He tightens his embrace as he rises to his feet. Having removed nothing but his shoes, Gabriel steps into the tub.

  “Ga—”

  “Shhh. It doesn’t matter.” His soft words blow over my shoulder as he lowers us both into the water.

  He lifts a washcloth from the edge of the tub, and I realize that his hands are stained red. As though he can hear my thoughts, he whispers, “I’m fine.”

  He dunks the cloth into the sudsy water, rings it slightly, and begins tenderly sliding it over my face. It repeatedly stains the same red as his hands, and he merely continues to rinse it before cleaning more blood from my face. I follow the cloth as he slides it down my arm, realizing for the first time that my arms are riddled with small scratches.

  Taking his time, continuing to comfort me, he meticulously cleans every drop of blood and glass from my skin. He drops the washcloth into the water and slides his hands up my back to my shoulders. “Lean back for me.”

  Supporting the bulk of my weight, he lowers me to the water until my head is resting against the surface. He splays one hand between my shoulders to hold me as the other begins tentatively wetting my hair. Gently sliding his fingers into my wet locks, he works the water through my hair to remove any shards of glass without cutting me.

  When he’s satisfied, he lifts me from the water and pulls me back to his chest. His lips rest against my forehead as he strokes my now-sopping hair.

  “We can stay right here for as long as you need.”

  “Can you take me to the bed?” I ask as though I need his permission. “I just want to feel your skin against mine as you hold me.”

  “Anything you want, Sofia.” He grips me firmly and lifts us both from the water. The drastic change from warm water to cool air causes goosebumps to prickle over my skin. Pools of water fall from his sodden and now ruined suit as he wraps me in a towel. “I’ll be right there.”

  My feet carry me slowly to the door that joins the bath to the bedroom, suddenly hesitant to put too much distance between us. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I walk the several feet to the bed and drop my towel. I slide between the sheets and impatiently wait for Gabriel to come and hold me.

  twenty two

  GABRIEL

  Reaching my hand into the quickly cooling, sudsy water, I pull the stopper for the drain as she walks to the door. I stand within view of the doorway as I peel the wet clothes from my body. Knowing all of my clothes are beyond salvation, I toss them into the tub hoping they’ll dry enough to throw them away later. I pull one of her luxurious towels from the wall and dry myself before using it to mop up the puddle of water I have left in the middle of the floor.

  “Gabriel?” Sofia’s voice sounds soft and fragile as she calls for me.

  “I’m coming.” I toss the soaking towel into the tub and make my way to the bed. Lifting the covers, I slide between them and toward Sofia’s naked body.

  She rolls over to meet me, her small, soft hand sliding across my chest as she presses against me until there isn’t the slightest of gaps between our skin. I pull the blankets over the two of us until only her head is above them before wrapping my arms tightly around her.

  While it’s still early in the morning, she is absolutely exhausted from the events that have transpired. Every stroke of my fingers through her damp hair causes her eyelids to become heavier and flutter slower.

  “It’s okay. Go to sleep.” Her eyes fall shut as her breathing begin to slow. “I’ll be here when you wake up, cariño.”

  She sleeps peacefully in my arms as I stare down at her beautiful, marred face. Having appeared worse when blood trickled down her face, the scratches are not nearly as bad as I had originally thought. Mixed between them, tiny bruises pepper her face, likely from being pelted with the flying shards of glass.

  But still, she’s fucking beautiful.

  The front doorbell rings, and I’m relieved that it is both short and quiet—not rousing Sofia from her sleep. I carefully slip my arm from under her and tuck the blankets against her in a sore excuse for my embrace before climbing fully from the bed.

  I’ll be right back.

  Walking to the foot of the bed, I grab a pair of pants from the bag Mateo had brought over—fuck, Mateo—and throw them on, going commando. There is a steady knock at the door as I approach. Gripping the shotgun I scoffed at last night, I hesitantly place my face to the peephole.

