At the moment.
He laughed. “Such a feisty gatita. You’re not terrified. Not like you should be. Then again, I suppose I haven’t shown you what I’m fully capable of yet.” His smile somehow seemed to show all of his teeth, and I shrank back a little. That just made him laugh again, a sound of pure, arrogant amusement. “I promised to feed you, and it’s getting cold,” he effectively ended the disconcerting conversation.
His arms surrounded me on either side as he reached forward and picked up the knife and fork. He cut the steak into several small pieces, then shifted the utensils into one fist. I supposed he was smart not to set them down where I could reach them, but I really was too hungry and weak to try to stab him at the moment.
He picked up a piece of steak between his fingers and lifted it to my lips.
I looked up at him, confused. “What are you doing?”
“Feeding my pet.” He was still smiling, but something darker s
tirred in his black stare. “Aren’t you hungry, gatita?”
I blew out a sigh. “Fine. But only because I’m hungry, not because I’m your pet.”
“Can’t you be both?”
“No.”
He chuckled, but he didn’t argue with me again. “Eat.”
Too hungry to continue resisting, I parted my lips and reached for the morsel with my tongue. I probably should have bitten him just for being a bastard, but I really wanted to eat. Besides, he’d mentioned another punishment and warned me not to test him. Biting him probably counted as worse than testing.
As soon as the steak hit my tongue, rich flavors exploded in my mouth, and a soft moan of appreciation left my chest. I loved a good steak, and this one was cooked to perfection. I wrapped my lips around his fingers without thinking, sucking the juices from them as I sought more of the delicious flavor.
“You like carne asada?” he asked, his voice rougher than the simple question should have called for.
I pulled back from his fingers, and they left my mouth with a small pop.
“I like meat,” I said. “All kinds of meat. If it used to moo, I’ll definitely eat it. This is so good. I want more.”
“Greedy and savage,” he remarked, his voice lilting with laughter. “You can have as much as you want.”
“I’m not savage,” I grumbled. “I couldn’t even kill you properly.”
“No, you couldn’t,” he said calmly, obviously remembering my pathetic attempt to attack him with his razor. “I don’t think you have it in you. That doesn’t mean I’ll give you access to a knife anytime soon, though.”
“I’m a trained field agent,” I said, feeling defensive, mostly because I should have been capable of fighting him more effectively than I’d managed so far.
“Not a very good one.” He said it like a simple observation, not an insult.
And honestly, was it an insult if it was the truth?
“I shouldn’t have transferred from tech analyst,” I lamented aloud. If I hadn’t tried to go into the field, I wouldn’t be in this shitty situation.
“Probably not,” he agreed. “My brother has his own tech team. They looked into you. By all accounts, they were very impressed. It’s why Cristian let you live.”
“Because he wants me to protect him from the FBI,” I said glumly. “He wants me to save his miserable life.” I tensed, suddenly worried that Andrés might not take kindly to me insulting his brother.
“He does,” he responded in a monotone. I couldn’t read any particular emotion in it. “And you will. It’s my job to make sure you do. You won’t do it for Cristian, but for me. I want you to stop thinking about my brother and start thinking about pleasing me. And you can start by finishing your meal.”
“You’re the one who insists on feeding me one tiny piece at a time,” I complained.
“If you’d stop sassing me, this would go faster,” he drawled.
I narrowed my eyes at him to communicate my lingering displeasure with the entire weird scenario, but I allowed him to continue feeding me. I ended up eating well over half the steak before he actually used a freaking fork to deliver mouthfuls of the most delicious seasoned rice I’d ever tasted. I might have felt a little guilty that I ate most of the food, but he seemed content for me to have as much as I needed. When I finally turned my face away, he ate what was left.
He finished and lifted me off his lap to place me on the mattress.