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Seconds later, a gentle mist erupts from unseen showerheads.
“To trap me,” I tell his back. “To trick me. To give me to him on a silver platter in exchange for more power.”
He doesn’t rile in anger at having his supposed evil scheme exposed. He chuckles and eyes me with a skeptically raised eyebrow.
“You do have such an elevated sense of importance,” he says, returning to me. “Don’t think me sexist for saying so, but you aren’t the center of the universe, chica. I doubt Braulio would risk going toe to toe with me foryou.”
If only he were right. I’d take comfort in his strange, brutal sense of protection.
But I don’t.
I’ve tried to deny it, but what I saw in the apartment cements my deepest fear. Diego is out there, waiting—and patience was never his strong suit.
“Look up,” Jaguar commands, tilting my chin against his palm. As a result, water runs down my forehead, tinged with red.
He got a wash rag from somewhere and lathers it with sweet-smelling soap before washing me in earnest. My mind reels as he drops to his knees and sets about what he must deem as the filthiest place on me—between my legs.
I should feel violated. Instead, my eyelids feel heavy, and my thoughts dissipate. He’s unnervingly gentle again. My brain can’t process it in this heightened state. Diego is banished for an instant, and it’s such a strange feeling.
Because Jaguar infects me in return.
I’m vulnerable to him in a way I rarely am. His voice resonates within me to the core. “I want to know something...”
Ruthless, he chases me into this dreamlike mind state, itching at the fragile peace.
“What?” I ask when he falls silent.
His hand creeps along my thigh in a featherlight caress. Then he strokes me with the rag. Caresses. Strokes.
“Why the butterflies?”
My heart stutters. “Because… Because it’s what he called me,” I confess, my voice hoarse. His silly, pretty, fragile little butterfly Lupita.
“Oh.” Jaguar laughs, but about fractures my distrust of him. He didn’t know. Diego surely would have let that detail slip? “That wouldn’t be my choice when it comes to you,” he adds, furthering that suspicion. “You do seem to think you can fly—” A pointed reminder of when I jumped from a second-floor balcony into his pool the other night. “But you aren’t some delicate fluttering creature. No, chica. You haveclaws.”
His own nails graze me as I sense him rise to his feet. He moves his rag over my breasts next. Then my throat.
“Either that, or you’d be a slithering little snake. A sexy viper.”
I open my eyes and find that his smile has vanished. Those eyes are entirely serious now, and he steps into me, making my pulse surge.
“I’ll warn you this once, to show how nice of a man I can be…” He presses his forehead to mine, seeming to nuzzle my cheek. “You forget him. From here on out, I am the only man you concern yourself with. I will accept your bargain, Lupe. You. In return, you belong only to me.”
I can’t resist needling him just a little. It’s the only way I can stay sane. “The piece of you not claimed by those in your harem, you mean.”
He doesn’t laugh. His hand comes from nowhere, fisting through my hair to hold me captive. His lips slam against mine, but with punishing force. Hungry intensity. Possessive need.
I struggle to keep up, but there is no use. My lip stings, caught between his teeth as he easily wins this round, beating my mouth into submission. Mercilessly, he advances, surging our combined bodies against the wall.
I rip my mouth from his and cry out. My back is in agony—but the pain is nothing compared to the chaos wreaking havoc inside my brain.
“Ah…” Jaguar steps back, but presses his thumb against my lower lip in a quiet warning. “Whether I own one woman or a hundred, you are now one of them. Smile, Lupe. After all, this is what you wanted.”
I don’t smile as I hold his probing stare and try to find his real motive lurking within it.
“Isn’t it, Tiena?”
“No. I don’t want your possession,” I admit, hating how my voice openly breaks. “I want your protection. Can you promise me that?”
