walk directly through a cloud of warm steam.
“Wait.” He meets me as I cross the threshold, grabbing my wrist. I wince before I realize what he’s doing—unhooking a brown watch from my wrist. I’ve forgotten I’m still wearing it, one of his, taken from his closet.
He throws it onto the counter, near my pile of clothing, and turns his back to me. “Sit—” He nods to indicate a long bench on the other end of the space. The surface is textured so that I have purchase on it, even while wet. Shuddering, I find myself fixated by the only sight in view—him, his naked body facing away from me, his hands braced over the stone wall.
The angle strains the coiled muscle along his back and upper thighs, conveying better than words how this morning’s impromptu visit has affected him. He’s pissed, though damn good at hiding it. For someone so solidly built, I marvel at the fact that he was once a sickly boy who needed a heart transplant just to have a shot at survival.
Or so he says.
Were he anyone else, I’d use his past as a delicate attempt to start a conversation and pry what little information from him I could. It would be so easy were we still in Terra Rodea, and I had the cloak of my father’s power to hide behind. Why wouldn’t it be? I’ve been bred to manipulate men and women alike, all with a coy grin.
This iteration of Domino Valenciaga makes me rethink my entire approach toward people—and my life as a whole. From day one, none of my attempts at friendliness—or otherwise—ever worked on him. Maybe I never was as charming or as pretty, or as sexy as I thought?
Or at least, not until he ensconced me in his private estate in the middle of only God knows where. Here, away from the city where I always believed I had influence, I could finally get him to fuck me.
And I hate myself for being proud of breaking down his barriers in such an insignificant way.
“Why don’t you let me go now?” The question springs from my lips before I can rethink the pros and cons of asking it. “After all, if my father is dead—” I choke, barely able to spit out that word. “Then I’m of no danger to you. You have no worry of anyone seeking revenge.”
“If?” He scoffs at the phrasing, his head lowered, hair hanging damply. “Don’t be flattered by your presence here, Ada-Maria. I’ll still give what’s left of you to Jaguar when I’m done.”
It’s a horrifying threat that robs the air from my lungs, just as he intended it to.
And…
It’s a lie. I’m not sure at first. Not until I parse over that subtle dip in his inflection. No, I don’t think he intends for me to go to Jaguar.
Not anytime soon, at least.
And the confusion sowed by that thought is more than enough to dispel any exhaustion I may have felt. I sit forward, newly electrified with a desire to get a rise out of him. It seems to be the only way we communicate effectively.
Via taunts.
“You had no problem letting Alexi go to him,” I point out, cringing at the feel of her name in my mouth. I hate the thought that he had his cock in her first. That he enjoyed her first.
That he did so without the excuse of hateful lust and that she had the nerve to smile after. She smiled like his attention was comparable to heaven itself—that elated fucking smirk porn stars spend years trying to emulate.
God, I hate her.
I hate him more. Enough that I don’t take the tensing of his entire body as a warning sign like I should.
“Is that what this is about?” I continue stupidly. “Revenge? He stole your woman, and so you have penis envy—”
“Finally.” Pulling away from the wall, he whirls on me. “That mouth says something relevant for fucking once. Say it again.”
Penis, I presume, because he grabs his, cupping his fingers along the engorged shaft. I feel my eyes bulge. How could I miss the extent of his erection until now?
Does the topic of Jaguar fucking his women get him so horny?
No, I realize as he stalks in my direction, spraying droplets of water as he goes. It’s anger that arouses him. Rage. Disgust. All things inspired by me alone.
When he’s close enough, he cups my chin, tilting it. I grit my teeth experimentally, wondering if I have the strength