9
I slammed my glass on the metal workbench and braced myself against the edge, letting the whiskey slide down my throat, hoping to ease my nerves. I wasn’t a big drinker, but if there was ever a time that called for a buzz and temporary amnesia, this was it. Kai was messing with my head, my parents and their expectations, the death of Cassie, Alba, and Felipe, hell, even Derek and Eva.
It was almost too much.
Sighing a heavy breath, I refilled my cup and brought it to my lips.
“Celebrating alone?” Kai’s voice rattled me, and it made me want to chuck my drink at him, especially when I glanced up to find him leaning against the doorframe of the garage, looking too good to be so damn infuriating.
“Keyword, alone.”
He snickered, his full attention now on my car as he stepped inside.
“Hellcat Widebody. Sexy,” he said, as he ran a hand along the sleek black hood.
“You into cars?”
“Who doesn’t love a Charger, but I’m into another type of ride.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course you are.”
Kai’s laughter shook his chest. “I didn’t mean that. Not that that’s not a favorite of mine, but—”
“I don’t care,” I said, throwing back another sip.
“Tell me, vicious, what’s got you bailing on dinner and out here alone drinking your feelings?
“Leave.”
“No,” he said, then pulled up a chair next to me, taking a seat.
“Fine, stay.” I’d started to walk away when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. The sudden switch in direction caused me to stumble and trip on his boot, my ass landing in his lap. “Kai, consider yourself extremely lucky that I need you. Otherwise, you’d be buried under my stables.” I tried to push out of his hold, but it was a vise. “You don’t need all your limbs for the wedding. Don’t test me.”
“Come on, Amalia. Dinner was going smoothly. What’s got you so bent out of shape?”
“How about your little love story back there? Are you crazy?”
“We have a love story?”
I shrieked out of frustration. “Kai! You can’t go off script, especially in front of Gio and Rocco.”
His smile vanished the instant I mentioned Rocco’s name.
“I don’t like him.”
“It doesn’t matter who you like. That’s irrelevant. Is he the reason you put on that act? Like some pissing contest to see whose dick is bigger?”
Kai huffed. “You slept with him?”
“Who I’ve fucked before you got here is none of your goddamn business.”
He tipped my chin, meeting my eyes. “That’s where you’re wrong. He clearly wants you, and if you’re my wife, I won’t tolerate another man lusting after you and flaunting it to my face. I’ve buried bodies, too.”
I briefly wondered if he could feel how wet I was through the fabric of my skirt. He just admitted to being willing to kill a man in my honor. Frustration ate away at my insides, the feeling suffocating and nearly insufferable. I took what I wanted when it came to men and never held back. I wouldn’t deny that I wanted Kai Cain. That I wanted to straddle him in this fucking chair or get on my knees.
I had visions of him taking me over my workbench, on the hood of my car, hell, even right here on the floor. But giving in to him meant I’d lose.
I found his eyes again, the ire gone from them, replaced by a different flame, one that seemed to ignite my own. He said nothing as his thumb rubbed my cheek.
Giving in would be so easy. I just knew he would make me feel things I’d never experienced and reach places that had never been touched.
“Why haven’t you given me the grand tour of your studio?”
I knew this was coming. Talking about my art was too intimate. It wasn’t something I wanted to get into with Kai.
My mother and her big mouth.
“Because no one is allowed in but me.”
He slid a strand of hair behind my ear and flashed an infuriatingly sexy smile.
“All that talent and you want to keep it hidden. The portraits hung in your home without signatures, they’re yours, aren’t they?”
“It’s late.” I attempted to get up, but he held me tighter.
“Why are you so afraid to be alone with me?”
“Afraid,” I snickered. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not as scary as you think you are.”
He drew soft circles underneath my shirt with his thumb, and satisfaction lit up his face when goosebumps scattered across my skin.
“I’m not trying to be scary to you, vicious.”
I couldn’t handle the velvet tone of his voice and that hungry look in his eyes. Had he been anyone else, I would have been naked, waiting for him, long before he crossed the threshold.
But my pride was a bitch.
“I just have two questions.”
“That’s two too many.”
Kai tipped his head and laughed.
“Humor me. Please.”
I was disgusted at how easily he chipped away at every wall I put up, just by the way his stupid blue eyes penetrated my soul.
Huffing an exaggerated sigh, I relented. “What’s got your curiosity so piqued you’re willing to risk a throat punch by not letting me up?”
Another hearty laugh sent a jolt straight to my pussy.
“Can I watch you paint?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m always naked.”
Kai stiffened beneath me, fingers digging into my flesh. “Are you fucking with me?”
“No. Last question.”
He remained quiet. Pensive. And licked his lips, immediately drawing my attention to his fleshy mouth.
“Why did you choose that specific charity for your auction?”
There was something different about the way he posed his question. The smoky tones in his voice were gone, replaced by vulnerability.
It was my turn to watch him with curious eyes. I knew why he’d asked. But if I confessed the truth, that I’d thought of him and his upbringing, he’d look too much into it. Because it was just an idea, from the experiences of what I knew of his childhood.
An inspiration.
Fuck.
“You know why.”
He nodded. “I like that.”
“Kai Cain has a heart.” He laughed, taking my hand and pressing it to his chest.
“You feel that?”
I felt it all. The fast pace of his heart, the electricity buzzing between us, his hard cock against my thigh. I was fighting a losing battle and I knew it.
