Chapter 24 – Alana #2
“Goddamn fucking panties!” he roars as he pushes himself up onto his knees.
Using both of his hands, he tears them straight down the middle before throwing the material over his shoulder.
“What have I told you about wearing panties when you’re in this house with me?
” he demands. Without giving me any time to react, he grabs my thighs and pushes them apart, almost pressing them flat to the bed.
I look up at him, his fierce, hard body rigid with tension and anger, his face full of rage. My pulse quickens. Why the hell is this so freaking hot? I want him as much as I ever have, despite the fact that he doesn’t even seem to like me right now, never mind love me.
Within seconds my wrists are trapped again, held down on the bed above my head.
He nudges at my opening again, his breathing hard and ragged. A fine sheen of sweat coats his forehead. “You don’t have to hold back,” I whisper.
He glares at me, his lips twisted in a dark smile.
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” he rumbles as he thrusts himself inside me, impaling me with his cock.
Then he buries his face in my neck as he nails me to the bed.
He growls and curses in Spanish in between biting and sucking on my tender flesh.
Everything about him is fierce and frenzied.
He’s out of control, and it makes me just as wild.
I feel a rush of wet heat in my core as he increases his pace, driving against that one sweet spot inside of me.
Over and over, harder and harder, faster and faster, until I’m coming apart around him.
I cry his name as the euphoria rips through me.
My groans of pleasure tip him over the edge and he climaxes with a roar.
For a few brief moments, we are at peace.
Everything that has happened over the past few days is forgotten, and all that exists in the entire world is the two of us.
I wrap my legs around him and we lie together for a few moments, tangled together in a sheen of mutual sweat.
He breathes heavily against my neck and I relish the weight of his solid body on top of me.
“Fuck!” he mumbles angrily before he pushes himself up and walks to the bathroom without another word. Not a tender touch, not an “I love you,” not even a glance back at me. It’s like I’m some whore he’s fucked and left behind. I stare after him and swallow the sob in my throat.
The sex isn’t what makes him a devil, I decide. It’s behaving like such a cruel asshole.
I hear the sound of running water and then a few seconds later, he walks back into the room with a damp washcloth. I blink at him as he sits beside me on the bed.
“I think I bit you a little too hard,” he says as he brushes my hair away and holds the cloth to my neck. “I might have broken the skin.”
“What?” My hand flies instinctively to my neck. Is this what he was swearing about, thinking that he damaged me? Relief floods through me. As if I’d ever care about something as trivial as a bite.
“It didn’t hurt. I hardly even felt it. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” he says, sighing. I brush my fingers over the area he’s been tending to, and sure enough, I find the indents that his teeth have left behind.
There doesn’t seem to be any blood though, and I wouldn’t care if there was.
He gently smooths the cool cloth over my skin, muttering to himself in Spanish.
“Lo siento, princesa,” he says, his voice low and dark. I know what that means. I’m sorry.
“It’s okay, Alex. Your spankings hurt much more,” I reply with a half grin.
“No. I’m not sorry about biting you. Well, maybe a little. I didn’t mean to bite you so hard.”
“So what are you sorry about then?” I reach up, stroke my fingers through his hair.
“What I said to you earlier.”
Ah. Now I get it. He’s as angry with himself, as he is at everything else in the world. My husband is a complicated man, but he never promised me simple.
I nod at him, letting my fingers drift to his face, gently caressing his cheek. “That’s okay too. I know you must be out of your mind with worry about your dad.”
“I am,” he sighs, putting the cloth down and lying on his back. I don’t mind that now because the distance is only physical. He’s finally opening up to me. “Totally out of my mind, but that doesn’t excuse what I said to you. What happened to my father—none of that is your fault.”
“You were upset…” I start to reply.
“So were you,” he interrupts me. “And I made it worse. I need you to know, Alana, that you are my number one priority. Whatever else is going on, and however badly I might sometimes seem to behave, I need you to remember that. You are what matters most to me.”
“I do know that,” I say, placing my hand on his stomach, splaying my fingers over his muscular flesh in a gesture that is both protective and possessive.
“And you are mine. But you need to let me in, Alejandro. You need to communicate with me. I’m not a child, and I don’t need protecting from the truth.
I understand that you can’t give me all the details of your day-to-day life, and that’s okay.
But the big stuff…I need to know that. I’ve picked up on some things.
I overheard your uncles talking about problems with a family called the Ortegas, and it sounded like it’s been going on a while.
If I had known you were in the middle of a crisis like that, I would never have gone to New York.
If you keep me in the dark, how can I help? ”
“You help by simply existing, mi reina. I hear what you are saying, but I want to keep you out of all that. I don’t want you worrying about who we’re at war with. That’s my job.”
“You think it’s your job to protect me? To look after me? Well, it’s my job to do the same for you, too. And how can I do that when I don’t know what’s going on with you?”
He pulls me into his arms until I’m lying with my head on his chest. “Are you sure you want to know about my world, Alana? You might not look at me the same way once you do.”
“Surely you can’t believe that? I will always love you, Alex. You can depend on that. And you trying to live two separate lives is going to do more damage to this marriage than you telling me the truth.”
He nods and lets out a sigh. “My papa…he tried to protect us from it. Me and my mama. Until I was old enough to be part of that side of the family business.”
“And how did that work out? Because I’m guessing from your mom’s attitude that she is no fool. She knows what you do, and she loves you both anyway. Just like I do. I’m part of your world. Your work is part of your world. We can’t keep them apart, and I don’t even want to. Talk to me. Alex.”