“No, you don’t understand. Carlos resents Petal. When we first got to Mexico, he tried to befriend her, but all she talked about was you and how she wanted to go home. As much as I tried to make it work, my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t love him, and he knew it. It wounded his pride. That’s when the abuse started. I told him I wanted to go home and he told me that if I ever left him, he would hunt me down and kill everyone I loved, starting with Petal. He used my child as leverage in order to keep me in line. Never again.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you or Petal,” Alex said, his growly voice reverberating through her.
She stared at him, begging him to understand. “Please, I need you to take her.”
His arms tightened like a vice around her ribcage, his blue eyes flashing with steely determination as he glared down at her. “You’re not leaving me again.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Please, promise me you’ll take her.”
“Promise me you won’t leave again.”
Stubborn man! If she didn’t go back to Carlos, he would come after the club and kill every last one of them! “Promise me!” she shouted.
“Promise you won’t leave!” he shouted back.
“Gah!” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her.
His head dipped, his eyes less than an inch away from hers, his warm breath whispering across her face. He spoke in a soft voice, “I know you’re scared, but I need you to do something for me. I need you to trust me. I fucked up before. I wanted you but couldn’t admit how much until you were gone. Instead of coming for you, I got angry. I convinced myself I was better off without you. I was wrong.”
Sage’s heart leaped inside her chest, then plummeted. “What about Emma?”
“It’s over.”
She searched his face, looking for signs of heartbreak. “Because of me?”
“That, and other things.”
“I’m sorry. Regardless of my feelings for you, please know that I would never, in a million years, intentionally sabotage your relationship.”
A wicked grin appeared on his face. “And how exactly do you feel about me, sweetheart?”
His deep, gravel-throated question elicited words such as hot, turned on, needy, wet, and horny as hell, but what came out of her mouth was a whispered, “You know how I feel.”
“Tell me.”
“I was wrong.”
“About?” The intensity of his stare left her feeling raw and exposed. They’d been there and done this before, and each time she’d gotten hurt.
“About?” he repeated.
She glared at him. “I left because I was sick of the rejection. I thought that maybe he could get me over you, and I was wrong.”
“You were what? I didn’t hear you.” Her laugh turned to a shiver as his nose grazed against her neck. “Hmm, you smell good.”
“Alex,” she half-whispered, half-moaned.
His lips touched her ear, and her body burst into fiery flames of need. “Did it work? Are you over me?”
Wetness dampened her panties, her nipples puckering to the point of pain; she let out a laugh of desperation. “Does it look like I’m over you?”
He smiled, then he kissed her.
The rasp of his whiskers scraped across her sensitive skin as their tongues tangled together. He pulled her in deep, his body rubbing against hers, and she could feel how much he wanted her. She wanted him, too. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything in her entire life, but there were things he needed to know, things she hadn’t told him. Instead of sinking into the kiss, like she wanted, she ended it.
“I need to tell you something.”
“Later,” he murmured, capturing her mouth again.
God, the man could kiss. She broke away—this time barely—and called out a breathy, “Alex, please—” but then his thumb was on her nipple and his hand was sliding inside her pajama pants and underneath her panties, straight to the heart of her. On a gentle glide, his fingers slid inside, and her body ignited in a blaze of sensation.
“Christ, you’re drenched.”
He pulled back, his fingers disappearing from her body, and her breath hitched. “What’s wrong? And if you say you can’t because of Gibbs, I’m going to hurt you.”
A glimmer of amusement sparked in his eyes. “I’m trying to be careful. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Relief washed through her. “You won’t, I promise.”
“Are you sure?” His fingers dipped back inside her panties and gently circled her clit.
A strangled, “Yes,” shot from her mouth as she arched up to meet them.