Page 38 of If Tomorrow Never Comes

I shift my weight, pushing my left hip out and crossing my arms over my now hardened nipples.Traitors!“We need to set some major boundaries, Diego.”

He pads closer to me until we are an inch or two apart. “Considerthatyour punishment.”

“Cocky much?” I raise my eyebrow at him. “I don’t care one bit that you were fucking the flight attendant's face. Icarethat you chose this bathroom over the one at the front of the cabin.”

“Already eager for another punishment? There was a truth thereanda lie.”

“I am not yours to punish. And I didn’t lie. I don’t care who you fuck, Diego. Just do it away from me.” His blue eyes pierce mine, hungry and glittering with mischief. They dip lower down my body and back up again, holding mine captive.

“You’re not a bad person for admitting that turned you on. I promise I won’t tell Liam.” He winks and walks past me, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. In my peripheral, I catch a glimpse of the enormous octopus inked on his back. The beast is crushing a skull in one of its tentacles.

The Kraken.

I turn to face him. “As I said, we need to set boundaries. I understand you are a very…sexualman. You have needs. If you could be more… respectful while I am around, that would be great. Remember why I’m here and the reason I am doing this.” I stare him down until he laughs.

“As I said, I can’t make any promises. I will try though. And make sure yourememberour conversation. All you have to do is ask, and I can ease that ache you have between your legs right now. I won’t lie to you,Mariposita. I want you.Badly.But until you are ready to accept my offer, I’ll try harder to be aware of your boundaries.”

“I guess that’s better than nothing.” I roll my eyes at him which causes him to narrow his.

“Sheesh. You really do like your woman submissive.”

“I do–you’re the exception.”

Before I can ask him to elaborate, and realize this isn’t just about the sex for him, he continues talking. “Now that we’ve discussed ourneeds, would you mind wrapping my ribs? They hurt like a motherfucker.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure. No problem.”

He points to the bag I moved to the nightstand. “There’s a pair of satin pajamas in there—if you choose to sleep the rest of the flight, a sundress and sandals for our trip toPontus,and some Ace bandages to wrap my ribs.”

I walk over to the bag and dig around, catching a glimpse of the gorgeous pajama set before removing the bandages. Turning back around to face him, I hold them in my hand, “They don’t recommend wrapping your ribs anymore as treatment. It can cause pneumonia or even a collapsed lung.”

“I’m well aware,nurse Maddy.Sometimes in life, you have to outweigh the good versus the bad. I prefer them wrapped, they heal faster. So I’ll take the risk. This isn’t the first, and this certainly won’t be my last time with broken ribs. But hey, at least I’ll have a nurse onboard in case my health deteriorates.” He shrugs while shooting me a dazzling smile.

Uneasiness eats away at me as I walk over to him.Hmm…how to go about this? I could easily wrap his ribs by standing in front of him. Except, that would mean I would need to look into those intense ocean eyes…and be at risk of standing between his legs.

The desire to take a closer look at his tattoo has me crawling onto the bed and kneeling behind him. His body vibrates with a silent chuckle.

“I don’t bite,Mariposita.”

“Who’s lying now?” I counter.

He barks out a laugh again, “I’ll take the punishment, I’d love to see you take control.Preferably naked.”

With a sigh, I unravel the two Ace bandages, trying my best to ignore him. My eyes roam his muscular back, each muscle sculpted and visible with the way he is sitting.

He’s tense.

It’s incredible how much detail went into this tattoo. The octopus on his shoulder blade is insanely realistic and definitely intimidating, covering the entire left side of his upper back. At the curve of his spine, a tentacle wraps around a skull, crushing it.

“It’s a Kraken,” he says, his voice like gravel.

“I can see that. Makes sense,El Rompe Huesos.Hands up, please.”

I place the bandage at one end of his ribs and start to wrap where a tentacle snakes around his abdomen and another curls around his hip. The one on his back dips low beneath the waistband of his jeans—I’m sure that one rests on the top of his ass cheek.

On my final loop of bandaging the front of him, he grabs my arms and gently folds them around him. The movement forces my cheek to press against his shoulder blade and my breasts against his back.Too much contact.Too intimate to be clinical.

“Thank you,” he whispers in that raspy deep voice.

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