Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 107661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107661 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Her throat bounced with a swallow, and she shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The subtle squeeze of her thighs contradicted her words.
If he had to guess, she was attracted to Ricky, but she feared that attraction.
Shifting toward her, he rested his fingers on the back of her neck and guided her gaze to his. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She cut her eyes to Ricky and back to him. “He’s going to try to kiss me.”
“There’s no trying involved.” Ricky stretched his legs across the bed and reclined against the wall, all lean muscle and confident male.
“And?” He ghosted the backs of his fingers down the curve of her neck, making her shiver.
“We just met yesterday. I don’t know either of you, and I never kiss on the first date.”
Fucking hell, this woman. She was such a precious rarity, so guileless and straightforward. His chest squeezed at the thought of someone as innocent as her being locked up in this hell for five years. It was fucking unfair.
“I held your hair while you puked last night,” Ricky said. “Pretty sure that skips like five dates.”
She didn’t look convinced.
Martin didn’t want to force the issue, but the urgency of a three-month timeline pressed down upon him.
If they couldn’t seal a kiss with this girl, there was no way they would convince her to do anything else, like steal information from Hector.
They needed her trust because right now, she was the only angle they had.
“Tula.” Martin put his face in hers. “Give that man your mouth. Swear to God, it’ll be the best kiss you’ve ever had.”
Her breath hitched. “You know that from experience.”
“I know him.” He didn’t look at Ricky, but those dark eyes burned a trail of heat across his skin.
Her eyes flashed. “You kiss him. If you do it, I will.”
A shifting sensation squeezed a sharp pang near his heart. Nerve endings tingled along his thighs, and the sudden acceleration of his pulse sent a surge of blood to his groin.
As his body revved up, his mind bristled at her words, making his tone sound meaner than he intended. “That’s not how I operate.”
“I knew it. You’re one of those.” She studied her fingernails, baiting him.
“Finish that thought, Tula.”
If she made a homophobic comment, he would bend her over his knee and redden her ass.
“I’ve dated guys like you.” She pushed back her shoulders. “Bossy. Controlling. Always has the last word.”
He laughed in surprise. “Your point?”
“The thought of kissing him doesn’t repulse you. What raises your hackles is someone telling you to do it.”
The accuracy of her words hit him directly in the stomach.
He didn’t take orders from anyone. Never again.
Memories—a year’s worth of sick, brutal memories—unfurled from a desolate place in his mind. He was no different than the son of a bitch he’d killed so brutally.
The pitch-black fantasies he’d kept locked down erupted all at once, spilling from his subconscious in ribbons of depravity.
Restraining, choking, whipping, forcing, using, ripping open, bleeding out, hard and ruthless, unsafe and unwilling, no hole left unpunished—everything Jeff had done to him was exactly what he craved to do to Ricky and Tula.
Violent sex was all he knew, and it aroused him so deeply it terrified him.
A hand rested on his shoulder, warm and familiar. He turned toward Ricky, and their eyes met and held.
Despite the disturbing direction of his thoughts, he found peace in Ricky’s gaze. It wasn’t where Ricky looked that was important. It was where he didn’t look.
Those eyes didn’t slide down Martin’s body, indicating lust. They didn’t stare at his lips, demanding a kiss. They didn’t lower to his groin, signaling a desire to touch.
Ricky stared right at him, into him, wordlessly confessing this was more than sexual desire. Ricky didn’t just want to fuck him. He wanted it all—friendship, love, intimacy, forever.
It was just a look shared between best friends, but it was powerful enough to punch through Martin’s memories, sink past heavily guarded walls, and fuse with the longing he couldn’t hide from Ricky.
This wouldn’t end with a kiss.
He would hurt them beyond repair.
“For fuck’s sake.” Tula leaned in, infusing the air with her sweet, feminine scent. “If you two don’t kiss after staring at each other like that, I’m going to lose all respect for you.”
A delicious shiver slid beneath his skin and froze his lungs. His body might’ve forgotten how to breathe, but it knew exactly how to take what it wanted.
His hand went to Ricky’s nape, a merciless grip that yanked Ricky’s head where he wanted it.
Then he took what belonged to him and devoured Ricky’s mouth.
A vicious fire roared inside Martin, unleashing a dormant need to plunder and consume.
After seven years without sex, he didn’t have any restraint left to ease into a kiss. He hauled Ricky against him and mauled that perfect mouth with sharp teeth and bruising lips.