by Olivia Fox
Tenderly, I tucked her beneath the covers and pulled her up onto my chest so that I could pet her hair.
“How did that feel?” I asked her.
“So good…” she mumbled, her voice trailing off into sleep.
I decided to let her rest for now. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and we’d have her father to deal with.
It was an impossible situation, I’d no choice but to abscond with his daughter and didn’t have to know the man well to understand that he’d not take kindly to his princess staying the night with a complete stranger.
No matter that it was for her own protection.
To say nothing of her coming on my face.
We’d leave that part out.
But something told me, the gorgeous creature beside me was the type to wear her heart on her sleeve.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I wanted that heart to be festooned with fantasies of me finally fucking her the way that her body was made to be fucked. She’d ride me hard, just as she rode that horse of mine, rubbing against my cock like she did the saddle.
And then I’d tell her.
She deserved to know.
Now that she was mine, marked by my cum and soon to be filled with my seed, there was no way in hell she’d be racing Prancer again.
Over my dead body.
13
Gabriela
Animals talk.
But not everyone knows how to listen.
After breakfast I asked to accompany the ranch hands while they fed the livestock, and Carlos insisted on accompanying me to the barn. He stood protectively by, unsheathing his claws at any male who so much as smiled or said “good morning” to me.
Vida, the goat, bleated a warning while standing on the tin roof of her short house out in the pen. She shook her head, and her floppy ears swung like helicopter blades.
My scalp tingled, and I leaned towards Vida to listen intently, “She’s saying hello to something out there, and it’s no forest animal.” I said to Carlos.
“How do you know that?” He asked.
“I spent plenty of time with goats whenever we went back to Mexico during my childhood, and this one is uneasy. Something, someone, is out there at the edge of the woods. See her ears? Just like antennae.”
Rifle shots cracked in the distance and a bullet whizzed past my ear with a high-pitched whine. Before I could see it coming Carlos’s highly effective dive from behind sent me sprawling to the straw covered ground. The next shot popped off and a metal slug struck Vida’s rib with a glancing blow causing her to slide ungracefully off of her look out post with a thunk.
“Vida!” I started to rise and go after her and Carlos’s hand shoved me down into the straw.
“Stay down,” he snarled. “Unless you want your blood sprayed and bones shattered like pretzels. Trust me, he wasn’t aiming for the goat.”
“I’ll ride out on his flank, boss. See if I can’t get a shot.” One cowboy-hat-wearing man whispered to Carlos from the stables.
“How did he get in here in the first place?” My protector accused, standing up now that the shooter had galloped off out of sight.
“He could have snuck in on the Southern slope and come through the woods. Mighty determined if he did so. That brush is thick.” The cowboy said all of this while licking a brush over his mount, and pulling the cinch into place with determined snaps, leather against leather.
“What the hell was he after?” Carlos’s voice became ice, sharp as a chef’s knife.
I watched as he and the cowboy locked eyes, and swiveled their faces towards me, one of them with lips pulling back, baring his teeth. He spoke gutturally, “Go after him. Shoot to kill if you have to.”
The ranch hand followed orders, leaping up into the saddle so effortlessly that before I knew what happened he was galloping down the gravel ride, circling around the intruder to surprise him.
“Better check on that damned goat. She may have saved our lives today.” He clenched and unclenched his hands beside me, narrowing his eyes. “This here goat deserves to be stitched up by the best. He’s not going to like it, not one bit, but I’ll have my cousin Tony take her into town to be seen by Dr. Holly. It’s just a flesh wound. Vida doesn’t seem too phased by the injury.”
True enough.
The small goat stood at the fence, stretching her neck under a piece of barely raised hog wire to reach the green grass on the other side.
Back at the house, Carlos set the alarm from the inside and called his cousin. I nearly spewed my coffee on the counter hearing the loud protests on the other end of the line, “What am I now? A freaking goat sitter?”
But I noticed he didn’t refuse.
Carlos thanked him and explained, “Listen, I’ll owe you one. Can’t go back into town now, not with the Sinaloas looking for the girl.”
“Well I guess that answers my question. You did fuck her.” I winced at the crude statement made by Carlos’s cousin.
“Watch it.” Carlos limbered up his neck and shoulders as if readying for a fight. “Don’t talk about her like that. And no one can know she’s here,” he said. “No one.”
“Too late for that. You had a guest shooter this morning in case you forgot.” His cousin said.
“That’s just it. Why would they shoot her? She can’t serve as ransom if she’s dead.”
I gripped the breakfast bar when Carlos punctuated his last statement by snapping the pencil in his hands in two.
“Maybe they were aiming for me.”
“Well now that there’s a distinct possibility.” Tony said loud enough for me to hear.
Of course, so far, only Carlos and I knew that I was the winning jockey who’d raced Native Prancer first to finish. But if anyone else found out, that alone might be motive enough for putting me six feet under.
Not only that, the Sinaloas’ weren’t the only ones who’d wish me dead once my father found out that I was sleeping with the enemy.
That was only a slight exaggeration of the truth, but when it came to my status as a prized virgin, my father didn’t quibble over details.
