Of course, I didn’t find that farmer I was looking for. Instead, my gaze collided with a tall, ebony-haired man, out of place in his fancy clothes and matching car. His eyes were so pale they stunned me. Frozen, I stared into those icy blue depths.
It was like staring into the eyes of a predator.
No shame behind them.
No feeling.
Nothing but razor-sharp concentration as he focused on me.
He carried me, my hands splayed across the expensive material of his shirt and the smell of him plunged into my nostrils and caused my body to react in a way that I thought no longer possible.
Survival mode and desperation eventually made a person numb.
It surprised the hell out of me that this dude in the middle of nowhere, who looked like the rich hero in a Manhattan-based romantic comedy, was making me tingle.
My blood pulsed and surged and for the first time in a long time, I felt alive.
After he buckled me up in the seat next to him and pulled out into the road, I decided to make conversation. “Is your home out here?”
He masterfully took the sharp curves of the road, accelerating into the turns, his regal features lit by the blue dashboard lights.
“Since forever.”
“I haven’t seen many people dressed like you out this way,” I said. An understatement.
“In that getup of yours, something tells me you weren’t hanging out with people I’d cross paths with.”
My cheeks burned.
It caught me off guard to care so much what this stranger thought.
Still, what a snot.
“That’s not very kind.”
“Just being honest.”
The plush leather seat of this Audi was a far cry from the dirt floor I’d almost slept on. Sitting here, riding in a fancy car, barefoot and dirty, my hair soaked from the rain, the contrast between my own untidy existence and how he lived was huge.
I looked out the window and tried to stop feeling like a glaring failure. We drove past the silver trunks of trees for a while. Finally, a respectful distance from the pot farm, and from where Lyle could find me.
My shoulders were lighter.
I should’ve been wary but felt comfortable sitting next to this enormous giant of a man dressed in hand-tailored everything, wearing shoes that cost more than my entire wardrobe.
His hands rested on the steering wheel, lightly covered in dark hair, and wearing a ring with an emblem I’d never seen before. He was a member of some sort of some special club, but with my limited exposure to the world, I didn’t recognize its origin.
My body shivered against the fine leather seat.
He spoke with one of those male voices that snagged at the back of his throat in a way that touched the listener like a caress, and my lady parts clenched on the padded leather beneath me. “You’re cold. Let me turn on your seat heater.”
Sex was off the radar for so long my reaction to him struck me like a slap. My nipples constricted so hard it felt like they were being pinched. I sucked in my breath.
“You okay? We’ll be there soon, and we’ll get you warmed up inside.”
“I’m fine,” I answered. “Just a little chilled, but warming up, thank you.” It was odd that this man, whose hand had recently chastised my ass, was suddenly Mr. Attendant to My Needs. Whereas moments before, it seemed like he was going to gobble me up. Now he was charming me like a snake. This was the stillness before his venomous strike.
“Think nothing of it. You obviously had a rough go this evening. The experience alone likely chilled you to the bone.”
Dammit.
Good looking I could resist.
Brawny and powerful, I had willpower against.
Domineering and bossy, I could fend off no problem.
Combine those things and smother it in a gravy seasoned with kindness and concern…
It looked like my ass was grass, and this exasperatingly hot dude was going to mow it.
4
Roberto
Something about this girl called forth every savage inclination.
God opposed killing, but I’d learned the hard way that certain scum bags deserved to die. It was a mercy to set them free from their own wretchedness, and that of every person they shit on.
I hated to see her shivering beside me, like a scared little rabbit.
The beast stirred again.
This time not with hunger in its belly, but with the urge to kill.
It was an ancient, primal impulse.
One I hadn’t indulged in years.
Once in a while, killing took the burden off of God. His timeline moved unpredictable and slow. If I needed to have a guy or two whacked to keep her safe, I’d do it without blinking.
My own feelings for her were far from benevolent.
Her creamy thighs within arm’s reach made me want to plunge my fingers between them to see what I’d find. Whether her wetness matched the rigidity of the nipples poking out from her skimpy tank top.
I could display a gentleman’s attitude and wouldn’t act on any of my urges just yet. But soon, once she was no longer scared, I’d have her.
And she’d beg for it.
I turned into the estate my father had built for our family decades ago. The enormous steel structure swung open like a giant beast opening its maw. The gate conveyed a message: enter without invitation and don’t count on leaving.
There would be something warm and savory on the stove waiting for us, and my stomach protested its emptiness.
“Wow, you must be hungry,” she said.
“You too?” I asked, again overcome with the determination to fix whatever was wrong. In this case, I’d feed her.
“I could eat a horse,” she said.
“Don’t say that around my mother. In our homeland, people actually eat horse steak, and she’s never been able to forgive or forget it.”
“Your homeland? Where is that?”
“Italia,” I said and my accent came out speaking the mother tongue.
“It’s just an expression. It didn’t mean I actually plan on eating the horse, but I might if someone put it on a plate in front of me… I can’t remember the last time I ate.”
She wasn’t complaining. But it was untenable to me that someone would mistreat her this way. What was my deal? Why was this girl making me react like a teenage boy?
I wanted to hump her, but I also wanted to save her.
I focused on the task at hand, “Tell you what I’ll get you inside and show you where you can take a hot shower. You can borrow some of my sister’s clothing to wear to dinner.”
“I really appreciate it,” she said, “As soon as humanly possible, I need to get out of your hair.”
Under the bright front lights of our compound, her mane of auburn hair glistened, and the lights shined like pin prick stars in her eyes. “Your eyes. They’re like emeralds.” I said to her before I could catch myself.
She was more beautiful than I realized when chasing her down and tossing her over my shoulder back there on the road. An angel whose body was made for wicked acts. I knew the impact I had on females when I stared at them the way I was looking at her, and like a little bunny in headlights she froze with shock.
Likewise, I couldn’t move
To my left, I heard the unmistakable titters of my sisters coming down the stairs to greet us and learn all about this damsel in distress I’d texted ahead about. I’d let them get her dry clothes, feed her, and put her to bed. But first, there was one thing I needed to find out.