Page 30 of Savage Assassin

I’m experienced enough with women to know when one is attracted to me. When someone wants me. And I knew what Elena was feeling.

I couldn’t let it go too far.

I’d been grappling with how far to let my hand creep up her thigh when Diego’s voice had brought all of it to a crashing halt.

“Well, you’re taking your sweet time with her, aren’t you? Going to deprive us all of watching you take that virginity you paid so much for?”

I know what a fine fucking line I have to tread. The other men here might be so high or drunk or lost in sex that they won’t pay too much attention to what I’m doing or not, so long as I’m here and appearing to participate, but Diego won’t be so easy to fool. I can tell from his face that he’s neither drunk nor high, but what I can’t tell, even with all of my training, is whether or not he suspects me of anything.

I also know that there’s not a single fucking thing on earth that will convince me to take Elena’s virginity like this. I can’t have sex with her at all, not and live with myself afterward, but I’d never forgive myself if I let it happen like this, in public, for the pleasure and amusement of these pricks. Whatever the consequences, Diego isn’t going to bully me into that.

“I’m going to enjoy that in private, later,” I tell him stiffly. “I didn’t pay so much for her to rush things.”

I can feel how tense Elena is in my arms, her face turned away so that she doesn’t have to look at the man who is responsible for her being here at all.

“I would have thought you’d enjoy humiliating her in front of everyone. Forcing the Santiago girl to get her cherry popped in front of all her father’s enemies. Maybe even fuck her in the ass, really make sure there’s none of that so carefully guarded innocence left.”

He grins widely as he speaks, licking his lips as his gaze rakes over her. I’m seized with a sudden, murderous urge to set Elena aside, get up from the couch, and strangle the man until his eyes pop out of his skull.

“That sort of humiliation isn’t really what I go in for,” I tell him, forcing myself to sound bored, as if this entire conversation is boring me, and not as if I want to kill him in all the slowest possible ways that I know. “I enjoy my pleasure taken more privately. I’m not the same sort of exhibitionist that your other guests are.”

Diego’s expression doesn’t budge. “So why are you here at my party at all?”

There’s an edge to his voice that I know means I’m on thin ice. He doesn’t necessarily suspect me, not yet, but he’s displeased that I’m depriving him of what he’d hoped for from this entire performance–the chance to watch Santiago’s daughter cry in front of him while her virginity was violently ripped away. I’ve made him a very wealthy man, but I suspect he wanted that more than money.

Which just makes me that much more pleased that he won’t fucking get it.

“I couldn’t ignore your hospitality.” I force the most pleasant smile that I can onto my face. “The chance to sit in luxury with a good drink and a beautiful girl on my lap isn’t one to be taken lightly. I just prefer to–finish, in private. I want to take my time with her. Make her beg for her own–”

“–violation,” Diego finishes, and from the way he says it, I can tell I’m in the clear, that he thinks we’ve found some common ground, something he can understand. “Well, I’m sorry I won’t get the pleasure of watching it. But you paid enough. You take her however you please.”

He claps me on the shoulder and walks away.

Ifeelhow Elena shudders in my arms as he goes, nearly collapsing against my chest. “How much longer?” she whispers, and I wonder at that moment if all of her reactions, all this time, have just been her playing along for the sake of those around us.

It makes me feel worse to think that might be true. My skin crawls at the idea that she might have hated every moment of it, and I want to pick her up and set her off of my lap. But we’re not in the clear yet.

“A little while longer. An hour, maybe, and then everyone will start retiring.”

My hand rubs over her thigh as I speak, and I look at my empty tequila glass. “We’ll take a break,” I tell her. “Get more drinks, and then stall as long as we can.”

I see a hint of relief on her face. Gently, I help her up, but the moment she’s standing on her own two feet again, I see her gaze flick downwards, and her cheeks burn so red that they look as if they might combust.

All it takes is one glance at the front of my trousers, soaked with her arousal, to see why she’s so embarrassed.

“Oh god.” Her hand covers her mouth, and she looks away. I can see the hint of humiliated tears in her eyes, and I pull her closer, not wanting anyone else to see.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” I tell her quietly as I lead her towards the bar, unwilling to leave her alone in a room full of lust-addled men. “It’s a natural reaction, Elena.”

“Here? Tothis?” Her voice is a panicked squeak. “I thought you wouldn’t know–”

“Oh, Elena.” I motion to the bartender, who remembers what I’d ordered before and starts to pour, pushing another glass of champagne toward her. “I knew. I could hear you. Feel it. I know what it feels like when a woman is turned on.”

Her face turns even redder, if that were possible, and I see what almost looks like a flicker of hurt in her eyes. I’m not sure why–the idea that I’ve been with other women shouldn’t bother her. It’s not as if anything between us is real, and besides–surely she knows I’m nearly twenty years her senior?She doesn’t need to know I’ve fucked my way across every country I’ve ever set foot in, but she can’t imagine that I’m as virginal as she is.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” I repeat, gently, as I take my drink and steer her back towards another empty couch. “But if it makes you feel better, we’ll do this a little differently.”

I sit her down next to me, her legs over my lap, the drape of her dress hiding the mess that she’d made of the front of my trousers. I slide my free hand up under her skirt, caressing her inner thigh, but to anyone looking, I might just as well be fingering her.

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