But resisting her wasn’t easy. Desire plagued him. She was right in front of him, stretched out, tied up in his dungeon, naked and begging. He’d had his hands on her, his mouth on her. He could smell her. He was on fire for her. He’d rather sink inside her than snap more questions at her, goddamn it.
“A-all right.”
Trees tried to focus. “You say you staged the video of you and Ramos having sex to protect me, but you didn’t let him fuck you? What if you hadn’t been able to stop him? Would you have allowed him to have sex with you to ‘save me’?”
Laila closed her eyes. “Do not make me answer that.”
Oh, so she didn’t want to tell him. Too bad.
He slid his hand between her legs again and glided his fingers over her needy flesh. During their argument, she’d come off some of her arousal high. With a few circles around her clit and a drag of his lips across her skin, he fixed that. “Tell me, Laila. Or I’ll take you right to the edge and deny you again.”
Her fingers curled into fists. Her face screwed up as she tried to resist the pleasure. “Why? Because you wish to torment us both? There is no acceptable answer. If I say no, you think I was not committed to keeping you safe. If I say yes, you decide I am a puta who spreads her legs to earn the favor of whichever man I am with.”
She wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t make his question invalid. “Yes or no?”
“If you love me, why do you want to know this? Can you not accept that I did my best to help you? Perhaps I did not do it the way you would have chosen, but—”
“No, I can’t accept that.” Mostly because he was a stupid bastard who apparently wanted to torture himself with the answer.
“I am sorry.” She pressed her lips together mutely.
Did she think she was going to hold out on him? Not happening.
He leaned in and stroked her clit in an achingly slow sweep with his tongue, then growled against the vibrating button. “Answer me.”
“Trees…” She sucked in a shocked breath of pleasure, then wailed, “Stop. This is a no-win situation.”
She wasn’t wrong about that, either. As much as it made him bristle, he had to be fair. “I promise, honesty won’t earn you more punishment.”
“No, just your anger.” She sighed out raggedly. More tears fell as the fight finally left her. “Yes. I would have given my body to Victor, despite the fact I hate him and the thought of him touching me makes me sick. While I filmed that video, it took all my will to hide my revulsion. Even though I would have done anything to keep Victor from hurting you, you will still condemn me.”
If he took her reply cynically, she absolutely looked like a whore willing to spread her legs for Ramos’s favor. But if he looked it like a man she cared for, she had done everything in her power to protect him—even if it cost her.
“Why?” he blurted. “Why would you sacrifice yourself for me?”
“If I tell you, what will you do with the knowledge?”
He vaulted off the stool and took her face in his hands. “This isn’t a negotiation. Answer the goddamn question.”
“Or you will toy with my body again until I am on fire, at the edge of bearing this horrible need?”
“If I have to.”
She swallowed and looked away.
Trees’s heart leapt into his throat as he jerked her stare back to his. “Why, Laila? How do you feel about me?”
“I cannot fight you. I do not know why I tried.” Her chin trembled as she fought more tears. “I love you.”
Those three words blew him away. He sucked in a shocked breath. His heart turned over. He stepped back and stared at her as he tried to process her admission. Was it true? Or was she merely telling him what she thought he wanted to hear?
Trees didn’t know. And he wouldn’t until he got distance from her naked body, his desire cooled, and he had the opportunity to think.
Fuck.
Without a word, he rounded the table and laid it flat again.
“What are you doing?” She sounded scared.
He didn’t answer. What the hell could he say? Instead, he uncuffed her ankles, then her wrists, and helped her to her feet. Immediately, her trembling legs folded beneath her, and she swayed into him, all but melting against his side. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her for support.
“Trees.” She clung to him—with her hands, her eyes, her expression.
It took everything he had not to carry her to his bedroom, lay her reverently across his bed, and make love to her until dawn. She’d proven she could be wily and dangerous. She knew how to work men. The Edgingtons had Kimber back mostly unscathed, but that hardly meant the danger was over. Now both Montilla and Ramos would come after them. He didn’t dare let himself be drawn in by a potentially pretty viper until he’d had the opportunity to think this through. Until he figured her out.
“Stay here. There are water bottles in the refrigerator. Drink one. There are protein bars in the basket on the counter. Eat one. Don’t argue. Don’t touch your pussy or get yourself off. And don’t get dressed. If you’re cold, there are blankets in the cabinet along the far wall. I’ll be back.”
When he stepped toward the stairs, she gripped him tighter. “Do not leave me. Please.”
She hadn’t asked where are you going? or what are you doing? She’d just spilled a seemingly heartfelt plea at him not to walk away.
Her words broke him. It made him a stupid sucker, but Trees just didn’t care right now. He couldn’t fucking stand the distance between them anymore.
He picked her up, settled her back against the nearest wall, then crowded her personal space as he bent his head and seized her mouth. For a handful of forbidden seconds, he let hope control him. He let his hunger rage. He let his need for her boil over into a love that scalded his veins and burned away all good sense.
He delved into her mouth, pressing himself against her until there was no air between them. He forced her lips wider and took her tongue. Laila responded unabashedly, opening herself, giving her all to him. She clawed at his shoulders, clung and climbed him, lifting her legs to wrap them around his hips. He helped, taking her ass in his hands and tilting her up. She rocked frantically and feverishly against him.
When he wedged her against the wall with the ridge of his hard cock, rocking against her, she keened. He wanted her. He burned for her. He was sweating for her as he forced himself deeper into her kiss, not giving a fuck if he ever came up for air again.
What if she’s playing you, too?