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“—but where were you when I needed you most? You said you’d be here and you weren’t. Where were you when this happened?” she shouted, pointing to the scar across her forehead. I stiffened. She hadn’t even come close to talking about how she’d gotten the scar. “If you had been there, it would’ve never happened.” Though she shouted the words, I could hear the weakness behind them. The defeat.
“Sierra, I’m only going to say this once,” I said, holding up one finger and pressing my body into hers. I heard her breath hitch, and she shuddered, but I ignored it. I ignored all of it. “I might not have been there to stop it from happening, but if you give me the name of the person who did that, you willneverhave to worry about them again. I will make them pay in ways you can’t imagine.”
My low, sensual voice drew her in. Her lips parted as I spoke, and she listened, intrigued by my offer. She had no idea how serious I was, though. I yearned to get my hands on the person who’d done that to her, and I wasn’t foolish enough to believe what Hunter had told me about the scar. I knew she hadn’t fallen and cut herself. I could see the cracked parts of her behind the smile—cracks that weren’t there five years ago. Something happened, and she hasn’t spoken about it once. Despite everything I’d done to protect her, she’d still been hurt, and it felt like a blow.
“It happened a long time ago, and it doesn’t matter now,” she finally said, shaking her head and finding her resolve. For a moment—just one—I thought she would give in and tell me what had happened. I genuinely believed she’d lean on me for comfort for the first time in five years, and that thought had me hyper-focusing on her. The soft skin beneath one of my calloused palms, the slight curl of her long black hair that danced across my wrist, the piercing green of her eyes—all of it drew me in and had me yearning for something I hadn’t allowed myself to want since my father branded those feelings out of me. I couldn’t risk losing her to this life, but now…she was already here.
“I tried to do all I could to keep you safe,” I whispered, shaking my head and reaching a hand up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. I swore for just a moment that she’d leaned into the touch before jerking away quickly.
Her jaw clenched again, and she narrowed her eyes. “How did you protect me, Carlo?” she asked. “Because to me, it looks like you just left me to fend for myself. You left me alone and waiting for you, and you never came back to tell me why. I was infatuated with you, and giving me your attention was cruel when you knew how I felt about you. It was cruel to tell me you’d come back for me and leave. But it’s different now. I’m grown, and I can see right through the bullshit. Please, Carlo, tell me what you did to protect me. Tell me anything.”
My mind caught on the revelation that she’d been infatuated with me, and I stared at her. She had no idea that I’d felt the same way.
“Exactly,” she said when I didn’t answer. She tried pulling from my gasp, but I held her tighter. Tight enough that she gasped.
I bent down, my lips hovering over hers. “I’m just as hot for you as I was back then,” I told her, moving my mouth to her neck. She leaned back slightly as I trailed my lips across it. God, she smelled so fucking good. I couldn’t imagine letting her go now. “And I think you are, too. I think you don’t know why you’re still pissed at me, and you want to experience this as much as I do.”
“I know exactly why I’m mad,” she whispered, but I could hear the way her words caught in her throat—the way she wanted me, too.
“Then tell me so we can fuck without consequence.”
She gasped, but I shoved my mouth on hers, devouring the sound. I could feel the angry tension that she held onto, but she instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck as I pressed into her, taking in every ounce of that splendid warmth and delicate touch she offered. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” she said, pressing both hands into my chest. “I’m mad at you.”
“If you want me to stop, tell me,” I demanded, fisting her hair and tugging her head back. I left hard kisses up and down her throat as she gasped and pressed her lips more firmly into mine. “Tesora, you have no idea how much it turns me on when you slap me.”
She gasped as I dug my fingers deeper into her hair, bringing another, deeper sound from her. I shuddered at the sounds, wanting more.Needingmore of her.
I lifted her onto the bar, ravenously jerking her shirt over her head and leaving a silky lace bra in its place. I brought my mouth to her stomach, leaving heated kisses all across it before gripping the clasp on her bra and snapping it open. Her creamy breasts met the air, and the nipples hardened immediately as she arched her back and leaned back. No thoughts remained in my mind beyond us, and I didn’t hesitate to remove the rest of her clothes and slide her forward. I brought my mouth between her legs and dove into her, slipping my tongue inside and feasting.
Sierra cried out, and I continued ravaging her, devouring her. The sweet taste of her consumed me, and I unzipped my own pants, pumping my cock. Each of her shuddering moans brought a new wave of pleasure. “God, Carlo, please,” she cried out, shaking from the tremors of an orgasm.
I couldn’t wait any longer. I couldn’t listen to her crying my name and hold back, so I released myself and grabbed a condom from my pocket—something I had decided to start carrying after the first time with her—and tore into it, sliding it over myself quickly.
I lifted her from the bar, gathered her in my arms, and pounded into her with a hard thrust. She screamed, and I slammed my lips into hers, tasting the sound of her pleasure as she continued crying out—moaning and gasping in sync with each movement. My tongue caressed hers as I went hard. There was nothing soft and passionate about this as I fucked her, grabbing her hair in one hand and holding her up with the other.
She rode my cock with panting breaths, and she clawed at the shirt that she mercifully didn’t try to remove this time. I could feel the claw marks through the fabric. There would be lines etched on my skin after this, and the thought sent another wave of pleasure rippling through me.
Fuck,I had never been so consumed by a woman. And as she cried out, tensing around me, I couldn’t stop the roar of ecstasy as I tipped my head back and found my release inside her. The sweat coating our skin mixed, and nothing had ever felt so right. So amazing.
She buried her head in my shoulder as she caught her breath, and I released her hair, supporting myself on the bar’s surface for a few moments as I held her up.
“I shouldn’t have let it get that far again.”
12
SIERRA
I couldn’t stop thinking about how he claimed to have protected me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the adamant way he’d fucked me, either. I was missing something about this situation, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the whole truth. It felt so easy to stay away from him and hate him. I feared learning the entire truth would be more difficult. Hating was easy. It was forgiving him and accepting the unfair nature of the world that was the most difficult. I didn’t think I could handle placing the blame where it belonged. I didn’t know the name of the person who had taken me, scarred me, and held me captive, and I knew I never would.
I needed someone to blame, and it had been so easy to blame Carlo. I couldn’t imagine giving up that crutch.
I tried so damn hard to defend my hatred for him, but…I couldn’t. He only brought me in this to protect his brothers. Hell, everything he’d done had been in a misguided attempt to protect somebody, but when had he ever done anything to protect himself?
I couldn’t stop thinking about him—about what we’d done and what he’d said. If I told him what happened, he’d take care of it. He’d make sure it never happened again. He’d actually be there this time, and some deep, broken part of me believed him. I knew he’d meant every word he’d said, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t extinguish that hope in my chest that he was telling the truth.
I refocused on the task before me and took a deep breath as I smeared the grout on the back of the tile and pressed it into the wall for the second time, making sure it was even with the other pieces I’d already laid. I needed to focus. I was already behind schedule today, which threw the rest of my week off kilter.
I could think about the Carlo situation when I finished here. I didn’t need to focus on it now.
