The soft, tender skin of Sera’s back was red, and welts had risen where Luigi’s belt had struck her, mostly on her right side, from her shoulder blade down to her hip. And since I’d already killed the man responsible, all I could do was stand there and vibrate with rage that anyone would do this to her. He had no fucking right. Sera was not his. And the only thing that made me feel the slightest bit better was knowing that now she never would be.
With effort, I tore my eyes away from her abused skin. The water in the tub was getting too high, so I walked over and shut it off. Then I found some Epsom salts under the sink and poured some into the hot water. There were no open wounds on her that I saw, just bruised skin with raised welts, so it should be okay. When I was done, I held out my hand. “Come on.”
She eyed it like I was holding a snake poised to strike, and as the light struck her face just right, I thought I saw purplish bruising around her eye. After a moment, she took my hand and allowed me to help her into the bath. Carefully, she lowered herself into the tub, letting out a hiss when the water touched her back.
“Is it too hot?”
“No.” She shook her head and eased herself further down into the tub until she was fully submerged. “Is Luca angry with me for stealing his father’s phone?”
“No,” I told her. “Not at all. We’re hoping there will be something on it that will help us justify his murder and clear your name.”
My cock swelled watching the water dance over her bare breasts, but I ignored it. I wasn’t a total monster. Walking over to the medicine cabinet, I grabbed her a couple of Advil and the bottled water Lisa always left on the bathroom counter.
She glanced at me sideways when I held them out to her. “Stop looking at me like that.”
I squatted down beside the tub until we were nearly face to face. She most definitely had a black eye. From Luigi, I would assume. And there was a small cut on her cheekbone. “Like what?”
“Like you feel sorry for me. I’ve had worse.” She took the pills and water from me and swallowed them down. “Thank you.”
My blood began to boil at her casual admission. “I didn’t see marks on you like this when I took you from Mexico.”
A haunted look passed over her perfect face, there and gone within a few beats of my heart as she handed the water back to me. “I’m not talking about that.”
“Then what?”
“Why the hell do you think I wanted to get away from my father so badly?
Slowly, I rose to my feet and set the bottle back on the counter in case she needed it. Through clenched teeth, I asked her, “What exactly has your father done to you, Sera?”
She stared at the wall in front of her. “He’s done a lot of things. None of which I want to go into detail about.”
“He hurt you when I sent you back.” It wasn’t a question. I knew now who had given her the shiner.
She looked at me then, her light eyes darkened with memories. “Yes,” she said simply. “And then he sold me off to Luigi, for a discounted price, I’m sure, since I’m now damaged goods. Which was my own choice,” she was quick to add. “At least the first time. I don’t blame you for that.”
I stared down at this woman that I was foolish enough to think I could live without. “You’re not damaged.”
She didn’t respond, but I could tell by the look on her face she was less than convinced. She sighed heavily. “So what happens now?”
The urge to commit a second murder that night was still strong within me, but I couldn’t leave her. Not right now. “You’re going to need to stay here again for a while.”
“Until you can ship me back to my father again?”
“I’m not going to do that.”
“What are you going to do then? Find me a new husband yourself?”
“No, Sera.”
She looked up at me. “So I’m a prisoner here until when?”
“You’re not a prisoner. But you need to stay here so we can keep you safe. Luigi’s men think you killed him and escaped out the window. And we need to keep it that way. Just for now. Until we can be sure there won’t be any retaliation for his death.”
She looked back at the wall. “I would have. Eventually. He was a bastard.”
I smiled a little for the first time in a long time. My bloodthirsty little warrior. There was no doubt in my mind she was telling the truth.
In the next second, she wiped the smile right off my face. “I need you to leave now. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“That’s just too fucking bad, baby, because I’m staying right here.” I cocked my head, contemplating her profile as a thought occurred to me. “Are you planning to kill me, too?”
She looked away.
“I’m a bastard, too. I’m the son of a bitch who made you promises I didn’t keep. Who sent you back to your abusive father so he could sell you off to an abusive husband.” I squatted next to her again so I could brush her cheek with the backs of my fingers. Just a soft touch. But it was enough to get a reaction from both of us. The light glinted off her silver nose ring as her nostrils flared slightly on a sharp inhale of breath. “What are you going to do to me, baby girl?”
She turned her head, and her eyes clashed with mine. Damp tendrils of pink hair curled around her face, sticking to her temples. Her cheeks, neck, and chest were flushed red from the heat of the bath water, and her eyes were bright and still slightly glazed over with pain.
“Are you going to kill me, too?” I asked her again.
I watched as tears filled her eyes.
“I would understand if you did,” I told her, and I meant it. My only regret would be that I would no longer get to touch her soft skin, or hear the music of her laugh, something I haven’t heard in quite a long time. I’d never again get to watch as her back arched with pleasure. Never hear the sounds she made when she was close to orgasm. Those things, I would miss too much.
Hell, I’d even miss the way she wasn’t afraid to stand up to me. Very few men had the balls to do that, and yet this little girl had pulled my own gun on me. And she probably would’ve shot me, too, if I hadn’t gotten it away from her.
I turned my hand so that my palm was cupping the side of her head, and watched as a tear slid silently down her cheek. I brushed it away with my thumb. “I’ve missed you,” I confessed.
Her expression hardened, and I took her mouth with mine before she could tell me to leave again. She pressed her lips together, refusing to let me in, even as a whimper of need escaped her throat. My other hand wrapped around her throat. I tilted her head up, using my tongue to push my way between her lips until she finally opened for me. And then I was inside, thrusting my tongue into her mouth. I moaned when I tasted her. The only thing that tasted better than Sera’s mouth was her pussy.
