Page 47 of Outcast

I flicked my gaze back to him and the same dark desire filled his eyes. I bit my lip. Attraction was never the issue between us.

He'd just been a baby. Only a handful of years younger than me, but for a man in his early twenties, that might as well have been a decade.

"I don't want to hurt you." My face was aflame.

"You won't." He was so sure. So confident and cocky.

I wanted that. I wanted that kind of love, where I didn't have to worry about hurting him or him breaking my heart.I wanted a man who wanted to shout to the rooftops that I was his.

Crawling out of bed, I pretended like I didn't want to climb him like a tree. "I have to pee." I rushed past him to the bathroom and took care of business.

When I came out, he had pulled on a pair of worn, dark jeans. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor. Even like this, his body just begged to be licked and sucked.

Lines crossed his forehead when he glanced up at me.

I stopped in the middle of the room.

What the fuck do I do now?

I should be sending a text message to Amorette to let her know I needed some days off to take care of Dirty Dog business. She'd understand.

The meeting today was going to be a headache. I could be getting ready for that.

But I imitated a mannequin.

"I need to go check out what happened to Leo's head." His words snapped me out of my thoughts.

"I need to get ready for the meeting in..." I bent down and grabbed my phone where it lay next to my dress. At a whopping five percent. "One hour."

He got up and walked close to me. He wasn't as tall as Matías but he still towered over me when I wasn't wearing my heels. Esteban brushed a lock of hair away from my face. His gaze was confident and far too calm for my mess of emotions. "What do you want to happen, Rita?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper. His dark chocolate eyes softened as he twisted his lips to one side.

"At the meeting. With the club. Between us. Take your pick."

I winced. I didn't fucking know. Last night when I called for the meeting, I'd been incensed.Papástarted this club. It was his legacy, and they were making decisions and trying to assure meIwasn't going to be pushed out.

It was mine too.

His brows tipped up in the center, revealing a quick flash of hurt before he smoothed his expression out.

"Esteban..." I started. What did I say?

"It's not a big deal. I knew when we fucked, it was meaningless for you."

"It wasn't meaningless," I said, tone hard. "It was one of the best nights of my life." It had been. A great escape. A slew of fantastic orgasms. Everything I’d needed in that moment.

"Then what's the issue? You're stuck on Matías?" He shifted just a tiny bit closer.

"No. Yes. Fuck!" I tossed my hair back, thinking. "Yes, Iwashung up on him. But you–us. You're a joker, the fun time guy. You get girls to drop their panties just by smiling at them and I..."

"You what?" He raised a brow, mocking me.

A fresh wave of anger ignited in my stomach.

"You think you're one of them? Just dropping your panties because I smiled at you?" His words were cutting.

"No, it's just....You're young, Esteban." Matías’ maturity and strong silence had been like crack to me. So mysterious and addictive, thinking I was the one to get under his skin. Until I learned I was just another hopeless casualty of his whims.

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