The Viper (Untamed Hearts #1)(18)

“Probably,” Katie agreed, though her voice was warm and excited in a way he didn’t expect. He looked up at her to see her smile was wide and pleased. “Girls like me usually don’t go on dates with fighters. Not that this is officially a date, but—”

“Chica.” He groaned and rubbed a hand over his eyes as the lust and guilt collided violently enough to have a headache forming. Knowing she was so f*cking pleased to be here with him wasn’t making any of this easier. “I’m the last guy you should want to be on a date with.”

“What does chica mean?”

He lifted his head, giving her a bemused look he couldn’t hide. It occurred to him that, with a few small exceptions like the past few trips to Garnet, he hadn’t ventured out of his turf. When he was ten, he’d moved from Puerto Rico to Miami, where Spanish was still the preferred language, at least in the areas he hung out in. Hell, even the gringos knew what chica meant in Florida.

“It means, uh—” He thought for a moment. “Girl, I guess.”

“You guess?”

He gave her a smile he couldn’t hide, because there was something about her that was so incredibly endearing as she tucked strands of curls behind her ears and looked at him with open curiosity.

“It can be an endearment.” He shrugged. “Like baby or something. It’s not rude.”

“Oh.”

Katie’s grin was pleased. She blushed once more, and it had his mind sinking back into that dangerous territory as he wondered if that pale skin of hers flushed pink like that all over. He imagined her rosy and sweaty, breathless as he touched and licked her until she came over and over again.

That had always been his thing.

Watching a hot girl come was his drug of choice. That was the reason his mother had to change their phone number so many times when he’d been in school. He’d discovered too young the high he got from getting a girl off. When other guys his age were sinking into drugs or alcohol, he was sneaking into girls’ bedrooms and going down on them.

He hadn’t had many girlfriends. He wasn’t boyfriend material. He never had been, but he was a good time, and all the women in his neighborhood knew it. He was “different,” as Mia not so casually put it.

Jesus, he wanted to taste Katie. To feel her fingers in his hair and her thighs shaking as he sucked on her clit and then f*cked her * with his tongue. Just once, so he knew her flavor. So he could remember what she sounded like. He’d probably be in a prison cell again one of these days again soon. His father was still in prison in Miami and wouldn’t be seeing daylight for another ten years. That was a lot of f*cking years, and Marcos would need something to sustain him. None of the other girls had given him that. They’d always just left him looking for something new.

But with Katie, he suspected she’d be different. She was so sweet. So f*cking innocent. Everything about her was soft in a way that drove him crazy. He’d never met a girl like her before, and sitting across from her knowing he wasn’t supposed to touch her was driving him crazy. He had to look back to the table to keep himself from eyeing her, because the white blouse she was wearing was a V-neck that dipped down just slightly, showing off the curve of nice, full tits.

He also couldn’t help but remember the way her very studious khaki pants clung to her ass in the best way possible. How that prick in the parking lot had gotten to tap an ass like that was completely beyond Marcos. This woman could get any guy she wanted, but for some reason, she was oblivious to it.

“You know he’s full of shit, right?” Marcos asked as he went back to straightening his silverware rather than look at her.

“Who’s full of shit?” Katie sounded mystified, and Marcos didn’t blame her. He knew he’d been cryptic since he’d gotten there.

“Your ex. That crap about you not being a ten.” He practically growled the words, and he glanced up at her again, seeing the way those large honey eyes widened in surprise as if she couldn’t believe he’d have a different opinion. “That’s bullshit. Where I come from, you’d have guys crawling all over you.”

Katie laughed. “I doubt that.”

“Don’t doubt it.” His gaze slid downward once more, unable to stop himself from indulging in a quick glance at the curve of her tits. “Never come to Miami. I’ll definitely go to jail.”

“For what?” she asked with amusement.

“Murder, probably. They’d be all over you, and I’d have to kill them. Without finesse.”

He cleared his throat and looked away again, feeling exposed and wondering what it was about this woman that had left him vulnerable since the moment he ran into her. The whole reason he’d gotten the job at Sebastian’s to begin with was because of her. He thought it was the guilt of the accident, but now he realized it might be something entirely different. A part of him had wanted to be good enough for a woman like this. She’d worried about him that night, even while injured, and it stayed with him.

He reached across the booth before he could stop himself and grabbed her left hand to pull it toward him. He could see the scars, still pink against the otherwise pale flesh of her forearm. He reached over with his other hand and touched the scars thoughtfully.

“This is why you shouldn’t be here with me, chica,” he told her as he ran a thumb over the largest scar, watching as the fine hairs on her arm stood on end. “You can see right here I’m bad for you.”