“Not anymore. Pandora won’t be back. Have her and all her shit escorted off my property.”
“Yes, boss.”
Mateo grabs my wrist and pulls me behind him, out the door and down the hall to his office, where he slams the door, locks it, and cages me in against it.
“I won’t apologize.”
“No. You won’t. That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
He kisses me so hard and violently, I’m pretty sure my lip is bleeding when he lifts me and carries me to his desk, where he sets me on my feet, spins me around, and bends me over.
Mateo manages to get my jeans over my hips and down to my thighs, and the next thing I know, he’s pounding into me, fucking me so hard that the fronts of my thighs slam against the desk, and it’ll leave bruises.
“Fucking.Mine,” he says through gritted teeth. “I love your damn spine, Savage.”
I push back against him, trying to give it back to him, and then his hand is in my hair and he pulls me up against his chest.
“I want you to always stand up for yourself like that,” he growls against my neck before biting it. “Always.But the next time someone disrespects you in front of me, Iwillblow their fucking head off. I don’t care who it is.”
“And the next time you introduce me to one of your old fuck toys, I’ll rip her fucking eyes out.”
He smiles and kisses me hard before pushing me back down on the desk, smacking my ass so hard that it must glow, and fucking me until we’re both crying out with our release.
Finally, he pulls out and then tugs my jeans and panties back up and gathers me into his arms so he can kiss me, softer this time.
“For the record, I would have paid good money to watch you kick Pandora’s ass in the cage.”
“I would have won.”
“Oh, that wasn’t even a question, Savage.”
I chuckle as I nuzzle his chin with my nose, and he kisses my forehead. The frenzy of the hot desk sex over.
“So, you really weren’t going to fight tonight?” I ask softly and pull back so I can see his face.
His lips press together in a grim line, and he lets out a breath as he smooths my hair away from my face. His brown eyes lookalmost vulnerable, which is something I haven’t seen much of when it comes to this man.
“You can tell me anything,” I say, echoing words that he once said to me, and his lips tip up in a small smile.
“For a long time, fighting is what grounded me. I’d get so worked up about what was happening with my brothers, with my business. Frustrated, angry.” He swallows, and his eyes, usually full of so much humor, sober, and I realize that I’m getting a window into the deepest parts of this man. “I’d pummel the shit out of men, trying to calm that beast inside of me that wanted blood. Violence. But since the moment I saw you, I didn’t need the fight anymore.Yousoothe me.”
“Maybe it’s just the good sex. You’ve traded one activity for another.”
He doesn’t crack a smile as he slowly shakes his head and brushes his fingers through my hair.
“It’s you. I’m always on high alert and have to be because of who I am and the targets always placed on my back. But when I’m with you, whether we’re having a conversation like this or I’m fucking you six ways to Sunday, the noise quiets and I can breathe. And that’s how I know, without a doubt, that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you by my side until I take my last breath. Because you might be the one thing in this world that I can’t live without. Turns out, I can live without the fights, and I know I never have to live without my brothers. But you?—”
Well, holy shit.
“I’m right here.” I cup his face and boost onto my toes so I can brush my lips over his. “I’m not going anywhere.”
With a sigh so deep that it’s as though the weight of the world just left his shoulders, Mateo pulls me in for a hug that steals my breath. Not because it’s too tight, but because it’s so ...tender.
I love this man so much that it almost surprises me. I haven’t known him for long, but he’s quickly become the center of my world.
His phone starts to ring and he sighs.
“That’s Julian’s tone,” he says as he pulls the phone out of his pocket. “Hey.”
