“You’ve never objected before. But then, we’ve never gone that far either.” She raised her head and looked down at him, her face scrunched in a fierce frown. In her dreams, he had always been a willing participant with whatever she wanted to do. “Our loving has never felt so real, but you never regretted it like this.”
“Listen, you need to stay out of my bed,” he murmured. “You will finish college in another year. Nothing is going to derail that.”
She pushed out of his arms, sat up in the bed, and glared at him. “This is not a dream.”
Cherone woke in her bed.
Rico was also fully awake now, but he was still shock to not find her next to him in his bed. God that felt so damn real! The feel of her skin, her scent, her taste, it was all so fucking real!
You were in my dream!
He stiffened at her shocked accusation.
Yes. He knew there was no going back now, no point in denying her declaration.
How long? Cherone demanded.
He didn’t answer her. Instead he got up from the bed, walked into the en suite bathroom and stepped into a cold shower. There was no way he could carry on a sane conversation with her while still out of his mind with lust. I can still taste her!
The cold jets of the shower rained down on him for what felt like hours before the angry swell of his cock dissipated. He walked back into his bedroom to find Cherone sitting on his bed waiting on him. She’s fully dressed, thank God.
“Didn’t I just tell you to stay the hell out of my bedroom?”
She raised an eyebrow.“Really? You just went down on me in my dream, and that’s what you want to talk about?”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“How about how long have you been visiting me in my dreams?”
“Does it matter?”
“Damn straight it does!”
“Watch your mouth!”
“Now you want to be a parent?” she yelled at him.
“I was never your parent. But one more curse word out of that mouth, and I’ll paddle your ass!”
“Go to hell, Rico!”
He grabbed her around the waist and pushed her face down over his knee before she had finished her defiant sentence. When his palm came down on her bottom, she sank her teeth into his thigh. He had to push her from his lap to prevent her taking a chunk of skin from him.
“You’re such a little wildcat!”
“You don’t get to spank me. Only my man gets to do that. Are you ready to be my man, Rico?”
“Where the hell did you learn to talk like that?” he roared, shocked that she had him hard all over again.
“I learned from the best.”
“What the hell did you say?” He stalked toward her, so pissed he didn’t know what he would do if she had let another man touch her. “Who have you …?”
“Will you stop? Every waking moment, every errant thought is about you. I can’t shut my eyes without wanting to drown myself in your arms. Do you really think I’m going to let some piss-tailed boy touch me?”
“Then what the hell are you talking about? Who have you learned from?”
She sighed heavily. “I learned from you, you idiot!”
“I’m going to remember all of these insults, and I will beat your ass until you can’t sit for a week.”
“Yeah, yeah, just remember what has to happen first. As far as I can tell, our relationship ain’t changed yet, despite what just happened.”
He grinned at her wickedly. “Do you think that’s all that will happen to you if you were my woman?” Rico let his gaze roam over her curvy figure. “When I’m through with you, you would probably be walking bowlegged for days.”
She gasped and slammed her hand over her mouth.
Rico raised an eyebrow. “I see that shut your little ass up. Are you scared, niña?”
Cherone sobered and stared at him suspiciously. “Are you avoiding my question?”
“Which question would that be?”
Sighing, she asked, “When did you start invading my dreams?”
“I didn’t invade your dream.”
Cherone stared at him.
“Well not intentionally.”
She continued glowering. “When?”
“Not long. And I’m only aware of your dreams when I’m here in the house.”
She looked so relieved he was even more curious about what else she had dreamed about him.
“The better question is why I’m I able to do that. You explained about your great- grandmother’s gift passing onto you, but I didn’t know that I was part of it. Why am I part of it?”
She turned away, hiding her expression.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing!”
“So why won’t you look at me and say that?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Cherone!”
“I don’t understand our connection either. It’s not supposed to be this strong.”
“What’s not supposed to be so strong? Tell me what the hell is going on.”
“I have her journals. And while she and her husband were able to communicate like we do, she never said anything about them dreaming together.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about the telepathic ability between your great- grandparents?”
“Would you have become my guardian if you knew that, according to our connection, we’re destined to be together? I told you, the journal referred to their union as ‘almas gemelas’.”
“What?” Rico looked at her skeptically. Twin souls?
Cherone blinked. “You really didn’t work that out on your own? Can you mentally communicate with another woman, or can I communicate with another man? The fact that we’re sharing dreams and haven’t even shared a proper kiss proves that our connection is even stronger than my great-grandparent’s was.”
“Since none of what’s happening between us is normal, I didn’t try to put a label on it. In fact, I try not to think about it at all. As to whether I would have become your guardian or not, I don’t remember being given a choice about that. All of us were responsible for you after Adam died.”
