Without warning he grabbed her by the neck with one hand, his fingers wrapping around the delicate column. She stumbled back. He followed, pushing her until her legs hit the bed and she fell backwards. He tore the towel away from her body with his other hand, baring her pale body to his sweeping gaze and ruthless touch. He kneeled next to her, throwing his weight across her body. She brought her hands up, bracing them against his hard chest.Her terrified eyes met the steely determination in his. "Say his fucking name again," he snarled, leaning down to speak in her face, his lips hovering above hers. His fingers tightened around her throat, cutting off her ability to speak and most of her ability to breath. "Speak that man's name again in my home, in my very bedroom, I dare you, nena. Push me further, find out what will happen."The elemental threat of his hand on her throat, controlling her very life both terrified and exhilarated her. She lifted her chin in defiance, her tongue da
"Where is she?" Reyes demanded, snapping at Alejandro as he strode down the stairs toward the front doors of the mansion. He knew she wasn't inside since he had his entire staff searching for her and no one had found her.Fuck, he hadn't taken his eyes off her for two solid weeks and once, just once he'd allowed her a moment alone. She'd asked him if she could go take a nap by herself while he attended to business and she up and fucking disappeared. He knew his obsession with her was bordering on insanity, that she needed a little breathing room, but he couldn't seem to help it. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, though he was about to revise that opinion. No, he just couldn't seem to leave her alone. Didn't want to keep his hands or his eyes to himself. Now that she was in his keeping he wanted his queen in his bed, in his presence and by his side with a fervency that surprised even him. He'd always been extremely solitary, preferring his own company. But now he wanted Casey with hi
Reyes blinked, finally releasing his head of security from the death glare he'd been giving him and turned his head to look at the psychotic blond he'd pledged his life to. A bad teacher? She could not possibly have just said that. "What the fuck, Casey?" he growled.Alejandro took a step back and swallowed what sounded like a choking cough. If he wasn't careful he was going on Reyes' kill list too. Fuck, he was going to have to replace his entire, very talented team of men just for touching and looking at what belonged to him.Casey ran her fingertips up and down the arm that was still tensed and extended in case he still needed to put a bullet in Nicolas. She licked her lips, ensuring his eyes continued to stay on her beautiful face. "It's just that you refuse to actually do anything that might scare me, Reyes, and we both know you pull your punches when you try to teach me. And," she glanced over her shoulder at the two men that were now pretending to do anything but listen to the
Casey watched in silence as Reyes raged in front of her like a lion in a cage. She felt every one of his thoughts as though he shouted them at her. She knew them because they were things she'd said to herself in moments of terrible self-pity. She couldn't blame him. He'd wanted more from her, but found out the worst. So, she waited patiently for him to sort through his feelings. If there was one thing she'd learned about her abductor over the past few weeks, it was that he wasn't used to the types of emotions she was engendering in him and he needed time to process.Also, he preferred to have her close by while he dealt with those feelings."Fucking hell, Casey!" he snarled. She flinched when he slammed his fist into the wall, making the entire wooden structure shudder under the impact. Okay, time to bring the beast back under control. That was another thing she'd learned about him. While she seemed to be the cause of a wide variety of emotions in him, she also had the ability to l
"You will," he snarled in her face. He took her by the shoulders and gave her a quick shake until her eyes snapped open. "Tell me why the fuck not? You plan on taking your own life to escape me, is that it?" His voice escalated as this thought occurred to him. "Because that will never happen, Casey, nunca. I will make you my prisoner, wrap you in chains for the rest of your life if that's what it takes to keep you safe." His voice became a vicious snarl and his fingers bit into her shoulders by the time he finished.Casey placed her hands on his chest, splaying her fingers and ran her hands up and down from his pectoral muscles to his stomach soothingly until she saw his eyes droop in response. "No, Reyes, no baby," she breathed, stepping in close to him. "It's not like that at all. I love it here and I love being with you. This is the best time I've ever had in my life. Please, you have to believe me.""Then why?" he demanded from between gritted teeth, "won't you make this vow to m
