Page 35 of Glorious Sinner

I shrugged because what Raul thought—what anyone thought—was irrelevant. All that mattered was that Steph was okay with this change because I couldn’t share her, not like that.

“I need to keep my job, Tomas,” she said. “After this is all over, I’ll have to go back to my old life. I can’t just stay here and hide from the world.”

Her words nailed me in the chest. Did she think I was just playing with her? That what we were doing here had an end date? Christ, how did she not see it?

“Humor me,” I said instead. “Just for now.”

She relaxed and I wanted to fucking howl.

“I think I can do that.” Her smile returned. “I better go pick something to wear.”

Stephanie would work out soon enough that there was no end date. There was no going back to her old life. She owned me, heart and soul.

Somehow I had to make her see it.

10

Stephanie

“So good to see you back up there,” Deb said as she passed by with a tray full of drinks.

I was headed back onto the floor after finishing my second dance for the night and I realized how much I’d needed it. With everything that had happened, the way my life had changed in the last couple of weeks, I’d started to feel like I was spiraling. Yes, Tomas was there to catch me, and I knew he would, but he wouldn’t always be there to do that. He had a life outside of protecting me from Ryan. God, how long before he got tired of the emotional roller coaster I lived on?

I came with a whole heap of baggage, more than anyone should be expected to deal with. How long before he got sick of giving and giving and getting nothing back in return? He must think I’m the most selfish woman in the world. He’d made me come nearly every night, until I couldn’t think straight. I hadn’t touched him, not like that. I could admit some of that was my not wanting to disappoint him.

Tomas exuded something darkly erotic. He was walking, talking sex on a stick, and honestly, it was intimidating. I trusted him with my life. I owed him so much, and I didn’t know how to communicate that to him.

I glanced up and he was in the same place I’d left him. Our table. His eyes were on me, following me as I made my way toward him. My belly swirled. That’s all it took, one look from him and I was wet for him. Only him.

We’d also made no promises to each other. He hadn’t contradicted me when I mentioned going back to my old life when this was over, and that was okay—it was. I never expected anything from him when I went to him for help, and he’d given me more than I could have dreamed. He’d shown me the man under the ink and suits and the hard exterior, and I felt privileged to have been given that.

He’d made me fall head over heels in love with him.

But I didn’t expect promises or a commitment from him. I didn’t expect this to last.

And that was okay.

It didn’t mean I didn’t want it to, though. But I didn’t know how to show him what he meant to me. How to let him know how much I appreciated him and all he’d done for me. How much I wanted him.

An idea came to me, an idea that had butterflies taking flight in my belly. But it excited me as well. I changed course and found Deb, stopping her when she was about to walk out the back. She grinned when I asked her what I wanted and rushed to do what I asked.

I lingered until the song playing was drawing to an end. As I headed back across the bar, I kept my eyes locked on Tomas. No, I didn’t know how to tell him how I felt, but I wanted him to know, whatever the outcome. He thought I was strong and I wanted to be for him and for me.

This was the first step.

I was right there in front of him when the song I’d chosen started, when a woman’s voice echoed around the room.

My hands went to his shoulders and I stepped in between his spread thighs and started moving.

Tomas looked up at me and his nostrils flared, his dark eyes so full of heat I felt like he’d set me alight. For once I didn’t try and avoid that intense stare. I let him see the truth. I hid nothing while the song throbbed through me. While the woman’s voice continued to echo around the room, singing about how she felt, telling him how he made her feel.

Asking him not to let her go.

Tomas’s chest was rising and falling with his harsh breaths as I climbed into his lap. His hands went to my waist, holding me as I dropped my head back. His eyes locked on me as I lifted it back up and moved my body to the music, hoping he’d understand, that he’d hear what she was saying, that he’d know what I was trying to tell him.

The intensity he was throwing off made it hard to keep looking at him, but I did. I refused to look away. I wasn’t broken anymore, and I needed him to see it for himself. It was too soon for me to say what this song blatantly said, but I wanted him to know. I needed him to know.

As the song came to an end, Tomas’s fingers sunk into my hair and he pulled me in for a kiss that made my toes curl and my heart race. I was hot and needy, and God, I wanted him.