But anger?
He’d never seen her with that.
Until now.
Chris had to admit, she looked damn good angry. A red flush colored her golden-brown skin and brightened her eyes more than they already were. Sure, that beautiful smile he loved faded, but that didn’t change his desire to kiss those full, sexy lips of hers at all.
Not in the slightest.
“Do you know what he’ll do to me?” Valeria demanded.
Her hands came up to shove against him again, but Chris was quick to grab her wrists that time. Locking her in place with his fingers like bars around her wrists, he dragged her into his chest without warning, and tipped his head down to press a fast kiss to her lips.
He had control.
Always.
Chris was the one who, in the middle of chaos, would be as calm as the eye of a storm. No matter what, he took great pains to ensure that was the case.
Except with her, it seemed.
There was something about Valeria, something in her soul, he thought, that called out to him, and shredded any sense of self-preservation or restraint he had left. He swore that he could sense her sadness and loneliness from across a crowded room, and he hated that. This woman should never feel those things—ever.
The second his mouth touched to hers, Valeria answered him back. She kissed him hard, her lips moving against his in a way that seemed familiar although it couldn’t be—he had barely touched this woman, and yet, a part of him felt like he had known her for his entire life.
How was that possible?
It was crazy.
Chris let Valeria’s wrists go just so he could cup her jaw and draw her even closer to him as his tongue teased the seam of her lips. He wanted in—wanted to taste her, and if that meant handing over his soul to this woman to get what he wanted, then fine.
So fucking be it.
Their tongues clashed, a war in a kiss, if that were possible. Her fingers found the neckline of his shirt, curling tight, and holding close. She seemed determined to lick the taste of him right from his mouth with her kiss, and as much as he liked that, he still needed to talk to her.
As he was learning, there were few times when he could get Valeria alone like this—she was so protected, so sheltered. Someone was almost always around to keep an eye on her, and that put Chris in a bad position when he needed as much time with this woman as he could get.
And not just for this.
Not for moments like these, even though he needed them, too. No, because this plan—which he hadn’t even figured out yet—would not work unless she trusted him. Inexplicably, and completely. This woman needed to trust him.
“Shhh,” he whispered against the seam of Valeria’s lips when he pulled away, and she opened her mouth to speak. “Just relax, yeah?”
Valeria let out a shaky breath, her dark eyes darting up to his. “Kind of hard, so excuse me.”
He grinned crookedly, a thumb sweeping the line of her jaw. There was something silky about her skin—warm and inviting. She had to feel the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her body tucked into his, but she said nothing about it. That was the proof, though, about just how much this woman affected him, even if he didn’t understand why.
All it took was kissing her.
Stroking her jaw.
And all of him wanted to discover as much as he could about the rest of her. Peel off these thin, soft bed clothes she had put on, lay her back, and explore. With his mouth, and his hands, and his cock. Learn how she enjoyed being loved, and the kinds of sounds she would make when he found what she liked the most.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she mumbled, her bottom lip trembling when he dropped a soft kiss to her mouth again. “What are you doing?”
“I shouldn’t be, you’re right.”
He could do the job without this. God knew he had no business messing around with a married woman, even if said woman didn’t want to be married, or in her current situation. There were vows in life a man didn’t need to break, and this was one of those.
The problem for him was that it wasn’t the forbidden that drew him back to Valeria, or even the thrill. No, it was simply her.
Something about her had him coming back, wanting more, and willing to risk it all.
Was it stupid?
Entirely.
It also might be worth it.
Chris would chance it.
“Jorge took off in one of the Jeeps with a woman,” Chris said, still stroking the line of Valeria’s jaw with his thumbs as he spoke to keep her calm, “and said he wouldn’t be back until morning, likely.”
Her gaze drifted away from his. “The servant?”
“Seemed so.”
“Hmm.”
“Sorry,” he said quickly.
Valeria barked out a laugh, her dark stare coming back to his with a fire lingering there. “Look at me—in a bedroom with a man who isn’t my husband, with his hands on me, and still able to taste him in my mouth. What are you apologizing for?”
“That look in your eyes,” Chris responded, “that sadness I wish you didn’t feel.”
She stiffened, her chin quivered, but just as fast as that threat of her vulnerability came on, it left. Replaced instead by something colder, and stronger. Life had a funny way of doing that to people—of shaping them into a better version of themselves, even if it hurt a lot along the way to get to the end result.
Chris was proof of that.
“There are still people—guards—in this house that could get me in trouble for this,” she said.
Chris shrugged. “They’re busy.”
“What does that mean?”
“Seems like when the king is away, the court will play.”
Valeria’s gaze burned. “He is no king.”
“Agreed.” Chris sighed, tipping Valeria’s head back so he could stare down at her, and enjoy the sight of this woman in his hands for a moment. “You understand, don’t you?”
“Understand what, Chris?”
Her words were a whisper.
A caress.
“That you’re safe with me, Val—I’m not like him, and I won’t hurt you, or take from you when you don’t want to give it to me. I’m not a perfect man, but I am a good one.”
“I like to think I do understand that.”
Chris smiled. “But?”
“Life has taught me to be wary.”
Right.
He would be concerned otherwise.
“But I think I always knew anyway,” Valeria said, her tongue snaking out to wet the seam of her lips as she spoke. “You were soft and sweet with my daughter, and I saw it in how you treated me. So, I do get it, but—”
“Life,” he interjected.
“I have to be careful.”
“I want you to be.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “And I also want you to trust me. This can’t work otherwise, Val.”
She let out a hard breath. “I’m not convinced it will work at all, if I’m being honest.”
“Why?”
“You see my life, don’t you?” A bitter laugh fell from her lips, and he instantly wanted to kiss it away. Somehow, he refrained, but it was hard. “Don’t blame me for thinking freedom is a dream I’ll never see come true, Chris.”
“Except it will, and it starts with tonight.”