4. Dante
4
DANTE
S he stares at me with those flawless sapphires widening in shock, and I swear to God they’re punching a hole right through to what’s left of my heart.
Her face is scrubbed clean of make-up, and her hair has been scraped back into a rough ponytail. She looks pure this way. Untainted. Somehow, she’s even hotter in jeans and a denim jacket than she was in that black skirt. Fear is creeping into her eyes, but there’s a touch of defiance, too. It makes my balls tighten just looking at them.
Fuck.
Does this woman have any idea what she does to me? What is she doing here anyway? Is this man her lover?
My hand clenches into a fist as my beast reawakens. Shades of red cloud my vision as I step further into the room and close the door behind me, yanking down the blind to shield the rest of the world from my twisted brand of justice. I pull so hard on the cord that the damn thing snaps in my hand. I toss it away as I lift the safety and aim the muzzle a little to her left. I’m going to enjoy every second of this.
“Stop, please! I’m begging you!” she cries suddenly. “He’s my father!”
Her father?
My finger hesitates as she throws herself forward to block my target. All traces of defiance are gone. She’s pleading for my leniency now. If only you knew, mi alma. I’ve pulled the trigger on countless others for less.
This message needs to be delivered. Until recently, the DEA have been nothing but flies to us—irritating as hell, easy to swat, and with a focus more backward than anything else. Now, they’re becoming a little too accurate… The flies are turning into wasps, and they’re learning to sting, hard. To lose one shipment in a month is careless, but to lose three? The DEA’s strike rate just hit the fucking jackpot.
It’s up to me to give them a reminder of who’s really running the show around here. In the past, a few dead agents tended to hammer it home, so the play was on. Our cousin, Nicolas, was in charge of setting up the local side of things. My plan was to fly in, get the job done, seek her out and then reward myself with her body. But life has a way of complicating the hell out of everything.
“Get out of my way. I’ll deal with you when I’m done.”
“You don’t need to do this…” Her voice cracks. “He’s a good man. A decent man.”
Unlike me.
She must love her father to sacrifice her life for his. I felt nothing for mine. I felt even less when I made an ugly mess of the back of his skull.
“How did you find me?”
“Who says I’m here for you?”
Are you curious, Eve? Have you been craving my touch as much as I’ve been craving yours?
There’s a fresh flare of pain in her eyes, and for the first time I find myself questioning the validity of this hit. I can easily find another ten DEA assholes to eliminate before dawn.
“You don’t need to hurt him. I’m the one you want.”
I raise my eyebrows in amusement. “Is that so?”
She flushes, but meets my gaze head-on, daring me to contradict her.
In response, my gaze drops to her full breasts pressed flush against her white T-shirt, and my dick twitches. I need to screw her out of my system, and sooner rather than later. She’s developing a dangerous habit of pricking my conscience.
“Please… I’ll do anything.”
Anything?
It’s always the same fucking script. First, they plead, and then they beg. She’s stalling the inevitable by trying to appeal to my humanity. I feel a flash of pity for her then because I left it behind in some middle eastern shit hole over a decade ago.
She takes a hesitant step in my direction, her blue eyes slamming into mine. “Take me instead. I’ll do whatever you want. I won’t fight you. Just leave my father alone.”
I stare back at her, not giving a thing away. Truth is, I’m more than tempted. Different scenarios flash before my eyes, ones of her arching her back in pleasure as I grind my tongue into her pussy, me fucking that stunning mouth, her lush body folded over the side of my bed as I pound her into oblivion. Oh, my angel, that might be the best suggestion of your life.
Seconds later, a massive explosion is ripping through the bowels of the hospital.
We’re thrown to the floor under a hail of shattered glass and flying debris. Rolling sideways, I have just enough time to cover her body with my own before a second explosion is rocking the building.
I’m smart enough to realize that this pyrotechnic shit show is for my benefit. I’m under attack. Garcia’s men have been hot on my trail ever since I landed. I was forced to lay low until Nicolas got word that some DEA agent had been shot up and laid out on a hospital bed a few blocks away. Easy prey, or so we thought. Nothing sends a message more effectively than violating a man when he’s exposed like that.
“Dad,” she croaks, trying to push me off her. “I need to check—”
“Stay the fuck down!”
I need to get the hell out of here before the cops show up, but I can’t bring myself to move just yet, not when I’m basking in an extreme close-up of those luscious pink lips. I want to sink my teeth into them and see how loud she screams.
The look she’s giving me is stoking a thousand fires. This woman hates me as much as she wants me, but I’ll tip those odds in my favor, given half the chance. Eve’s paradise lies in my bed. Only then will she discover that I’m as skilled at giving pleasure as I am at dishing out pain.
There’s the sound of distant gunfire now. Even so, I can’t drag my mind away from how good her body feels. It’s a perfect palate to seduce and defile… Her dark hair is covered in dust, an d a thin trickle of blood is leaving an angry red trail across her forehead. I want to run my finger across it, lick it, taste it, obliterate the hurt.
My decision is wavering.
“What’s going on out there?” I hear her ask.
I know what she’s implying—that this mess has something to do with me.
“My life,” I grit out, transferring my weight to my elbow and yanking the cell from my back pocket.
There’s no point denying it.
She’s a part of it now, whether she likes it or not.
Nicolas puts an extraction plan into place immediately. I listen to the approaching exchange of gunfire as I decide whether or not to finish the job in here first. I’m stalling again, and it’s irritating the fuck out of me.
I rise to my feet to snap a fresh clip into my weapon and then haul her up by her arm.
“Get your things. We’re leaving.”
She gazes at me with those wide-ass sapphires, so innocent and child-like.
I don’t bother to contradict what’s racing through her mind. My decision is made. Putting a bullet in her father’s skull is now the least of my worries.
“Just give me a minute to—”
“There’s no time for that,” I say harshly.
She jerks out of my hold regardless and leans across the bed to check on her father, cringing at the fresh wave of mayhem outside.
The fight is getting closer. Nicolas’ men are holding Garcia’s mob at bay, but we need to move.
“Time to go, Eve.”
“Two seconds.”
I grit my teeth as she brushes the dust from her father’s hair and presses her lips to his forehead. I see the tears glistening in her eyes when she turns back to me.
“Okay, I’m ready…I think.”
Think?
They’ll be no such indecision when my head is between her thighs, and she’s begging me to let her come.
This woman is a walking contradiction. She’s all fire and defiance one minute and then trembling with fear the next. She wants to hate me, but…
“This way,” I say, pushing her toward the door when there’s a loud crash in the hallway outside.
The partition wall starts to disintegrate. I pitch sideways, my arms closing in around her again as the floor comes rushing up fast.
I hear her scream and then silence.