Desire & Deception (Entangled Ignite) (12 page)

“Sure. Why not.” Incredulous stares followed him to the far table. Some included a knowing smile or an elbow to the guy next to him. Considering he was half naked, he couldn’t blame them.

It would be worth it if Tessa settled down while he was gone.

“How about a beer, Boss?” asked one of the crew.

He held up his hand, declining the offer.

“What’s wrong with you, Rafa?” Cruz shook his head. “The Boss doesn’t drink.”

“Come on.” Rafael waved a bottle. “It’ll put hair on your chest.”

Kris laughed, amused at the harmless ribbing. “I’ve done well so far,
amigo
.”

A hesitant chuckle made its way around the room.

“Jaime!” Cruz called. “Bring Kris a drink.”

“Sure thing.”

Cruz laughed. “Boss doesn’t need hair on his chest to prove he’s a man.” The atmosphere was lighter as the game went to commercial. “Just ask the little fox he’s got hidden away.”

Jaime placed the Coke next to Kris and popped the cap.

Fuckin’ Cruz.
Tension grew thick as everyone waited for his reply. If he backed down, Cruz would have the upper hand. No way he’d allow himself to replace Felipe as Cruz’s whipping boy.

Kris gave a one-sided smile and picked up the bottle. “Well now, there
is
that,” he said in a casual tone. He took a long, cold drink as the group around him whooped and hollered.

CHAPTER TEN

Kris dragged in a deep breath then expelled it. Once, twice, and a third time. None of them helped calm the unease lingering after his impromptu exit. What a fuckin’ riot. He’d left a room where killers were tossing back drinks, and he was concerned over a five-foot redhead.

The slide lock hit home with a deafening clang. Tessa stopped pacing and looked up, brows scrunched together. She’d likely spent the whole of his absence fuming instead of calming down. He’d barely stepped inside when she started in on him. “What happened? Is Heather okay?”

“Nothing you need to be concerned about.” He brushed past her without a glance, shucking his shirt in the process.

“Not be concerned? You thought I’d be fine waiting?”

He should ignore her. Yeah, like that was possible. Hell, he couldn’t even get her out of his head for the few hours he managed to sleep. Fatigue weighed on him, clouding his judgment. He was wound up tight and having too many damn ideas about how to remedy the situation.

“Let it go.” He dragged his belt from the loops and dropped it over his boots. “Get some sleep.”

She stepped in front of him, incensed. His eyes moved to her face. The last thing he needed was to have her in his personal space, outlined in that damn shirt. “Do you
seriously
expect me to pretend I didn’t hear him?” Her clenched jaw and narrow-eyed glare did little to distract him from the flowery scent surrounding her. “You were gone for hours,” she said with exaggerated patience. “You have to tell me what happened.”

He stifled a curse. “You’re wrong, Tessa. I’m not accountable to you or anyone else here.”

She crossed her arms, drawing the light cotton against lush breasts. Damn, he hated that shirt.

“Oh, that’s right,” she scoffed. “I forgot I’m just a commodity to you people. One you’re holding for someone else.”

He clenched his jaw until his pulse drummed at his temples. He’d never treated her that way. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I finally realized you’re just like
them
.” She nodded to indicate the men downstairs.

His lip curled as he corrected her. “I’m
nothing
like them.”

“You’re a thug, Kris.” She tapped her toes, arms akimbo. “A high-end thug.”

His blood heated, but for an entirely different reason than lust. After all the crap he’d put up with over the past few days, she’d lumped him along those animals with a flick of her fiery mane.

“Fine.” His stomach clenched. “If we’re all the same…” His gaze raked down her body, cataloging every curve and peak he’d tried so hard to ignore. “Why don’t we head downstairs? The guys will be thrilled to have you.”

Her jaw dropped.

“Then I can go to the hotel and be done with you and everyone here.” One last thing remained before he could be rid of her. “But first, I’m going to take back my
favorite
shirt.”

The first button came open without a single protest from her. His fingers hovered over her breasts, skimming her cleavage on the way to the next button. The shadowed view fueled a longing to explore every curve he’d tried so hard to ignore.

“Stop it.”

