An hour later, Kelsey and I lay on her bed eating peanut M&Ms. The TV flickered in the background but we weren’t watching it, we were still too busy catching up on all we’d missed over the past few months. She was the perfect distraction from my fight with Alejandro.
We were giggling about the time she had abandoned a date in the middle of Central Park Zoo when we heard the knock on the door. We froze, looking at each other with our eyes wide and our mouths hanging open. I picked up the remote and turned off the TV, hoping that if that was Alejandro outside, he would think we were asleep and go away.
‘Alana,’ he said in his low growling voice as he knocked again.
My heart started to hammer in my chest and the two of us remained quiet, staring at each other.
‘Don’t make me come in there, princess,’ he said, the edge to his voice clearly audible.
I swallowed and sat up.
‘You don’t have to go out there,’ Kelsey said with a flash of her eyebrows. ‘I will totally kick his ass if you want me to.’
I stood up and smiled at her. ‘No. I’d better go.’
‘Well, remember, I’m only down the hall. Scream twice if you want me to come rescue you.’
‘Twice?’
‘Well, if you only scream once, it’s probably because you’re hate fucking, or make-up fucking,’ she said with a grin.
I picked up the pillow and hit her over the head with it, making her squeal.
I could sense Alejandro’s impatience from the other side of the door as I walked to it. Pulling it open, I blinked as I saw him standing there – six feet of solid muscle, anger and fire. He didn’t need to say anything for me to know what he was thinking. I was his wife, and I slept in his bed. Period. Even if he had acted like a complete jerk.
‘Night, Kels,’ I said softly.
‘Night sweets. Night Alejandro,’ she said with a huge grin.
‘Goodnight, Kelsey,’ he said as he stepped back, allowing me to walk out of the room. I closed the door behind me and followed him silently to our bedroom, and I couldn’t help feeling like I was walking to meet my fate. With each step we took, my pulse raced faster and the churning in the pit of my stomach grew more insistent.
What if he had changed his mind about punishing me for going to New York? When he’d promised that he wouldn’t, things had been very different. Was he going to punish me because he blamed me for the last conversation he’d had with his father, or because he believed it was my fault his father almost died?
I swallowed as we reached the door to our room and stepped inside. Alejandro closed it behind us and walked to the bed. He slipped his black sweatpants off over his legs and tossed them onto the floor so he was standing naked. His semi hard cock hanging heavy between his thighs.
I remained still, unsure of what he wanted from me. ‘Are you planning on coming to bed fully clothed?’ he snapped.
‘No,’ I whispered as I unzipped my jeans and slid them over my legs, kicking them into the laundry hamper. I pulled my tank top over my head and threw that in too. Then I stood there in my underwear and his eyes roamed over my body, his cock hardening further as he looked at me.
Reaching behind me, I unclipped my bra and let it fall to the floor. My nipples were hard and I saw his eyes drawn to them. I’d like to have said it was due to the cool air conditioning hitting my warm skin, but it was because being anywhere near this man made me wet and needy.
I walked over to where he was standing, so close that I could smell his incredible scent and it made my insides contract.
He glared at me, his tongue running over his lower lip as his eyes roamed over my body. Shit! He was going to punish me. And while his punishments usually left me a hot, trembling mess, I didn’t want that tonight. I was still reeling from the news I’d been given by the doctors. I still felt guilty about upsetting Lucia and making her feel abandoned all over again. Most of all, I was still upset about our fight. I didn’t think I could handle any more hurt, even if it was only the physical kind.
But he didn’t touch me. Instead he turned away and climbed into bed until he was lying with his hands behind his head. I slipped in beside him and put my hand on his chest and he stiffened.
‘Why did you ask me to come back here if you’re just going to ignore me?’ I asked.
‘Because I can’t sleep when you’re not here,’ he growled.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.
‘What for?’
‘For running away.’
He didn’t reply.
‘I know you don’t believe me, but I truly am.’