"Fix her or die," Reyes shouted, pacing their bedroom liked a caged lion. Seeing Casey flinch made him immediately regret raising his voice, so he settled for glaring death at the doctor he'd flown in from Las Pas the moment she started showing symptoms of a migraine. Casey lay curled on the bed like a broken doll where he had placed her after she'd finished her last bout of violent sickness. She'd tried to turn away from him, push his hands from her body and beg him to leave, but he refused. He would not allow her to sink into this darkness alone. How she'd survived so many years in the hell of her own head he could not possibly imagine. This was the most gut-wrenching pain he'd ever seen another human being go through, and he'd inflicted a lot of pain on others in his lifetime. Hell, if he could somehow bottle migraines and use them for torture he suspected they would be more effective than most methods.The doctor, a thin man in his late thirties or early forties who specialized
Despite the rocky start to their relationship, Casey grew progressively closer to her new doctor, Miguel Garrido, over the following days. She learned far more about neurology and her condition in just a few conversations than she had in almost a decade of unbearable headaches. At first Reyes had hovered over their meetings, relentlessly watching over Casey, pacing and demanding more answers than Dr. Garrido could give.Finally, Casey turned to her lover with irritation while they were eating breakfast and snapped, "You need to leave us alone, Reyes. He can't work when he's under constant threat of death and I'm sick of your never-ending mothering."The look Reyes settled on her promised retribution for her emasculating comment, though his dark eyes caressed her features with amusement and he raised a thick eyebrow. He bent over her chair from behind as she chewed on a piece of melon and bit her ear. He held her still with a hand on her neck when she tried to flinch away from his tee
"You think to play games with me, cari?o?" he growled. He pulled her fingers up to his lips and sucked them into his mouth, licking the juices from her before releasing her wrist. Then he reached between them and tore her underwear away. She cried out as stinging heat slashed across her thigh where the fabric futilely resisted his strength. "You will take your orgasms from me only if you want to play naughty games."He unbuckled and unzipped his pants. She felt him shift and tried to see, but he still had her pinned to the table by her throat. He shoved his cock past the barrier of his underwear, yanked her closer to the edge of the table until her thighs were forced wide against his hips. She squirmed against him. She was dripping wet for him and they'd engaged in non-stop sex for almost four weeks, but when he was like this his entry was always rough. She knew she would be sore after.Casey cried out as he slammed full length into her, arching her chest upward as much as she could
Alejandro resented being put on babysitting duty. The woman had been on her own for years. There was no reason she couldn't board an airplane and make her own way to the meeting point with her cousin. But Casey hadn't wanted Angelina to fly alone. She'd wanted her cousin to feel taken care of, special. So, as the most trusted person on Reyes' payroll he'd been appointed her official escort.He stepped off the airplane and into the cool, sunny day. He brought a hand up to shade his eyes, looking around. He saw a car and assumed it must be her ride since it was the only one on the tarmac. He strode toward the vehicle just as the back door opened and a long, curvy leg slid out, then the rest of her. She gripped the edge of the door and stood, looking around uncertainly.If he hadn't had years of combat and military training he might have stumbled. Angelina Giancarro was perfection. From the top of her flyaway blond hair to the bottom of her heeled sandals. She clung to the car door as i
Alejandro flung her into another room. She'd been marched through the sterile halls of the prison building in such a hurry that she couldn't tell at all where she was until she got a good look around. His office. There was a large desk, impeccably tidy with an ashtray for his cigars. She smiled fondly, tilting her head so her hair covered her expression. He didn't need to see the peace on her face while he was in such a towering rage. Actually, worry was probably a more accurate emotion to describe her love. Only he didn't know how to do worry, so anger was the next best thing, as evidenced by his next words and actions. First, he used his hand to wipe her all around her mouth, though she knew there was nothing there. Then he gripped her arms in a hard hold and snarled, "The poison, Gina. What kind?""Cyanide," she told him right away and cringed when he slammed his fist into the desk next to her hip. She placed a shaking hand against his chest and said quietly, "I'll be fine. He di
"No," Alejandro said coldly. "Get back in the jeep, turn around and wait for me at home."Gina stared up at her formidable husband in dismay. He was wearing his military-style fatigues and his face looked as though it was carved from stone, there was no softness for his wife. She hadn't anticipated this barrier to see the prisoner once she had permission from his boss. Of course, the prisoner and prison fell under Alejandro's jurisdiction, so he could stop her from having this visit if he wanted."Please, Alejandro," she begged him. "I need to see him.""No," Alejandro said coldly, steel threading his voice, "you don't. I've been back for two days and you haven't come to see me.""That isn't fair!" she cried. "I thought you were avoiding me. I didn't want to push myself on you if you didn't want to see me. I was trying to be…""What?" he demanded, pushing himself against her and backing her into a concrete wall. She clutched the muffin tin against her chest and lifted her chin.
