CHAPTER 11 MATEO
MATEO
Everything about the woman snuggled between his legs was absolutely perfect. Her smile. Her warmth. Her passion. How her body shivered at the words he’d just whispered to her.
And she was going to ruin him.
His arms tightened around her waist, pressing supple curves that seemed to melt perfectly into his hard lines. He saw the fast fluttering of her pulse on her neck, his mouth watering to taste her, aching with the need to lick the salt off her skin.
Her breathing was rapid and shallow which led him to follow up. “Gabriella?”
She shivered again before tilting to look back at him. “Do you … is it—” She stopped, closed her eyes tightly before trying once more to speak. “Do you really want to?”
His cock swelled, aching in a way that dragged a low groan from his lips. “Help you come? Listen to your moaning and all the little slutty noises you’ll make?” He hissed out a breath. “Of course I fucking want to Gabriella. I’ve dreamt of you more nights than I can count,” he confessed.
She opened her eyes to that. Gorgeous green eyes that seemed to peer into his soul. “Really?”
God, she has no idea how beautiful she is.
Mateo knew some specifics of her past marriage.
Enough to know that when everything was done here, he would go back to the states with every intent to hunt the man down for what he did to her.
All her life, her husband had told her how little she meant with the way he cared for her.
Degrading words and nearly putting her out like he was her pimp.
She was starved for affection, and it showed in her distrust of him. Even when he had flirted before everything happened, she had been cautious. Now he was willing to be blunt.
He nodded, pressing a chaste kiss on her cheek that was closest to him. “Yes, really. I want you Gabriella. Only you.”
She looked forward once more, her hands tightening on his forearms that were wrapped around her. “So have I …” She paused before confessing. “Touched myself, thinking of you.”
The confession pulled out something primal and deep from within.
“Fuck, Gabriella. You touched yourself thinking of me?” The words tore from his throat, ragged and desperate at the image of her fingers between her legs, pumping in and out.
“Let me see it, tica. Show me how prettily you come with my name on your lips,” he begged.
She let out a small gasp as he tightened his grip. “Can I touch you?”
She gave a small nod, and he groaned, sliding his hands up along the curve of her ribs where his palms cupped her breasts confined under the blanket. Her head tilted back, letting out a small, pained moan.
“Oh god, Mateo,” she gasped, her body pressing back into his with a desperation to match. “Yes, please. Touch me more.”
He peeled back the layers of fabric, revealing round luscious breasts with dark nipples that peaked in the cool air. The sight nearly undid him. He cupped them, rolling the nipples and tweaking them, relishing in the noises she made. “Fuck, you feel so perfect in my hands.”
He had only ever touched her a few times, not enough to map the curves of her beauty in the way he was doing now.
It was edging him, his control tighter than a garrot wrapped around his neck.
She was terrifyingly soft, a reminder of how fragile she was compared to the hard planes of his body from years of training.
“Touch yourself Gabriella. Let me hear you.”
He felt her reach down between her legs, his mind fantasizing her slender fingers slipping between her folds and circling around her clit in desperation.
He knew she felt the distinct ridge of his cock pressing against her back, his desire for her undeniable.
The blood rushed through him entirely too quickly. His heart beat like a war drum.
“You’re so pretty like this tica. All I want to do is fill you with my cock, feel your tightness squeeze and choke me while you scream my name.”
A low, needy moan pulled from her lips, eliciting a chuckle from him that rumbled deep between them.
“You’d like that wouldn’t you? Feel me stretch you out with my thick cock until you can’t breathe.
” He pressed one hand to her stomach. “Feel me all the way here where I belong, buried deep inside of you. Fucking you.”
“Yes,” she gasped, past all pretense at this point. He loved the feel of her, grinding and pressing back to him. “I want you inside of me, Mateo. Please.”
“Not this time, tica. Let me help you come so you can sleep.” He nipped at her ear, twisting one of her nipples knowing it would border on the cusps of pain and pleasure before bringing his hand back up to tease the other. “Be good and listen for once.”
She whimpered, head tilting back onto his shoulder as he watched her eyes roll back in pleasure. “Mateo, please. I want … more.” Her hips flexed, unable to stay still, pushing back into him in a needy display of desire.
