Page 65 of Faded Gray Lines

He narrowed his gaze, rounding the table until he stood beside me. “I don’t think so.”

“Really, it was nothing,” I repeated, the heat radiating off him causing sweat to bead across my chest. “I have to go.”

His eyes darkened. “But we haven’t even had dessert.”

“I couldn’t eat anything else.”

“That makes one of us.”

The hunger I saw building in his eyes exploded. Sweeping his free arm out, Mateo cleared the dishes off the table, sending them flying into the wall and onto the tile floor. As ceramic exploded everywhere, he lifted my legs off the floor and forced my back against the table, pushing my cotton dress up to my waist.

“What are you—”

“Doing? I’m having dessert.” Ignoring my protests, he grasped the sides of my panties and pulled. As they slid down my legs, he followed their path until his head settled between my thighs. “I’m still hungry, and you’re way too tense.”

I pushed against his shoulders, but his tongue was already probing between my swollen folds, counteracting my blocks with a sharp bite to my clit. I clutched fistfuls of his hair, his strong, rhythmic sucking drawing a tortured moan from my throat. I tried to resist him, but my body betrayed me, eagerly giving into his demands and arching against the heat of his mouth.

“That’s it,mi amor. Cry for me. I’m going to own you until you beg me to stop, then I’ll start all over again until you beg me to finish.”

My breath stalled, and my world spun. The weight of the last week evaporated from my mind, leaving only Mateo and his wicked mouth. I stopped fighting him and gave into the freedom, allowing him to take me over the edge.

My heart thumped heavily in my chest as his lips sucked with the voracity of a starved animal. “Oh, God, Matty, I’m coming!”

“Not without me.” Metal clanged against the glass table, and I lifted my head to see him rip his belt from its loop and shove his jeans down his thighs. He was painfully hard, the broad head of his cock curled against his stomach. “Never without me again, Star.”

Grasping my hips, he jerked me toward the end of the table and pushed inside with one hard stroke. I inhaled sharply at his invasion, preparing for the rough fucking I’d become accustomed to. Instead, he weaved a hand through my hair, tugging me toward his mouth as he pulled out and slowly eased back in.

“Promise me you’re not lying about anything.”

I groaned, throwing my head back. “I promise.”

He circled his hips, putting pressure on my clit before drawing back and driving back in.

“Promise me the man at the bar was just a stranger.”

“He was just trying to help.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie.

“Promise me Luis Delgado meant nothing to you.”

I rolled my head side to side, biting my lip between moans. “I couldn’t love him.”

“Promise me whatever happens, you understand I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“Oh, God, yes!” My breathing shallowed, and my muscles gripped his cock as I shook on the crest of an orgasm.

“Look at me.” Opening my eyes, I met with two burning coals, dark as midnight and just as dangerous. “This ends now. After this, you won’t question me. After this, you’ll do exactly as I say. After this, you’re mine.” Thrusting with one final and brutal stroke, we both broke apart. I screamed, my body wrecked from the waves of aftershocks rippling through it, and Mateo groaned my name, throwing his head back as his body jerked in release.

Time passed in a blurry haze. I meant to leave. I meant to gather what was left of my dignity and drive back to Brody’s apartment. Instead, I found myself completely naked in Mateo’s bed, his strong arms wrapped around me as he held me close.

It should’ve felt wrong. I should’ve felt manipulated, but I didn’t. For the first time in days, the only thing I felt was safe.

Until I woke from another nightmare just as the sun broke over the horizon and rolled over to latch onto him. Pressing my nose in between his shoulder blades, I groggily opened my eyes and froze.

A skull with the bottom half of the jaw missing covered the right side of his back. Wilted black roses lined either side of the cheek and an hourglass settled at the base.

The same tattoo I saw on the man arguing with Luis.

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