Rules be damned.
“You want a drink?” I asked, grabbing the bottle of Macallan and readjusting so that I straddled his lap. My body took the reins of this internal battle, if only for another taste of him.
“I thought you wanted to drink alone,” he said, his hand on my hip.
I popped open the bottle and grinned. “So, is that a no?”
Kai’s free hand smoothed up my back, settling at my bra line and making me shiver. “That’s a fuck yes.”
I brought the whiskey to my lips and took a long swig. Our eyes connected, and neither of us said a word as I leaned forward and spit the liquid into his mouth.
“Shit,” he groaned, grabbing me by the nape and crushing his lips to mine. Anything holding me back flitted away within a blink.
My first theory proved to be true. Kai devoured me in a way that made me question if I had ever been truly kissed before. I couldn’t hold back the moans he pulled from my throat, born from the need to be completely taken by this man. And my body reacted on instinct as I ground my pussy over his cock until we were both panting and ready to shed our clothes and our sanity.
No.
Placing my palms on his chest, I pushed him back, and his kisses and counterthrusts slowed.
“Stop. Stop, please.”
“Baby, I stopped. But what’s wrong?”
“We can’t do this.” I got to my feet. “I have to get to bed anyway. I have a long day. Meeting with someone potentially connected to the ambush on the highway.”
I stood, attempting to catch my breath, when he grabbed my elbow and hauled me back.
“Repeat that again.”
“Pretty sure I was clear the first time.”
It was easier to be annoyed with him than resist fucking him, so I’d channel that.
“I heard you loud and clear, but I’m not quite understanding your logic.”
“Would you like me to grab some crayons and draw you a picture?”
His mouth twitched, and he swallowed his irritation. “A man who tried to murder you wants you to meet him tomorrow?”
“I’m glad you’re finally keeping up.”
“Amalia, stop. Enough with the bullshit. You’re not going.”
My laughter made him roll his eyes and sigh. “I think you might have had a little too much to drink because you’re absolutely delirious and out of line.” I poked his chest with my finger. “You don’t tell me what I can or can’t do. I don’t answer to you or anyone. The quicker you get that through that pretty head of yours, the better.”
Again, I attempted to leave, but he tugged me back a second time, my back flush to his chest while his arms locked around me.
“I don’t doubt you’re good at what you do, but you’re not bulletproof. You’re five-foot-nothing; when a man wants to take, he will.”
“Fuck you. Let me go.” I tried to break free, but he squeezed tighter to the point I could barely take a breath.
“All he needs to do is get you in the perfect hold.” His lips grazed my ear. “And you’re done.” I was one second from breaking his nose with the back of my skull, but the following words out of his mouth lit a fire in my belly. “No one touches what’s mine.”
I froze. “I’m not yours. And I can handle myself.”
“I know you can, and it’s sexy as fuck. But that doesn’t mean—”
A loud grunt left his lips when my elbow connected with his abdomen.
“It means everything.”
Kai doubled over, hands on his knees as he attempted to compose himself. “Okay…you got a cheap shot in.” His breaths were ragged. “But that’s not how it always goes down in the real world.”
“Let me apologize for the cheap shots to all the men who have died by my hand in the last decade.”
“You wanna do this?” he questioned, with a wild look in his eyes. As he ripped off his shirt, a grin pulled at the corner of his mouth.
“You like pain?” I asked, tugging my shirt over my head.
His eyes fell to my lacy red bra, and he licked his lips. “Sometimes it’s worth it.”
“It’s always worth it,” I added, then caught him with a right hook to his abdomen.
Kai was ready this time, abs tight, and only a slight grunt escaped. But fuck me if it wasn’t sexy.
“Hit me again,” he said, dodging another punch.
“Fuck you. This isn’t a lesson.”
“I know it’s not.” Tackling me to the floor, his hard body covered mine. “It’s fucking foreplay.”
“You’re crazy.”
“So you’re telling me, your pussy isn’t dripping wet for me right now?”
I couldn’t even bring myself to deny it. My panties were absolutely wrecked. Kai slid his hand under my skirt, hiking up the fabric, and I shuddered with anticipation.
“This is beautiful,” he said, fingers brushing the tattoo running up the length of my thigh. “It’s very fitting.”
I wasn’t sure if his comment was backhanded, considering the ink was that of a pit viper—the Mexican cantil—entwined in vines and roses.
“Yeah, well, that’s saying something, isn’t it?” I challenged.
His eyes journeyed up my body until they met mine. “I’ve lived at the edge of death my whole life. I’m drawn to it.” He squeezed my thigh. “Drawn to you.”
“What are you doing?” My voice was a whisper. His gaze stayed locked on mine as he climbed off and hooked my underwear, sliding them down my legs with no resistance from me. The red fabric was visibly soaked, and he bit down on his bottom lip and sucked in a breath.
“Oh, fuck,” he groaned as he brought the thin fabric to his nose. The sight had my thighs clenching for friction. “Go, vicious. Now.”
I stood up on my elbows. “Now you want me to go.”
“I’m about to fucking devour you, and if that’s not what you want, then you need to leave.”
With my panties clutched in his fist, he got to his feet. I followed, adjusting my skirt back down over my thighs. “Maybe you should keep those,” I said as I crossed the threshold.
“Oh, and Kai, be ready at eight sharp tomorrow.”