not. His arms enfolded me, and he pulled my face into the curve of his neck. “I’m so sorry…” I could feel the solid heat of him against me, his throat warm against my face, pulse throbbing…and I sobbed. No-holds-barred wailed like a child.
“Shhh…” he soothed, running his palm down the back of my head, stroking my hair, and rocking me slightly. In spite of crying all day, somehow it felt as if I’d been holding the real weight of it in because I couldn’t seem to control the wracking sobs that shook me.
It was too much. All just too much. Angelique’s words. The killer who had my brother in his grasp – and the inevitable confrontation I knew would come with it. And then, beyond that, the shitty life I’d been leading for longer than I could remember. The nightmares of unwanted hands on my body. Memories I’d shoved into a dark corner of my mind that consumed me in my unguarded moments.
“I’m not a whore!” I sobbed yet again, injecting frail anger into the words. I’d done only what I had to do to get by. She was wrong!
Was she wrong?
“Shhh…” he continued to croon, letting me weep it all out on his chest. He’d settled back, sitting on the thick dark rug that covered the tiles. He pulled me onto his lap like a child as he rocked me. It was a tenderness I barely recognized; my heart was desert-dry and barren for want of sweet love. Now I soaked his comfort in, and it terrified me. It wasn’t mine. I’d taken it from someone more worthy. Someone who belonged here, in his world.
He drew back and tilted my head, looking into my face. “She was wrong,” he whispered, and I clung to his words. “I was wrong, too.” I shook my head, not understanding. “The contract.It put you in a vulnerable position. I should have expected this and done more to protect you in case something happened.” He sighed. “I should have known it would come out – these people are merciless…the press…”
He was brushing at my tears with the pads of his thumbs. “I’m so sorry, Sweetness,” he repeated as my misery continued to bubble up my throat. He brushed his lips against mine and I withdrew, suddenly aware that my nose was running, and my tears were mingling with it. I turned my head and tried to wipe my face on my shoulder, self-consciousness beginning to build. We’d spent our most intimate moments together, yet I barely knew this man. He couldn’t see me this way.
“I…I’m a mess,” I eventually managed to croak out, and he chuckled.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured. I ducked my head, but he tipped his fingertip beneath my chin and tilted my face, pressing his lips against my throbbing eyelids, then reaching for an edge of the sheet still clutched around me and wiped my face.
“I…I’m all sniffy,” I choked out, mortified.
“I don’t care,” he said, smoothing my hair from my face and tucking it behind my ears. “Angelique was wrong. Don’t think about her. Can you do that for me?” He cupped my face in his hands and I was melting into his eyes. I tried a small nod. “You’re here with me, and I’m thankful for that.”
I blinked, not quite understanding, but my heart heard. “I…I’m thankful too,” I whispered. The words seemed trite. But I meant them. He’d changed everything. Every part of my world was different because of him. I’d yet to determine if that was a good thing or not, but right now, there was just…him. His palm was still against my cheek, and I turned my face to press my lips against his skin.
He sighed softly. “Let’s just forget about the rest of the world tonight.” Another time, his words may have confused me, considering our strange circumstances, but I nodded. It was the only thing that seemed to make sense.
Then his fingers were sliding behind my head to pull my face toward his and our lips were brushing, and I could barely think of the world he was talking about. My world was right here, against my lips, beneath my hands as I slid them up his chest to fumble with the buttons of his shirt. I sucked in the scent of him, the heady blend of expensive cologne and masculine musk that I’d locked onto and been drawn to from the first moment we’d met.
He released me and rolled his shoulders, shrugging out of the suit jacket I’d barely registered him wearing. He tugged his tie loose, his lips still on mine, joining us as I inhaled him like air. My fingers were slipping into the small spaces between the buttons of his crisp cotton shirt. I was desperate to feel his skin as I fumbled to get his chest bare. He helped me, flicking them loose before my urgent tugging could rip them free. I fell against him, and he let the weight of me press him back to the floor as I dotted frantic kisses down his throat and chest, pushing the shirt over his shoulders, and running my hands down his biceps.
God, he was so strong, so hard, so damn male that the thought of it made me shudder and soften. I rained more kisses upon him, pressing hot lips to his chest. I sought out a tight nipple and sucked it into my mouth, swirling my tongue. The low groan that rippled from him pulled at something inside me and I dropped my hand, tracing it along the waistband of his pants. I tugged his belt loose, clumsy with urgency, needing…needing…just fucking needing…
When I got my fingers past his snug boxers and curled them around the hot thickness there, it took both hands to take his full length. He hissed out a breath. I was still tussling with his pants, eager to free his flesh as I twisted free of the bundled sheet that was coming between us.
I was bare against him now, but it wasn’t enough. There was an emptiness in me, and I needed him to fill it. I’d tugged his pants down to his thighs, sucking in a breath as I exposed the hard ridge of his cock. It pressed up against his belly and I straddled him, thighs wide over his hips as I leaned over him, still kissing and nipping at him like a starving animal.
He is all mine!
Chapter 4
Sasha Ramirez
He sat up abruptly and suddenly we were face to face as he ran a hand up my back to hold me steady, his other hand winding into my hair. I could feel his hardness between us, but I wanted it within. Wanted to fill the void.
Please,I wanted to say. But he wasn’t asking me to beg now. His eyes had locked with mine and our lips were almost brushing, and then he shifted, and he was in me… And there was nothing else in my world.
