Page 44 of Bound to the Crime Lord

“Manny…”

I found I loved it when she called me that. It was a name only uniquely hers. I could hear her calling me that over and over again in my head. What had started as an insult had grown on me to become a secret nickname between the two of us.

“We don’t make sense, I know we don’t, but I want to at least try.” She deserved more than what I could offer her. My world was dark and filled with terror. I should be selfless and let her go so that she may be free to live a normal, bright life. But I was a selfish man. “I will not pretend to be a good man. I am far from it, Juliette. I have blood on my hands, and I feel most at home in the darkness, where all the scary things occur. I shouldn’t want you, but I do. You shouldn’t want me, but you do, I see it in your eyes. I can even see you fighting yourself.”

Her breath hitched.

The thought of her being with anyone else but me sent me into a violent frenzy. No man could have her apart from me. She had been mine from the moment I laid eyes on her; she just hadn’t known it yet.

“Why must we deny ourselves from this feeling? Why must we fight what we both know is inevitable? I’m not saying that you should love me right away,amor.” I rubbed my thumb against her soft cheek. “What I’m saying is, give me the chance to earn your heart. I will never fully deserve it, but I will work to my dying breath to try to be deserving.”

Her eyes glazed over, tears brimming her eyes. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don't say anything.” I caressed the side of her face. “Just feel.”

I crashed my lips down onto hers. They were just as soft as I remembered.

I would never tire of her scent. Her taste. Her feel.

She was perfection personified.

Our lips moved together in synchronization. I poured all that I had into that one kiss. I wanted her to feel every ounce of heat and passion I did.

My heart had never felt so… at peace like it did in that moment. For a second, just a split second, I was able to forget the words I had been told and the revelation of my mother’s unjust killing.

We pulled apart, our breaths mingling together in a hot cloud. My entire body was set alight from her closeness, and all I could think about was her. She encompassed my mind, my heart, and my soul.

Her eyes dripped with lust, her lips swollen from my kiss. “You may just be my worst decision ever, Manuel Gomez.”

Her words caused a rumble of laughter to escape my lips. “Trust me,mi amor, I’m about to take you on the ride of your life.”

Chapter Twenty

Manuel POV

For the first time since I had taken over the organization, I took a day off. Of course, it was a forced day off seeing as my girlfriend wanted me to heal from the cold.

After she administered more medication and made me some hot soup, I felt more like myself. But that may have had to do with the fact that not only did I get to take my woman in the shower a few times, I also got to eat her sweet pussy for breakfast while I watched her come undone.

It was one of my favorite awakenings.

I had always prided myself in never needing anyone in my life to help stabilize me. But ever since this woman had walked into my life, I could not fathom the idea of living it without her. She had become a central point in more ways than one.

Juliette lifted her head from her files and gave me a strange look.

We were in my bed, going through some files. I was working in a new shipment line for some new drugs we wanted to peddleinto the streets of Chicago. She was going over files for some of her patients.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, and her face was bare of any makeup. She wore one of my large hoodies with nothing but her underwear underneath.

It was her best outfit yet.

“Nothing.”

I leaned toward her and pressed my lips against hers for a few seconds. Kissing her was like touching sunlight for the first time. She was warm, pleasant and calming. “You look gorgeous this morning.”

She gave me a deadpan look. “Why are you lying? I have no makeup and I’m in a baggy hoodie and messy bun.”

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