Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
His dick.
It didn’t take long to begin getting hard, triggering me to announce, “At least somebody still likes me.”
“I like you, Sloan.”
Our eyes locked as he dressed, staying shirtless.
“Prove it.” I lifted my hand again, clinking the chain against the metal.
He shook his head. “Not tonight, darlin’.”
“Wow,” I breathed out. Not having a right to get offended. “You really don’t trust me, do you?”
“Why would you think I would?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” I mocked in a sassy voice. “Maybe because I kept all your secrets and didn’t tell my dad a fucking thing about you. And in honor of my loyalty to you, tonight there was a gang bang schedule just for me. How about that?”
“You think that changes who you are?”
“No, but I do think it changes how you see me. I guess I’m wrong, and I’m just another Del Toro to you.”
I couldn’t control my anger. It was a battle I was willing to lose. I know I lied to him, but I had to get credit where credit was due. I kept my loyalty to him, and that had to count for something.
“What do you expect from me?” he remarked, shaking his head. “All the memories I have of you are now jaded with thoughts of what was planned or meant to be?”
“Care to elaborate?”
He sat in the chair, leaning forward to put his elbows on his thighs and got right down to business…“The kickboxin’ night. Were you followin’ me?”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
SLOAN
I stressed, “Let me remind you that you followed me.”
“Cuba? Playin’ dominos? Was that a setup?”
“Yes and no.”
He threw my words back at me. “Care to elaborate?”
“I was DJing, so it was two birds with one stone.”
“New Orleans?”
“You invited me, remember?”
“So that night you wanted to fuck me for what? Information?”
“No.” I frowned.
He juggled his hands. “You see how this can get confusin’ for me, yeah?”
“Yeah…” I agreed.
“How about the movies? The dinners? You sleepin’ in my arms… was all that a part of your con?”
I shook my head. “You were never a con to me.”
“Don’t feel like that, yeah?”
“Yeah…” I repeated, bowing my head. Thinking about it for a moment, I peered up at him and reacted. “What if I had told you? What if I’d come clean before tonight? What would have happened? Would you still have hated me?”
With a sincere expression, he admitted, “I would have trusted you a hell of a lot more than I do right now.”
“Fair,” I rasped, knowing he was right about that too but still hating it. “How long are you going to punish me for it?”
“You honestly think this is easy for me? All this time,” he rationalized, looking deep into my eyes. “I thought you were my savior. Turns out, you could possibly be my demise.”
“I’m far from your guardian angel, Luke.”
And with that, he simply stated, “The devil was an angel once.”
He was over to me in two long strides, backing me up against the headboard.
I thought he was going to kiss me.
Touch me.
But he did none of those things. He took one last hard look at me, then turned, and left.
If I screamed for Nav to come free me, I’d only be making things worse between them, and the asshole knew it too.
I reluctantly turned off the light and lay down to try to pass out. The handcuff made it nearly impossible to get comfortable, so I tossed and turned, restless and dazed.
The tornado of emotions lingered in the room, in the air, in my soul.
Long after he left, his words still pounded in my head, over and over again. Not letting up until sleep finally won. It didn’t matter how many times I racked my brain for answers.
The man was already engrained in my heart.
I dreamed of the way his strong arms felt around me.
Engulfing me in nothing but his warm body.
His weight on top of me.
The reassuring words he always spoke in my ear.
“Sloan,” he whispered in my ear.
I swear it felt so real, so true, so consuming, like he was right there with me. I didn’t want to wake up.
I felt his lips on my neck, softly kissing me, making his way up to my mouth. I stirred, fluttering my eyes open. Blinking away the sleepy haze, I tried to focus. My eyes adjusted to the light cascading off the moon from the sliding glass doors.
“Luke?” I sleepily asked. “I was just dreaming about you.”
“Is that right?”
His eyes held so much emotion.
His sincere expression was almost hard to follow.
All I could see was pain.
My heart ached to see him broken.
I missed his smile, his laughter, his love.
I could physically feel his saddened glare on my face as he lay on top of me. Feeling it so much more than I could have ever imagined. Almost like I could touch it.
In the beat of a drum, he handcuffed my other wrist to the iron headboard.