It disgusts me how much I desire his mastery—and his malformed affection. Right or wrong, I want to roll the dice and see where it falls.
“Tell me the real reason you’re doing this... no bullshit. The truth,” I demand, folding the paper in half, so the words disappear.
He calmly positions his coffee mug and scrubs his chin with manicured nails. Everything about him is meticulously presented—from contoured abs to the clean rows of teeth, straight and dazzlingly white.
“What do you want to hear?” Broad shoulders bounce once. “That when I’m with you, the darkness inside of me fades and all I see is you. Or maybe Carina Ferreira has an unfathomable way of governing the glitch I’ve endured since I was a boy.” His mouth quirks, making it hard to know if he’s lying to me.
Unfurling his arms, he pushes out from under the counter, strolls to my side, and places his large palms on my shoulders. “Or maybe the real truth is I get a kick out of knowing my dick is the only one you’ve ever had.” His face dips lower. “That I’ll always be your first.” Pitch black eyes swallow my glower. “Your best. The only man who’s claimed these untouched lips of yours.”
Tomás licks his thumb and glides the pad over the silvery scar I’ll always own. The thread like imperfection will forever remind me of the dark days I’ve left behind. And he sees it, just like I had recognized the meaning of every tortured brush stroke on his painting. I inhale a thimble full of air, enough to keep my lungs active.
“I’m also the first to claim your remarkably tight cunt.” An unbearable arousal sabotages the anger in my veins.
The cocktail of his words and delicate touch are like a layer of gasoline on a stormy ocean, sending a tide of flames through my core.
“And your life…” He continues, pinching a lock of my hair and carefully tucking it behind my ear. “You want to know what happens after I set you free?” The hoarseness clinging to his decadent accent belies the restraint he’s trying to portray. I sense it. He feels it. “When you leave, you’ll compare every man in your bed to the king who retains ownership of your virginity.”
A shudder runs over me. I raise my chin, fix my shoulders, and boldly meet his subtle smile. “Or perhaps, in the future, I’ll find out your sex isn’t that fantastic given I’ve nothing to compare it to right now.”
Tomás blinks at me, his mouth tightening to a grimace as my audacious suggestion settles between us. I witness his spine stiffen and his lungs shift with slipping discipline.
While he stands there considering his next move, the muscles in his neck twitch so the chunky chain moves ever so slightly. Quiet observation slithers across my shoulders as if I’ve struck a match, tossed it into the shadows and awakened a pit full of poisonous serpents.
“We’ll see about that.” The texture of his perfectly controlled voice, so deep and dangerous, wraps me in a spell I’m not sure I want to be released from.
I clear my throat, dropping my gaze to the bowl of cereal. “Don’t worry…” I gather the spoon, shovel up milk-soaked flakes and shove the mush into my mouth. “You’ll never know when you slip from top position,” I say around the mouthful. “So you can continue to pretend that you’re the god you think yourself to be.”
He lifts one inky brow at me and simultaneously lowers his mouth to the shell of my ear. “There’s no pretense here. I will remain unbeaten, Carina.” His imposing bass rumble forces me to swallow. “I’ll be the best fuck you’ve ever had.” The warmth of his breath disturbs my hair. His tone cracked as if I’d stirred something primitive inside of him. “Do you promise to honor the terms and pledge your allegiance to me?”
“What does my allegiance entail exactly?” I whisper, almost tipping into the musky scent of his freshly washed skin, so close I could lick it.
“It means you’ll remain protected by the Souza cartel for as long as you stay faithful to us... to me.” His mouth quirks into a triumphant smirk.
I growl from the back of my throat, frustrated when the attempt to appear rock steady sounds more like a purr. “So, I’ll never truly get away from your world?”
He laughs, a low, threatening chuckle that electrifies my blood so it pelts my veins. “Not really. That was determined the moment you tried to save my father.”
“And you? Will I ever see you again?” I manage to cover the regret in my voice with annoyance, refusing to let him maintain control over me a second longer. “Not that I enjoy being in your company. I'll be relieved when this charade is over. I deserve to know what I’m facing afterward... what my future holds.”
Tomás straightens, his expression tight as if my comments are wilting his fantasies. He calmly lifts the agreement from the countertop. The vermilion gemstone wedged in his signet ring, glints under the light, reminding me of his father’s damned soul. How his family is grossly polluted by power, wealth, executions, and deception.
“I have an organization to expand and control. While I’m out of sight, I’m never really gone. If you stay out of trouble, there won’t be any reason for us to meet again.” Tomás waves the folded page. “What will it be?”
“I suppose you want it sealed with my blood?” I scowl at him.
Haloed irises darken to deadly, so the whites of his eyes glow with a supernatural intensity. The noticeable change to his countenance makes me regret the very word I know to be his weakness. Firm fingers snare my throat, locking me in place before his bared teeth. My pulse slams, the pounding vein visible over the scream I suppress.
“Your word alone is binding, Carina. And your blood…” His breathing hitches. The sunless depths of his pupils gleam with an inferno of copper—my own gaze reflects back at me. “Every drop of your blood is precious. Don’t offer it so easily.” Searching fingers trace the silvery ridges lining the inside of my forearm. The ticklish sensation showers me with corrupt tingles. “Understand?”
I nod into the vice-like grip on my neck, unsteady and breathless. “I’ll ask you one last time. Do you agree?” My head tilts to acknowledge approval. “Words,” he hisses. “Your words need to match your actions.”
“Answer one last question…” I say in a rushed breath.
An inky brow quirks. “Go ahead.”
“You didn't kill me the first time we met. Why did you let me go?”
White teeth bare at me, his eyes flashing with bane. “I’m not my father’s puppet. I make my own decisions based on my instincts. I didn’t think you were capable of murder. Now what will it be?”