Daleyza was half conscious when he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the shower. Once inside the glass walls, he let her slide down his front but didn’t let go until he was sure her feet were solid on the tile. “Wake up,belleza,” he murmured in her ear.
“Don’t want to,” she mumbled into his chest.
Chuckling, he angled the showerhead so it wouldn’t hit her in theface when he turned her around. “Hands out to the walls to keep yourself upright.”
The water hitting her skin appeared to wake her up. “We’re in the shower.”
“Very observant,” he teased.
“We’ve never showered together in our lives.”
Opening the bottle of bodywash on the shower shelf, he turned it upside down and squeezed some out across her shoulders. “Well, to be fair, we didn’t know each other for three-quarters of our lives?—”
She spun around, and he had to quickly reach out to keep her from slipping and falling. “Are you being a dick on purpose? You just scrambled my brains by finger-fucking the hell out of me, and now we’re in the shower!”
“Guess we’re starting with the front,” he mused, as if to himself. Swiftly, he squeezed more bodywash out of the container, this time across the tops of her breasts and affected a nonchalant tone of voice, knowing it would wind her up even more. “I’m not sure I see the correlation between scrambling your brains and the shower.”
“Ildefanso Colonel, so help me?—”
He decided to take pity on her. After putting the bottle of soap back on the shelf, he framed her face in his palms. “Daleyza.” He kissed her nose. “Belleza.” He kissed her lips. “I’m teasing you.”
Her gaze was suspicious. “You torture. You demand. You don’t tease.”
“This was about you tonight. You wanted to test my control, so consider it tested. I gave you what you wanted. What you needed so you could feel good about being with me again. If I’d been sweet to you, you would have doubted us,sí?”
“Sí,” she admitted reluctantly.
The fact that she hung her head and wouldn’t look him in the eye was unacceptable to him. He dipped his head to catch her eye. “You never understood that it was okay to ask for what you wanted, so I always had to force you to do it.”
She laughed. “Everyone told me I talked too much. That I was demanding!”
“When it came to injustice and unfairness for others, yes? You fought tooth and nail for Tobias, the servants, even the dogs, for fuck’s sake. But you never demanded anything for yourself, Daleyza.”
Her eyes flicked back and forth between his, her expression confused.
“Our games together gave you confidence, made you see yourself as powerful, all because the only way I gave in to you was when you demanded what you wanted. Sex was the best way to do it. Associate pleasure with the idea. With us, it has never been about my control,belleza. It was about your control.”
He watched her piece together what he was saying. Part of her was still scared. She projected this badass bitch to people, but inside, she was terrified. Unfortunately, he’d contributed to that. While he couldn’t undo the mistakes he’d made, or fix them, he could try again.
“You can have anything you want. You just have to tell me what it is.”
She had something she wanted. He could see it. For whatever reason, she wouldn’tsayit.
“Belleza.” Gripping her upper arms and looking her straight in the eye, he said it again. “Anything.”
“All I want is to stay with you. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
His hand curled around the nape of her neck, and he pulled her close. He slanted his head to the proper angle, and his mouth met hers, hard and possessive. Not a promise, but a vow.
“You asked. You receive. I’m not going anywhere.”
29
AUGUST 25, 2025
Steel
They walkedinto the suite hand in hand later that morning, and they were late. Because after she’d told him what she wanted, he dropped to his knees in the shower and worshipped every fucking inch of her.
