I slow my pace and stop when she spins around, fixing her spine tall and lifting her regal chin high. “Let me leave, Dante. Stop chasing me,” she says breathlessly.
The audacity of her request fogs my stare. I shake my head, stalking towards her without a plan. “No.”
Her chest rises, and she gasps at the abrupt reply. “Why? Why won’t you let me go?”
All the reasons for her not to go dance on the tip of my tongue. “Stop asking questions, beija flor,” I snarl.
“Tell me!” She wipes a rogue tear from her chin and then hugs her midriff.
My eyes snap closed, forcing myself to block out her anxious expression. To prevent the truth from tripping free. “Because you’ve ruined everything.” I laugh cruelly at the admission. “Because you didn’t leave when I offered you freedom. Which clearly means you belong to me now. No turning back. No going home.”
A palm flies to her heart, where she massages the crack under the surface. “You promised me… Please… Don’t do this. He was going to hurt you.”
“The only person who can hurt me is you,” I blurt out unexpectedly.It’s happening. My mind is renouncing her power over me.
“Bullshit!” she shouts, bordering on hysteria. “I’ve never tried to hurt you.” Her hand flies up, and she pokes out her forefinger. “You, on the other hand, that’s all you know how to do.”
I scrub my eyes and stare up at the leafy canopy. “You should’ve obeyed me, Iris.” I take a deep breath and feign calmness even though anarchy flirts with the beast in my chest. “I gave you a chance to leave all this behind. And look… You’re still here… with a fucking dress and knee-high socks.” Christ, I’m a mess.
“What will you do to me?” She slowly reverses, angering me even more.
“I haven’t figured that out yet.” I want to be strong so my cracks aren’t visible. I need her here, when all she wants to do is fly thousands of miles away from me. “Do not take another step away from me,” I snap out. “Or I swear to fuck, I won’t be held responsible for what I do next.”
My eyes drop to the tight socks rising over her knees, ending at creamy thighs peeking out from beneath her dress.
“Dante,” she whispers with a faint prayer for the man she wishes will appear from the mist. “He had a rifle pointed right at you, for goodness sake. What would you have done?”
With a quick pace, I close the painful distance separating us. She flinches when I seize her throat and march her backward into a tree, taking full control of her. When our bodies collide, her groan catches me off guard. “I would have broken the fucker’s neck,” I hiss. “There were armed men everywhere. I told them to stand down because they had loaded weapons, not him. There was enough ammunition to eradicate a village, all pointed in our direction––inyourdirection, for fucks sake. A rogue bullet aimed at Miguel was more of a threat than that sonofabitch.” Her chest heaves as my rationale spits out into the open. “My men are all trained assassins, snipers, fast shooters, yet I still wouldn't trust any of them with a weapon when you’re close by. Accidents happen, Iris. Bullets meant for one person can kill someone else.” My rant untangles in a mass of honesty. “I would never give the order when you’re in the crossfire. Do you understand me?”
She swallows hard and nods. “Yes.”
The hairs on the back of my neck prickle like hackles. “No, Iris, I don’t think you understand at all, or you wouldn’t have been so damn reckless.”
“Then make me understand.” Tiny hands brush over my abdomen as she lifts to her tiptoes.
My dick thickens, and before she can reach any higher, I grab her wrists. “Is that what you really want, beija flor?”
She runs her wicked little tongue between her lips, and the charge of lust it brings unhinges sanity. The fresh scent of coconut swooshes up my nostrils when I tip into her hair. Soft ringlets of turbulent lava flow with disarray. I’ve missed how they tickle my skin and fire up every single nerve ending in my body. She lights up my world.
“I’m sorry.” Her breath is shaky. I almost choke on my tongue to stop candid sentences from escaping. Her lips part, glistening with moisture. “I did it for you,” she whispers, as if sensing the conflict within me.
Miguel is still dead, apology or not, and she’s still here––tormenting me.
Hot breath teases me with a thousand excuses for sin. My hand jumps to her jaw and shivers at the firm contact, powerlessly restrained when I hollow her flushed cheeks so her mouth protrudes.
“Stop talking. Your apology doesn’t change a thing. You got in the way and fucked things up.” I’m aware my voice is thick, slipping past normal and rasping at greed. “I’m growing tired of your disobedience. I gave you freedom, and you threw it back in my goddamn face. You got him killed before I had the chance to do it myself.” A tornado whirls in my head. “I was meant to pull the trigger when I was ready to strike off his debt. His life was mine.” My nose nuzzles into her hair, and I graze her fleshy lobe with my teeth. “But you showed up and put yourself in fucking danger, Iris.”
Nausea pounces on me. I’m incapable of shutting out all the possible cruel scenarios that could have happened. Even though she’s safe and trembling at my mercy. I try to ignore the gnawing ache in my core, the hunger wilder than gluttony.
When she inhales, her chest elevates into me. Soft breasts nestle against my bare chest, and my forehead falls to hers. We suck in the same hot air, and I wonder if there’s any way to come back from this mind fucking insanity because I’m literally blinded by lust.
At my angriest, I’ve always maintained a level head, but having her in my territory, after she tried to protect me, wearing a flimsy sundress and thigh-high socks, even when my anxiety for her safety pushed her away––well, I’m an unworthy mess.
The torn emotions unravelling inside me are unstoppable, and I don’t know how to deal with it.
She deserves everything I dish out.
20
