Page 43 of No Sweeter Poison

My mouth dries and I squeeze my thighs together.

“That’s what you chose when you decided to go with the Wesleys tonight.” His free hand reaches for the necklace Lettie had me borrow for the evening. Alejandro yanks it clean off and I feel the sting of sharp diamonds scraping against my skin. “If there wasn’t a tracker in one of the diamonds, you’d be in some warehouse down by the coast, drugged and naked, while half a dozen men sample you like a bottle of wine at dinner.”

I can’t bring myself to speak. Even if I could, what would I say?

“Don’t ever fucking pull some shit like that again. Do you understand me?”

I nod so hard I think my head might roll off my body.

He releases his hold from around my neck. My hand immediately goes to where his fingers were seconds ago and an unfamiliar sensation spreads from my head to my toes. Heat gathers in intimate places and an ache between my legs has me questioning my sanity.

“You killed them.” I whisper, more to myself than him.

“Does that bother you?”

I pause before responding. “Would you do it again?”

“Yes,” he answers without missing a beat. “It wasn’t my first time. Most certainly won’t be my last.”

“You would kill for me?”

Alejandro’s gaze narrows, the line of questioning piquing his interest. “Yes,” again, no hesitation. “If that was what it took.”

No one’s ever done that before.

Protect me.

I always had to protect myself growing up. From the world, my parents, our circumstances. I’ve been protecting myself ever since I got here.

Maybe I don’t need to do that anymore.

I still don’t like him. I don’t even trust him but I suppose those feelings are immaterial, considering he's proved how far he'll go to keep me trapped here.

To protect me.

I shiver to think of what might’ve happened if he hadn’t been there. And it’s with that in mind that I lean forward and press my lips against his.

The kiss catches him off guard. When I feel him pulling away, I reach out and grip him by the lapels of his suit jacket, pulling him flush against me. All of ten seconds pass before his restraint snaps.

Alejandro pins me to the couch, one hand wrapped around the nape of my neck, the other gripping my chin and parting my bottom lip from the top one. Unlike every other kiss we’ve shared, he doesn’t ask for permission. He thrusts his tongue inside my mouth and tastes me, a series of long, deep strokes that send ripples through my body. When he kisses me like that, I become limp and useless, unable to reciprocate or be useful, merely lying there while he does all the work. Alejandro drags his teeth along the seam of my mouth before tugging on my bottom lip, the sensation making me dizzy. A moan escapes and I feel his lips lift in a slight smile against my mouth.

Fuck me, that man can kiss.

When I think about it, getting kissed like this really was worth getting shot at in the end.

But it’s not enough to be kissed anymore. He must be reading my thoughts because he pulls back and looks at me.

“Turn around,” he orders.

I do and now I’m gripping the armrest, cheek pressed against a velvet pillow, his hands kneading my breasts, as he kisses down the length of my neck and between my shoulder blades, stopping where the zipper to my dress sits. He must not notice it because his hands leave my breasts and drop to my thighs where he attempts to lift from the bottom but doesn’t get very far.

“Dahlia—”

The urgency in his voice sets my blood on fire. I reach behind me and grab his hips, gasping when I feel the thick hardness of his erection pressing up against me.

“There’s a zipper,” I rasp. “At the top, it’s—”

He manages to get the front of the dress up far enough to slip a single hand between my thighs. His fingers travel upward until they graze the edge of my underwear and he growls against my ear, “How the fuck did you manage to wear underwear in a dress like this?”