by Cora Kenborn
He sucked a sharp breath through his teeth. “Shit.”
“Sit down,” I instructed. “On the edge of the bed.”
He didn’t argue, and I moved with him as he sank onto the mattress. Without a word, he planted his feet in an open invitation. Empowered by the musky, masculine scent of his arousal, I wedged myself in between his legs and swirled my tongue around the tip.
“Fuck, Adriana, you’re killing me.”
“Tell me what you want,” I whispered, licking underneath the head. “Every single detail. This is your fantasy. Make it come true.”
His tortured groan sounded more animal than human as his hand dove into my hair. “I want you to suck me hard. I want to fuck your mouth, and then I want to come down your throat and watch you swallow it.”
I let out an unsteady breath.
“Do you know why?”
I shook my head.
His fingers twisted in my hair. “Because your mouth is mine. Your kiss is mine. And God help me, I need to mark them both. Stain them. Claim them. Mine, Adriana. My body. My mouth. My kiss.”
Dios mío, a la chingada.
Holy fuck.
A flood of warmth surged between my legs, and I didn’t think. I acted. I took him in my mouth, giving him everything he wanted as he hit the back of my throat.
Brody hissed, leaning back on one arm as I bobbed up and down, fighting my gag reflex. “Ah, fuck. Yes, just like that. Faster.”
All those things he said he wanted to do were just words. His commands flirted on the edge of dirty but didn’t fall over. His hand twisted in my hair but didn’t pull. His hips ground into the mattress but didn’t move. He was a live wire sparking toward an explosion, but he was holding back because he didn’t want to hurt me.
But that wasn’t what I wanted.
This was my gift. My ending. And I wanted to give him the fantasy.
I gently pulled away and sighed. “I’m breaking another rule for you.”
His pants came harsh and hard. “What?”
“I’ve never let a man come in my mouth. It’s almost as intimate as kissing to me. I’m giving this to you. I’m giving you everything, and you’re holding back. I’m not innocent, Brody. I’m not made of glass. I’m scandal and immorality and sin. Now, are you going to claim me, or not?”
It was like a switch flipped in Brody’s head. Twisting his hand in my hair, he shoved my open mouth onto his cock so hard, I choked. I braced my hands on his thighs, tears streaming down my cheeks as he pulled my head back.
“You want a taste of sin, princesa?” he growled. Holding the base of his shaft, he flicked the head against my lips. “Lick.”
I obeyed. Flattening my tongue, I dragged it across every inch, aching for more.
“Goddamn, that mouth…” It was all he said before pushing me back down, hard steel filling my throat once more. But this time, he joined the effort, guiding me up and down his length by my hair. Just as I started to get used to the punishing rhythm, he bucked his hips, thrusting up every time he pushed me down.
His hips and his hand were in a duel, and his cock was the only weapon.
“Is this what you wanted?” He groaned out the last word, and I peeked up to see his head thrown back, his Adam’s apple bobbing hard in his throat.
His movements were reckless and frantic. I didn’t know how much more I could take. My jaw ached, my throat burned, and my lungs were desperate to cough, but I refused to give in. We both needed this, and I was seeing it through until the end.
“Shit!” Brody’s whole body jerked right before warm spurts jetted down my throat. Letting out a primal growl, he clamped both hands against the back of my head. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” As his body spasmed, he opened his eyes and looked down. Seeing me struggle set him off again, sending another round of his release into my mouth.
Finally, he pulled away and cupped my face in his hands. “Swallow it,” he commanded. “I marked it, now show me it’s mine.”
So, I swallowed, and when I felt a mix of saliva and cum drip down my chin, Brody chased it with his index finger, scooping it back up to my lip. Without hesitating, I licked it off, the possessive adoration in his eyes all the reward I needed.
Hauling me up by my shoulders, he pulled me into his chest and took my lips in a devastating kiss that carved my heart out of my chest and laid it at his feet. New tears coated my wet face as I kissed him back, pouring everything I had left into that one moment.
