Chapter Eight
As quickly as he had appeared, Mano had disappeared. Page stayed awake as long as she could, but she was exhausted from the night before, so she only lasted about an hour.
She woke up the next morning with the sun streaming through the curtains and the bedroom chair empty. A false sense of security with a new day of promise. She was relieved Mano had left because she didn’t trust herself. It would be much easier to resist the man if he wasn’t so damn good looking. She had never felt chemistry with anyone. She could feel the atmosphere crackle with it when he was around. She wasn’t a virgin, but the few sexual experiences she’d had were dull at best. Just being in Mano’s presence made her feel like he was awakening something in her she never knew existed—an actual connection. He had a dominant personality that made her wonder what it would be like to be taken by him. He wore his cockiness like a cloak that fit him well, and he looked damn good in it. She was sure he was as secure in the bedroom as he was outside of it. Nothing like a man who knew his way around a woman’s body.
She got out of bed and dressed in shorts and a midriff tee-shirt. She could smell the coffee Judy had brewed, and it was calling her name. If she was going to face this day, it was going to take her drug of choice to get her through it.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” said a baritone voice, greeting her and sending a chill through her that had nothing to do with temperature.
“What are you doing here?!” Page’s voice came out like a cat hissing at a predator. She grabbed the cup Judy was holding out towards her so rapidly it almost spilled over the sides and onto her hand.
Judy’s eyes looked like she was pleading, “We’ve had a wonderful conversation. Can’t you two just get along?”
“Well, it didn’t take long for you to join the enemy’s camp,” Page sneered.
Page sat at the table and glared at Mano. The humor in his eyes was evidence he was enjoying making Page’s life a living hell. “Did you even go home last night? Or do you just sleep in the trees like the predator you are?”
“Why do you two hate each other so much?” Judy sighed.
“Because he thinks he can come into my life and rob me of the one thing I love: writing. That makes him an immediate enemy. You know me, Judy: I will have my voice.”
“Because she killed my friend and she’s so damn selfish, she doesn’t care if she kills somebody else.” He folded his arms, glaring at Page.
Page slammed the coffee mug on the table, this time some spilled over. “I didn’t kill anybody. And by the way…anybody going into the drug-infested jungles of Colombia is aware they may not make it back home. We all go into this without blinders. I’m taking a shower. Maybe I can wash the ridiculousness of your accusations off me.” She huffed away; a woman ensured he wasn’t getting it any-fucking-way. Why even try?
Judy just shook her head, resigned to the fact: this was not going to be an easy feat. Mano and Page were oil and water. Mano wasn’t going to give up, and Page wouldn’t either. This was going to be complicated at best. She rushed around, wiping up coffee, shaking her head at Mano in disbelief, and thinking of all the crazy this was going to invite into her world too. How could things turn on a dime so quickly?
Page ripped off her clothes and turned the cold on the shower up as high as she could stand it. She needed to wake up from her nightmare. Sonofabitch even took my coffee away from me. Bastard! She stood with her face to the water and willed it to wash away the stress she was feeling—the stress Mano had put on her. She hated the way Mano could get under her skin. He wasn’t the kind of man you just ignored and wished away. She laughed when she thought about a commercial her mother used to laugh at: ‘there would be no washing this man out of her hair.’
“What’s so funny?”
The bass in his voice sliced through the air bringing her back to her new reality. Her eyes shot open, and she jumped and turned around, almost stumbling into him. Mano was standing in front of her in the shower butt ass naked. Her face bloomed red when she saw his huge cock was hard. How in the hell did he come in without her even hearing him? She was so ‘in her own head’ she wasn’t paying attention to the predator. Life. Had. Changed. She was going to have to be aware—in tune with the things and the man who had thrust themselves upon her.
“What in the hell are you doing. Mano?” It was a question that came from fear as well as desire.
He pressed against her and moved her wet hair over. His lips planted kisses up and down her neck until he reached her sweet spot and bit down between her neck and shoulder. The goosebumps on her flesh rose in agreement to his touch. She couldn’t even trust her body to resist him.
Okay…this isn’t a fair fight. She could feel her knees becoming weak. No matter how much she hated him, there was no denying she was sexually attracted to him. Chemistry was not something she could reason with. Brain-tilt wasn’t a time to have a reasonable conversation with your body. Any articulation was out the window on wings of flight.
“I’m making you mine.” His husky voice and hand twisting the handful of hair he had clutched in it was an outward sign he meant business. “Get your hands up on that fucking shower wall and don’t move them,” he growled. He twisted her around so quickly she had no choice but to obey. He pulled her hips out and licked his lips when he had a full access view of her sex. His fingers clenched both sides of her ass as he slid up into her.
She pushed back against him, and ironically all the stress she’d been feeling began to dissipate. How in the hell could one man cause so many different emotions?
“Damn, girl. I knew you’d feel good, but I had no fucking idea,” he hissed between clenched lips. “You are so fucking tight.” He pulled his full length out, watching his cock invade her. He slowly pushed back in, teasing her with the agony of making her wait. “Oh, you like that, baby girl. I can feel your pussy clenching around me in need. You have never been fucked like this.” When she whimpered, it sent him into overdrive. He slid a hand around her waist and teased her clit as his thrusts became more urgent.
“Oh fuck, that feels so good. I hate you,” she groaned.
“I hate you too, brat.” He pulled her hips back further and thrust roughly into her—stopping—as if to make a point. “That’s why I’m fucking you like I hate you.”
She cried out as an orgasm raged through her. Now he was holding her around the waist, and she knew if he hadn’t been, her knees would have given out. She felt all the stress that had been locked up inside her washing down the drain. She could feel his cock throb as he emptied all the hate he felt for her into her.
“Where the fuck, do you think you’re going?” His eyes pinned her in place when she tried to get out of the shower. “Dirty girl,” he sneered as he squirted body soap onto a loofah and started washing her. His hands moved with the expertise of a man who knew what he wanted. And, what he wanted was her.
Chapter Nine
Page sat her computer opening emails. The sound of dishes clanging in the background was soothing. She enjoyed living with Judy. She offered a stability Page hadn’t been able to find in the past. Judy was the one person who cared about her unconditionally and unselfishly. There were never any hidden motives with her best friend. There was no twisting of words that left her feeling misunderstood, no games, and no judgment. Judy knew all of Page’s crazy quirks, and she still loved her. Sometimes Page wished she could be stable like Judy, but regardless of how hard she tried, it just wasn’t in her. Page was a thrill-seeker by nature, and nothing would ever change that.