Tanner smiled. The first smile I had ever seen him give. If I had been breathing, the smile on his face would have robbed me of all air. But when he licked his lips, licked off the taste of me, I broke. Yanking back my hand, I struck Tanner across the face, slicing my palm across his stubbled cheek.
The sound of the slap ricocheted around the small room like thunder. Tanner’s head snapped to the side, his face covered in blood and stubble and fresh wounds. Slowly, so very slowly, he turned his head in my direction. His ice-blue eyes locked on mine. They were deathly dark and filled with something I couldn’t decipher—no, I could: it was hunger. A hunger so great it bordered on starvation. But hunger for what I didn’t know. Death, pain . . . or me. Every one of his muscles was pulled tight and bulged with veins.
His fast breathing became all I could hear. His eyes all I could see. I watched him, he watched me, the tension that was pulsing between us like a frayed rope ready to snap.
One minute I was staring into his eyes, wondering if I would ever see daylight again, the next Tanner’s hand moved to the back of my neck. His large hand swamped it; I knew it wouldn’t take any effort to snap it in two. My nails mirrored his and crawled up to his neck. I yanked his face closer to mine. Tanner’s minty breath smothered me. His face was venomous as he stared me down. His eyes offering pain and death and the promise that I wouldn’t be leaving this safe house alive.
So I smiled. I smiled and watched his skin burn with rage. Heart racing and pulse throbbing, I flicked out my tongue and softly licked along the seams of his lips. I dug my nails into his neck to steady my shaking hands. Tanner was stock still in front of me, his body like granite beneath my touch. “I can taste myself on your lips, White Prince.” I laughed and caught his nostrils flaring at the sound. Tanner’s tongue seemed to unconsciously trace the path my tongue had just made. I smiled wider, capturing his full attention. “Mmm, Señor Ayers . . . it appears you like the taste of Mexican pussy.” I moved my head forward until my face hovered just a fraction of an inch before his. “My Mexican pussy.”
Tanner froze. A tortured groan sailed from his lips as his grip tightened to a threatening hold on my neck.
I wasn’t sure whose breath flowed faster. I wasn’t sure whose heartbeat pounded faster. And I wasn’t sure who moved first, but one second we were locked in a battle of hate and tension, and the next our mouths were smashed together and our tongues met in a furious duel. All I could taste was Tanner. All I could see and feel and breathe was him.
I scratched at his skin, feeling his erection pressing against me. And I was on fire. My skin felt aflame, the room stifling, causing my dress to stick to my skin. But that didn’t matter for long. I ground against Tanner, my body taking control of my mind until I could no longer feel me, just us. Us touching and kissing, and hating each other so hard that it was all-consuming and suffocating and drawing out a need I had never felt in all my life.
Tanner’s hand dropped from my neck and yanked down the straps of my dress. The warm air kissed my skin as my breasts were bared to the room. Tanner moved back and looked down at my chest, and my nipples hardened. But a wave of insecurity wrapped around me as sure as the humidity wrapped around the room. My confidence dipped as a flicker of reality registered in my brain. I had never been in this situation before. I was a complete novice. But when Tanner growled low and insatiability shone in his eyes, reality fled, and I reached down and ripped open his jeans. A savage groan tore from Tanner’s throat, and he used his incredible strength to lift me higher against the wall until his mouth was in line with my chest. I didn’t get a single moment to prepare. Tanner’s mouth wrapped around my nipple and his tongue started flicking over the flesh. Fireworks exploded along my skin with every move of his tongue. My head fell back against the wall and I wrapped my hands around Tanner’s shaved head, holding him close so he couldn’t break away. His bare chest was scalding hot against my skin, pressing against me so I didn’t fall from the wall. He was brute strength and power all wrapped up in one offensively inked package. My clit throbbed as Tanner devoured my breasts. I shifted in his tight grip, needing to feel more. I didn’t care that I’d never been here before. Want and incredible need were driving me forward. The realization of who he was and the danger we were in only heightened the desperation of the moment. I dug my nails into his head, my pussy heating as he hissed, mouth full of my breast.
My dress slipped from my waist and fell to the floor. Tanner froze, then, keeping me pinned to the wall, gazed down at my naked body. His eyes flared and fire passed through them, so hot he could have been the devil himself. He lifted his head. Time suspended as our eyes locked. Something seemed to pass across his face. A new kind of fight . . . No, acceptance.
Caught off guard by thoughts of what that look could mean, I allowed Tanner to lower me to the floor. The world fell away until there was only me and him and this place. Even through the heat of the room, a chill broke out over my bare skin, making it bump. Tanner stepped closer and closer until his presence wrapped around me like a blanket. His forehead dropped to mine, and his breath was shaking. I caught my breath and closed my eyes. The pace of his breathing was in sync with my heart. The silence was so thick it stole the oxygen from the room . . . until Tanner rolled his head, cheek to my cheek, and whispered, “Adelita . . .”
I squeezed my eyes shut at the pain in his voice. Governed by this moment and this man who I should hate and despise yet let pin me and strip me and taste my skin, I dropped the barriers that had forever kept me safe, and whispered in return, “Tanner . . .”
Two names spoken. No pretense, no hate, no Nazis or cartel princesses . . . and it broke something in Tanner. Eyes slamming open, Tanner took my mouth. His hands were everywhere, feeling every inch of my flesh. His breathing was hard, as was his body as he pressed against me. Heart pounding and in full control, I let the final thought of protest flee my mind. And I attacked back. I dropped my hands to his jeans and pushed them down. Tanner groaned as the denim bunched at his ankles. I swallowed in trepidation as I looked down and saw his length. It was long and hard. My stomach rolled in nerves and I lost a few breaths. But when I wrapped my hand around it and watched as Tanner broke from ravishing my neck to throw back his head and hiss, a confidence I never knew I could feel settled inside me.
I watched Tanner as veins corded in his exposed neck. His tight muscles bulged as he held my arms. I worked my hand up and down, until I couldn’t keep just watching anymore. I licked along his neck, the taste of his skin making me moan. That was all it took for Tanner to lift me against the wall again, bringing my feet off the ground. His eyes on mine were hard and strong, with a determination I’d never seen in him before. Seeing him so wild and undone was all I needed to wrap my legs around him and bring my mouth to his. Tanner dominated my lips and tongue, groaning as my legs squeezed his waist tightly.
Tanner paused and met my eyes. He didn’t speak, but I read what he wanted in his gaze . . . what he was asking. “Yes,” I whispered and nodded my head. “Yes . . .”
Tanner immediately pushed against my entrance and slammed inside me in one hard thrust. His desperation was apparent by his long, guttural groan. I screamed as I flung my head back and a white-hot pain shocked through me. Tanner tucked his head into my neck, and I clawed at his skin. My eyes squeezed shut as he moved faster and faster within me. He filled me too full. He was everywhere, the White Prince smothering my soul. Tanner’s hips were relentless, thrusting into me so hard and fast that the pain I had felt diminished into fragmented shivers of pleasure. The moans and groans being stolen from our throats blended into a symphony that made an opera theater of the small barren safe house.