I wiped off my forehead with a disgusted grimace and reached up to fix my ponytail, momentarily forgetting that all I had on was a black training bra and tight neon yellow yoga shorts.
Mateo took full advantage of the open casting. His eyes appreciatively drifted down my body, only coming back up when I cleared my throat.
“A blind man would approve,” he said, so smoothly I could almost believe he hadn’t just jacked my line as his own.
“I want you to spend the night with me.”
I wasn’t sure that was the best idea. I was doing my best to fight against the urge to lose myself in him as it was. I was at risk of becoming an addict. I’d never felt anything of this magnitude before.
He made me feel like I was standing in the middle of the freeway, blinded by headlights.
I glanced at my phone and pretended to alert myself of the time. “I need to–––.”
“Look at me.”
His sharp tone implored me to do as he said. When I looked into his eyes, he seemed pleased to have my full attention.
“I’d offer to give you a ride back home but I already know you’d decline. So, I’ll settle for taking you out for dinner.”
“I don’t want to go to dinner.”
“Do you need me to text you my address, or would you prefer I send a car?”
I sighed exaggeratedly. “I just said I’m not coming.”
“Elena,” he purred in a low voice, stepping forward until we were almost touching, “with me, you’llalwaysbe coming.”
“Oh…Jesus,” I muttered, shifting my weight from the sudden rise of heat outside.
My reaction had a smug smirk tilting up one corner of his mouth.
“I’ll see you at seven.” He pressed a firm kiss to my lips, forcing my mouth open so he could slip his tongue inside. I kissed him back as if I had just been given a lifeline. He gripped my ass and pulled me against his sweaty body.
A soft groan slipped out when he pressed his hard cock into my apex, and then he was gone with a “See you later.”
He easily maneuvered around me and set off at a brisk jog in the opposite direction before I could object or edge in another word.
I stared after him with a frown, wondering how he knew I’d gone jogging.
“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to talk me out of this,” I cradled my cell between my ear and shoulder, lounging on my bed.
“Do you know why I’m not going to talk you out of this? Because you have pep in your voice and you could use a distraction from thinking of Eva twenty-four hours a day. Peyton’s on it, and you know his genius ass will find something if there’s anything to be found,” Melody intoned.
“He told me he wasn’t a nice guy,” I tossed out.
They both made scoffing noises.
“Doll, he was raised by one of the vilest, foulest men of this era. He’s in the transition stage of taking over a clandestine empire and heading an elite society. He has a hand in kidnapping, trafficking, and drugs. There is no legal system to run a crime world.
“He’s had people kidnapped, tortured, decapitated, and then sent back individually to their families; of course, he isn’t a nice guy,” Peyton drawled.
“Playing devil’s advocate, most elite men around here don’t fit the definition of a ‘nice guy’. I mean, my father isn’t passing out heads as Hanukah gifts, but he’s a dirty lawyer who definitely has blood on his hands. He loves me and Mum though, so,” Melody mused. “Your own dad was, she sighed, trailing off. “The stories about him.”
“Mel’s right, your daddy was a cutthroat boss. And my dad hacks shit, I’m sure he’s gotten a family or two killed. All that depressing drama aside, I think you need to stop taking this so seriously. Let the man jackrabbit you into his mattress for the day,” Peyton said.
They were both so Zen about everything. Thinking about it, most of the people that were deep in our world were, and I understood it as clear as day. These were our families. My own parents had done god knows what.
It was hard to think of them as anything other than kind and loving when it came to me and my sister, but the truth of the matter was they were criminals. I wasn’t going to mention I’d been told plenty of times I was my mother’s daughter.