  Please don’t be a silencer on the other side, just waiting to put a bullet through my brain.

  I really need to stop watching crime movies.

  Relief washes over me when see Mr. Marcano and a blurry Mr. Ramirez behind him. Flipping the deadbolt, I pull open the door to find their surprised faces. It suddenly dawns on me that I shouldn’t be here.

  I really shouldn’t be here shirtless with unfastened pants.

  “Where is Sofia?” Mr. Marcano asks as he eyes the shotgun in my hand. “Is she okay?”

  “She’s a little battered and bruised. A tad shaken up. But she’s resting right now.”

  “And what about you?” His eyes gaze down my body, and I suddenly wish I had a shirt to hide the claw marks Sofia left over my chest and back.

  “I…I’m fine,” I stammer as I stow the shotgun in the corner, next to my clothes from last night before zipping up my pants. “I wasn’t downstairs…I mean, I wasn’t there when it happened.”

  Not downstairs?

  Why don’t you just tell them that it’s because you were still upstairs?

  In her apartment?

  While they pass a knowing glance between them, neither of them says a word about me being in her apartment half-dressed or the fact that I’m fucking Sofia.

  It has to be glaringly obvious to them both.

  “Pipe-bombing a car in broad daylight isn’t exactly a subtle threat,” Mr. Ramirez chimes in. “That was a fucking hit on her life.”

  “She’s been getting these.” I lift the paper from the table by the door and hand it to Mr. Ramirez. “It was on her door. She’s been getting them for d⁠—”

  “Gabriel,” Sofia’s voice echoes through the room as she scolds me like a child.

  “You can be angry with me,” I huff as I scowl at her, “but you swore that you would tell them today.”

  “Jesus, Sofia!” Mr. Marcano exclaims when he sees her battered appearance.

  “I’m fine, Alejandro,” she huffs, tightening her robe as her bare feet pad across the hardwood floor. “I’ve only received a few of them. I just assumed it was an idle threat.”

  “There are no idle threats in our line of work,” he replies. “I have more men guarding my family at all times than I can count because there is always someone coming to take what is yours. And someone is determined to take the Guerrero Cartel back from you.”

  “So, what now?”

  “Do you know how to use that thing?” Alejandro gestures toward the shotgun in the corner.

  “I do,” I nod. “My father taught me when I was a boy.”

  “And this?” He pulls a handgun from the back of his pants and holds it out to me.

  “Yes.” I take it from his hand and hold it at my side.

  “The two of you don’t leave, and no one enters this apartment that isn’t one of us.” He gestures between himself and Mr. Ramirez. “You don’t leave her side. And no matter what, no one gets to her. We’ll go see what we can find out.”

  “Understood,” I respond as the two of them leave almost as abruptly as they arrived.

  I’ll protect her with my fucking life.

  “He can’t protect you tied to the bed, Sofia,” Andres snickers over his shoulder as he pulls the door shut behind him.

  A smile cracks on her face—the first I’ve seen since this morning—as she claps back, “It’s a good fucking thing I know how to protect myself then, isn’t it?”

  twenty two

  SOFIA

  “Shouldn’t you be in my bed?” My tone a mixture of sincerity and flirtatiousness. “I believe your words were, ‘I’ll be here when you wake up, cariño.’”

  “Shit!” he gasps, not nearly as under his breath as intended. “I thought you were sleeping.”

  “Now, get your ass back in my bed.”

  “You can’t be serious.” His tone is flat. I can only imagine he is trying to rationalize my request with my disassociated moment, and my being seconds away from death not more than a few hours ago.

  “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate still being alive.” I undo the knot on my robe and let it fall to the ground. Walking past him, my hand slides along his thigh and his already hardening cock. “Unless you aren’t up—” I cock a brow and overexaggerate the word “—for it.”

  We both know he’s always up for it.

  “I will always do what you ask of me.” Worry can be clearly read across his face. “But I need you to know that I’m not comfortable being rough with you right now.”