Carlos hung up and walked to the immense kitchen window to look out over the bay, shoving his pipe-sized fingers through his hair. “We can pretend like nothing happened last night all we want, but it did. Now we have a choice to make.”
I stopped swiveling on my stool and wrinkled my nose, “What choice is that?”
“Either we flee the country, never to return. Or we call your father and tell him you’re with me. Under my protection.”
I grabbed fistfuls of my hair and rocked slightly back and forth on the kitchen stool.
“What is it?” In two steps, he was right in front of me, his body a solid wall, impassive, unyielding.
“He’s not a reasonable man when it comes to his only daughter. He’s going to blow his top.” My body couldn’t curl tight enough on top of the stool to stop the fear.
“Hey.” He put his hands on my waist, and my whole body tingled at his touch. “If anyone tries to talk me out of being with you, I won’t listen. I promise.”
“We made out, Carlos. That doesn’t make this a lifetime commitment. You have a reputation, and it’s not for being the monogamous kind.” My heart shrank and I chewed at my bottom lip.
I hardly knew this man, and the thought of losing him before we even discovered each other all the way, made my body feel like it weighed a thousand pounds.
He set his jaw, exuding calm focus, and said, “I can’t go back to the way things were before. Being with you changed everything.”
My chest fluttered when his mouth swooped in to steal a long leisurely kiss. It was a good thing I was sitting down, because his smell and his ravishing kisses made me dizzy and set fire to my heart.
I was only able to shove him backwards because he let me, “Will you call him? Let him know they tried to kidnap me? He won’t yell at you, and I can’t stand to hear his disappointment.”
“He doesn’t need to kn
ow about us. I know it could ruin you.” Carlos teased my lips with another panty melting kiss and said, “But even your father will have to accept your staying here, safe and out of harm’s way. He’ll come to understand that if anyone lays a hand on you, I’ll break their every finger. Trust me, I can be very convincing when I need to be.”
14
Carlos
Gabriela stammered, “He’s going to kill me when he finds out. I’m dead meat.”
It wasn’t just the threat of her father’s reaction when he found out she’d been holed up here, alone, sans chaperone. Although having El Jefe mad at you would be reason enough to walk around wide-eyed, shaking her head.
I knew enough from seeing my men after their first kill: the dazed look, stiff posture, and a glass of alcohol to anesthetize what they’d seen, to recognize her signs of shock after the shooting.
“Do we need wine?” Gabriela asked on cue.
“One glass. And you need to get in the hot tub. It’ll take the chill away.” I said, noticing that she was hunched around her center, as if a sudden iciness had hit her core. “Look.” I pushed the button that caused frothy foam to cover the surface of the water. “Bubbles. If you want lights, just press this button here.” My efforts to distract her were transparent, but I couldn’t stand seeing the shakiness that had taken over her typically bold and beautiful body.
The sight of her like this gave me urges, certain compulsions I couldn’t fight. They were more than hunger, more than desire, I needed to spark her gorgeous smile again.
I placed her Chardonnay on the table next to her, noticing the way that the sunlight made cinnamon stripes where it touched her chocolate brown hair. Everything about her was edible.
She wore one of the robes I gave her, tugging it tightly around her chest, and I dialed her father to explain the situation. I gestured to her with my palm, “stay” and walked inside to speak to Señor Serrano, closing the door behind me in case things got heated when I called to let him know his princess was with me, and she was going to stay that way until we discovered who had tried to kidnap and fire shots at her.
“You got some major cajones on you, Drago. I’ll give you that. Not just any man would have the balls to tell me he’d abducted the apple of my eye. I won’t have her virtue tainted by you.” Serrano snarled on the other end of the line. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been about her?”
“I’m sorry I caused you concern, Señor. Let me assure you she’s safe and will be returned unharmed. I saw some men attempt to capture her and stuff her in their trunk.” I meant to appease him, but my politeness had its limits. Cartel crime boss or no, I bowed to no one. “I’m afraid they’re still on the lookout for her. Which is why I think she’s safer with me than following her normal routine. I’ve beefed up security until we find out who’s behind this.”
“Sinaloans,” he snapped. “No doubt in my mind.”
“Maybe. But until we confirm that’s the case, it doesn’t make sense to go off half-cocked.”
There was a long pause on his end and he growled his displeasure, “Let me talk to my daughter.”
Out the window I saw Gabriela, skimming the surface of the hot tub with her palm. I wanted to hold that hand, reassure her with my touch while she spoke to her father. I’d keep her safe. Even from her own blood if necessary.
Handing her my cell phone so she could reassure her father she wasn’t being held against her will, I slipped in behind her and sat on the edge of the hot tub, rubbing her shoulders while she spoke, “Of course I won’t lie to you, papá, I’m being very well taken care of.” She sipped from her glass, murmuring platitudes until finally, she hung up and blew out a deep sigh.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yes. I promised him I had my own room, so I don’t feel great about that. But if he knew the truth, he’d go ballistic. This might be the twenty-first century, but in his mind, I’m a helpless maiden who needs chaperones twenty-four seven.”