“You’re begging for a punishment, aren’t you?” He bit down hard where her throat greeted her shoulder, causing Gabriella to shudder and cry out.
“Mateo!”
He pulled away, licking at the teeth marks he left with his voice full of promise.
“When we fuck, Gabriella, I plan to ring out all that fake hatred you carry and replace it with me dripping down your thighs.” He kissed her flushed skin.
“You are mine, whether you want to admit it or not, and I will not let you go.”
He moved one hand away from her nipples, impatient now.
I need to feel her more. He gripped her waist, pressing into her back until they found a rhythm they both seemed to groan into.
“Good girl. You love fighting me, but when all things are said and done, you lean into my touch like the sweet tica you are.”
Gabriella reached down to grasp at his free hand, nails biting into skin. “I’ll be sweeter when you help me come, Mateo. Please.” She placed his hand back on her aching breast. “Don’t stop playing with me. I don’t think I can come unless you play with them both.”
“Desperate to come for me, aren’t you?”
She gave a shaky nod, sweat beading her temple and trailing down her slender neck where he lapped at it.
She tasted as good as she fucking looked.
Sweet and salty, his eyes nearly rolled in the back of his head.
“Fuck you taste so good.” He felt her orgasm nearing.
The muscles in her body slowly began to tighten, winding up.
She was gasping his name in both desperation and pain.
He couldn’t deny himself anymore. He wanted to feel her.
“Gabriella, can I help?” She stilled briefly before nodding vigorously. Removing her hand and finding his. “Yes, please.”
He almost came as she brought his hand down to touch her, his fingers finding her slickness with ease. “Look at how fucking wet you are for me. I could come just from feeling how hot and slick you are.”
His fingers moved ruthlessly over her clit, alternating different patterns as he felt her get closer and closer.
He plunged one, then two fingers into her, leaving a trail of obscenely wet sounds that had Mateo groaning into her sweat-slicked skin.
“You sound fucking drenched, Gabriella. I love hearing you like this. A needy little slut, aren’t you? ”
“I didn’t even know I could be this wet,” she confessed. “Fuck. I’m close,” she gritted out, the muscles inside of her tensing as he teased the sensitive slickness.
Fuck, I want to feel her, be inside of her so badly. Pleasure melted from everywhere he was touching, turning his entire body into a furnace.
“So close.” She leaned back once more against him, panting in rhythm to his own desperate gasps as he pumped into her back, keeping steady to match the way her hips tilted. It was a dance so intimate and profound, Mateo was sure this all had to be a dream.
He couldn’t stop, couldn’t think. He knew she was giving him something she had not given to a man since her divorce.
The knowledge of her trust kept him from bending her over and fucking her until neither of them could walk for days.
He wanted to fill her up, cover her in his cum, and mark her as his.
It was the scariest possessive need he had ever felt in his entire life, and she held his heart in her grasp.
A lesson in patience, he reminded himself by keeping his cock buried beneath the thin cloth that separated them. One I desperately hate right now.
He curved his fingers and she gave a full body shudder. “Oh we like this?” he teased, rubbing the sensitive flesh, knowing she teetered on the edge of the orgasm, her knees shaking. From his vantage point, he saw her toes curl.
“Oh god, oh fuck,” she cried, unable to hide the whine to her voice. “Yes, please, please. Mateo can I come?” she asked, her body trembling from the impending force of it.
He let out a low, agonized groan. His own body trembling along with hers as he peppered kisses along her neckline. “Yes, tica. I’m right there with you. Give it to me.”
The orgasm tore through her in one mind shattering sweep as her scream echoed in the room before Mateo covered it with a desperate hand, groaning his own release into her damp neck.
Even after she came, his fingers continued to pump into her, prolonging it and causing her to shake into him. His hand still held her voice prisoner, and he lavished in the power he had over her in that moment, dragging muffled moans from her lips.
Fuck, I would do this every night if I could. His own hips pressed against her, the uncomfortable sticky thick cum dripping down his cock to his balls. It was worth it. Spending himself like a teenager. Everything about her had been perfection.