  Swaying my ass as I walk, he follows immediately behind me until we are back in the bedroom.

  “Lose the pants,” I command as I throw back the covers on the bed. As he wrestles to free himself from them, I climb on the mattress and pull the covers over me.

  A smile tugs at my lips when his hard cock springs free as he shoves his pants down his thighs. I pull on the covers, to clear the mattress for him to join me. He eagerly crosses the room and slides into bed beside me.

  Both of us sitting with our backs against the headboard, I slip my fingers into his and pull his hand up to my mouth. Peppering wet kisses against his palm as I speak, “I have no plans of fucking your right now, sugar.”

  Parting my lips, I suck all of his fingers into my mouth and to the back of my throat, enjoying the pleased groan that rattles from Gabriel. I push the blanket at his waist down his thighs, exposing his glorious, thick cock as I pull his fingers wet with saliva from my mouth. When I place his hand on his cock, I wrap my small hand over his and curl his fingers around his shaft. His hand in mine, I slide his fist up and down his length at a leisurely pace until he begins to take over.

  “This is your punishment for leaving my bed,” I smirk. “I’m going to watch you.”

  His brow furrows in confusion.

  “You’re going to stroke your cock until I decide to let you come. I might make you edge yourself for an hour. Or maybe until the sun goes down. Can you hold out that long for me?”

  “Anything for you, carino.” He continues to diligently stroke himself from base to tip.

  “Now you want to be a good boy? It’s too late, sugar.” I can’t help but smile when I watch him try to hide his own enjoyment in this little game we are starting. “Do you like the way your hand feels sliding over you?”

  “Not nearly as much as if it were yours. Or your mouth. Or yo⁠—”

  My palm lightly slaps his cheek, startling him enough that he stops speaking. “I asked if you like the feel of your hand, not if you preferred mine.”

  Staring at him as he continues to cautiously fist over his length, I climb across the bed until I am between his knees. Taking a seat facing him, I spread my legs and rest them over his thighs, giving him a front-row view of just how fucking wet I get watching him fuck his hand.

  “We both know how much you’d rather be inside this dripping cunt you can’t seem to pull your eyes from.” I slide my fingers up my thigh and rub them through my arousal before pressing them inside of me. “How much you love stretching me. Filling me.”

  I press two fingers into me with a whimper and begin audibly thrusting them into my wetness. “Pressing. Every. Inch. Of. You. Into. This. Perfect. Little. Cunt. Of. Mine.”

  Gabriel’s teeth gnaw at his lower lip, and his chest heaves as he strokes himself faster, unable to pull his eyes from my fingers sliding inside of me.

  “You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

  “Fuck, Sofia.” He slows his hand to a near stop, fighting the urge to unload.

  “My slick arousal coating your cock, as you slide into me over and over again. Desperately trying to make me come all over you.”

  “You might want to slow down, sugar,” I tease as a single drop of pre-cum falls from his tip. “Or maybe it isn’t my cunt you want at all. Maybe it’s my mouth. Is that it? Sliding over the back of my tongue, slamming that fat tip into the back of my throat as you force yourself down it.”

  I pull my fingers from my cunt and rub them together, displaying my glistening arousal for him. Holding them firmly together, I lick the flat of my tongue from my palm to my fingertips. I moan in delight, enjoying both my taste and the neediness growing in his eyes.

  “Do you want a taste?” I dust my fingers against his lips as his tongue darts between them, failing to reach me. I tease once more before letting him take them into his mouth. His tongue passes over them as he works to suck them clean.

  “Which is you want most?” I pull my fingers from his mouth and slide them over my clit. “Claiming my mouth? Fucking my cunt? Or having your face buried between my thighs?”

  twenty four

  GABRIEL

  “Or maybe you aren’t thinking about any of them right now,” Sofia continues to taunt me. Her fingers glide over her clit and circle her dripping entrance. Teasingly working them lower until her fingers are rubbing around the puckered hole centered between her ass cheeks.