I tasted the salt of her tears as I kissed her, but she didn’t try to push me away. I moved my hand from her throat and dipped it beneath the water, finding her breasts. Her nipples were hard, straining for my palm when I brushed it over them, and a surge of blood rushed to my cock. I went lower, over her soft belly to the wet curls of hair that covered her pussy. I cupped her in my palm as I slid my middle finger between her soft folds to find her clit.
Pulling my mouth from hers just enough so I could talk, I whispered against her lips, “I want to make you come. But you gotta let me know if I’m hurting you. Comprendere?” Understand?
“Yes,” she whispered back. Her eyes were on mine, the pupils so large they appeared almost black.
“Hang onto the side of the tub.”
Obediently, she raised her arms out of the water as I leaned forward on my knees and tightened my grip on her damp hair. With my other hand, I squeezed her pussy, then started to work her clit with two fingers. She was wet, both with the water in the tub and the slickness of her own arousal.
She could hate me all she wanted, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted my touch.
I turned my face so I could look down the length of her lush body, the image wavy but clear beneath the water. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Sera.” And I meant it. I’d never seen a woman more perfectly made for me than she was. I slid a finger deep inside of her, curling it around to rub the sensitive part of her inner wall. “I want to feel you come on my fingers. I want to watch your face when you fall apart.”
She cried out softly at my words.
I wanted to lift her from the water and bring her sweet breasts to my mouth, but I was afraid I’d hurt her back. So I kept her floating, holding her head off the hard side of the tub and allowing the water to support her body. The zipper of my pants was digging hard into my cock, but that was okay. Maybe it would keep me from soaking the inside of my pants with my come.
Her hands tightened on the side of the tub and her breaths were coming fast and hard. I went back to her clit, her back arching when I touched her just right. My eyes went back to her face. “Easy,” I told her when she winced. “I’ve got you, baby girl.”
The red flush on her chest deepened, and I knew she was close. My balls tightened just watching her. “Come for me, Sera,” I ordered. A rush of pleasure zipped down my spine as she did as I commanded, her lips brushing mine as her hips rose from the water right before her body jerked in on itself and she cried out against my mouth.
“Yes, baby. That’s it. Ah! God, Sera…” My cock swelled tight as my orgasm rushed up its length and spilled out into my boxer briefs. “Fuck.” The curse came out on a moan as I humped the side of the tub, wishing like hell it was her tight pussy milking me dry.
I pressed my forehead to hers as we breathed each other’s air, chests heaving. “Do you want me to kill him?”
It took her a few seconds to ask, “Who?”
“Your father.”
Sera’s eyes blinked open, and she pulled away so she could look at me.
“I’ll go find him right now, and he’ll no longer be a problem for you ever again,” I promised.
I saw the conflict in her eyes, and for a moment I thought she was going to say yes. But then she shook her head. “No.”
I inhaled and exhaled through my nose, trying to calm the beast inside of me who was screaming for vengeance for her. “If you change your mind, all you have to do is say the word.”
She stared at me for a minute, but I couldn’t read her expression. “I want to wash and get out now.”
Untangling my fingers from her hair and giving the soft flesh between her legs one last feel, I rose to my feet. I saw her eyes drop to the wet stain on the front of my slacks before she quickly averted them to grab the soap. In the closet, I stripped out of my bloody clothes, using my boxer briefs to clean myself up, then pulled on a pair of gray sweats. I grabbed one of my T-shirts from the drawer for Sera. I’d take a shower later.
When I returned to the bathroom, she was standing in the tub with a towel wrapped around her and was attempting to get out of the tub. “Hey, hey. Let me help you.” Dropping the shirt on the floor, I reached for her, stopping cold when she slapped my hand away.
“I don’t need your help, Enzo. I don’t want your help.” She looked at me with disgust in her swollen eyes. She’d washed her makeup off, and her black eye was plain to see now. “I can’t help the way my body reacts to you, but I’ll be damned if I let you worm your way into my heart again.”
“Sera.” There was a warning in my tone. I wasn’t sure if it was for her, or for myself.
She ignored it. With one hand on the wall, she carefully lifted one leg up and out of the tub. Slowly, she transferred her weight to that foot before lifting her other leg. I could see the lines of pain on her face, and it infuriated me that she wouldn’t allow me to help her. No. Fuck that. Stepping beside her, I wrapped one arm around her waist just as her back gave out on her.
Without another word, she grudgingly allowed me to help her dry off and into my shirt. She didn’t complain about wearing it. All of her clothes were still at Luigi’s. And there was no way for us to get them without someone seeing and wondering why we needed them. I’d seen the clothes Veda loaned her on the bed, but I wanted her in mine. “Are you hungry? Do you need anything from downstairs?”
“No, I just want you to leave.” She was right back to the way she was, as though nothing had happened.
“You don’t mean that.”
She looked me straight in the eye. “Yes,” she said. “I do. I don’t want anything to do with you, Enzo. And as soon as I can get the hell out of here, I’m leaving.”
I stilled, but I didn’t hide from her. I didn’t try to disguise the pain her words brought. “And what if I don’t let you go?”
“You have no choice,” she informed me. “We made a deal. And you’ll live up to your end of it, or I’ll tell everyone what a lying son of a bitch you are and that your word means nothing.”
Oh, I had a choice. And she was just going to have to live with it.
