11
“Amalia, wait!”
My brother’s hurried footsteps echoed behind me as I tore through the dark corridor. I’d tried to make it to my room without anyone noticing, especially Gio. I said nothing and moved faster.
“Mali,” he sing-songed, calling me by my childhood nickname.
Clearly not getting the hint, I came to an abrupt stop and wiped at the dried blood I knew was still smeared on my clothes before twisting around. The hours had turned grueling between wrangling the clean-up crew and combing and deleting surveillance. I needed a shower as soon as possible.
“Gio, what are you doing up at this time?”
“Waiting for you,” he replied, matter-of-fact. “I was worried.”
I stepped closer, careful to stay in the shadows. “The last thing you should be is worried about me. I had some last-minute wedding errands and stopped by Holly’s. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“So why are you bleeding?”
“I’m not.”
He sighed an exasperated breath. “Okay, then, why do you have someone else’s blood on you?”
I loved my brother. He was a beautiful soul, and although it pained me to be away from him as much as I had been throughout his life, distance was for his own good. Gio didn’t deserve to be tainted by this life. We’d tried to keep him sheltered as long as possible. Boarding schools and time abroad with relatives and close family friends. But he was older, more observant. Curious. And I often wondered if the taste for blood and chaos ran deep in our veins. If his hands were always meant to be drenched with the souls of dead men.
Like mine.
“You ask a lot of questions,” I said, mushing his face.
“They’re valid ones.”
“Maybe. But sometimes certain things are best left unknown, Gio.” I tapped his cheek, flashing a forced smile that I hoped he couldn’t see right through. “I’m okay.”
“Until you’re not.”
“But isn’t that true for everyone?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care about everyone else. I worry about you like I did for Tony. And he’s dead.”
Tony and I weren’t the closest, but we loved each other despite our fights and disagreements. He was hot-headed and impulsive, and I knew it would get him killed someday. And I’d been right.
“I’ll be fine. Besides, I have Kai now,” I added to appease him and ease his nerves. I could tell he liked him. “Get to bed.” Gio was nearly a foot taller than me, but I’d always see him as my baby.
“You know, you could be a little nicer to him.”
He suddenly made me second-guess my last thought.
After my shower, I paced my room—anxious, adrenaline reigniting. There was no way I’d get to sleep. I was too fucking wired. And before I could think too hard about my next decision, I was standing in front of Kai’s door. As I leaned my forehead against the hard oak, I sighed nervously, annoyed with myself. Because since when had a man ever gotten under my skin the way he had? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about his hands on me, inside me, his lips against my neck.
My panties never stood a chance.
I turned the knob to his door, determined to take back my power. Get him out of my system somehow, even if it meant throat-punching him. As I stepped into the dark bedroom, it was silent. At nearly three in the morning, what else had I been expecting apart from a sleeping Kai? He had one arm behind his head, a bare fucking torso, and no blanket. My eyes immediately centered on his dick.
I’d thought about how good of a fuck he’d be more times than I would ever admit to myself.
Three years. Could I really go three years alongside this man without touching him? I knew the answer. We were already dangerously close. And it had only been a week. What would things be like by the end of our contract?
I cursed into the dark with a hushed voice and turned to leave, my hand on the knob.
“If you walk out that door, make sure you’re faster than me.”
“Is that a threat?”
He brought his other arm behind his head, looking every bit like the smug asshole he was. “Take that whichever way you want. But you came here for a reason, didn’t you?”
“Maybe.” I pulled a knife from my waistband. Kai eyed the sharp steel as it glinted under the glow of a nearby window.
“Is that what you’re into? Because I’ve been there, done that. It doesn’t faze me.”
One name suddenly came to mind, and I found myself gripping the hilt of my knife a little tighter.
Helena.
I knew they’d been together for a time. She’d said as much herself. And while she and I weren’t exactly friends, she had my respect. And I hers.
However, at the moment, the thought of Helena and Kai together made my teeth clench.
“I was thinking a bit more drastic.”
“Were you? Why don’t you come here and show me what you have in mind.”
Decisions, decisions.
I twisted the knob, intent on getting the fuck out of there…
“I couldn’t sleep either.” I froze. “And I was probably minutes from coming to you, too.”