  My cock throbs in my hand, and I cannot contain my rapid breaths of excitement as I continue to watch her. As I seemingly enjoy every second of this cruel punishment. A blissful moan blows over her lips as she presses her finger deep into her asshole.

  “Or is this what you want most?” She carries on working her finger in her ass. “To know what it’s like to put that huge fucking cock of yours into this tight hole?”

  Lightly rubbing over her clit with one hand, her hips rock before me as she works the tip of a second finger inside of her. “Are you watching my ass stretch for me?”

  My response is nothing more than an incomprehensible grumble as I use every bit of self-control not to pin her to the bed and take what she is so clearly offering up to me. Her thighs tremble against mine while she takes her ass with two fingers. My thighs shake beneath hers, fighting against every animalistic urge she’s igniting in me.

  “I’m so tight around my fingers,” she exhales between breathy whimpers. “You’re going to stretch me so fucking wide.”

  “Fucking hell, Sofia,” I snarl.

  “I can’t even imagine how fucking good it will feel when you press inside of me.” She works her fingers in a circular motion, further stretching herself. “Your thick cock fucking my ass until you fill me with your cum, then letting it drip from the gaping hole you leave.”

  “I want to take your ass so fucking bad,” I groan. “Please, Sofia.”

  “Only if you’re going to be a good boy and ensure I co⁠—”

  Gripping her thighs, I flip her onto her stomach causing an adorable squeal to come from her. I snatch a bottle of lube from the nightstand and climb to my knees behind her before popping the cap on the lube. Squeezing it hard, I slather an overly generous amount over my length as she positions herself before me.

  I grip the base of my slippery shaft and stare down at her. She’s on her knees and forearms, pushing her ass in the air as she stares at me over her shoulder.

  How the fuck did I ever pull a woman this amazing?

  Inching closer to her, I press the tip of my cock against her ass. When I still for too long, she arches her hips causing her to push back toward me in encouragement to continue. Firmly holding my shaft in one hand, I hold onto her hip to steady us both.

  I tentatively push forward, only to be met with more resistance than I was expecting. She’s so fucking tight that I don’t know whether I can actually push the head of my cock into her. Rocking on my knees, I tease at her hole with my tip. Not entirely sure what I’m doing, I mimic the way she worked the plug into me last night.

  She loosens enough for my tip breeches her tight hole, eliciting a moan from us both. As the head pushes fully inside, she constricts around my shaft.

  It’s so fucking tight.

  “More, Gabriel,” she groans.

  While I want nothing more than to pound into this tight hole currently strangling my cock, I know I’ll hurt her if I go too fast.

  “I’m going to give you every last fucking inch of me.” I take my time sliding further into her. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I can take you.” She pushes against her forearms, slowly forcing herself over my length until I’m buried to the hilt.

  So focused on how tight she is around me and not wanting to come before I’ve actually felt what it’s like to thrust into her, I barely remember to breathe. Sofia rocks on her arms, shakily pushing and pulling herself up and down my shaft.

  “You’re so fucking thick,” she groans as she continues to acclimate herself to my size. Our combined sounds of pleasure fill the room as she begins to slide over my length with ease. “Are you going to watch me ride your cock? Or are you going to fuck my ass?”

  “I’m going to do whatever you tell me to,” I push out the words through gritted teeth.

  “That’s my good fucking boy.” She circles her hips as she slides down my shaft. My fingers squeeze and flex around her hips at the words as my cock aches for more of her. “Now make me come.”

  She arches her back and dips her head between her arms as she presses her ass further into the air. My breath hitches as I slide nearly completely from her before pressing back in at the same pace she pressed onto me.

  “Your ass…feels fucking…amazing…around my cock,” I pant the words as I begin to thrust into her.

  “Don’t stop,” Sofia pants back at me. She fists the sheet with one hand as she continues to vigorously rub over clit with the other. “Don’t…change a fu—fucking thing.”

 

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