Chapter 32 – Alana
Chapter
Thirty-Two
ALANA
Later that day, Lucia and I are sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.
She’s eating a bowl of ice cream and I’m flicking through a magazine.
It’s all totally normal…until the second Alejandro walks into the room.
He throws his car keys onto the counter and stands leaning against it, glaring at me, arms folded across his chest.
Right. Here we go.
Lucia looks from him to me and back again. “I’m going to go to my room and have a look at my history homework,” she says, slipping off the stool. Wise girl.
“Goodnight, Lucia,” Alejandro says, his voice low and smooth, all his anger reserved for me. I know what this is about, and I’m as ready as I can be.
“Night guys,” she replies, making a quick exit. He waits a second until we hear her footsteps on the stairs, then turns back to me. I clear the ice cream bowl, which seems to irritate him even more.
He takes it from me and throws it into the sink. It smashes, predictably enough.
“Do you have something to tell me, princesa?” he growls.
“Well, by the look on your face, I assume Hugo has already told you that Bobby Conroy paid a visit to the shelter today. And before you start, I did try and get hold of you to tell you myself, but you seemed to be in meetings back to back.”
“Okay,” he says, closing the distance between us so he’s right in my face. “I accept that. What I don’t understand, though, is why you asked Hugo to leave the room. What the hell went on between you two while you were alone together?”
“We talked,” I say simply.
“Talked? If all you did was talk, why the fuck did you send Hugo out of the room?”
“Because I wanted to have a private conversation, Alejandro. You know what one of those is, don’t you? You get to have them all of the time. In your meetings, at work, out in the big wide world.”
He leans his face closer to mine, his breath warm against my skin. “Don’t push me, Alana. This is not about me.”
I meet his challenge. I have done nothing wrong, and I refuse to behave as though I have. He’s not even really giving me the chance to explain. “No? What is it about then? Because it feels very much about you.”
“Stop avoiding my question. What was so private that you couldn’t have Hugo in the room?”
I can’t help it. I roll my eyes. Shit! I’m in trouble now. That was an eye roll that even Lucia would be proud of.
He wraps his hand around my throat before I can even blink. “Did you just roll your eyes at me?”
“Yes,” I say. I feel a slight pressure on my windpipe and a flash of heat between my thighs. What the hell is wrong with me? Was Bobby right? Do I like the danger?
He pushes me backwards until I’m pressed against the breakfast bar. He runs his thumb along my jawline, every touch like fire. “Answer the fucking question, Alana. What did you two talk about.”
“He was there because he’s making a donation. Plus, his corporation is going to fund my post for the next five years.”
He drops his hand to his side and frowns at me. “You’re a volunteer. Your post isn’t funded.”
“I know. But it should be. And having a properly funded post gives Kristen some protection in case I stop working there for some reason.”
“Good. Because that’s happening right away. You won’t be setting foot in that place again.”
“The hell I won’t,” I scowl at him. “I love that job.”
“This is not up for negotiation, Alana,” he snaps.
“I know it’s not. I’m not negotiating. Because I am not giving up my job.”
His eyes darken, and I can see his pulse pounding in his forehead. “You are my wife and I will not have your ex-boyfriend paying your salary.”
“But Alejandro…”
He slams his fist onto the breakfast bar. “Alana! Can you ever just do as you’re told? You are not to have anything more to do with that prick and if I find out he’s come anywhere near you ever again, I will break every bone in his body. Is that what you want?”
I tilt my head up to look directly into his eyes. I’m just as angry as him now. I don’t want anything to do with Bobby, but I won’t be ordered around like this. I suck in a breath and try to calm myself enough to speak.
“Alejandro, I get that you’re a possessive asshole.
In fact, most of the time, I think it’s really hot.
But this is a step too far. I have never given you any reason to doubt me.
How dare you try and tell me who I can and can’t work with?
If Bobby donates money to the shelter to fund my post, then that is all it will be.
