“Quien carajo eres tú?” Adam roared. “You don’t touch her!”

Sakura blinked. “Adam!”

Her lover ignored her and threw Roger down on the floor as if he weighed nothing. Roger scrambled backward on his hands and ass, but Adam stalked over to him. Adam hit him, and blood spattered Roger’s shirt and Adam’s, pouring from Roger’s nose. Sakura ran over and grabbed Adam’s arm. He shook her off. Another punch to Roger’s ribs, but Roger managed to somewhat block the hit. If he didn’t, Sakura was pretty sure he would have had broken ribs.

“Stop,” she shouted. “Adam, leave him alone. You have no right to do this.”

Roger somehow managed to twist away from Adam’s hold and got to his feet. He took a fighting stance Sakura might be proud of, if his nose weren’t obviously broken. His gaze narrowed, he waited for Adam to try hitting him again, but she darted between the two men, facing Adam.

“I said stop. You don’t get to decide who I’m with, Adam. I made that clear the day we started seeing each other. I told you an open relationship or nothing. You agreed. So don’t come here acting like you own me.”

Adam sneered, and she could have sworn something shifted in his eyes. “That gives you the right to be una puta?”

“You did not call me a whore!” She punched him in the stomach as hard as she could, and she could do damage to most men. Even Adam had pissed her off in the past, and she’d let him have it. He’d winced and said she hit like a man. She had taken it as a compliment and told him not to play with her. Tonight though, maybe it was all the alcohol she had consumed, but punching Adam was almost like punching a brick wall. She cried out in pain and doubled over, holding her hand. All the drink she took in over the last few hours threatened to come shooting out of her mouth.

“Baby, your hand.” He whisked her into his arms. “You shouldn’t have done that. Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not,” she breathed between clenched teeth. She had no strength to push him away when he dug through her purse and found her key card. He used it to open her bedroom door, glared at Roger, and then shut the door in his face.

Adam rushed her to a chair and knelt in front of her to examine her hand. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go, gingerly checking each finger to be sure she could move them. Sakura winced, but it was clear she hadn’t broken any bones.

He let her hand go with apparent reluctance and stood.

“What are you doing here, Adam? You said you weren’t coming.”

“I finished up a little business and thought I’d join you.” He glared down at her. “You said you were coming to investigate your mom’s death, not pick up new lovers.”

“I’m grown, and I can do whatever the hell I want to. I certainly don’t need to answer to you.” She stood, hating for the moment how small he made her feel. He towered above her anyway, which pissed her off even more. “You never fought my former lovers. I kept you around because it didn’t bother you if I enjoyed other men. Now you’re acting like this.”

“You kept me around?” He took a step toward her, and she found herself stumbling back. Adam was always self-possessed and strong, but he displayed a level of aggression she had never seen in him. She didn’t think he’d hurt her, but the way he behaved confused her. Anger sparked in his eyes, making them appear almost black. He reached out and raised her chin, the grip tight, but not painful. “I’m here because you want me. You can’t help yourself.”

Her mouth fell open. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.” He dropped a hand to the front of her dress and circled a breast without touching the tip. “When I am not around you are…bellaco. Only I can satisfy you.”

Sakura recognized the slang word for horny, not a literal translation. She learned a lot from him over the years—too much—and she was still angry with him over his attitude. Never mind that his closeness actually ignited the horniness he accused her of feeling when he was gone. She realized for all the teasing she’d engaged in with Roger, she didn’t feel a fraction with him of what she felt now in Adam’s presence. Looking into her lover’s eyes, she deduced Adam knew it, too.

“You’re getting a little above yourself, aren’t you?”

She said the wrong thing. Adam grabbed h

er around the waist and backed her up until she hit the wall. His narrowed gaze raked her from head to toe, and when he curled fingers in the front of her dress, she opened her mouth to protest, but it was too late. He ripped the material straight down to her navel. The dress fell from her shoulders to her hips and pooled on the floor.

“Adam!”

His eyes widened, as if his actions surprised him. He took a step back and ran fingers through his hair, an expression of confusion on his face. “I don’t…”

“Adam, what’s going on with you? You’re not like your usual self.” She touched his arm as he turned away, and he flinched.

“Don’t touch me, Sakura.”

She gasped, hurt tightening her chest. Maybe she had no right to be hurt, especially since it was obvious he didn’t feel the same as he did in the past, wasn’t as accepting of her lifestyle. “If you don’t want to be here, then get out.”

“Not wanting you isn’t the problem! Look at you, Sakura.”

She looked down at herself. Since a bra would have shown above the skimpy dress, she hadn’t worn one, but she found no reason to hide her breasts now that Adam had exposed them. She stood there in bikini panties and nothing else.

“I want to eat you,” he snapped. “Every bit of you, from your toes to your pussy to your lips.”