Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DARIO

“ S he doesn’t want to speak to me,” I tell Mother, a strange numb feeling cloaking me.

“She’s never seen anything like this before,” my mother replies, her hand on my shoulder. “I’ve lived in this world for most of my life, and I’ve never seen that aspect. You can’t blame her for being in shock.”

“She looked like she hated me,” I say, looking up at the night sky as I sit on the back porch. “Do you know what she said when we got into the helicopter? Don’t look at me. Don’t touch me. She doesn’t even want me to bring her aunt and her friend here. She said she feels dirty, different.”

“Dario, she’s in shock .”

I grit my teeth, but I can’t stop reliving the beating I gave that lowlife who was going to hurt Elena. When I stormed the farmhouse after the successful shootout, and I saw him standing there with her, the monster in me came out—the part of me I never wanted her to see.

“I’m going to see how she’s doing.”

My mother sighs. “Is that a good idea?”

“She’s my fiancée,” I snap.

My mother tilts her head at me.

“What?” I say.

“Nothing.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

She doesn’t reply, so I walk through the townhouse to Elena’s bedroom. When I knock, she moans, “Go away.”

“It’s me.”

“Please, Dario.”

“Let me in.”

I lean against the wall, resisting the desire to bash the door down. After several minutes, I hear her footsteps on the other side. She opens the door, staring at me bleakly. She looks drained after a fresh shower, her hair tied up, her eyes dark pits. She’s still beautiful, even if it’s in a tragic way.

Her gaze hovers somewhere slightly below my eyeline as if she can’t bear to look at me.

“How …” I hesitate, “are you feeling?”

For a moment, I think she’s going to sass me. Oh, yeah, I’m feeling great , she might say sarcastically, but she shakes her head and turns into the bedroom. The beast in me notes how short her PJs are, showing her thick ass, her creamy thighs. I’m still pumped with adrenaline after all the violence. I’ve heard my soldiers talk about wanting a woman after a fight before. I’ve never experienced that need until now. I tame that part of me for the moment or try to.

She sits on the bed, chewing on her fingernails as she stares at the floor. Closing the door, I join her, then gently remove her hand from her mouth.

“Why are you here?” she says numbly.

“To check on you.”

“I never heard my parents or brother in the fire,” she says. “I never saw what happened to them. I’ve never seen anything like that, Dario.”

“I know,” I sigh.

“No, you don’t know.” She still won’t look at me. “You’ve lived in this world your entire life. How could you know what it’s like to be a regular person?”

“That man was going to kill you,” I growl. “Maybe worse.”

“I know, and you saved me. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve it, but to see it. To s-smell it …”

She begins to cry, burying her face in her hands. I wrap my arm around her, but then she cringes away, shuffling to the other side of the bed and angrily wiping her cheeks. “I’m supposed to be strong … for Aunt Rosa.”

“I can bring her here.”

“I don’t want that. It’ll just stress her out. She already disapproves of us.”

“So there is an us ?” I say, with hope in my voice.

“With the deal, I mean,” she corrects, causing my hope nearly to wither.

I swallow, my heart picking up speed again. If this has taught me anything, it’s that I want her … bad. The fear that flooded me when I thought she was going to die proves it.

Elena finally glances at me. “Are you checking me out?” she says in an unreadable tone.

“Uh …” I snap back to the moment.

“You were staring at me.”

“You’re beautiful, angelic, sexy,” I snarl. “What happened doesn’t change that.”

“That’s how normal this is for you, huh? You’re not shaken up by it at all?”

“My heart’s beating a million miles per minute.”

“But you’re not disgusted or ashamed or scared or any of that?”

“No,” I snap. “He was going to do terrible things to you.”

She shuffles down the bed, her cheeks flushing red, eyes wide and almost manic. “Then why don’t you take your prize, Dario?” she murmurs, putting her hand on my leg.

I don’t know what this is. Is she trying to make some twisted point?

She slides her hand higher up my leg. “You fought for me. Go on. I’m your trophy, your property.”

“You don’t want this,” I groan.

“Says who?”

“You’re not thinking straight.”

“I know you want it …”

Fuck. She slides her hand even higher, finding my hot, pulsing steel and stroking me up and down through my pants. The mania in her eyes gets even more intense. I should stop her, but dammit. Her hand feels like it belongs on my precome-slick heat.

“See,” she moans, moving even closer. “I know this is what you want. A woman who can see something like that and then give her wet pussy to you.”

“Elena,” I groan. “This isn’t how you want to do this.”

“Maybe I just want to forget.”

She kisses me passionately, almost desperately. It’s like she wants to immerse herself in our pleasure so she doesn’t have to think about everything. Maybe this is her way of proving I only want to use her, not be with her, but it’s not true.

Her body feels addictive. I caress her chest, slipping my hand under her shirt and rubbing her nipples. She moans through the tightness of our kiss, then climbs on top of me, grinding her sweet wetness against my crotch. I sink my hands into her hips and begin moving with her. I try to stop, but she has a hold over me I can’t explain.

“Are you sure about this?” I groan.

“I’m not sure about anything anymore,” she gasps, “but my pussy’s wet for you. Do you want to feel?”

“This is fucked up, Elena.”

“Maybe we’re both fucked up, then.”

I spin up, laying her flat on the bed as I kiss her perfect plump lips, then kiss down her neck until I come to her chest. Pulling her shirt down reveals her creamy swells. I gasp, unable to look away, then fall upon her curves and take her nipple into my mouth, sucking like the greedy, wild prick I am as I slide my hand up her leg.

“You’re soaked,” I groan.

“I told you.”

“Tell me to stop,” I snap. “I know what this is. I know you’re trying to prove a point. Tell me to fucking stop .”