Her plea was little more than a whisper above the blood rushing in his ears. A whisper he chose to ignore on his way to the third button.

“S-stop.” She caught his wrists and pulled.

He didn’t budge, but she gave up a half-step.

“We both know you’re not going to do it.”

His eyes locked with hers. “You shouldn’t be so sure, Little Fox.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.” She shook her head. “If that was your plan, you would’ve done it already.”

He studied her face, empty of bravado. He’d seen her angry, in pain, annoyed, and resigned. Discovering this wary, vulnerable side of her had a sobering effect. He played a part to camouflage himself within the cartel. After so many years, his acting had become second nature. He recognized that, unlike everyone else, she didn’t fully believe the image he tried hard to cultivate. So he’d pushed her. Hard enough for her to admit it, even to herself. “I don’t abuse women, Tessa.”

“I know.” Her voice was hesitant, like she was loath to admit it.

His left eyebrow raised a fraction. “You think you know me so well?”

She shook her head slowly. “Just well enough.”

The tension in his shoulders ebbed. “There’s a flyer posted around town about you.”

Her eyebrows shot up.

“Who’s the guy in the picture?” The question was valid. This was the first solid lead to a possible contact.

She withdrew and moistened her lips, a sure sign she planned to lie.

“You’re going say he’s the friend you came to visit?” He scoffed.

She squared her shoulders. “What? I can’t have a boyfriend?”

“No.” He was too tired to play her game.

Her eyes shot daggers at him. “Why? I’m a woman, same as any other.”

He studied the tense lines of her face, ending at lips that were normally plump and enticing. “Because no man in his right mind would let you go off to Mexico on your own.”

Her chin came up a notch. “You don’t hit me as the kind of guy who believes in having a woman at home, barefoot and pregnant.”

“No.” A smile tugged at his lips. “I lean more toward keeping her in the bedroom, naked and satisfied.”

She caught her breath. Peeling back his hard exterior in the process.

“If you were mine, you wouldn’t travel anywhere by yourself.”

A pink flush made its way up her face as she stood speechless.

“And if you’d come to be with
me,
you wouldn’t be out with Heather at four o’clock in the morning.” He swallowed up the space separating them, taking a chance that she saw the man he truly was.

Her grasp tightened and her gaze skittered away, but she stayed rooted to the spot.

“I would’ve taken you straight to bed.” His voice roughened with desire. “And I would have kept you there until neither of us could move.”

Her nostrils flared and his cock jerked against his zipper in response. “Haven’t you thought about it?” His tone went low, coaxing the image that haunted him into her mind. “How we could’ve ended the night tangled up in bed together?”

She stifled a groan.

“Maybe we’d still be there now,” he murmured.

“No.” Her voice broke on the single syllable.

“No?” He wasn’t the least bit convinced.

She moistened her lips. “No.”

You lie.

He smiled as his gaze wandered down to the skin he’d exposed. She flushed from her cheeks to her sexy little navel. He knew first-hand how soft her skin was and how incredible she felt pressed against him.

She rolled her lips, trying to figure out her next move, and he’d be damned if it involved her walking away. He ran his knuckles along her chin, making her lower lip tremble for a heart-stopping moment. His fingertips slipped inside the shirt collar and took an eternity to display her graceful neck.

He leaned forward, drinking in the scent of exotic flowers. It was more enticing accented by her warmth. “
This
”—he swept past her jaw to drop a kiss on the hammering pulse at her neck—“is why I don’t believe you.”

She didn’t move away as he nuzzled her earlobe, kissed her cheek and the corner of her lips.

Thick lashes fluttered as her heavy-lidded, slightly glazed eyes finally opened, making every one of his nerve endings come alive. “I would’ve met you hours before going home,” she murmured. “No matter how hard you make my heart beat, I wouldn’t have gone to bed with a man I knew nothing about.”

He digested the statement. Something lay hidden in her words. He’d have caught it if he could think straight.

He nodded and continued in his husky tone as his lips came across hers, barely a breath away. “A kiss then,” he whispered, hoping she’d allow him the pleasure.

“Mmmmm.” She gave an almost imperceptible nod, parting her full lips ever so slightly.

