Page 5 of Hearts Of Darkness

“Not until you tell me!”

He considers me coldly for a moment.“You’re here because I take what I want.” And before I can stop him, he’s yanking me back to his body and crushing my mouth with his own, forcing all his darkness and violence onto me.

My lips part in shock, a silent scream, as his warm tongue delves hungrily into my mouth. I try to move my head away, but a large hand grips the base of my neck, holding me immobile. My palms find his chest, and I push with all my might, but it’sno use—a fool’s quest. He’s an unmovable rock of hard muscle and determination, and I can do little but moan in protest.

He kisses me harder in response, expertly thrusting his tongue between my teeth, corrupting me, over and over, with his raw masculinity.

Does this man make love with the same intensity?

My crazy thought kick-starts my senses.

My reticence switches to submission.

I find myself melting into his rough embrace, my fingers reaching up to burrow into his silky black hair as a throbbing beat awakens between my thighs. Another moan escapes me when I feel the thick bulge of his erection nudging against my stomach.

How am I starving for something I never knew I wanted?How has this happened?I hate this man. He’s the antithesis to every quality I celebrate—kindness, tenderness, parity. This tyrant only knows how to take and take, and there’s nothing gentle about his touch.

He pulls away, leaving me gasping, wanting, and breathless for more. “Goodbye, sweet Eve,” he murmurs, his expression unreadable, his dark eyes giving me nothing. “It’s high time I returned you to Eden.”

And just like that, he’s walking away, and he’s not looking back.

2

DANTE

“We’re ready to go when you are,jefe.”

I nod in Tomas’ direction, but my eyes are fixed elsewhere. I’m striding up the aisle to where Rodrigo is sprawled out across his seat, tapping out a message on his cell. Two seconds later, I’m hauling him to his feet by his neck and slamming him against the side of the aircraft. He’s a big man, but I’m a fucking mountain.

The plane goes deathly quiet around us. No one makes a move. No one intervenes.

No one dares.

“You ever say shit like that to me again, I’ll cut out your tongue.” My voice is calm, but my words are spiked with intent. My grip on his throat tightens. “Well?”

Rodrigo’s remaining eye is bulging out of its socket in fear. “Sorry, Señor Santiago,” he gasps out, his voicenothing but a harsh wheeze through a crushed windpipe. “It won’t happen again.”

Damn right it won’t. There is no place in this universe where this man is my equal. What he said to me in the SUV crossed a fucking line.

I release him with a hard push, and he slides to his knees, gasping for air. I take a seat at the back of the aircraft as far away from him as possible.

Breathe, Dante. Breathe.

My rage is blinding and bloody: a beast of unspeakable evil. Some days I can barely control this darkness inside me, and it’s not just Rodrigo and his careless comments that are fanning the flames tonight. This operation was meant to be a cut and dry. Twelve hours in Miami. That’s all the time I needed to take out a rival who’s been encroaching on our territory and messing up the natural order of things. But someone talked. Someone leaked the plan. Now I have ten dead recruits on my hands—skilled men I trained myself—and my target is still strutting about making a fool of me.

The aircraft begins to taxi. All the seats adjacent to me are empty. These men know better than to try and make small talk when I’m in this kind of mood, when I’ve nothing but harsh retribution on my mind. Tonight was a shit show, and I’ve no compensation for any of it, apart from the sweetest of kisses from the purest of angels.

I didn’t turn back after I released her from my arms. I didn’t stop to see her fall to her knees in tearful relief, but I imagined it all in my head. It played out like some perfect movie scene—the good girl granted a stay of execution at the last minute by the bad man. Because that’s exactly what I am,a very bad man.

I surprised myself by walking into that liquor store and holding a gun to her head. I’m not a man who makes his decisions lightly, but I wasn’t thinking straight. All hell had broken loose on us six blocks away, twenty vehicles were burning, and a local nightclub had been decimated by firepower. The authorities were all over it, and my men were on the ropes.

It wasn’t supposed to play out like that. My ops are swift and deadly. There’s no margin for error. I’ve built our entire fucking name on my particular brand of effectiveness.

I’d only just managed to escape when I messaged Rodrigo to meet me at the rendezvous point—a quiet street about half a mile from the target. She walked past me and caught my attention. Something about the generous curve of her breasts and the fact she’d tried so hard to hide them beneath her sweater; or was it how the evening breeze kept mussing up her hair and slicing at those cheekbones with strands of black silk.

Best of all was that sexy, determined look on her face. This woman had someplace to be. Somewhere that didn’t includeyours truly. The thought had eaten away at me until I found myself stepping out of the shadows with my gun in my hand.

It was a perfect storm of attraction. She never stood a chance. Skin like porcelain, tall and slender with fire in all the right places, soft pink lips that called out to my dick like a siren… I’m not in the habit of making women bend to my will. I have the money, the power, and the looks to get what I want with minimal effort, but I had a hunch she’d need a little more persuasion,and damn I wanted to be the one persuading.

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