‘I do believe you,’ he said quietly, taking me by surprise.
‘Then why won’t you touch me?’ I asked, surprised as the emotion that question stirred in me. I blinked back the tears, remembering what he’d said about me crying earlier. ‘Don’t you want me?’
He turned, his face pulled into a deep scowl. ‘You think I don’t want you? My cock is weeping for you, princess. God help me, I always want you.’
‘So, what are you waiting for? I’m right here.’
‘Because I’m so fucking angry and I don’t want to hurt you,’ he growled.
‘That’s never stopped you before,’ I reminded him.
‘Oh, but it has, princess. You think you’ve seen me angry? You have never seen the real me. He’s a devil and he will fucking devour you.’
I ran my hand down his chest and heard the low growl in his throat vibrating through his body. ‘Then show me.’
He moved before I’d even finished my sentence, flipping me over and pinning me to the mattress with the weight of his body. ‘Don’t tempt me, princess,’ he snarled.
‘I’m not. You could never hurt me,’ I said as I stared into his eyes. ‘Not like that.’
He sealed his mouth over mine, kissing me so fiercely that I struggled for breath. He pushed his tongue deep inside, claiming me. I responded as greedily for him. We were both angry, both in need of some release.
He grabbed hold of my wrists and pinned them above my head with one of his giant hands as the other ran down my body, tugging at my panties until they were halfway down my legs. He shifted between my thighs, nestling between them as much as he could given that my ability to spread them wide was restricted by my underwear.
He reached for his cock, gripping it firmly as he guided the tip into my hot entrance. I gasped into his mouth and he responded by pushing himself inside me – as far as he could go. I wasn’t quite ready and I winced at the burning sensation as he stretched me wide open. I tried to wrench my mouth away, but he wouldn’t let me and he bit down on my lip as he pounded into me. After a few thrusts, he threw his head back and let out a loud growl of frustration.
‘Goddamn fucking panties,’ he roared as he pushed himself up onto his knees and using both of his hands, he tore them straight down the middle before throwing the material over his shoulder. ‘What have I told you about wearing panties when you’re in this house with me?’ Then he grabbed my thighs and pushed them apart, almost pressing them flat to the bed.
I looked up at him, his fierce, hard body vibrating with tension and anger, and his face full of rage. My pulse quickened. Why the hell was this so freaking hot? I wanted him as much as I ever had. He leaned back down, taking one of my wrists in each hand and pinning them to either side of my head.
He nudged at my opening again, his breathing hard and ragged. A fine sheen of sweat coated his forehead. ‘You don’t have to hold back,’ I whispered.
He glared at me. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t,’ he growled as he thrust himself inside me, impaling me with his cock. Then he buried his face in my neck as he nailed me to the bed. He growled and cursed in Spanish in between biting and sucking on my tender flesh. I felt a rush of cream and heat as he increased his pace, driving against that one spot inside of me. Over and over. Until I was coming apart around him.
My own groans of pleasure seemed to tip him over the edge and he climaxed with a roar. For a few brief moments, everything that had happened in the past few days was forgotten and all that existed in the world was the two of us. I wrapped my legs around him and we lay together for a few moments, him breathing heavily against my neck and me panting under the weight of him.
‘Fuck!’ I heard him mumble before he pushed himself up and walked to the bathroom without another word. I watched after him and swallowed the sob in my throat.
Asshole!
I heard the sound of running water and then a few seconds later, he walked back into the room with a damp washcloth. I blinked at him as he sat beside me on the bed.
‘I think I bit you a little too hard, princess,’ he said as he brushed my hair away and held the cloth to my neck. ‘I might have broken the skin.’
‘What?’ my hand flew instinctively to my neck and he moved the cloth so I could feel. ‘It didn’t hurt. I hardly even felt it.’
I brushed over the area he’d been tending to and my fingers rubbed over the small indents his teeth had left. Pulling my hand away, I checked for blood but there wasn’t any. He placed the cloth back against my neck.