He covered her lips, indulged, and explored the contours of the tempting bow. His pulse beat throughout his body, urging him to move closer, take more from the woman driving his sense past reason. His consciousness whispered the reminder that she wouldn’t have slept with a man she didn’t know… But what about one she knew “well enough”?

He pulled away. “You’re trembling.”

“Mmm.” She nodded, breathless.

He ran his thumb over her wrist and brought her hand to his chest. His heart hammered under her palm, drawing her attention. Hesitant fingers moved, following the hard ridge of muscles that rose and fell with every breath.

He captured her mouth, this time pushing past her lips so his tongue sparred with hers, setting the world right. His hands played along her lower back and the curve of her hips. He stopped, allowing himself to think. Those heavy-lidded eyes were focused on his mouth, oblivious to anything else. “I want to see that expression when you’re under me.”

“Now who’s too sure of himself?”

He groaned, pressing his eyes closed for a hellacious second. Any hope of exploring that curvy little body was slipping from his grasp. Walking away was going to kill him.

Her husky voice continued. “You shouldn’t assume I’d be okay with you being on top.”

He gathered her close, relieved she was teasing him. “Sweetheart, we can do
anything
you want. But
first,
I need your legs wrapped around me, urging me closer, making those gorgeous breasts brush against my chest while I’m sliding into you.”

Her hands slid up to caress the heavily corded muscles of his neck. “Something like this?” She wrapped her arms around him, fitting herself enticingly close, tempting him with her warm curves.

“Almost.”

He pulled at the last button, allowing them to be skin to skin, the hard nubs to his chest, belly to the bulge straining his jeans. He uttered a sound of satisfaction as a nameless emotion flowed through his veins, burning him wherever her softness touched him. With a low moan, she rocked against him again, seducing him with her clever tongue, distended nipples, and pressure on his sensitive cock.

His mind went blank as the lovely siren called to him with every undulation of her shapely body. His hands, previously relegated to her back, moved along her ribcage to explore her generous curves. He circled her taut flesh, teasing with pressure then pulling away to draw a wide circle around the stiff buds. He kept on until she arched into his hands, begging for more attention at their center.

He was happy to oblige.

She bit her lip, muffling a cry.

Desire heated his blood. He captured her mouth, trying to convey the urgency. Coaxing her tongue out again, he caught the tip and mimicked the attention he was giving her nipple.

Her leg wedged between his, pressing against his balls.

He cupped her bottom, lifting her, and her silky legs wrapped around his waist.

This will be so perfect
.

She pulled away, eyes wide.

“What’s wrong,
preciosa
?” He gave her bottom a playful squeeze.

Her lips curved into a smile. “I’ve never looked
down
at anyone.”

She was breathtaking. He’d carry her everywhere for a smile like that.

“Having you on top is sounding better every minute.”

She chuckled. “First things first.” The shirt she wore landed on the floor beside them as he put them to bed.

So perfect
.

…

Tessa’s pulse thundered as he followed her onto the mattress. Their lips struggled to stay together while they worked him out of his jeans. She chuckled, tugging at the waistband, pushing them down his hips a few inches. Kris retrieved a condom before he flung the jeans away.

God, the man was unbelievable. She’d have to touch every delicious inch to be sure he was real. A sliver of concern tickled at the edge of her conscious. To say she’d been with a handful of guys would be generous. Though not a single one of them measured up to him in any aspect.

“I’ve been wanting this forever.” He cupped her sensitive breasts and laved a tight nub.

She gasped, arching closer, pushing her fingers through his hair. On his second pass, he swirled his tongue around the peak before he sucked it into the heat of his mouth. She melted.

“Such beautiful breasts.” He groaned as his cheek rubbed against the swell. He caressed each mound, kissed, licked, and pulled at first one aching tip then the other before starting over.

His hands were everywhere, teasing her, waking her senses on the way down her body. Her lips were parted, unable to form words. But her shifting hips drew his attention to the sparse curls that lay against his wrist. Tessa gasped, bucking at the intimate touch. Sure fingertips ran along swollen inner folds to the edge of her core then over, filling her, curling as he pushed in and out.

“Jesus, Tessa. You’re so small.”