"Drop it!" Gina yelped.She heaved a sigh of relief as the muffin hit the floor and bent over to scoop it up, tossing it in the trash. She placed a new chocolate chip raspberry muffin in Casey's palm and whirled around the side of her kitchen island to check on the batch still in the oven. They were rising beautifully, the tops baking to a lovely golden brown."You want to tell me what that was about?" Casey asked suspiciously, peeling the paper away from the base of her still warm muffin. She took a big bite, closing her eyes in what looked like ecstasy."Uh, nope," Gina mumbled, mixing another batch in a big metal bowl."My god," Casey moaned, licking her lips. "You suck at hand-to-hand combat, weapons and pretty much anything else self-defence related, but damn girl, you can bake! Can I take some up to the main house for Reyes and the housekeeping staff?" Gina laughed, covered her hand in an oven mitt and took the trays out of the oven, making room for her next batch. She chew
"Do you have arsenic?" Gina asked, leafing absently through a cookbook."What on Earth for?" Casey asked, stacking supplies on the counter. "What else do you need?"Gina leaned over and checked the muffin recipe. "Creamed butter and milk."Casey opened the stainless-steel door of her refrigerator and stuck her head inside. "Don't have creamed butter, just the regular kind, but here's the milk."Gina laughed and reached around her cousin for the butter. "The regular kind will work just fine. I can cream it myself. You really need to learn how to cook."Casey backed out of the fridge with a key lime pie held in her arms like a prize of war. She looked around for her housekeeper and danced toward the drawer for forks, handing one to Gina. "Haven't needed to cook for myself since… well, since I've been alive. Why learn now?"Gina frowned. Casey had a point. She tilted her head to the side and ate a bite of pie. "Well do you at least know how to use a can opener in case of a zombie ap
Gina moaned and tried to roll onto her side, but something stopped her. She reached out, sliding her hand across the silky bamboo sheets. Where had the fluffy blankets gone? Then something intensely pleasurable shifted her thoughts away from any other musings. She tried to sit up so she could see what was happening, but a huge hand reached out and palmed between her breasts, shoving her back down. She hit the pillows behind her while the sensation of a tongue working magic directly between her legs increased until she was moaning helplessly and reaching over her head to grasp hold of something, anything, as an orgasm built.Just as she thought she would shatter into a thousand pieces he shifted, changing his attack tempo and forcing her budding orgasm to calm. She whimpered in misery and reached out to grasp his hair, "No!" she yelled, tugging at the strands. "Almost there, don't stop!"He chuckled against her, vibrating her clitoris with his deep voice. He took her wrists in his han
The meal Casey had asked the chef to prepare was indeed a feast worthy of their wedding day and seeing the pleased look on Gina's face as they lifted their glasses to toast the bride and groom, Alejandro was glad that he hadn't just dragged her back to his home. She deserved every happiness possible, even if it meant he had to wait a little longer to bury himself in the woman he'd spent a year pining over. Hell, it had been a year since he'd touched any woman, period. It was like the moment he met Gina, his dick was no longer interested in anyone else. And Alejandro was old enough, experienced enough to get the message. Gina was forever material. The type of woman a man waited for. Did not take for granted by fucking around on. Even if she never knew the depth of his feelings until he was ready to declare himself.So, he lifted his glass, toasted, smiled and laughed alongside his bride and the rest of the family. He spent two hours accepting congratulations, talking, eating and listen
Alejandro wanted to tear La Paz apart stone by stone until he had the man responsible for his woman's abduction. Though he knew if Reyes was correct in his assumption that the person behind this mess was as much a heavy as themselves, then the likelihood of his being in Bolivia was slim. This was the reason he kept sending amateurs in. Which was why Alejandro kept getting lucky. If his enemy, whoever he was, got smarter, Alejandro might not continue this lucky streak. He needed to be more careful now that he had more than himself to think of."I can practically read your thoughts, amigo," Reyes said from beside him. They were travelling in the back of one of the armoured SUV's to the meeting point to pick up the women. "Your anger will make you reckless."Alejandro grunted and cracked his neck to the side to relieve some of the pressure. He'd had to make short work of killing the priest. It hadn't been nearly as satisfying as it would've been if he'd had the time to do a proper job.
Two men entered through the door, their street clothes and tattoos pronouncing them thugs. Gina shuddered and flinched back when one of them reached for her. She lifted her hand instinctively to fight him off, but Selena said sharply, "Don't fight back, girl." Gina caught her eye and read between the lines, fight later when we have an advantage. She immediately dropped her hands. It took every ounce of self-control to let the man drag her into his body, to allow him to grab her by the face, yank on her hair and leer down at her, all while licking his lips and rubbing himself on her."Luego," the other man said, snapping his fingers at the guy holding Gina. Awesome, she thought, vomit rising in her throat, he just gave the guy holding her permission to fuck her later. He tossed a stack of bills at the priest and dragged Selena toward the open door. Gina was pushed out the door too and into a car similar to the one that was used to attack her and Alejandro the night before.As she was