Page 19

CHAPTER 19

Camila

O pening the door, I gave Kilo an uncertain smile. I hadn’t spoken to him at all yesterday after I’d snuck out of his bed. “Hi.”

“Hey, Mercy,” he said.

His sexy smile made my heart do a flip in my chest. I’d thought long and hard yesterday about this situation. I didn’t want to end things. But I was also terrified. More for him than myself. I didn’t want someone I cared about to get hurt because of me.

“Can we talk?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Sure.” I shut the door behind me and followed him over to his house. It was the only way to get privacy. Otherwise Carmen, and probably Mama, would be hiding somewhere, listening in. I sat on his couch, my eyes following him back and forth as he paced his living room.

“I’m not letting you disappear on me,” he finally said after a few moments of silence.

Frowning, I shook my head. “What do you mean? If Kruzman finds us, we’ll have to go.”

“Not happening, Baby,” he said, giving me an intense look. “I want you to stay. To be my old lady.”

Now my heart was doing the merengue against my ribcage. I was thrilled to hear those words. I’d been slowly falling for this man over the last month and he was giving me everything I wanted, and more. “Kilo,” I said, a little breathless. “I want that, too.”

“But you’re scared,” he said, finishing the words I didn’t say out loud.

I nodded. “I can’t watch anyone be hurt. It would be my fault.”

“No, it’s the fault of the sadistic asshole who’s hunting you,” he pointed out. “None of this is your fault, Camila.”

“Whoever’s fault it is, or isn’t,” I told him, “the truth is, this isn’t just going to go away. It could be years before the FBI finishes the case against Kruzman.”

“Even then, you wouldn’t be safe.”

My eyes widened and he sighed.

“Sorry, but it’s true. Prison doesn’t hold onto men like that for long. And even if he were to stay inside, there’s people out here who will still do his fucking bidding.”

I hadn’t thought of it like that. All my hopes were pinned on Kruzman being locked away. Now I didn’t know what to hope for.

He must have seen my face fall because he came over and sat next to me. I turned toward him and he cupped both my cheeks in his hands and stared into my eyes. “I want to protect you. Let me take care of this for you. Agree to be mine.”

I let out a soft laugh. “I’ve been yours,” I admitted. “Pretty much since that football almost hit me. I haven’t been able to think of much else.”

He grinned at me, then leaned forward and kissed me. He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. “Don’t worry, I protect what’s mine. We’ll take care of Kruzman.”

“How?” I asked. “He almost seems untouchable. The FBI can’t seem to pin him down. The Marshals can’t hold him at bay.”

“They have rules to follow,” he said with a wry smile. “We don’t.”

“We?”

“The club will help protect you and your family.”

“Why would they do this for us?”

“Because you’re mine. And we protect our own.”

I tried to imagine what that was like. To have such safety and security surrounding you. I was afraid to be hopeful of what that meant for me, Mama, and Carmen.

“What if you get hurt? If one of them gets hurt?” I shook my head, tears threatening to fall. “I don’t want to put any of you in danger.”

“Leave all that up to us. We’re coming up with a plan to deal with this fucker. Pretty soon he won’t be a threat to you anymore.”

I stared into his eyes and shook my head in wonder. “Thank you. I- I’ve never had anyone do something like this for me before.”

“Your father put you in an impossible position. He put your whole family in danger. You shouldn’t have to shoulder this burden. And now you won’t.”

“You shouldn’t have to shoulder it either,” I pointed out. “I still don’t understand why you’re willing to.”

He chuckled. “It’s clear you don’t get it.” He moved his face closer until our noses were almost touching. “I’m willing to take this on, because it means I get to keep you.”

I relaxed and smiled at him. “I don’t know how to repay you.”

“I do,” he said. He picked me up as he stood then tossed me over his shoulder.

Laughing, I dangled there as he took me into his bedroom. “Put me down.”

“Sure.” He tossed me onto the bed.

