Page 45 of King of Hearts

“Why?” Her voice was rough now that she’d sobbed for nearly half an hour.

I knew she meant the question I’d asked earlier tonight, but now I didn’t want to tell her. I had been feeling brave earlier, before all this happened, back when I thought she might walk away and leave me to my one-sided feelings. Now, looking at her, after holding her in such a tender way, she’d fucking crush me.

I opened my mouth to say something…I wasn’t sure what, maybe the truth, but a knock on the bathroom door stopped me.

Taylor’s head whipped toward the closed door, her body already responding to the threat with adrenaline. I gently pushed her behind me while I walked toward it.

“Yeah?”

“Primo, we need to talk about what you want set up out here,” my cousin Hector said through the door. Taylor wrapped her dainty fingers around my hand as if she’d stop me from going. This was good; I wasn’t ready to tell her my confession anyway, and this would give us some distance.

“I’ll be right out,” I yelled then turned toward Taylor. “I have a shirt for you. Get in bed and try to get some sleep. I’ll have someone posted outside the room all night.” I opened the door, a waft of steam following me out. The bedroom lights were still off, just the outside security lights beaming in through the open shades in the window.

“Where will you be?” Taylor panicked, walking right behind me.

“I’ll be here, making sure things are okay. Get some sleep,” I repeated one last time before opening the bedroom door and slipping out.

Chapter Seventeen

A gentle kickto my stomach woke me. The baby had been doing that a lot lately, making it nearly impossible to sleep past five in the morning. Thankfully I wasn’t really getting up at all hours of the night yet, although I heard the last month would do that to me. Stretching, I turned from my side onto my back and absently felt the side of the bed for Juan.

I had no idea what made me think he’d be there. It wasn’t like he’d made a real vow of any kind the night before, had just saved my life and my baby’s…we owed him ours now, forever. I’d do anything to repay that debt, including leaving if that was what he really wanted. Light poured in through the split curtains as a tiny shard of pain sliced through my chest, hollowing it out as I sat up and registered that Juan had slept in the chair by the window.

His knuckle was pressed against his temple, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and a pillow was stuffed under his arm. He looked uncomfortable, and I had been miserable all night, worried about where he was…worried he wasn’t with me. I tried not to relive the evening prior, but that significant moment when Juan had claimed us and my father let me go…it was unlike anything I’d ever felt in my life.

Freedom, safety—it was fake, I knew as much, but something in my soul latched onto it as though it was real, and now I wanted to be near Juan as frequently as possible. He’d protected me. Even angry with me, upset…hurt by my actions, he protected me.

The memory of him expertly holding that gun and the blade…I touched my temple as I remembered seeing my father’s men fall, and then the bloodbath near his feet when I’d run into his arms. Juan had done that. He’d killed those men within seconds, as if it was nothing.

He’d mentioned a name…that name was so familiar, but even now, I couldn’t recall what it was.

“Are you overthinking over there?” Juan’s scratchy voice asked from his spot by the window.

I smiled, tucking a few stray strands behind my ear.God, my hair must be a mess.I hadn’t combed it after the shower, had just slipped into one of Juan’s shirts and crawled into bed. His shirt wasn’t as loose as I’d hoped; with the belly it was practically glued to my body. Juan had never seen me this undone before, and I didn’t know if I was ready for him to, so I pulled the blanket around my shoulders.

“Why’d you sleep over there?” I crinkled my eyebrows at how he cracked his neck to the left.

“To give you space.” He smiled lazily, and I wanted to grab my phone to snap a picture of him. I found myself wanting to do that more and more frequently with him.

I shrugged, trying not to make a big deal out of his sentiment. “This is a big bed—it won’t bother me if you sleep here…especially if you’re serious about me sleeping in it from now on.”

He stood, stretching his arms above his head. The sunlight caught on the glossy black strands of hair that fell over his eyebrow. His whiskey eyes landed on me, and without a shirt, those black boxers hugging his muscular thighs…holy shit.

His semi-hard erection.

My tongue was nearly rolling out of my mouth at how good he looked, and my hormones were screaming at me to jump him, straddle him, and force him to love me forever.

His strong legs carried him to where I was perched on the edge of the bed. My head tipped back to track his progress, and before I could process that my breath had hitched, he reached for my head and tilted it to the side.

“Just checking for any bruising, or if we need to have anything checked today,” he said, pushing hair out of the way so he could see where the blood had pebbled last night.

“It’s sore…but I think it will be fine.” I swallowed thickly.

His soft touch caressed my ear and jaw, his fingers trailing down my heated skin in a much more sensual way than was probably necessary. It made me squirm uncomfortably.

I had no idea if he knew the effect he had on me, but part of me thought he did, especially when he got that specific look in his eye and the side of his lip twitched upward. With his dick in near proximity, I could see now that the bulge had grown and looked painful. His fingers wrapped around my neck and began to rub circles into my shoulders while his other hand gently tugged on rogue pieces of my hair.

I moved my hips, the ache between my thighs getting to be unbearable.

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