That one perfect moment.
I hoped he kept this memory locked away, safe from the tarnished ones to come.
Pulling away, Brody brushed a hand across my cheek. He didn’t mention the fresh tears coating his fingers, but he knew they were there, and the pain in his voice shattered me as he stroked my hair. “Why does this feel like goodbye?”
I forced a smile and traced his lips, memorizing every groove and crevice. “Nothing lasts forever, counselor.”
“Then kiss me again.”
Maybe he understood what he was asking. Maybe he didn’t. I chose to believe somewhere, deep down, a part of him knew it was goodbye. I understood better than anyone that sometimes you were better off opting to live in ignorance than reality.
Reality was a cold and soulless place.
So, I kissed him with all the passion and hunger inside me, trying to silently reassure him that the act and the words weren’t mutually exclusive.
I loved him.
And because I loved him, as he lay sleeping, I gave his lips one last kiss and left my heart next to his pillow as I walked out.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Brody
For the second time, I woke up to an empty bed.
However, we weren’t in Chapala, and this time, I had a feeling it had less to do with sneaking out to avoid an argument as much as sneaking out to avoid a confrontation. One that had one hell of a right hook, I might add.
Despite the fact Vergara was still out there. Despite the fact the Muñoz Cartel was still intercepting our shipments. Despite the fact we now knew why he had a vendetta against the Carreras, especially Adriana, I couldn’t stop smiling.
She never said the words, but then again, neither did I. It didn’t matter. I felt them. She loved me. No woman had ever surrendered herself to me like Adriana did last night. If I ever wavered before, I didn’t now. Adriana Carrera was mine, and God help the man who tried to take her from me.
After a quick shower, I started to shave, then remembered Adriana’s nails raking through the scruff filling in my cheeks and tossed the razor in the trash. Maybe it was time to ditch the clean cut, boy next door look. After all, I was a cartel lieutenant, and an intimidating image was everything in this world.
I smirked at the reflection in the mirror.
Yeah, it was time to lay Brody Harcourt, assistant district attorney to rest, and breathe life into Brody Harcourt,, first lieutenant of the Carrera Cartel.
And the first thing the new Brody Harcourt needed to do was get rid of the Armani suits. Adriana was right. They made me look like an investment banker. But my choices were limited, so I pulled on the black jeans she made me buy and a white button-up shirt, rolled up at the sleeves.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
My phone chimed with a text, and I groaned, knowing if Val heard it, there would be hell to pay. However, once I saw it was from Carlos, I didn’t care.
Not much on Cristiano Vergara, but Ignacio and Rosita are Colombian. Funny since I’ve never heard the name. Maybe an alias since I can’t find any record of Ignacio existing.
I forgot I’d asked him for intel. Since he had nothing on Cristiano’s whereabouts, I decided not to text him back. I had more information at this point.
Opening the door to the sitting room Val used for our meetings, I was met with silence. Val stood in his usual spot at the bar, glass in hand and eyebrow cocked. Mateo sat on the couch, one ankle crossed over his opposite knee, a shit-eating grin on his face.
“When’s the rodeo, cowbo
y?”
I stalked past him, flipping my middle finger. “Fuck off, Cortes.”
Val just poured a glass of scotch and held it out. “You’re late.”
Rolling my eyes, I reached for the glass, then hesitated as Adriana’s voice filled my head.
“You need to lay off the booze. I’ll never understand why people willingly destroy their bodies. It’s disrespectful to those who never got to make that choice.”
“Hell, Harcourt. Are you drunk already?”
I dropped my hand and stepped away from the glass. “No, not drunk. In fact, I think I’m going to stop drinking for a while.”
He stared at me, his face deceptively neutral. “Casual clothes? Sobriety? Who the fuck are you, and what have you done with my lieutenant?”
“Cupid shoved an arrow straight up his asshole.” Both of us turned to see Mateo, not even trying to hide his arrogant smirk.
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at Val’s second-in-command. “Are we going to discuss business any time soon, or is he planning to toss out shitty one-liners all morning?”