She reaches down and runs her hands through my hair. “Uh-uh. I told you. Just let me forget.”

“And after?” I ask.

“There’s no after. There’s no before. There’s just now. That’s it. Don’t ask me for more than that.”

I don’t like the sound of that at all. It’s like she’s saying she’ll end everything once this is done. Again, I attempt to stop myself, but then my carnal instinct takes over, and I push my hand inside her shorts. I smooth my hand down to her soft haven, finding her soaked entrance.

“Don’t you want to fuck your virgin?” she moans. “Your bought-and-paid-for virgin …”

“Don’t say things like that,” I growl.

She bites her lip, shifting against me. “Keep going …”

“I’m doing this because I want to—because you want to. This was never part of the deal.”

“None of this was part of the deal, but here we are.”

“You think you’re acting now, Elena?” I groan. “You think this is a game?”

“Keep. Going.”

All over this city, I inspire fear in men. People talk about me in low whispers of pure dread, but I have no power here. It’s all Elena.

“I’ll show you how bad you really want it,” I growl, pulling down her shorts and her underwear.

Falling to my knees beside the bed, I stare in awe at her feminine core. She’s glistening with her wetness. Her lips are swollen with pure need. I reach under the bed and grab her ass, caressing her supple mounds as I bring my mouth to her slit.

“Do you think this is a game?” I snarl.

“I’m not playing any game.”

“Sure you’re not. Beg me to lick your pussy. Beg me to make you come.”

I stare up at her. Genuine desire dances in her eyes. She bites her lip. I can see how tortured she is. I can see how confusing this situation is—for both of us.

“Do it,” she says after a pause. “Lick my virgin pussy, Dario. You own my clit.”

“I don’t own you.”

“Yes, you do.” She reaches down, dragging her fingernails through my hair. “You own me—all of me. Lick me. Make me come. Make me creamy for your big, hard dick.”

“Elena …”

“What are you waiting for?”

Fuck . As I hold onto the tempting roundness of her ass, my rigid heat drenches my underwear with precome. My head is a mess of adrenaline and lust as I push my face forward and start licking her clit. She might be trying to make a point, but she can’t fake the response her body is giving me.

She tenses, then her hips shift in time with my tongue strokes. I indulgently squeeze her thick ass when she moans. There’s no damn way she’s faking this. I feel her legs tight with lust when I bring my finger to her hole, sliding it in as I lick her clit at the same time.

Grinding her pussy against me, her moans get even more intense, even more urgent. Whatever else is true, I know she was being honest when she said she wanted to forget.

Faster and faster, I lick her clit, feeling her orgasm approach with the thrumming of her virgin walls around my finger. When she gasps and her hole gets wetter and tighter, I know the orgasm is hitting her. I suck her clit, groaning greedily, probably leaving red marks on her ass from how hard I squeeze her heavenly softness.

“Oh my …” she gasps. “Oh, oh, oh .”

Finally, she stops trembling. I stand up and tear down my pants. My demanding shaft springs free. She bites her lip, nodding, lying back with her soaked thighs spread wide.

“Do it, Dario,” she moans. “Get what you paid for.”

“Don’t say that,” I snap. “I’m not paying you for this .”

“Take my virginity,” she says, stroking her hand over her sopping perfection. “Pound your dick into me. Make me scream.”

“Fuck.”

I lean down, my engorged flesh so sensitive. I feel my seed ready to burst as I grab my dick to guide to her entrance. When I bring my tip to her slit, the voice in my head grows even louder, roaring at me, Not like this . She’s traumatized. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. This is almost like a challenge. She wants me to prove that this is just a transaction.

Yet I still can’t move away. I caress her entrance with my tip. Whatever else is true, her body wants me, even if her mind is a mess.

“Not like this,” I say, giving voice to the doubt twisting through me.

“You want it,” she moans.

“So do you,” I snap, “but this isn’t the right time. You think I’m just an animal, a killer who’s going to fuck you and then throw cash at you? No, Elena.”

She reaches down, grabbing my relentless desire and stroking slickly up and down. “No?” she whines. “No? You don’t like this?”

“Fuck, when you rub me like that, your tits shake.”

“These tits, Dario?” She caresses her breasts with one hand while she strokes my shaft with the other. My head clouds as she moves faster, her curviness trembling for me. “You’re so hard. You’re so ready. Fuck me. Take your prize.”

“Not … like … this…”

“So you want me to stop?”

“Keep rubbing my cock,” I growl.

An almost-smile touches her lips, but it’s gone a moment later. I wonder if she’ll ever have it in her to sass me again.

Soon, I can’t take it. Hot spill rushes up my length and out of my swollen end. It’s her moans, her tits, and the tangy taste of her pussy still on my lips. I explode all over her, wave after wave of come, making me wild. She keeps rubbing until there’s nothing left, my cock wilting in her hand.

Pulling up my pants, I say, “Elena …”

“You got what you came here for,” she snaps, looking around for her shorts.

“That’s not fair.”

“I want to be alone.”

I grab her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at me. She gasps, her eyes flooded with heartbreaking fear. “I want you. Not just for that. I want you for you …” I trail off, the words feeling weak and flimsy and not a good match for what I’m trying to say.

“Please, just let me be alone,” she replies, her tone tired and defeated.

What other choice do I have? Dammit, I shouldn’t have let myself indulge in her like that, but we both wanted it. It was hot as hell, even if it was beyond messed up.

“I’ll see you soon, okay? I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

“I just need to be alone. It worked. I forgot just briefly, but I’m remembering it again now.”

Pulling my pants up, feeling a weird combination of dirty and yet wanting to do it again, I leave her bedroom.