I squealed as I bounced on his mattress, then sucked in a breath as the realization hit. I felt light as a feather. And it was all because of him. I trusted him to keep his word and to help me. Somehow, he’d taken all the mental and physical burden from me and I just wanted to bask in the relief that was filling me. And the love.

He followed me down onto the bed, and I welcomed him with open arms. “Mercy,” he growled, “don’t run from me. Whatever happens, stay.” I nodded. “You’re mine. Say it.”

“I’m yours, Kilo.”

“And I’m yours,” he told me, his brown eyes staring into mine.

If staying here meant dying, I’d rather have a short life and live it with him than run and have to leave him behind. I’d send Mama and Carmen away if need be, but I wasn’t going anywhere without Kilo. I never thought I’d find love like this. Sure, there were many who would say that this was sudden and too soon, but my heart recognized this for exactly what it was. Kilo was my person. The one man who made life worth living.

He kissed me and I sighed into his mouth. The way my body and soul responded to him was too perfect to ignore. His hands roamed over my body, setting every nerve ending on fire. Soon his mouth was on my skin, his teeth grazing me as his tongue licked, tasted, and devoured.

“Let me hear you, Baby,” he growled. “I want to hear how good I make you feel.” His hands were stripping my clothes from me as he spoke and soon I was naked and spread out for him.

His head dipped between my thighs and when his tongue flicked over my clit, I cried out. The noises fell from my lips unbidden as he brought me right up to the edge and held me there.

“Oh my God,” I moaned, my hands fisting the sheets. “I need to come. Please, Kilo.”

“Hearing you say my name like that makes me so fucking hard,” he groaned. His fingers sank into me and he sucked on my clit.

I exploded, screaming, as the pleasure tore through me.

He rose over me, his cock in his hand. He grabbed a condom and put it on before settling between my thighs. “I want to make you come over and over,” he told me. We both groaned as he sank into my body. “Watching your face when you orgasm is the sexiest fucking thing.”

“Kilo,” I breathed. “More,” I demanded. The last thing I wanted to do was talk. I wanted to fly. He was the only who’d ever made me feel as though I could.

He chuckled and began to move. Each thrust filled me, the angle causing his pelvis to rub my clit. I gasped and dug my nails into his back, lifting my hips to meet him thrust for thrust.

“Come for me, Mercy. I want to feel you clench around me.”

“Yes,” I groaned, arching as his fingers pinched and rolled my nipple.

“I want your screams of pleasure to be the last thing I hear before I fall asleep. I want your pussy wrapped around my cock when I wake up in the morning. Every goddamn morning,” he growled.

“I want that too,” I cried. “Yes!” I screamed as he fucked me hard and fast.

“That’s it, Mercy. Come. I want to feel it.”

I did as he commanded and shattered beneath him. His own growls of pleasure were muffled as waves of bliss crashed over me. And then I was floating. Tucked up against his body, safe, and content, I just let go. It was a strange thing to have this peaceful calm feeling once again after four years of anxiety and fear. Even in the best of times over the last four years, I’d been watchful and suspicious.

Kilo had broken down every one of my walls and had taught me that I could trust him. I’d started to think I wouldn’t ever trust anyone ever again. Not enough to let them get close to me anyway. I was so grateful that I hadn’t lost that ability completely. That I’d met him.

“What do you want to do today?” he asked as he trailed his fingers up and down my spine.

“Can we go shooting again?”

He chuckled. “A girl after my own heart. Yeah, we can.”

I smiled against his chest and stifled a yawn. “Maybe after we take a nap?”

“That depends.”

“On what?” I asked, looking up at his face.

“You going to be here when I wake up?” he teased.

I smiled at him. “Yeah. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead and I listened to the rhythm of his heartbeat. I wondered how I’d gotten so lucky. Despite all the shitty things in my life so far, I must have gained some kind of good karma for fate to throw us together. Now all I could do was hope that we’d make it out the other side unscathed. Kruzman wasn’t going to make this easy. He wouldn’t just let me go. Later, I’d ask Kilo what the plan was. But for now, I just wanted to bask in the euphoric afterglow of being with the man I loved.