Val set down the untouched scotch and lifted his tequila to his mouth. “Shut up, Mateo. That fucker shoved his arrow so far up your ass, I had to bail it out of jail. You have no room to talk.”
Mateo shot me a scowl, which I returned with a pleasant smirk and another middle finger.
“I have no intention of talking about this here,” Val said, pacing the room. “I’m tired of being one step behind this pinche pendejo. My men have searched the address Adriana gave you but found nothing. He’s on the move again. I’ve called a meeting with all my lieutenants in an hour. I want every top soldier we have on this. Ignacio Vergara will be stopped today if I have to track him down myself and send what’s left of him in a box to his mother.”
Mateo nodded. “So, we’re invading Guadalajara.”
Val’s hand clenched around his glass. “We’re invading Mexico. No one is safe until I have this asshole hanging by his feet.”
Blood pumped through my veins, and a rush of adrenaline awoke a dark craving inside me. “What are we waiting for?” I asked, running my hand over my gun holster. “Let’s go get this fucker.”
Six determined eyes, six heavy feet, and six clenched fists all moved toward the hallway when an ear-piercing scream drew three loaded guns. I rushed toward the front door, and Mateo sprinted toward the back while Val ran up the stairs, colliding halfway with a hysterical and crying Eden.
“Cereza! What the hell?” Val tried to take her in his arms, but she fought him like a rabid animal, fists flying at his arms, chest, and one even landing across his jaw. “Cereza! Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.” However, there were only more screams, more crying, and more fists until Val had enough. “Eden!” he yelled, pinning her arms by her side. “Talk to me!”
She glanced up at him, and the moment she looked in his eyes, the life drained out of her. Her body went limp, and she collapsed, her knees hitting the stairs with a sickening thud.
“Fuck,” Val growled, sinking onto his knees with her. Twisting around, he cradled her onto his lap, and wrapped his hand around her jaw, forcing her glassy-eyed stare on him. “Cereza, tell me who did this to you, and I swear he will die by my hand tonight.”
That was when time stopped. Eden’s lifeless gaze shifted toward me, tears spilling down her cheek. “It’s not a he. It’s a she.”
My pulse roared in my ears, and Val stiffened. “She, who?”
“Adriana.” Turning her watery eyes back to her husband, Eden ripped my world apart. “Santiago is gone. His crib is empty, Val. I—I looked everywhere. He’s gone, and so is Adriana. She took our son. I told you.” Pain turned to rage, and she screamed, driving her fists into Val’s chest. “I fucking told you not to let her come here! I told you this would happen! She murdered my brother, and now she’s taken our son! I hate you for this! I hate you! I-I…” She never finished. She collapsed again in hysterical tears, her pain so raw I grabbed my own chest.
No. She was wrong. Adriana wouldn’t harm Santiago. He was Val’s son. He was her family. I didn’t care what it looked like. Eden had it wrong.
I cleared my throat. “Val—”
Val’s face blanked. It was as if he went on autopilot. Scooping Eden into his arms, he barked out orders while climbing the stairs. “Cortes, search the grounds and look for any signs of forced entry. I want every staff member questioned and don’t hold back any method needed. Call the lieutenants and reroute the search from Vergara to my missing son and sister. Also, notify the doctor he’s to bring over sedatives. Not later; I want it done now. And get your wife over here. Eden isn’t to be left alone.”
I ran my hand across my mouth. “What can I do?”
Pausing with his wife cradled in his arms at the top of the stairs, Val turned a hard stare over his shoulder. “I think you’ve done enough.”
An hour later, Mateo had done all that Val asked, and we were still no closer to an answer.
All doors and windows were intact, and there were no signs of forced entry. Val insisted on interrogating every staff member himself, and they swore under the threat of bodily harm, or during bodily harm they saw no one on the grounds or near the house.