“You have a chaperone,” I said. “Me.”
“Believe it or not, it means a great deal that he trusts you even this much. Your reputation as a warrior precedes you, otherwise, he’d insist I come home now.” She twisted her hair in her fingers, and I scratched her scalp, trying to comfort her anyway I could.
“What are you worried about then?” I asked.
“I’m grateful you’re taking care of me. It’s not that I don’t feel safe with you. But it’s not just my virtue my father is worried about. It’s everything. He puts up with my passion for horses, as a hobby, but he’ll never accept me racing.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Sometimes I feel like more of a brood mare than a daughter. My uterus is my most prized possession in his eyes.”
I loved the way she could make light of something that obviously hurt her, but I could sense that she was tormented.
Besides, her dad wasn’t the only one who didn’t want her to race.
“Listen, I come from a big, bossy family too. Sometimes it’s hard not to have control over what we do with our lives,” I said.
She cleared her throat and asked, “What would you have done, if you had a choice?”
“You promise not to laugh?”
“I promise, I’ll be good.” Her words sucker punched me in the gut, and my swollen dick made its impatience known. “I swear I won’t laugh.”
“When I was a boy, I dreamed of being a racecar driver. As I got older, I had to accept that my career choice wasn’t up to me.” I sank into the tub next to her. Gabriela raised her hand and began to play with my hair.
“So here we are.” She brushed her mouth across my cheek and I turned to give her a real kiss that could have only one conclusion. Contrary to my usual M.O., I was enjoying our conversation and getting to know her.
I didn’t want it to end.
She continued, “We’re the favored children of our families which means our station prevents us from pursuing our passion.”
One tear trickled past her lashes, and I caught it with my finger, bringing the salty sadness to my lips.
Fuck.
She had me.
There was no way I could stand to see her cry.
When she gulped back sorrow her eyes could not hide, it was worse than anything I’d ever experienced.
I needed to fix it.
“Be that as it may, Gabriela. You’re with me now. If there is one thing I can promise you, I’ll see you ride Native Prancer to his next victory.” She leaned against my side with a sigh of contentment, and it was better than any trophy I could have won.
She pulled away, her eyes troubled once again, “But my father. He’ll never allow it.”
“You leave your father to me, gorgeous. I’m used to dealing with men like him.”
“What will you say to him?” Her brow was knit with concern.
“It’s not what I’ll say. I’m going to do him a favor that will help him see the light.” At least I hoped so.
Marrying Gabriela would strengthen both of our families. I don’t know what she did to me. I hadn’t even fucked her yet, and here I was wanting her so badly, needing her so badly, that I was ready to sign away the rest of my life to her.
Arranged marriages were a dime a dozen in families like ours.
That’s all this would be.
A business arrangement.
Yeah right.
I didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize I was lying to myself.
This girl ruined me.
15
Gabriela
Hot tub.
Check.
Wine.
Check.
Hot alpha male who acts like he has feelings for me beyond the penile kind.
Check.
It was an intoxicating blend and I’d only had one drink.
If Carlos kept this up, he was going to take my non-existent virginity for reals tonight.
At least I hoped he would.
On any given day, the only male
specimen who occupied my mind was Native Prancer. I took a slow sip of my Chardonnay and squinted to see whether the new male in my life was sporting wood.
Yes. I just thought that. Sporting wood.
Around Carlos Drago, I was becoming someone I didn’t recognize. Someone who craved sex.
Visibility was low beneath the bubbles on the water’s surface, and so I took another sip, closed my eyes and imagined his formidable cock growing, straining toward me, aching for release in the same way I did.
The pulsing place between my legs was persistent; impossible to ignore. The fact that up til now, I’d been the recipient of his attention, his very skillful fingers, and talented tongue only fueled my indecent fantasies.
People said never combine business with pleasure, but right now the man who owned my racehorse, my destiny, was one I wanted to please very much.
Luckily, it wasn’t up to me to make the first move. Carlos slid close to me on the bench seat, so his body heat seeped into mine even beneath the hot water, and I molded my body against his, rewarded by the sensual sound of male longing.
The sound, or the wine, gave me confidence and I placed my palm on his bare chest, amazed by the sheer bulk of his swollen pecs. I placed my head there and he wrapped a single arm around me, making it feel like it’s the safest place in the world.
There was something about him that made me feel protected. Like even my very worst fears could never touch me when he was at my side.
He dipped his head and automatically, I raised my lips to his, breathing in his scent which intoxicated me. His mouth met mine, once, twice, and again, soft and insistent, and it was as if some potent brew clung to them, making me dizzy with lust, and a spell that smashed every ounce of will in my body.
I wanted more.
It was a good thing I was sitting down because I was dizzy with desire. I scraped my nails down the hard muscles of his abdomen, wanting to make him feel as good as I did, but he caught my wrist and said, “You’re not just any girl, are you Gabriela?” Once more he adored my mouth with his kiss, and slid his lips across the inside of my wrist. “You’re my very, very good girl. The best.”