Releasing the brass knob, I turned and leaned my back against the door. “And why is that? Too shaken up about what happened today.”
“I was trying to figure out why I was so upset when I didn’t know where you were or if you were okay.”
His admission electrified the air between us, rendering us both silent until my knife hit the floor with a clang, and I stalked forward. Kai sat up when I crawled on his bed and straddled him. In a matter of seconds, his hands were on my waist, gripping my cami and tearing it up over my arms. The shirt hadn’t even hit the floor before his warm mouth was on me.
“We’re not…having sex.” My voice grew ragged as he held my nipple gently between his teeth.
“I need you to sit on my goddamn face.”
With my nails scraping across his scalp and through his long hair, I tugged his head back and grinned. “Straight to it, huh?”
Kai grabbed the back of my neck and slammed his lips against my mouth. But I was never one to be dominated in the bedroom, so I fought for control. And he met my challenge, fingers snaking into my hair, his grip biting and so fucking delicious. I moaned, and my voice vibrated down his throat.
“I haven’t been able to think of anything else besides your sweet cunt. You got me fiending for you, vicious. Like a goddamn addict, and I’ve only had a taste.”
I squeezed my eyes closed and arched into his eager mouth as he licked between the valley of my breasts.
“You want me to feed you my pussy, Cain?” As he tipped me back on the bed, I struggled to keep the taunting smile on my face and in my voice, but when he gripped the edges of my shorts and panties and nearly tore them from my body, my resolve crumbled.
“Like I’m a fucking starving man,” he growled into the wet skin of my inner thigh, the tip of his nose ascending to where I craved him the most.
This wasn’t part of the plan. I’d set boundaries, and he’d scorched the line of every single one.
“Shit,” I gasped as he suctioned my clit into his mouth.
Just this once. That’s it. Just one time,I repeated to myself as I bit down on the corner of my lip, almost drawing blood.
Just one…
“Kai…más. Así. Don’t stop.” (More. Just like that.)
Curving two fingers inside me, he ran the flat of his tongue vertically until he was over my belly and up my torso, then he circled one nipple and slid past my collarbone, until he hovered over my mouth.
“I told you not to stop.”
His tongue swept across my teeth. “Since when do I ever listen to anything you say?”
I nipped at his mouth until he hissed and sunk his fingers deeper inside me, forcing my body to arch off the mattress.
“Lie back.”
“Make me.”
He released a dark chuckle against my parted lips and sat back on his legs, retrieving his hand and eyeing me as he licked his fingers. “Okay,” was all he said before he gripped my hips and pushed me over the edge.
There was no time to protest or brace myself for the assault of his tongue on my clit because my head and upper torso hung off the side of the bed as he held me in place, hands digging into my skin.
“Kai…wait.” I clawed at the sheets, trying to leverage myself, but he spread me wide and ate until my whole body was shaking, and I felt light-headed from the blood rushing to my head.
“God, when you say my name...” Lifting my hips off the mattress, he surged deeper until I came apart in his mouth. But no matter how loud I screamed and squirmed in his grasp, he wouldn’t stop.
“Kai, are you trying to kill me,” I said between whimpers.
“You can take it. I want more. You taste so fucking sweet when you come.” The palm of his hand suddenly came down hard on my clit, causing me to jerk and yelp at the sting. “Again.”
Tears gathered in my eyes when his hand came down again. “No…fuck!” Fisting the sheet, I stuffed it inside my mouth and bit down as another sinful wave of pleasure roared through me.
“Harder,” he growled and spanked my pussy one last time, making me writhe until my entire body felt like Jell-O.
I wasn’t aware of how much time had passed since I’d gotten my breathing under control while staring aimlessly at the spinning ceiling fan above our heads.
“Are you going to say something, or did I finally fuck you into silence?”
Shaking my head, I breathed deeply, feeling confident enough in my muscles to lift onto my elbows, my eyes falling on Kai, who had laid back against the headboard. His big cock was still erect as he stroked himself.
But it was then, when I realized how badly I wanted more of him, that everything came rushing forward at once.
“What’s wrong?” He sat up and moved toward me, his expression showing his concern. Somehow, I summoned the strength to get up, trembling legs landing on the floor.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Cain.” And I was out the door before he could stop me.