Page 17 of Antonio Miles

She searched my face, her gaze skipping from my eyes to my mouth and back. “You know I’m not scared of you. Right?”

“You should be.”

Her smile was sharp and hard. In her eyes, I saw a woman every bit my equal in will. I could rule her, but in doing so, would I break her spirit? Somehow, I didn’t think so. I thought maybe, if I took my time and broke her the right way, she’d be mine for life. “I’m not scared of you, Tonio.” She leaned in and kissed me.

The second Tessa’s lips met mine, every rational cell in my body flared up in protest, shouting warnings and rules and all the reasons I shouldn’t do this. Her hands trembled where they framed my jaw, but her mouth was steady, and when I breathed her in, it hit so hard I almost forgot how to breathe out.

Her kiss came without hesitation, hot and wet as I thrust my tongue into her mouth on instinct. She kept her hand on my jaw, holding me in place while she set the terms and I let her. Needed her to, so I didn’t hate myself later. My pulse hammered. I’d never let anyone do this to me before, to take without permission. Also, I was insecure enough to want her to need me the way I suspected I might need her because she was attracted to me. Not as the aftermath of violence or as a way to take back a piece of her soul taken from her when she’d been trafficked.

She drew back, keeping her eyes on mine, licking her lips as if to capture my taste. “You’re allowed to want this too,” she said. She said it like a dare.

I let myself really look at her. The way her pupils blew wide, the flush high on her cheeks, the stubborn set of her jaw. I wanted her so badly it made my teeth hurt. “I’m aware of that,” I said.

She didn’t blink. “Then stop holding your breath.”

So I did and Tessa pulled me in again, her mouth on mine, and I let go of the armrest and caught her around the waist. I stood, tugging her to her feet with me and held her tightly against my chest. She gave a little hop and I caught her with my hands under her ass as she wrapped her legs around my waist. I let her lead, let her take everything she needed. I would have given her anything if it meant she kept doing that thing with her tongue!

Tessa’s kiss was a punch straight to the balls. Her lust was simply that. Lust. She lacked the coyness and artifice of women who sought the power or the danger that went along with fucking Antonio Miles. She used her teeth. She sucked my lower lip until I swore under my breath.

She bit down on my lower lip just enough to make my cock jump against her pussy where she ground herself over my erection. I growled into her mouth and she answered with a hungry noise that made me need to take what she so aggressively offered. Lord knew I wanted to.

Her tongue swept against mine, hot and demanding, and I let her take whatever she wanted because the alternative was taking control and I didn’t trust myself with that right now. Not with the aftermath of killing still fresh in my mind and body.

I walked her backward until her spine met the glass wall, never breaking the kiss. The sunset bled orange and red behind her head, turning her hair into molten copper, like an angelic halo around her head. I pressed her there, one hand still under her ass, the other braced against the window beside her head. The glass was cool through my sleeve.

When Tessa broke away to breathe, her chest heaved, and I watched her mouth. Swollen. Wet. Mine. The word landed in my chest like a blade. She pulled back just enough to look into my eyes before pressing my forehead to hers. “Say my name,” she whispered.

With any other woman, that simple order would have ended the encounter. First, no one ordered me to do anything, no matter how softly worded. Second, anything in my life that felt like a compulsion I cut out with ruthlessness. Doing as she commanded felt too much like surrendering and I did not, by God, surrender.

I opened my mouth to tell her exactly that, but the only thing that emerged was, “Tessa.” I sounded as wrecked as I felt. For the first time in my life, and possibly not the best timing, I felt my loyalties… not shifting exactly but expanding. And right now, they included this woman as much as my father.

She smiled against my mouth and kissed me again, slower this time, her hands sliding from my jaw down to my shoulders. She held on like she was afraid I’d disappear, and I realized I was holding her the same way. Like she might slip through my fingers if I loosened my grip.

“Tonio.” My name came out roughly, and I wanted to hear how rough it could sound after I’d made her scream my name for hours on end. Hearing her now, I realized we shared the same boat. We might well drown, but it looked like we were headed toward the wave swell and in a Goddamned hurry.

Tessa was heat and defiance and purpose as she kissed me again, and I’d never wanted anyone more in my life. She was the light to my darkness. The angel to my demon, but so much more. I had no words for what she meant to me.

When she broke the kiss, she pressed her forehead to mine once again. We both breathed hard, mouths open. “You’re not going to break me, you know,” she said.

“No,” I said. “But I’m beginning to think I want to.”

She grinned, teeth white and sharp. “Then stop being careful.”

She didn’t have to ask twice. Without letting her go, I found the hem of my shirt and yanked it up and over my head. I placed my forearms on the glass while I leaned in to kiss her again simply because, now that I’d had a taste, I couldn’t get enough.

She wiggled, shimmying out of her shirt and bra before latching on to my shoulders. Her nails bit into my skin as she pulled me against her to mash my chest against her breasts.

I let out a breath and caught her jaw in my hand. Her mouth was red, parted. She didn’t flinch. I continued kissing her, biting her lower lip until she gasped. She arched against me, eyes wide.

I cupped the back of her head and held her steady while I kissed her throat. The intoxicating taste of her clean sweat and delicious woman nearly brought me to my knees. She made a small noise, so quiet I might have missed it if I hadn’t already known I couldn’t fuck her tonight. Not like this. I’d give her what she needed, then see what happened.

Instead of needing me to back off, she only wanted to reach between our bodies. Finding my belt, she tugged it open almost before I realized what she was doing. I caught her hands again and made her wait.

“Not yet,” I said.

She groaned, the sound raw and honest.

I looked down at her breasts. Her chest heaved, nipples drawn tight, the air in the room cold enough to spread gooseflesh over every inch of her I could see. I bent and closed my teeth around one ripe peak, giving the tight bud a sharp nip. She yelped this time before giving what almost sounded like a defeated groan.