“No one’s here,” he mumbled, his lips in my hair. “They’re all gone into town. I want you—now.”
My heart rate picked up as he ruled my body with an expert touch. I couldn’t hold back a lust-filled moan as his fingers released the button on my shorts, working them down my legs until they pooled at my feet.
A clang of metal and material rustled behind me while he fumbled with his own pants. Fire lit up every inch of my skin as his hand trailed up my spine, urging my head down as he pulled my hips back. “Whatever happens later, I need you to remember one thing,” he whispered hotly against my ear.
“What’s that?” I groaned.
In a surprise move, his fingers dug into my skin as he drove into me, the unexpected invasion tearing through me in a heated possession. Screaming, I threw my head back, at the same time his fingers wrapped around my throat.
“You belong to me.”
With unreserved intensity, Val plunged into me, each thrust claiming more and more of my identity. Intense friction drove me to the brink of insanity, my fingers slipping from my hold on the fence, only to be slammed back onto it by Val’s.
“Yes,” I moaned over and over until the word garbled in my throat, and I splintered apart in his hands.
A layer of sweat glistened between us, as with a roar of my name, he released a lifetime of fear into me, his body jerking with power.
Rolling his forehead onto my shoulder, he lowered us both to the ground, cradling me in his lap. Without hesitating, he enveloped me in a protective hold, his nose disappearing into my hair. “What have you done to me?”
Shifting in his arms, a glaze hovered in his warm chocolate eyes before he focused on the clouding sky. “What do you mean?”
One arm tightened as the other folded underneath his head. “I don’t need anyone, but I can’t breathe if your scent isn’t in my lungs. I can’t focus if your fire hair isn’t in my sight. I can’t enjoy a meal without your taste on my lips. I can’t hear if your voice isn’t fucking yelling what an asshole I am, and I can’t feel unless your skin slides under my fingers. So, yes,Cereza, what have you done to me?”
I fought the smile that threatened my lips. Lifting my chin, I whispered in his ear, “I’ve strengthened you.”
He arched an eyebrow and peered down at me, waiting for more.
“I’ve given you something else to live for other than anger and revenge. Just like you’ve done for me. I should hate you, Valentin Carrera. I should take your gun and put a bullet in you.”
He stroked my cheek. “Then, why don’t you?”
I glanced down at our entwined hands, the gravity of the words on my tongue constricting my chest. “I think I’d sooner stand in front of one for you.”
With my head laying against his chest, I felt the catch in his breath and the rumble in his throat as he admitted the words in the language meaning the most to him. “Te amo, Cereza.”
A tear slipped from the corner of my eye as I nodded. “Damn you, Danger. I love you too.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
VAL
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
The flightfrom Monterrey to Mexico City took an hour by private jet. Had it not been for the morbid nature of our destination, I would’ve found mild amusement in Eden’s shock at finding my father’s private jet waiting at Del Norte International Airport instead of the commercial airliner she expected. Even half-hearted, crude comments at joining the half-mile high club fell flat as both of us fidgeted with anticipation and anxiousness.
“Do you want me to go in with you?” Eden’s red hair fanned around her face as we stood outside Mexico City’s morgue.
A strike of irony hit me as people milled around the streets of Mexico’s largest city. My father was an arrogant son of a bitch. He lived for notoriety and the thrill of hearing his name whispered in hushed circles. He traveled with an entourage, lived outrageously, and spent money as if every day were his last on this earth.
Yet inside the plain, nondescript building in front of me, that same man lay on a metal slab beside the rest of humanity.
Sometimes, death truly was the great equalizer.
Brushing a stray hair off her cheek, I shifted a glance inside the thick glass door and shook my head. “No. I’d rather you wait with Mateo at the cantina across the street.” I couldn’t explain it, but even in death, I didn’t want her near my father. Some irrational part of me feared Eden walking in that room would stir whatever evil lay dormant in his cold body and damn her to my fate. I shifted a glance inside the thick glass door and blew out heavy breath. “I need to do this alone.”
“I can be quiet, Val. I’ll just be there if you need me.”
“I want you to listen to me, Eden, and I want you to hear my words, not your ego.” Dropping the hand holding her cheek, I shoved it in my pocket to resist touching her again. “We aren’t in Monterrey anymore. This is Mexico City. This is my father’s seat of power and only six hours from Guadalajara, which is Muñoz territory. Eyes have been on us from the moment we got on that plane at Del Norte. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