There is nothing between me and him and there never will be. ”
“So why couldn’t you talk to him in front of Hugo then?” he shouts.
“Because there were things I needed to say to him that needed to be said in private. I suspected we might end up arguing, and I didn’t want Hugo there escalating things.
The shelter is where I work. The women and kids there have already been through enough; the last thing they need there is any more drama.
It was a private matter, and I handled it. ”
He narrows his eyes as he stares at me. I can’t read him right now.
“What is this really about, Alex?” I ask as I place a hand on his cheek, risking the contact. “Bobby is in my past. Way in my past. He means nothing to me.”
“You say that now, but if you start spending time with him again…” He shakes his head. “I forbid you to see him again, Alana.”
“Alex, I love you. More than I love anyone or anything. But I am a grown woman. You don’t get to forbid me to do anything.”
“Yes, I fucking do,” he snarls at me. “You are my wife.”
I nod. “Yes, I am. So why can’t you believe in that? Why don’t you trust me?”
He glares at me. “You wouldn’t understand,” he hisses.
“Try me!”
“Because…”
“Because what?”
His nostrils flare as he stares at me. “Because he is the man you should be with,” he shouts.
“What?” I blink at him. I’m so confused right now. He wants me to be with Bobby? No, that makes no sense.
A look of anguish flickers across his handsome face. He suddenly looks tired, almost vulnerable.
“He is a better man for you than I am, Alana. You wouldn’t be in so much danger if you were his wife. If you were married to someone normal. You can’t deny that.”
Shit! He is insecure. The King of LA is worried that he isn’t good enough for me. What the hell! I did not see that one coming.
I place my other hand on his face, my fingers brushing against the dark stubble on his jaw. “But I can deny it, and I do. Bobby Conroy is not the man for me. I could spend one thousand years in his company and there would still only ever be you, Alex. I am yours—body, heart, and soul, remember?”
He presses his forehead against mine. “When Hugo told me he’d come to see you, and you were alone with him…” He closes his eyes.
“What? You thought something happened between us? We were alone for like two minutes. You really think I’d do that?”
“No,” he shakes his head. “Not really. But I couldn’t stop picturing him with his hands on you. I trust you, but I don’t trust him. Why the fuck would he bother to find out where you work?”
I swallow my nerves. I have to tell him everything. He tucks his thumb beneath my chin and tilts my head up to look at him. “What?” he frowns. “Did something happen? Did he try anything?”
“Promise you won’t get mad.”
“I’m already mad.”
“But I know you can get madder…”
“Alana,” he says, exasperated. “Just tell me what the fuck happened.”
I nod. “The first meeting with Kristen was just about his donation and an app he’s hoping to trial at the shelter.
I was shocked to see him, but it was all professional.
The second meeting, where I asked Hugo to leave us?
That was because I needed to clear the air with him.
I needed to find out exactly why he was there, and what he really wanted.
Because like you, I didn’t really trust him. ”
Alejandro’s face darkens, and his nostrils flare.
“He didn’t touch me,” I say quickly, before his head actually explodes.
“But when I asked what he was up to, he said he’d tracked me down because he was worried about me.
He asked me if I know who you really were when I’d married you, and whether I needed him to help me… uh, get away from you.”
“Hijo de puta!” he snarls. “How dare he? I will fucking destroy him.”
Beneath the fury and the fire, I know he’s also hurt. That comment he made, about how I’d be in less risk if I wasn’t married to him, that I should be with a man like Bobby? That took a lot for him to admit.
“Alejandro. Look at me.”
I take his face, and force him to be still. My eyes meet his, and I put all of my love into that connection.
“You don’t need to destroy him. You don’t need to worry. It meant nothing, and I handled it.”
He frowns. “How did you handle it? What did you say?”
I smile and drop a gentle kiss on his perfect lips before I reply. His dark eyes are still blazing, but I also see a softness there.
“I told him I knew exactly who you were. That I love you. That I’m devoted to you. That my heart is fierce and passionate and it beats only for Alejandro Montoya.”
