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“Clever girl,” Jaguar remarks with a harsh laugh. At the same time, he presses me to him a fraction harder, and my body tingles all over. It’s like I’m a horny teenager again, blushing at being the object of a hot boy’s attention—only this “boy” has blood on his hands and a capacity for violence matched by very few. “But I do not share my toys, not even my harem women. You have my attention. Let’s see what kind of stunts you are compelled to pull off when it comes to keeping my interest.”
Do I want to do so, though? I’m not sure. If anything, letting him tire of me seems like a far safer prospect.
“Ah, I can see your devious brain spinning, Lupe,” Jaguar scolds. “Don’t be hasty just yet. After all, you aren’t going anywhere until we get Francisco settled,sí?”
Damn him. I hate how quick he is to use my own plans against me. I should take the reminder like the warning it is.
But,Dios mío, this man arouses something in me that I can’t fight. It’s different than the rebellious impulse I feel when it comes to Diego. Julian Domingas makes me…
Playful in a crazy way. Every interaction between us feels like a game of catch with a loaded gun. Which one of us will suffer the inevitable bang?
“It wouldn’t take running away or wild stunts to provoke you,” I tell him, lacing my fingers together around the back of his head. “You are too calculating to react to such trivial insults. No. A woman would need to do something far more dangerous to make you uncomfortable, Jaguar. She would have to…”
I lean forward and press my forehead to his with a sigh. This should be a mocking display, but I can’t deny how good the weightless sensation of being in his arms feels. How much of a relief it is to float and have someone else do the work of keeping me above water for once. I know trusting this man is like trusting a crocodile-shaped “log” drifting along the Nile River. Sooner or later, my mistake will become painfully apparent.
But I can’t deny that those few seconds of ignorant bliss are just that. Bliss.
“What?” he prods.
I startle to awareness and find him watching me, hungry for what I might say next.
“She’d have to take advantage of you, but not for your money or power. Emotionally. She’d need you in a way men like you simply aren’t available. She would come to you with all her sniveling problems and demand you listen. She’d want intimacy from you far more personal than sex.”
I smile, so pleased with myself. Triumph makes me restless. I sink into him more and bring my lips dangerously close to his ear.
“She’d want a partner in you, Julian. She’d be foolish enough to think that her proximity to you meant you cared. Oh, the ways in which she would seek to drain you dry—”
“Try me.”
My cocky glee grows cold. I tense. “W-What?”
“Try me.” It’s his turn to smile, but his eyes display anything but amusement. He’s thoughtful, letting his ruthless intelligence peek beneath his narco mask. “I’ll be the judge of my woman’s ‘trivial’ problems. So, what would yours be, Lupe?”
He returns his hands to my waist and looks up, forcing penetrating eye contact.
“You’ve drained my cock more than once, and my patience. Why should any other piece of me be off-limits to you?”
Damn him.
“I’d want your input on my shoes,” I simper in a tone I hope is reminiscent of his harem bimbos. “And my pretty dresses. And the purses you would buy for me—”
“Lying doesn’t suit you,” he snaps. “Neither does dancing around the subject. You aren’t the kind of woman to demand my input on any damn thing. Your secrets are far deeper than that. More haunting than that. The kind of dark truths you could only confess to a man like me. That woman? I would let her drain me dry. I would gladly let her pour into me whatever the hell she wanted. Why? Because she would become addicted to the freedom I could give her. Drunk on it. She’d have no choice but to always come back for more.”
Shit.He’s a more formidable opponent in this arena than I want to give him credit for. Every time I think I can grapple for the upper hand—he effortlessly comes from nowhere to seize it from me.
“I don’t think my secrets are of any use to you, Jaguar.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” His smile widens, and I shudder. “You are very interesting, Lupe. I think your secrets would intrigue me very much. Tell me one. Something you think I don’t know.”
I think.My heart stutters. I can barely choke out a coherent reply, “I’m cold.”
“Then I’ll go first,” he says without missing a beat. “There is no such thing as love in my world, Lupe, though, like me, I doubt you’ve had those pretty notions from the outset. There is only possession. Ownership. When I see something I want? I take it. I won’t settle for scraps. Do you understand?”
I lick my lips and try to speak. “Yes—”
“You don’t,” he snaps. “I’d rather you lie to me, than give me a truth you don’t trust me with.”
He holds my gaze for a second longer. Then he pivots, propelling our bodies toward the ledge of the pool. Once there, he sets me gingerly on the edge, but I don’t miss how his nails graze the flesh of my hips until the last possible moment.