He kept on until she was boneless in his arms and kissed her neck once more before removing his hand. “You did so well, Gabriella,” he praised, his voice husky with need that he kept at bay. He wouldn’t ask her to let him fuck her. She needed to rest.
“Mateo?” she asked, her voice weak.
“Hmm?”
She hesitated. “Are you okay?”
He chuckled from behind her, his hands resting on her body as he lay spent with her. “Better than okay.”
“Good,” she replied, fighting sleep. She let out a yawn. “I don’t know how much more I can stay awake. Is there a big mess back there?”
“Horrendous, but thankfully it’s all in my blanket. I’ll clean it up. Don’t worry.” He kissed her temple, hugging her tightly to him. “Sleep. I’ll watch over you.”
He heard them before he saw them.
Footsteps—careless, heavy. Twigs snapping, leaves crushed under boots. Whoever was approaching wasn’t trying to hide, and that alone set Mateo’s nerves on edge. Years of training had taught him to be silent and resourceful.
And the woman in his arms was forcing him to rethink his priorities. He couldn’t waver, even if she was making him feel things he had kept locked away since he started working undercover.
He shifted carefully, easing Gabriella onto the hammock strung between two thick trees. The motion came easily now—her body fitting against his chest as if it belonged there, light and warm and far too real. Too dangerous to notice how perfectly she fit.
She barely stirred, exhaustion dragging her under despite the rain drumming against the tarp overhead.
He ignored the instinctive pull of her warmth, focused only on tucking the spare blanket around her shoulders, making sure her breathing stayed even. For a brief, treacherous second, he let himself linger. Enough to memorize the rise and fall of her chest.
Then the footsteps stopped.
“?Jefe? ?Estás despierto?”
Boss, you awake?
Mateo straightened instantly.
“Sí. Espera.” Yes, wait.
He reached for the spare pants he’d set aside, cleaning himself quickly before stepping out from under the shelter. Rain lashed down in sheets, soaking the jungle into a dark, glistening maze.
José stood a few feet away, holding a camouflage jacket over his head, water streaming off its edges. His expression was casual, but his eyes flicked past Mateo towards the hammock.
Mateo shifted deliberately, blocking the view.
“The men are asking if we can stop at a nearby town,” José said, tone almost conversational in Spanish. “They’re restless.”
Mateo exhaled slowly through his nose. “If they want alcohol, give them what we’ve got stashed. But they stay sober enough to drive tomorrow. We will make it back to the village in a day.”
José’s mouth twisted. “That’s not what they’re asking for.”
Mateo already knew.
“They want women,” José continued, shrugging. “And it looks like you’re keeping the only one on base all to yourself.”
Mateo felt the anger rise instantly—hot, violent, coiling tight beneath his ribs. His spine straightened as his voice dropped to a low, lethal hiss.
“She is not part of their entertainment.”
José lifted a brow. “Then what is she? Because one of the men said he heard her make noise.”
Shit. Mateo worked through his panic and calmly responded. “She hurt herself and is afraid of the bugs in the area. What he heard was her panic.”
José waited before he conceded. “Of course. She seems like a handful. Is she going to be useful?”
“Our leverage,” Mateo snapped without hesitation. “Our guarantee if things go sideways with the Americans. She keeps us alive if we need to negotiate.”
His gaze hardened, locking onto José’s with unmistakable warning. “And she is not for anyone.”
For a moment, the rain was the only sound between them.
José studied him, something calculating flickering behind his eyes. Then he smirked faintly and stepped back. “Fine. But the men won’t like it.”
Mateo didn’t blink. “They don’t have to.”
José turned and melted back into the darkness, his footsteps fading into the storm.
Mateo stood there a second longer, jaw clenched, chest tight with the effort of keeping himself under control. Then he turned back towards the shelter.
Gabriella slept, curled slightly on her side, unaware of how close danger hovered or how fiercely he’d just drawn the line around her. His only solace was that the tracking signal was still active, and he knew it would be weak but detectable. Someone would pick it up. They had to.
Mateo crouched beside the hammock, lowering his voice even though she couldn’t hear him.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured. “Even if you never forgive me.”