Page 98 of Hearts Of Darkness

“Nor did I.” He turns his head to look at me, and I see a brief flash of the storm inside. “This is an exception.You’rean exception.” He leans against the edge of my desk and crosses his arms. It’s like he’s bracing himself for my next intrusive question.

“You hurt me more with your lie than you did with your silence.”

He frowns. “I never lie to you. Not anymore.”

“What about when my father asked if you had kids.” I emerge from the safety of my quilt and rest my back against the headboard, tucking my knees up to my chest and knotting my arms around them.

“I didn’t lie,” he repeats, gazing steadily at me, his dark eyes burning a hole in my face. “I did have a daughter, but she’s been missing, presumed dead, for fifteen years now.”

Oh my God.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whisper, unable to process the horror of having to live with such uncertainty for so long.

He shrugs. “There’s not much to tell. She paid the price for having me as her father.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he says brusquely. “I didn’t tell you to curry favor. She’s not some convenient card I pull out whenever I need to ingratiate myself with you. I leave the country in a few hours, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. I’m trying to be as straight with you as I can so you don’t go to sleep every night despising yourself for missing such a monster.”

It takes me a beat to digest his words, and then another to clock the wicked gleam in his eye.

“Why, you arrogant—” But I never get to finish. All of a sudden, he’s pinning me to the wall by his mouth, his insistent tongue rimming the edges of my lips and demanding entry.

He’s all about the black magic. Somehow, I find myself flat on my back, his erection pressed up against my sex as he grinds against me, inflaming every nerve.

“What was her name?” I gasp out.

“Isabella.” His dark eyes dull with pain before he silenceseverything with another kiss.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Too much talking.” He rears backward, taking my panties with him, grazing my thighs with his nails in his haste. The time for conversation is over. That tiny glimmer into the window of his soul has slammed shut. His only impulse now is to lose himself in the crazy stupor we create when we fuck.

“Slow down!” I beg him, but he’s too lost in the moment.

He wrenches me into a sitting position and whips off the remains of Anna’s dress. “Put your arms around my neck.”

I do as he says, too scared by the look on his face to refuse. It’s too singular. Too remote. Somehow our connection is misfiring.

He carries me, naked, into the kitchen and sets me down on top of the breakfast bar, kicking the stool out of the way to make room for us. Stepping back, he removes his own clothes, slamming his gun down on the counter next to me.

I swear I could come just from the look in his eyes—so primal,so dominant. It’s like I’m the only person in the world, and he’d kill to have me. Manuel’s presence in my apartment has unnerved him, and he means to claim my body back for himself.

He grabs my ankles, and drags me to the edge of the counter, the thick muscles in his forearms straining as I lose my balance and topple sideways. “Slow it down!” I plead again, smacking my palms down to steady myself. “No sex-related accidents today, thank you.”

“I give you no promises,” he growls, wrapping my legs around his waist. “We’ll both be aching tomorrow. I’ll make your sweet cunt sing for me first, though. I want you soakingwet before I fuck you for the rest of the day.”

A low moan escapes my lips. He’s the only man alive who can ignite this crazy wildfire inside of me. One touch and I know I’ll be screaming out his name.

“When are you due your next shot?”

I’m rudely jolted from my Santiago stupor. “Next week… Why?”

“Don’t forget it.”

Incensed, I drop my legs from his waist and jerk backward out of his grasp, wincing as his teeth catch the tip of my nipple. “Getting knocked-up by a wanted criminal isn’t exactly high on my list of life achievements, Dante.”

Why am I so mad?I don’t want a baby with him. I’d be crazy to even consider it… But it’s like I can’t stand the thought of another woman giving him something that I won’t.

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