AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cat ran her fingers over the lines of his face as she now stood naked in front of him. “I’m sorry, Papi. I didn’t really mean it. I was just mad.”
“It’s my fault.”
She sighed. “No, it’s not. It’s mine. And it’s Rafael’s. But it’s not yours.”
“I assigned him as your bodyguard. It was a misjudgment. I didn’t realize how much being undercover with Ruiz affected him. The things he must have seen . . . he won’t talk about them. But he . . . he was worried you were hurting yourself.”
“What? Why would he think that?” She stared up at him in amazement.
He shook his head. “That’s his secret to tell. But I could tell it shook him. He’s not an easy man. He would protect you, but he wouldn’t care if doing so broke you. I won’t allow anyone to break you, Cat.”
“What about you?”
“Especially not me. I never want to break you, mi Preciosa.”
She’d come close to breaking several times. When she’d had to leave her friends at the Camp. When Mama left. When Vince attacked her. After Bert and Ernie kidnapped her and nightmares had plagued her. Sometimes they still did.
But she was still here.
“Don’t let me break you, Cat.” There was a note of vulnerability in his voice, something she rarely heard. “Please, don’t let me.”
“Shh. Hey. You won’t. All you ever do is make me stronger. In your arms, I’m always cherished, loved, protected. I know that. I feel it. I’m not . . . I’m not breaking you, am I, Alejandro?”
He was the strongest man she knew. He wasn’t always right and didn’t operate on the right side of the law. But he had his own moral code. He was bossy and overbearing. So possessive. A caveman who thought he was always right.
A dragon protecting his treasure.
A jaguar stalking his prey.
And hers. All hers.
And she loved him. Flaws and all.
“Never, mi Pequeña. You put me back together. The glue that holds me together. I’ll find you a new bodyguard.” He lifted her onto his hip, carrying her into the bathroom where he’d filled the bath.
“Who?” A few hours ago, she’d have been cheering for joy. But now, she felt strangely weird about it.
Had Rafael lost someone he cared about?
Was that made him so overzealous? So unsympathetic. Not that she expected a lot of empathy from Alejandro’s men. They were hardened criminals, after all.
“I’ll find someone. But you’ll have to stay in the house until then.”
She shrugged. Wasn’t like she left the house much now anyway.
“Come on, time to have a bath and forget all this.” He set her down in the bath and gathered up a cloth and soap. He’d filled it with bubbles and the scent of vanilla and caramel.
Yum.
She grabbed her toy dragons. Alejandro had bought them for her last Christmas. There was a Mama dragon and a Papa dragon, and they could actually swim through the water.
“Let’s have a race! Go Mama dragon!” she cried as she set them up and they started swimming through the bath water.
Alejandro snorted. “Clearly, Papa dragon will win.” He started washing her gently.
She loved being taken care of like this. He had her sit forward so he could wash her back first, then her arms and shoulders.
“Go, Mama! Go, Mama!” she yelled, slamming her fists into the water in disappointment as the Papa dragon won. “No! Not fair! He cheated.”
“I think he won fair and square. But you, Little Miss, are in big trouble . . .”
Huh? What for?
She glanced over at him, then burst into laughter. “Oh no, Papi! What happened to you?”
“What happened to me?” he asked darkly. “Is that really all you have to say?”
“Um, well, you look like you tried to wash yourself with your clothes on. Silly Papi, you’re supposed to take your clothes off before you get into the bath.”
“I didn’t do this to myself. You did this to me.”
“Nuh-uh, Papi. Pretty sure I’d remember if I splashed you.”
He just gave her a firm stare, but she gave him an innocent look back, fluttering her eyelashes. He let out a grunt and turned away to grab a towel. She giggled.
“I heard that,” he growled, turning back as he wiped at his face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Papi.”
“Don’t try to lie to me, mi Pequeña. You know what lying gets you.”
“Is it a dragon? I really want a dragon.”
“You already have one.” Leaning forward, he kissed her lips.
Yeah. She so did.
“I’ll take a unicorn, then. Especially one that poops out candy.”
“Really? You want poop candy?”
“Silly Papi, I’d hand it out to anyone who pissed me off.” She smacked her fist into the palm of her other hand. “My enemies. My nemesisisis or however you say the plural of nemesis. My arch enemies. All of them fuckers would be going down with poop candy. Unless you’re going to let me use that poison that Nighthawk found. It sounds great.”