“But I told you this was fate. I knew after our first conversation mentally that I couldn’t let you walk out of my life.”Cherone smiled. “According to my Creole ancestors, you and I are destined souls, meant to be together in this life and in the hereafter. For over two hundred years this ability has helped the women in our family to identify their true soul mate. If I had moved in with Dominic in the Bahamas, you could have easily made a life without me.”
“Did your sisters have this ability?” Rico asked.
“No. The ability only passes to a few of the women in our family. No one knows why that is. But I am the only female since my great-grandmother to have it. According to her journal, all of the other women kept journals as well. The other journals are probably still in our house in New Orleans.”
“Is this why the house was in your name instead of your brother’s?”
“The house was my great-grandmother’s. Grand-mère left the house to me because I have the birthmark all women with the telepathic ability have. This was also the reason why I was named after her.”
“Did Jerome and your sisters know you were able to read their minds?”
“No. I always pretended that although I had the mark, I didn’t have the ability. If they had known, they would have tried to exploit it. I wouldn’t have been able to live with that.”
“Yes, they certainly would have.”
“Grand-mère died when I was two years old, less than a day after her husband died. There’s another thing you need to be aware of.”
“What is that?” Rico frowned at her.
“According to our ancestors, once we consummate our union our souls merge and we can’t live without the other.”
“What? What are you saying?”
“Our souls can’t survive without the other. This is why it’s called ‘almas gemelas’.�
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“While I appreciate that you believe what you’re saying. This seems beyond farfetched,” Rico said, frowning at her. “What’s happening between us is just a quirk of nature. But linking our souls and anticipating that we are mates for life is taking things too far.”
“I knew the moment we could communicate telepathically who you were to me. And nothing that has happened in the past seven years has changed that.”
“You knew even then?” Rico asked. “You were a child.”
“Yes. That’s why it was hard watching you with those other women.”
“And you’re still a child. We couldn’t have that kind of a relationship.”
“I’m twenty years old Rico, hardly a child.” Cherone stood and walked toward him. She stopped inches in front of him. “Whether you like it or not, we’re already in an intimate relationship. The fact that it isn’t a physically intimate one doesn’t make it any less important or less real to me.”
Rico raised an eyebrow. “Despite what you believe or think to the contrary, there is no us. You’re a kid until you finish school. This is not negotiable.”
“But… now that you understand and know what’s in store for us, will you reconsider our relationship?”
He grabbed her hand and gently marched her over the threshold of the bedroom. “No matter what you think this connection thing means, we’re doing this my way. So for my peace of mind, stay the hell out of my bedroom physically and paranormally.”
“Rico…”
He closed the door in her face.
I don’t agree with you!
Doesn’t matter. Finish college, and then if you still think we’re destined to be together, come back to me.
Just so we’re clear, you don’t consider us together, right?
No.
And you intend to continue dating other women?
Rico didn’t answer.
There’s this basketball player at school who has been asking me out. I think I’ll take him up on it.
Rico ripped opened the bedroom door and pulled her against him.
She gasped, stunned by his sudden response.
He couldn’t resist her lush, parted lips. Bending his head, he swooped and covered her mouth with his. Her taste was beyond anything he had anticipated. He hadn’t meant for this to happen, but now he was weak with lust. He backed her against the wall for support. His senses were on over load, her taste and the feel of her against was short-circuiting his control. It was as if this was his first real kiss. All kisses before paled in comparison. Angling his head, he deepened the kiss and wanted to gorge himself in her. She wound her arms around his neck and molded herself against him.
He palmed her ass and pulled her closer still.
She wiggled to get as close to him as possible.
Releasing her lips, he trailed kisses down the fragrant column of her neck as he roamed his hands over her curves. He caressed her back and then her round bottom to pull her closer to his steely length. He ground into her softness, eliciting soft cries from her.
“I love you so much!” she whimpered.
He hugged her tightly against him, trying to bring his raging lust under control. He gazed down at her earnestly. “I’m no saint, pequeña. I’ve done things I will have to answer to God for.” He swallowed, thinking of the men he had killed on the battlefield.
She caressed his face with gentle fingers. “None of that matters, Rico. I know the purity of your heart, and that’s all I need to know.”
“You don’t know what you’re committing to,” he insisted. “You don’t know me.”
“I do know. I’m already yours, mi amor.” Cherone gazed at him, her love shining boldly in her eyes.
Rico looked away from her. She can’t know who I really am, the things I had to do to survive …
For the brief two years he had been assigned to a foster mother in Puerto Rico, he had learned more than any young boy should have known about the criminal underworld. His foster mother Annamarie had eight boys in her home ranging in age from seven to seventeen. Every year a child aged out at eighteen, she went and got another child to fill his place.
Annamarie and four other boys who had stayed when they turned eighteen ran a well- oiled criminal enterprise. Pedro, Jorge, Julio, and Renaldo were in their late twenties and early thirties. They were hardened criminals who thought nothing of beating the boys into doing their bidding or killing anyone who got in their way. The younger boys did petty crimes like pick-pocketing and stealing groceries and clothing, while the older boys peddled drugs at school and on the streets.
