Page 66 of King of Hearts

I turned to watch as she cleaned up, curious what on earth she was doing.

“It’s really weird…getting you off felt just as good as if it were me getting off, and now I’m sleepy. Come lie down with me.”

I smothered a laugh, because how could I say no to that?

An eighty-inch television displayed some TV show while we crawled into the massive bed, and Taylor pressed her cheek into my chest, closing her eyes.

My hand went to her back, my fingers trailing down her smooth skin while a cool breeze came in from the oscillating fan.

“What do these mean?” She ran her fingers down the black numbers along my forearms.

“Seven-one-seven means perseverance…a long time ago, someone decided those numbers would outline the parameters of our family, along with the black heart. So, when people see those digits with the black heart, they know who we are…where we come from.”

She sighed, running her finger along my throat. Sometimes I wondered how she viewed me, how she viewed my family. There was a small speck of pride over what my family had built, but it was minuscule. My overwhelming hatred for it smothered the feeling. I didn’t need her approval or her understanding, or for her to know that the tattoos had been forced on me at the age of thirteen by my father.

“What did that guy mean, about being claimed? I saw a few guys with black hearts inked on their chests…does that have something to do with it?” Taylor asked with a yawn.

I smiled, wrapping a few of the loose strands of her hair around my finger.

“In El Peligro, our calling card is the king of hearts, and on each one is a black heart.”

“The leaking ink heart, right?” She yawned again.

I smirked, trying not to be affected by the way her naked skin felt against mine.

“Yeah, it means someone is waiting for them at home. In a way it’s like a wedding ring. If one of the guys comes up dead or missing a few fingers, at least we know there’s someone waiting back home. When you ink that heart onto your chest, it’s for life. It’s as close to claiming a mate that we get.”

She smiled against my chest. “Like animals?”

I laughed. “Guess so. It’s also a way that men know to back off…if someone has a black heart inked onto their skin and is seen with a woman, socially or physically, everyone knows she’s completely off limits.”

“So, I’m technically still fair game, because there’s no ink stain on your chest?” She was smiling again, like this was a joke.

“Yeah, pretty much.” I hated that we were talking about this. I hadn’t told her that getting that inked meant your loyalty to El Peligro, that once you committed to the black heart, you’d essentially agreed to give away the rest of your body and soul to the gang, and I wasn’t ready to do that. I was still planning a way out of this shit.

“Poor you, you’ll just have to deal with guys hitting on your fake fiancée.”

I reached down and pinched her ass. She gave a little yelp while giggling.

“Or I can make you moan my name so loud no one out there would question it.”

She laughed, and the sound was like sunbeams breaking through storm clouds.

“You finally ready to fuck me, Juan? You seemed so reluctant…” Her blue eyes held a challenge. She knew I had been holding back and for good reason. I wasn’t ready to hand it all over to her yet. When I fucked her, I wanted her to be mine.

Giving her a wicked smile, I said, “No, just ready to make you come so hard you see stars.”

“Baby, you make me see stars regardless of what we’re doing.” Her confession was soft, but the words landed like boulders in my stomach. That felt a lot like it was real, real enough that it made my breath hitch.

“How would you have me take you, hmm?” I moved until I was hovering over her.

That blonde hair splayed out on the pillow beneath her, and her pink lips twisted into a smile she kept trying to fight.

“Any way you want to. I mean, pretty much any position is safe…that’s what one of the on-call doctors said.”

“Is that so?”

Pink invaded her neck and face as she ran her fingers along my chest. “I’ve actually kind of been dying to know what it feels like to…um…”

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