He pulls me closer, my hips slamming into him. “You did, mi reina?”
“I did, Alejandro. I didn’t know what love was until I met you. I didn’t know what passion was. Bobby Conroy means nothing to me. It’s you, and only you. Forever.”
He smiles, and my heart races in response.
“How did he react to that?”
I wrap my hands around the back of his neck, twine my fingers in his hair. I can feel his cock hardening against me. An answering throb pulses deep in my core.
“He didn’t much like it. He got a little offensive, in the way that weak men will when they’re confronted by a strong woman.”
His hand goes to my ass, roaming around it possessively. I do not complain, because having his hands on me is all I ever really need.
“If he offended you, I will kill him. I will hunt him down like the dog he is and rip him apart with my bare hands.”
He has a snarl on his face that tells me he means it. I have no doubt at all that if I gave the word, he would murder Bobby Conroy just for upsetting me.
I don’t understand myself completely, but there was some truth in what Bobby said. I do like the danger. This man in front of me is wild, unpredictable, powerful in a way that I’ve never encountered before. He is a killer. I have no illusions about that.
But he also has a huge heart and his own code of morals. He’s ten times the man Bobby Conroy will ever be, and he’s all I will ever want or need.
“He’s not worth it,” I say, pressing myself against him, already damp with need. “He’s nothing. He doesn’t matter. We matter, Alejandro. Us. Together. Right now. Forget about Bobby.”
He wraps his hands in my hair, tilting my head back so I’m staring up at him. The look on his face is pure passion. It tells me that he owns me as much as I own him.
“For you, princesa, I will try. But if I see him near you again, I will end him. You understand?”
“I do,” I murmur, distracted as he leans down, brushes his lips against my neck. “I won’t be working with him, I promise. But Alex…”
“Yes?” he mutters, dragging his mouth away from my skin, his pupils as dilated as I know mine are.
“I will still be working at the shelter, okay? Not with him, that’s fair. But I’m not giving it all up. It’s important to me.”
He grinds his cock into me, making me gasp. “You think you are in a better negotiating position because I’m hard for you? Because I’m always hard for you.”
“No,” I gasp, as he rhythmically moves against me. “No, that’s not it…I…I…”
“What, Alana?” he says gently, then leans down to nibble at my ear. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me. I need to concentrate. I place my hands on his chest, push firmly. He doesn’t move. He’s far too strong for me to be able to push him away, but he does go still and finally meet my gaze.
“Alex, I mean it. I want to carry on working.”
He nods, runs a finger along my jawbone. “I know. And I’m proud of you. You can carry on working. But now? Now I have other things on my mind.”
In one fluid move he slips his hands down to my ass cheeks and lifts me onto the breakfast bar. He pushes my dress up to my waist and tugs my panties to one side. I’m already wet, and my panties will be damp, just how he likes them.
“Lucia might come back in,” I breathe out the words.
“No. She’s not stupid. She knows we’re in here. She’ll knock.”
“Shouldn’t we go upstairs though? Or to your office?” I pant, even as I pull him closer to me. I’m saying one thing, but my body is saying something completely different.
“No. I want you right here. Right now,” he growls, pushing two of his thick fingers into my opening as he unzips his suit pants with his free hand.
I groan as he frees his cock. “I want you to remember that I own you, princesa, and I will fuck you anywhere and any way I want to. And you will moan my name. Every. Single. Time.”
Dear God!
“Would you care to tell me why you’re already soaking wet?” he says against my ear as he presses his fingers in deeper and curls them against my G-spot. The low vibration of his voice sends shivers down my spine, and I grind my hips onto him.
“Because you are so damn hot when you’re angry,” I purr against his neck.
“Oh, Alana, you know how dangerous it is to make me angry, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I breathe. “And that makes it even hotter.”
“Good. Because I’m gonna fuck you so hard you won’t be able to get out of bed for the rest of the week, never mind go to work.”
Alejandro, I soon discover, is not a man who goes back on his word.