Rico learned his duties well—too well. He was fast, able to get in and out of stores undetected. He pilfered wallets and handbags without alerting the owners and brought home twice as much as the younger boys did put together. Annamarie patted him on his head and gave him a little more to eat than the other boys. She was extremely happy to have such an arsenal as part of her team, so when Rico turned eight, she promoted him to selling drugs at school.
Everything in him rebelled against his new assignment, however, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Pedro beat him every day he came home with no sales. When Rico learned not to make a sound during the assaults, Pedro got bored and the beating didn’t last as long. But after six months of the daily beatings, Rico knew he had to do something before they killed him. He couldn’t tell the authorities about Annamarie. Another child had already tried that, and she had discredited him and returned to an orphanage. A few months later, the boy had been found stabbed to death behind that orphanage, and his killer had not been found. All of the boys who came to Annamarie’s home were told that story, and they understood that any attempt to alert the authorities would end in a similar fashion. If any of the boys were caught, they also knew to take the fall and not implicate anyone else. The threat was unspoken but understood by them all.
Rico missed classes, received bad grades, and became the class clown whenever he did attend class. The school called Annamarie in for a consultation, and the beating that night was so bad that Rico could barely walk the next day. He was persistent, though, wanting the authorities to label him as uncontrollable and therefore take him away from Annemarie. After three months and more bad academic reports from the school, Pedro and Renaldo hung Rico upside down off the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge for hours in the middle of the night. Despite dangling over the San José Lagoon, Rico remained calm and refused to beg for his life, and this really pissed off Pedro. The beating that night was the worst he had ever suffered. He woke up late the next day with a broken arm. This was it. He had to get out. A few months after he had healed sufficiently, he was allowed back at school.
Rico agreed to sell the drugs, but as soon as school started, he remained in the hallway and sprinkled some of the cocaine above his lip. This created a cocaine foam to drizzle from the side of his mouth, and Rico pretended to convulse. School security found him soon after and rushed him to the hospital. Annamarie was only too happy to return him to the orphanage after that.
Years later, he had returned to Puerto Rico and found that Annamarie, Pedro, Jorge, Julio, and Renaldo were still up to their old tricks. Rico felt no guilt in doling out his own brand of punishment on them. With evidence Rico supplied to the FBI, the group was put away for life in prison. Rico ensured that prison life for the men included daily ambushes and physical attacks from other prisoners. Housed in separate prisons, Annamarie and the men were never at peace …
And neither am I … unless I’m with Cherone.
“You haven’t experienced enough of life to settle on me,” Rico said. “You’re too young, pequeña.”
Cherone raised her eyebrows.
Rico shook his head and kissed her hard. “No, I don’t mean with other men. That’s not part of this deal. I just want you to finish college without the pressure of a relationship with me, no distractions. But you’re not dating anyone else either.”
“What are you saying? Are you denying me other options while you i
ntend to continue seeing other women? Do you know that I’m probably the only girl at college not having sex or who doesn’t have a boyfriend?”
“So, what the hell is wrong with that? You’re a good girl.”
“I don’t have much of a choice. Every boy I go out with never calls me back. Do you know anything about that, Rico?”
“Perhaps they’re idiots,” Rico said.
“I spoke with one of them recently and held his hand. Do you know what I uncovered?”
Rico shrugged.
“You threatened them all, Rico. Just like Jeremy in high school, you pulled that Navy SEAL crap. What sane person does that?”
“You think this is easy for me?”He frowned. “Not a moment goes by that I’m not thinking about you. I haven’t been with another woman in almost a year. Now I’m setting myself up for another year of celibacy.”
“So I don’t have to cut anyone?”Cherone asked. “Thanks to you, I’m an expert on sharp objects.”
She looks so cute when she’s contemplating violence. “No, you don’t have to cut anyone. Nor will you be dating anyone either.”
“All right then, I guess I’m going to graduate from college. But Rico?”
“Yes?”
“After this, I’m coming for you.”
“God help you when you find me because I’ll be waiting for you, querida,” Rico said softly.
Chapter Eight
The present…
RICO’S SENSES WERE still reeling from the erotic experience in the shower with his mind-link to Cherone. They could now connect powerfully and have mind-blowing sex because their telepathic ability had continued to grow in ways neither of them could understand. If he and Sean weren’t scheduled to leave in a few hours to rescue an American journalist who had been caught by ISIS in Iraq, he would have gone after Cherone to end their torment.
Rico knew his patience with Cherone would pay off. Despite his insistence on her finishing college without the encumbrance of their relationship, Rico couldn’t stay away from her. After every assignment, he came home and took her out to dinner, to nightclubs, movies, the theatre, or to ball games. They explored the Miami social scene, but he refused to admit that they were a couple.
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