The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(105)

“I’m sorry too.” She rested the palm of her smooth hand on my cheek, and a shudder raced through my body. “I didn’t mean what I said. I know this situation is hard for both of us. I didn’t mean to dismiss my feelings for you.”

“Shh.” I placed a finger over her lips, rubbing it back and forth. “Don’t apologize. I don’t want your apology.”

Two deep grooves marred the smooth skin at the bridge of her nose. “You don’t?”

“No.” I kissed her, lingering on her lips for a beat too long, tasting her and inhaling her familiar scent. “You’re the only one who doesn’t need to apologize for what’s happened. You haven’t done anything wrong. You’ve been pushed and pulled in every direction. You’re doing the best you can. You have every right to be confused and question me. Us. Everything. I won’t push you again. Any time you want out or you feel like this is too hard, you can go.”

Her hands sunk in my hair, and she pulled my mouth back against hers. I parted her lips and groaned as her tongue curled around mine with an unyielding urgency. She turned her head to the side, severing contact. Her golden eyes seared mine. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t look away as my heartbeat reverberated through my body, waiting for her to say something. Anything.

“I love you,” she whispered.

The air whooshed out of my lungs. With those three simple words, she had healed the division in my heart, mending the fractured pieces. I didn’t need to choose one-half of my heart over the other. She owned the whole damn thing.

My loyalties weren’t divided.

My heart wasn’t conflicted.

My soul wasn’t fractured.

She owned every inch of me, whether she wanted it or not.





Chapter Twenty-One




Hattie



Ryker froze. His eyes widened, and his hands tightened on my arms. For a split second, I wished I could rewind time and recall my words. With every passing second of silence, my heart died a little. When I couldn’t take one more second of his silent condemnation, I closed my eyes, drowning in dark tidal waves of self-pity and self-censure.

“Open your eyes, Hattie.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m sorry I said it. I should’ve kept it to myself. We can pretend like it didn’t happen.”

“I can’t do that,” he said, resting his forehead against mine.

I rolled my head to the side. “Please,” I whispered.

He cradled my face, gently forcing me to face him. I didn’t open my eyes, but I felt his nose brush against mine.

“I love you too.”

My eyes popped open as my heart did a victory dance in my chest. “You do?”

He grunted in disbelief and frustration. “Of course I do.”

“I never thought…I didn’t know,” I murmured more to myself than him.

“Now you do.” Our lips fused together in a frenzy of desire like this was the first time we had ever kissed.

Our mouths tangled.

Our hearts united.

Our bodies harmonized.

Our breathing quickened.

I loved him. Every flaw. Every secret. Every smile. Every inch of him. Nothing could change my mind. I could’ve carved out my heart and given it to him right then because he owned it. Every jigsaw piece belonged irrevocably to Ryker Vargas.

My lover.

My captor.

My other half.

My future.

Button by button, he opened my shirt, taking his time like I was the best present he’d ever received. Then, he slid my panties down my legs. His boxer briefs followed. Skin to skin, I ached to feel him inside of me again. I didn’t want to waste one more second. I reached between our bodies to guide him inside of me, but he snagged my wrists one by one and pressed them against the headboard.

Ryker had other ideas. “Not so fast,” he muttered.

He trailed kisses along my jaw, down my neck, and then licked a path to the delicate skin behind my ear. Each flicker of his tongue sent a rush of pleasure through my body. He kneaded my breasts, soft and gentle, and circled my nipples with his thumbs. Then, his mouth followed his talented fingers, and I was lost. Moaning, I arched into him, offering and begging for him to take anything he wanted.

One of his hands slipped down my body to my sex. I spread my legs, intentionally giving him better access. His finger swirled around my entrance, then he stroked in and out of me with two fingers. My hips rotated as he moved with the hands of a man who knew how to play my body, igniting every nerve ending. He always had. He always would.

“Ryker,” I gasped, so close to the edge my vision blurred. The ache inside of me multiplied with startling velocity, becoming hotter and more urgent with each thrust of his fingers.

“What do you want, Hattie?”

“You. Inside. Me. Now.” I wanted to experience the soul-shattering connection when he buried himself deep inside of me, and we moved together like we were meant for each other.

His eyes darkened with promise, and his hand stopped moving. “Now?” he whispered, his lips hovering inches from mine.

“Yes,” I answered, because there was no reason to fight him anymore. No reason to pretend. We were on the same page. We were moving forward together. No secrets. No lies. Only love.

He moved his hand and shifted his body so his hard cock rested against my sex. He flexed his hips, tormenting me with the slow slide of his cock along my entrance until I thought I’d die of emptiness. With his eyes searing mine, he slid inside of me, filling me, stretching me. As he began to move, everything faded but the feel of him inside of me and the warm brush of his lips against mine.