Page 9 of Hostile Vows
“Sinéad,” she replies quietly.
“Well, Sinéad, do you want to go for a ride on the back of my motorcycle? I’ve never had a passenger before. You should fit on it with me.”
When her head rotates, black hair skims across the hand still pressed to her shoulder and green-blue eyes, so freakishly amazing, pin me to the aged bark of the ancient tree. My insides feel all messed up and shaky as her haunting gaze eats up my grimy face.
“Okay.” She nods. “Will you go fast?”
“Not if you don’t want me to.”
“I want you to.”
“If you scream, I’ll slow down.”
“If I scream, you have to drive faster.” She holds out her hand. “Deal?”
“Sinéad?” Tingles run the length of my spine when her name leaves my tongue.
The Sapori woman jumps to her feet, the sound of it zapping her with a high voltage of shock. Defined cheekbones and juicy-red lips taunt me, yet she refuses to speak. Instead, she folds her arms and raises her heart-shaped chin high, then rips those insanely dreamlike eyes of hers away, breaking our mutual remembrance.
I can’t take my eyes off her.
Ignoring me, she starts to walk toward the edge of the deck, trying to put more distance between us, as if years weren’t enough.
“Sinéad… what the fuck are you doing here?” I lunge at her, my temper clawing its way out of my chest. “Talk to me. How the hell areyouhis daughter?”
She gasps when I snare her little wrist to halt her escape. My large hand easily wraps the fragile bones, the pressure I use purposefully careful for once. I bump her breasts into my chest, secure her before me, and grasp her stubborn jaw. Our gazes war with unspoken words.
Being this close to my childhood best friend confuses me. Adrenaline spikes hot-blooded desire, feeding off the power of her resistance. Tonight, I feel uncontrolled… extraordinarily dangerous.
“Mr. Souza, please unhand the boss' daughter.” A security guy appears at the wrong time.
“Fuck off,” I snarl out a reply, keeping my gaze locked with hers. “Sinéad.” The brittle tone cracking from my throat reveals all the hurt I’d once felt. “I know it’s you, for fuck’s sake. Speak to me.”
Despite her silence, obsidian pupils engulf the shade of celestial green, creating a magical ring to temporarily harness my temper. Short nails burrow into my forearms, digging for a getaway. There’s an awakening inside of me, an avalanche of emotions rolling through my chest. I can’t fathom the electricity she’s charged me with or understand how she’s back in my life after all these years.
The sharp sting of her fight doesn't deter me, either. Right or wrong, I’m getting off on squeezing her soft skin so those pouty lips of hers pucker, fully aware she’s trembling. My heartbeat races at an insane tempo. It’s knocking me off-balance.
The flux is a hard-core thrill. Even more than the rush I had when she’d hug my waist and scream for me to drive faster through Grandfather’s sprawling forest. My girl was an adrenaline junky too. Her craziness had matched mine. And then her mother bit the hand that fed her and the two of them vanished into the Irish mist, never to be seen again. Until now.
“I know it’s you, Sin. Open that pretty mouth of yours or I’ll choke your words out. Why didn’t you tell me you were a Sapori?”
Her chest heaves, colliding against mine with every breath. Yet, she still doesn’t answer me.
“Mr. Souza.” A security guard coughs; he knows better than to pull a gun on a Souza in his kingdom. “Sir. Let go of Miss Sapori.”
Instantly, I release her and take a measured step back, shirking free from her sorcery to contain the savage wild storm whipping up within me. In that moment of separation, she dares to flip me the bird and proceeds to shunt her dainty shoulder into my arm on her way past.
That defiant act seals any doubt I might have had. Only Sinéad would have that level of recklessness. That brave tenacity needed to take on a Souza—to play with the monster inside of me.
When she hurriedly disappears inside and reaches the mouth of a metal staircase sinking below deck, I advance again, ready to annihilate the world just to reach her. She can’t outrun me on a yacht surrounded by water. Not this time.
The annoying henchman close to my heels turns my veins to ice and snow. If he doesn’t back off, I’ll shoot the motherfucker in the face for involving himself in my business.
“Sinéad!” I growl out her name, pinpointing her sexy, leather-clad ass at the end of the passageway. “You can’t hide from me on a tiny boat. If it’s a game you’re after, you should know I don’t play by the rules.”
She pauses to speak to a suited man and then slips behind him, opening the cabin door and escaping me. My boots eat up the carpet until the bald-headed guard stands in my way.
“No entry,” he says without changing his blank facial expression.
