Page 12 of Scarred Queen

She nearly moaned out loud from the feel of him against her, his groin grazing her ass. Her thin dress made it so she felt every small touch from the fabric of his trousers and the graze of his belt buckle against her curve of her cheek. His broad shoulders brushed hers as he leaned in. The cool evening breeze gently lifted her hair and flipped it back across his bicep where it was braced next to her, caging her body in. From the corner of her eye she could see the barbaric beauty of her pale hair laying across the darkness of hisshirtsleeve.

“No,” shesighed.

He made an impatient sound from behind her and eased closer, surrounding her with heat. Her long hair snaked back around them, enveloping them in a cocoon. His knuckles tightened against the railing. In anger or frustrated lust? Both, maybe. She was certain this man wasn’t used todenial.

“I want you to stay with me,cariña,” he growled in her ear, his voice throbbing with authoritative energy. “Leave Ignacio and come to me. Not just tonight, but permanently. I can do things for you, give you things you can’t even imagine. I can protect you. Set you up with more luxuries than you can even hope to experience here in this narrowworld.”

Casey gasped and whirled in his arms, her hair whipping around them. She was careful to tilt her head away though, keeping half her face in the shadows still. He straightened and moved back a little to give her room. She stood to her full height, which, in her heels, brought her eye to eye with Reyes. It didn’t matter that he was much broader than her and outweighed her by at least eighty pounds, she glared at him, showing him exactly what she thought of hisoffer.

“Never,” she hissed pressing her hands back against the cold, unyielding glass of the balcony. “Fuck you and fuck your offer, Reyes. I already have all the material shit that I need in my life and I’d give it all up for a taste of freedom. If you had any idea what I’ve done to leave…” Abruptly she brought a hand up to cut off the flow of words and pressed shaking fingers against her lips, reminding herself not to let her tongue get away fromitself.

“What?” Reyes demanded, his too sharp brain catching on to her words. “What would you do to leave him? Apparently, you won’t accept offers from other, more powerful men. Tell me,nena, what exactly will you do to escape a lifetime with IgnacioHernandez?”

She tried to turn away from him, dismiss his words in the hope that he would drop it, but he grabbed her arm and swung her around. She moved quickly on her heels, reaching out to catch herself so she wouldn’t fall. He steadied her and she looked up at him, full in the face, the light falling across her. His eyes roved over her, lingering on her swollen lip and bruisedcheek.

“Shit,” she gasped turning her head, but it was too late. She could feel the instant stillness in his body as he absorbed the meaning behind her battered face. She felt the incoming storm as emotion swelled and seethed withinhim.

“Who hit you?” Reyes demanded, his voice lashingher.

Casey shivered but lifted her chin defiantly. “Who do youthink?”

“Don’t give me that shit, Casey,” he snarled, rage vibrating thickly in his voice. He took hold of her chin and impatiently brushed the hair back from her face so he could see the marks better. “Did Ignacio do this toyou?”

“Of course it was my husband. Do you really think he would allow anyone else to do this without permission?” she confirmed jerking her chin, but he refused to release his hold on her face. He smoothed a finger across the graze on her cheek, his touch gentle despite his seethinganger.

“Why the fuck would he hit you, especially knowing I would see you tonight?” Reyes asked incredulously. “Does he have a deathwish?”

She stared at him, at the threat of violence glittering fiercely in his eyes. All for her, all over the momentary pain Ignacio had caused her. She sighed and brought her hand up, closing it over his and forcing his hand away from her chin. Her bracelet slid along her arm as she moved, a reminder of the ownership another man had overher.

“Why do you think he hit me? I told him I didn’t want to see you again,” sheadmitted.

She could feel the heat of his fury rise further and flinched back, pressing against the railing of the balcony. She expected him to have the same reaction as Ignacio. To attack her for not wanting to see him. Instead he slowly reached out so she could see what he was doing and pulled her away from the railing. She shivered as the cool evening air washed over her bare arms andshoulders.

He gently brushed her hair back from her face once more and touched the bruise with the back of his fingers. “He hit you because you were reluctant to see meagain.”

She nodded miserably and stood stiffly in his hold. He cupped the back of her head, holding her still and leaned forward to touch his lips against hers. Her lips parted in surprise at the feathery light touch of his mouth to hers. He took advantage by licking the cut on her bottom lip where she’d bitten herself. She jerked back, but he held her immobile with one hand at the back of her head and another around her waist. He brushed his lips back and forth across hers, with gentlepurpose.

Heat sizzled through her veins with the force of a lightening strike. She tried to concentrate on not passing out as every nerve ending in her body lit up with pleasure from the soothing touch of his lips against hers and the firm hand wrapped around her, forcing her to hold still while he overwhelmed her senses. Her legs wobbled on her heels and she probably would have collapsed if he hadn’t been holding herup.

Finally, he pulled back from the most perfect kiss she’d ever had, his mouth only a few inches from hers when he spoke. “I was already planning to kill your husband,cariña. Now that I know he’s put hands on you, I will make it so much fucking worse. He’ll beg me for death long before I let that miserable fuck go tohell.”

Casey’s eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, he interrupted her, his hands falling to her waist in a tight hold. “I know what you will say and I want you to think, Casey. Think hard about who your husband is, what he’s done to you and what youwant.”

She shook her head, her hair swinging. She pushed against his chest, but he wouldn’t let her go. She dug her nails into his chest over his shirt, trying to hurt him, to force him to release her. His hold was unbreakable. “Stop it, Casey. Hold still and listen tome.”

She whimpered and shook herhead.

He shook her until her head snapped up and they were staring at each other, her eyes wide and fearful, his snapping with fierce energy and anger. “He’s fucking handed you over to me to use however I want. He gave you to me bruised and…” he grabbed her hand and lifted it, her wedding rings glinting in the faint evening light, “wearing his fucking rings. Why? So I could fuck his wife, knowing I was taking a woman I want but can’t keep? He’s a disgusting, degenerate fuck and you know it. He deserves worse than the death I’m going to dealhim.”

A sob tore from her throat and she covered her mouth with one shaking hand. She moaned and tried to turn away from him, to deny his words. She didn’t want to hear this. It was too much, more than she could handle. She’d been sleepwalking through life for a decade. In the space of barely a week she was forced to deal with a whole barrage of emotions and now the man that woke her up was confessing plans of murder on his penthousebalcony.

A laugh escaped her and she looked around wildly for escape. It was either a twelve-story fall or back through the penthouse into the cold presence of her bodyguard. Her life was a cage no matter where she turned. His grip on her waist tightened painfully as he forced her attention back tohim.

“Don’t you dare drift away from me, Casey. I know how you work, woman, and when we’re together I won’t let you have your little escapism tricks. When we’re together we’ll be together,” hegrowled.

“Stop it,” she cried out, the words wrenched from her. She shoved harder against him, struggling in earnest now. “Just stop, Reyes. We’ll never betogether!”

“You think not?” he snarled, turning to the balcony door and dragging herthrough.

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