Now Mateo and I sat in the Carrera estate kitchen, my unwanted presence a thorn in his side. Sighing, he rubbed his palm across his goatee, flipping his phone in his hand. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”
I knew he thought defying Val’s orders and sticking around was either insane or suicidal, but I didn’t care.
“Good thing you’re not me.”
“Val just needed to lash out at someone. He’ll realize it’s not your fault. It’s not like you had any idea what she planned to do.” He stopped flipping his phone and glanced up at me out of the corner of his eye. “Did you?”
“Fuck you.”
Dropping his phone, he reared back, raising his palms in the air. “I had to ask.”
“She didn’t do this.” I still believed that. With every piece of my soul, I believed that. However, the longer both of them were gone, the harder it would be to convince anyone else. Every tick of the clock caused my stomach to plummet.
“Brody…”
“No!” I yelled. “She didn’t do this. Eden is confused. Adriana hurt her before, and she doesn’t trust her. I get that, but she doesn’t know her like I do. She didn’t hurt that baby.”
“I don’t want to believe it either, all right? But there isn’t any other explanation. If she didn’t do it, then why is she gone?”
I flinched at the question because I had no answer. That was what made me stay despite Val’s warning. It was why Mateo thought I’d lost my mind. Because anyone who valued his life would’ve been on a plane to Houston by now.
Brody Harcourt, the assistant district attorney, would have left immediately. But Brody Harcourt, the first lieutenant, wasn’t backing down.
Not even for Valentin Carrera.
“I don’t know,” I said, clenching my teeth.
“You don’t know what?”
Mateo and I both turned to see Val standing in the entryway to the kitchen, shirt half untucked, his dark hair standing straight up, deep lines etched around the corners of his eyes, and shoulders hunched.
Never, in the years I’d known Valentin Carrera, had I seen him appear anything less than formidable. He always stood tall and proud, his shoulders pushed back to terrorize and intimidate. Even when Manuel Muñoz kidnapped Eden, he still never lost his commanding presence.
But Santiago and Adriana were Val’s only family. They were his only tie to the humanity his mother instilled in him. It was at that moment I understood.
If he lost them, he lost the only thing keeping him from becoming the man he was groomed to be.
I stood. “Is Eden okay?”
Val continued into the kitchen, his movements robotic. “Her son is missing. What do you think?”
Mateo caught my eye, warning me to shut up with a slight
shake of his head. But every minute I wasted worrying about my own ass was time wasted finding Adriana, so I turned my back to him.
“Val, you have to know Adriana didn’t do this. She wouldn’t hurt Santi.” I ignored the low exhale behind me and waited for the storm.
A storm that never came.
“Do you know what she asked me last night?” Val kept his back to me as he stared at the refrigerator.
I assumed it was a rhetorical question, so I didn’t answer.
“She told me she’d been to Santiago’s nursery. I knew, of course. I’d already gotten an earful from Eden. She walked in and found Adriana caressing Santi’s cheek. Said she heard her whisper something about familia. Eden lost her shit, but Adriana didn’t fight back.”
The image of Adriana with Santi fueled my need to do something—anything—but I said nothing and let him continue.
“But it was what Adriana said to me that keeps running through my head. She said, ‘Are you sure he’s safe in there?’” He spun around, a vertical line sinking deep between his eyes. “I asked her what she meant, and she said something about having staff and sicarios coming in and out of the house, and shouldn’t I have security measures in place. I told her Santi was fine, but there was this look in her eyes. It was, fuck, I don’t know. It was sadness and fear. She said she had something to tell me, but then Eden came in, and she said she’d tell me later.” He sucked in a tired breath, his eyes shifting back to the refrigerator. “But later never came.”
No one said a word. All eyes just settled on the picture of the smiling baby stuck to the middle of a refrigerator that cost more than most people’s cars. It was no doubt put there by Eden, but Val couldn’t tear his eyes away. He traced the infant’s face, his shoulders sinking even lower.
“Why did she ask all that? Was she planning? Scheming?”
Then everything hit at once. Like a song playing in reverse, then suddenly skipping to the end.