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“I thought you said I had dozens of qualities and qualifications.”

“None of them good.” I arched my back as I fisted my hands, wishing I could scratch out his eyes.

He was far too strong for me, holding his lips just over mine as I fought and snarled out of frustration.

“I guess we’ll see about that,” he breathed just before he captured my mouth. He was relentless, opening and closing our lips as he breathed into my throat. There was a difference in the way he was dominating my tongue, savoring me while letting me know that there was no way I would ever regain control.

Not even for a little while.

As the roar of passion exploded between us, he ground his hips back and forth. Our battles also aroused him as much as they did me.

This wasn’t normal or natural, but I honestly couldn’t imagine our relationship being any other way.

He knew how to get to me in both the worst and best ways. Then again, I could easily push his buttons. He thrust his tongue deeper as I arched my back even more, longing to touch him, to rake my nails down his back.

I threw one leg around his, now grinding my hips. The kiss lingered as he sucked on my tongue, driving me to the point of seeing a wave of stars and other shapes. Being lightheaded was the norm around him, but butterflies had also formed in my stomach.

Maybe being truthful was a powerful aphrodisiac.

CHAPTER25

“The male, for all his bravado and exploration, is the loyal one, the one who generally feels love. The woman is skilled at betrayal and torture and damnation.”

—Charles Bukowski

Alejandro

For all my beautiful wife’s portrayed innocence, I’d felt there was a raging cougar underneath. She was far too intelligent, and I’d seen her acts of cunning too many times not to glean aspects about her father’s life and how he handled being threatened.

My handler might tell me that just as she’d told me more than once, I had underestimated her. Whatever the case, what I’d also realized in both seeing my sister again and in being confronted with a portion of my lies was that I wanted Carmella.

Not just sexually.

She was my equal in many ways, a complement to the gruffness and anger, her sophistication and love of all creatures exactly what I needed. Even her laugh filtered into my mind quite often. Who was I kidding? I’d never felt so satisfied.

Yet right now, it was all about laying claim to her in my mind. However, this wasn’t like the wedding. This was about being more exposed than I’d been in years. Maybe too much so, but what we shared required the man from before to take the lead more.

Not the brutal savage so many believed me to be.

The kiss was powerful, igniting all my senses, but it wasn’t nearly enough. At this point, nothing would be until I could drive my cock deep inside.

It was a hunger never sated, a longing that fueled other parts of my mind as well as my body. She was the breath keeping me alive and the spark pushing me further, harder, and faster.

And Carmella was the reason I would maintain my criminal identity until the very last moment.

I finally had a feeling of belonging and the push and pull of my earlier life to the one I had known was something Maria had picked up on. Perhaps far too easily.

After consuming Carmella’s mouth, I pulled back, freeing one arm so I could wrap my hand around her throat.

She had a smile on her face that could easily be described as vicious and mischievous. As if she knew something I didn’t or had a new hold over me. In a way she did. In awakening my soul, she’d also brought rage to my ice-cold heart.

If I wasn’t careful, she’d become my greatest weakness of all.

I nipped her bottom lip, holding the tender flesh between my teeth. She laughed softly, her long eyelashes skimming across her cheeks. In the harsh light, I was able to detect a slight hint of fear, but there were so many complicated emotions running through both of us that the unknowns fueled the fire.

When I rubbed my thumb across her lips, pulling the freshly bitten one down, she wiggled in my hold.

“I’m going to defile you in all the best ways, Firesong. When I’m finished with you, not only will you be screaming my name, you’ll also be writhing with every single touch.”

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