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“You’re calling me a criminal?”
He uttered a low dry chuckle. “No, I’m saying I know when someone’s lying to me. I’ve had practice at it. Besides, you’re not very good at hiding your feelings.”
He dragged he
r against his chest. Even angry he was still so obviously turned on. His arm was a steel band about her waist, and his fingers bit into her back. Not painfully so but with such heat, he scorched her skin.
“You want me,” he explained, “but you’re also pissed at me.”
“I don’t—”
“—know what I’m talking about?”
She pressed her lips together and then relented. He wanted to hear it, so she might as well tell him. “It’s your fault that David wouldn’t let himself love.”
“Excuse me?”
She pushed his chest and got a couple millimeters of space to look into his eyes. “I put two and two together. Some of the things he said to me and how you admitted you left the relationship. You accused him of being just like Thiago, that he was a womanizer and a drunk. Then you told him you were never coming back.”
Miguel released her, and she almost fell on the ground before she caught herself. He turned away again, but she wasn’t going to shut up now. She moved around in front of him to force him to look at her.
“You said all that horrible stuff. Did it ever occur to you how much that would hurt him?”
“I’ve said worse to Thiago.”
“Yeah, well David wasn’t like your dad. Not by a long shot. If he really was the way you say he was, he changed. For the entire time I’ve worked for your family, I’ve never seen him get drunk. Ever. I’ve never seen him go on a date. Women were always trying to get his attention, but he didn’t give them a chance. Maybe he kept it really private, but I doubt it. He worked like an animal building up the ranch.”
“That has nothing to do with me.”
“It has everything to do with you!”
She grabbed his arm, but he shook her off. He wasn’t getting away that easily. She got into his face, but being shorter than he was and smaller, she had to tilt her head back and stand as strong as she could against his stocky build.
“David loved you. He missed you, and he was doing all he did for you, in preparation for when you would come back to the ranch and make it your home again.”
The stricken expression on his face penetrated her anger. She snapped her teeth together, ashamed that she had taken her argument so far. In essence, she was saying his brother had worked himself into the grave, and it was Miguel’s fault. What a horrible thing to say to him when it was too late to make it right.
“I’m sor—” she began.
He grabbed her around the hips and shoved her dress up a good foot and a half, exposing her thighs. “We’ve established I’m a beast. Do you still want me?”
Her desire shot across the galaxy, weakening her knees. She licked her lips again as she struggled to find her voice. “Y-yes.”
He hiked her dress higher. The warm breeze stirred things up worse. “Prove it.”
She tangled her fingers into his hair and drew his head toward hers. Their bodies melded together as tension and anger gave way to wave after wave of passion and desire.
Chapter 8
“I know what I’m doing,” Antonio snapped at his older brother for the millionth time.
“Sure you do,” Miguel told him. “If you want to break your stupid neck.”
Jasmeka winced. He had no tact at all, not a gentle bone in his body. She thought of the night before and how much fun they had together. No. Fun wasn’t the word. The lovemaking was phenomenal, but fun made it sound like it was a laughing and joking kind of night. Miguel had done things to her that made her toes curl and the night come alive with her shouts of pleasure. Every time she thought of it, she couldn’t wait to get together again.
As he barked orders to Antonio without mercy, she thought about his strength and the way he held her up. She recalled the way he had spoken low and seductive in Spanish, and chills raced down her spine.
“Jeez, pull it together, Jas.”
