CHAPTER 33
Present
STEAM FILLED THE LUXURIOUS BATHROOM, fogging up the mirrors and glass walls of the shower. I closed the clear door behind me, stepping under the hot water. As I ran a hand through my wet hair, I allowed my eyes to wander over Maria’s body.
She leaned against the black-marble wall in front of me – wet, naked, hot – her hands behind her back, allowing me full view of her hourglass body. Her chocolate hair, matted to the sides of her face, cascaded down her shoulders to her waist. She’d already showered while waiting for me to join her. I’d been replacing the bedsheets, counting down the seconds till I could be with her again.
I knew I shouldn’t have done it. A good man wouldn’t have.
The same way, I shouldn’t have joined her in the shower after the bridge incident, or kissed her for the first time on the same night. She didn’t know the truth, and because I was falling deeper and deeper for her, guilt began to eat away at my chest.
I wanted to tell her. It was why I didn’t jump at the opportunity to sleep with her, despite dying to have her in every sense of the word. I tried to convince her it was too late; that she’d feel different in the morning. But when the word ‘please’ left her lips…
The sharp comebacks. The strong personality. The soft, loving glances.
I wanted her. All of her.
And fuck if I’d let some stupid mistake come between us.
The red-blooded, primal part resurfaced, telling me I was the one she gave her first everything to. The memory of it and how tight she was flooded heat into my chest, sending my blood boiling to the surface of my skin.
“Come here,” I rasped, stepping out from underneath the water and towards her. Maria pushed off the wall and my hand went to the back of her neck, sliding up into her hair, as I pulled her into me. The kiss muffled both of our groans.
My lips met hers with the type of desperation only someone who’d finally gotten a taste of Heaven after years of misery would understand.
The girl whose siren-green eyes were my envision of death, had now become my paradise. My own personal sanctuary from this fucked-up world.
Regardless of her profession, she brought me an unsettling amount of peace and tranquility which I felt all the way into my fucking bones. Just thinking about her clouded my thoughts with comfort.And God help me,I never wanted to fucking leave…
I kept walking until her back hit the marble again, before propping my hands on the wall, caging her in between my large arms. Water dripped from my hair as Ileaned down to meet her bewitching eyes. I was close, only leaving a few inches between us.
“You’re mine,” I gave a slow nod of my head to make sure my promise was coming across crystal clear. I’d seen it in her eyes that she was trying to hide feeling vulnerable.
Although ultimately inevitable, what we’d just done was irreversible.
There was no going back now, and I couldn’t have been gladder for the fact.
I was her first –hadbeen her first everything. And now she was mine in almost every sense of the word. I wanted nothing more than to show her just that by putting her in every intimate position imaginable.
The twisted part was that I knew she’d take all of me with a smile on her face and thank me when I was done.
We were both in so fucking deep, neither knew norwantedto know the way up.
She watched me with equal intensity as her hands absently grabbed onto the sides of my body for support. When she licked her lips, my eyes dropped to follow the innocent yet sensual move.
Perfection lined every single aspect and characteristic of her, and I suddenly felt slightly guilty for disturbing her aura with my dark presence. But then her gaze warmed me again, from the depths of my soul, and any barely existing morals left my body.
I would make this girl want me. So bad it became a fucking need. Until she ached when I wasn’t sinking deep inside her, worshipping every inch of her beautiful body. Maybe then, I’d have a chance at convincing her to stay. Either way, leaving wasn’t a choice for her anymore.
You’re mine.
My vow still echoed around us, the eye contact only dragging it out longer.
“Does that scare you?” My voice came out steady, masking the untamable psychotic urges beneath my inked skin.
Her nails dug into the side of my ribs a little deeper. “No.”
“Good.” Leaning in, I bit her neck possessively. “You’re mine whether you like it or not,hermosa.”