Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Tanner’s nostrils flared, then, seemingly unable to stop himself, he leaned forward and wrapped his hand in my wet hair. He shifted his body over mine and kissed me. But this kiss was unhurried . . . and it scared me more than anything had in a very long time. I was the daughter of the biggest cartel boss in Mexico, maybe the world, had threats against my life every single day. Fear was a constant in my life, so much so that fear to me felt like a low hum rather than an electric shock. But Tanner Ayers, the Ku Klux Klan heir, kissing me with this much feeling and affection . . . it was the most terrifying thing I’d ever felt.
Because I felt it. I felt it all. All the right in this wrongful act. Felt his soft lips on mine, his mint taste on my tongue, and his heavy, scarred body holding me down.
The kiss grew and grew until Tanner had taken my shirt over my head and pulled my pants off my legs. When he was naked again too, I placed my hand on his cheek and, needing some sense of self-preservation, said, “You leave tomorrow.” Tanner looked away across the room at nothing, then nodded. “I am Mexican. You are KKK. You know we cannot mix.” Tanner gritted his teeth, but he nodded again. “Our fathers would kill us if they knew.” His expression was furious—I wasn’t sure if it was at that truth, my words, or the fact that he was here, willingly touching and sleeping with a woman from what he deemed an inferior race.
Tanner’s hand skirted along my cheek, and my heart beat faster like the turncoat it was around this forbidden man. His hand journeyed to my neck, then toward my breast. Before his fingers could reach their destination, I caught his wrist in my hand. Tanner’s tortured gaze collided with mine. The hunger I saw there, more heightened and intense than before, was my undoing. “Tonight,” I whispered, my voice shaking at the fact that I was stupidly going to allow this again. “All we have is tonight, in this room. Tomorrow you’ll be gone, and when our paths cross again they will be for business only. That should give you enough time to forget you ever betrayed your race for one night with me.” The truth of the words stung.
Tanner must have seen a crack in my armor, as his eyes narrowed. I wondered what he would say in defense. Instead, like the fortress he was, he nodded his head and said, “Done.”
Tanner’s wrist in my hand hung suspended in the air. I should have stopped it. I told myself it was degrading to give myself to such a man. But then I told myself that it was good that I had—Tanner would never forgive himself for this perceived act of weakness. I would be a chink in the Klan knight’s armor. One he could never repair. It gave me a sick kind of pleasure to know that I, a Mexican woman, had weakened him enough to abandon his beliefs and take me. That once hadn’t been enough.
But the truth was . . . I wanted him. Titles and families aside. Right now, I wanted this man. I couldn’t explain the madness of that truth, but it was the truth nonetheless. Exhaling, decision made, I lowered his hand to my breast. Tanner released a quick breath as he covered my flesh, the simple feel of it almost breaking me apart. Tanner glanced up at me for a second, then brought his lips to mine. Like before, they were desperate, as if he was more than aware, just as I was, that our time was finite. And he took me. He took me over and over again through the night, until we were retrieved the next day and the Ayerses left for America.
Tanner Ayers fucked me knowing exactly what that night was—the only night a white prince and cartel princess could have each other. No race, no culture, no hate, no business. Just two bodies, joining as one. But then it was over. And he was gone . . . until two months later, when he returned . . .
*****
Present day . . .
“Lita?”
I blinked, my attention snapping away from the mirror. My hands were joined at my stomach just to stop them from shaking. Hearing Charley’s voice, I took in a deep breath and blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of that first night with Tanner. The night that changed it all. “Lita?” Charley said again. This time it was softer. The concern was clear in her voice.
Turning, I tried to smile at my best friend, but I could see she saw through the cracks. She took my hands and guided me off the pedestal that Carmen had set up before the mirror. The train of the dress followed behind me. Charley sat on my couch. I sat down too and wiped my tears. “I’m being pathetic,” I said and laughed. “I have no idea what is wrong with me.”