‘Lo siento,’ he said, apologizing in Spanish.
‘It’s okay. Your spankings hurt much more,’ I said with a half grin.
‘Not for your neck. Well, maybe a little for your neck. I didn’t mean to bite you so hard. But I’m mostly sorry about what I said earlier.’
I nodded at him. ‘I know how worried you must be.’
‘I am,’ he sighed. ‘But that doesn’t excuse what I said to you, princess. What happened to my father – none of that is your fault.’
‘You were upset –’ I started to say.
‘So were you,’ he interrupted me. ‘And you are always my priority, Alana. I need you to know that.’
‘I do,’ I said, placing my hand on his face. ‘And you are mine. But you need to let me in, Alejandro. I don’t need protecting from the truth. I understand that you don’t need to give me the details of your day to day life, and I don’t want them. But, the big stuff … I want to know that. If I had known you were in the middle of this thing with the Ortegas, I would never have gone to New York.’
‘I understand. But, I want to keep you out of all that, princess. I don’t want you worrying about who we’re at war with. That’s my job.’
‘You think it’s your job to protect me? To look after me? Well, it’s my job to do the same for you too. And how can I do that when I don’t know what’s going on with you?’
He placed the washcloth on the nightstand and lay down beside me, pulling me into his arms until I was lying with my head on his chest. ‘Are you sure you want to know about my world, Alana?’
‘Yes.’
He kissed the top of my head and then he told me all about what had been going on for the past few weeks. When he’d finished, he tilted my chin up so he could look at my face, searching for my reaction.
‘Thank you for trusting me,’ I said with a smile.
‘It was never about me not trusting you, princess. I thought keeping you out of it would keep you safe. But you’re right, how can you protect yourself if you don’t know what to look out for. If you are ever taken from me, Alana, then you should do everything you can to survive. Know that I will be moving heaven and earth to find you, so you do anything you can to stay alive.’
I shuddered involuntarily. I knew what his business was. I knew what had happened to his father was deliberate and was because of who he was. And I had asked to know more, but hearing him say that out loud, suddenly made everything all that more real.
‘You should listen to everything,’ he went on. ‘Always be listening. People usually aren’t as smart as they think and they will leak something that will be useful to you. You listen first and talk later, understand me? You learn everything you can about your attacker or your kidnapper, and you use it.’
‘Okay,’ I breathed.
Suddenly, he was rolling on top of me and brushing my hair back from my face. ‘Have I frightened you, princess?’
‘A little,’ I admitted. ‘But it’s okay. I asked to know. I needed to know.’
‘Tomorrow, I’ll have Hugo teach you the most effective ways to cause someone pain and some escape techniques.’
‘Why can’t you teach me instead?’
He narrowed his eyes at me and I felt his cock twitching against my stomach. ‘I’m pretty sure that anything involving me restraining you, or generally putting my hands on you, is only going to end one way, princess.’
‘Oh? And what way would that be?’ I purred.
‘You dripping wet and my cock buried inside you,’ he growled. ‘Besides, Hugo is an expert.’
‘Okay. Maybe Kelsey and Lucia could join us? Sounds like it could be useful stuff for any woman to know?’ I suggested, thinking that having both of them involved, would make it feel less like preparation for a potential kidnapping and more like one of the self-defense classes I took in college.
‘I think that’s a great idea. Then I won’t have to have to think about you and Hugo alone together wrestling in my gym,’ he flashed an eyebrow at me and I pushed him in the chest.
‘You’re kind of possessive, do you know that?’
‘Yes, I do. And you love it. You’re all mine, Alana,’ he growled, pressing his hips into mine so I could feel every inch of him.
‘I know,’ I groaned as I raised my hips to meet his. ‘Just like you’re all mine.’
‘Fuck, yeah, I am,’ he breathed as he shifted his hips lower and pushed his cock into me. ‘And you can have every last inch of me, princess.’
