Magnificent Ruin (Everlasting Series Book 2) (12 page)

He pulls his finger out to stroke my clit with my own juices, pushing the pleasure deeper. A ripping sound behind me, plastic or foil or something in between. His fingers return to my opening, spreading me wide-open. A second later, his cock slides inside me only for him to pull out right away.

I’m so frustrated I almost get tears in my eyes.

“Beg me to fuck you,” he says.

“Fuck me, Tomas, or I’ll die, I’ll go mad,” I say so fast even
he
has a hard time believing I actually said it.

It takes him a second but he finally presses into me again, this time harder and deeper. I have never even dreamed of anything feeling so good. His finger plays with my clit as he plunges inside me. I feel him so deep, a thick, throbbing and welcome invader of my depths.

His other hand grips my hip. I’m being pushed forward again and again as his powerful thrusts claim my entire body.

I’ve been so close to absolute pleasure this whole time he’s been working me up that my release comes rushing through me in a rippling surge of abandonment. My whole body writhes and coils, my inner walls contracting hard around his cock, my clit humming under his expert fingers, making me reach a climax of immeasurable heights.

“Yes,” I cry out, “oh yes.” My primal pronunciation makes it unlikely anyone could even understand my words.

And then it happens—bam, his palm lands on my ass and the sting only prolongs the unprecedented orgasm.

I don’t think I’m capable of breathing anymore. Tomas grunts, driving his magnificent cock inside me with incredible force, abandoning all reserve, panting and calling out my name as he comes.

Oh, I’m done for. I’m his. I don’t even know what I will do if he tries to convince me we can be
just
friends after this. This was not some casual sex between friends. This is a passionate, desperate, mind-blowing uber-fuck.

He falls on top of me, keeping himself inside me and kissing my shoulder.

“We need to do this again and again,” I say. “I loved it.”

“And I love your enthusiasm,” he says. He pulls himself out and turns me around to look at my face. “Like a child,” he says, patting loose strands of hair away from my face.

What I see on his battered face cannot be mistaken for anything other than emotion. My heart leaps with joy for this testament of affection until a nagging thought resurfaces. His life is in danger.

Chapter 14

T
he persistent growls of the blender drain out the voices of the tourists walking up and down the marina, as well as the maddening seagull symphonies. The afternoon leisure time has taken over the island as it does every day.

I sit on top of a beach towel on the cabin couch, completely naked, watching Tomas prepare smoothies and sandwiches in all his masculine glory. I swear his butt cheeks are so firm they could be made out of leather.

He walks over to the small fridge to take out a bottle of champagne. I try to wrap my brain around the extravagance of his preparations. Tomas doesn’t do a half ass job of anything; he goes the extra mile even with the most meaningless of tasks.

“Here,” he says, offering me the sandwich he’s just made.

“Whole wheat bread, smoked salmon, sundried tomato hummus paste, soy sauce, paprika, parsley and capers,” I say as I take the sandwich in my hand, examining it from all angles.

“Jesus, are you a culinary prodigy or something?” he says, sitting beside me. “How the hell did you figure it all out so fast?”

“Okay, confession time. I’ve watched everything you did in the kitchen. For instance, I know you put hemp milk in the smoothies.”

“You must be bored out of your wits,” he says, picking up the champagne bottle.

“Nah, I just like how you do everything so gracefully. You’re fun to watch, Keller. Especially when you’re in your birthday suit.”

“Flattery is an old con,” he says, removing the foil wrap over the champagne bottle cork. “And you’re quite good at it.”

“Grace was right,” I say, watching him twist open the wire cage on the bottle, thumb on cork. “You can’t speak like a normal person to save your life.”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” he says, rotating the champagne bottle until the cork pops.

I get a tiny bit startled and then start laughing. The seriousness with which he pours the cool, bubbling liquid in two tall champagne glasses, biting his bottom lip, makes him adorable. I wonder if he has taken acting lessons.

“Champagne with sandwiches,” I say, bringing the glass to my lips.

“Salmon sandwiches,” he corrects me.

“I guess it makes all the difference,” I say, sticking my tongue out. But that’s a mistake. Or is it?

He moves as fast as lightning, taking the glass from my hand and pushing me down to the couch, straddling me. “Did you just make fun of me?” he says.

“Guilty as charged,” I confess, laughing.

His mouth comes down on mine, hot and rough, as his body presses me against the couch. I wrap my arms around his powerful shoulders to pull him closer if that were even possible. It hits me that we’re both stark naked already which makes it all the more easier for him to slip inside of me without so much as moving a muscle.

His warm tongue keeps pushing and swirling around in my mouth and his hands start running all over my body. I want him so bad all over again and yet my mind tells me to take control of the situation and get the difficult questions out of the way before I even think about further deepening my attachment to him.

I don’t even know how I’m going to handle so much of a man if he really intends to be with me. He’s not like any other guy. He lives in a world apart from us common people. He’s passionate and demanding, rough and tender, bold and fearless but most of all he’s unreadable.

“Wait,” I say as soon as I free my mouth. “I need a clear head for what I’m about to say and you’re just turning me into a babbling fan girl.”

“A what?” he says confused, pulling back and supporting himself on his arms to glance at me.

“Tomas, I have tons of questions.”

“Oh, those,” he says, sitting up.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“Try the beginning,” he says, taking a small piece of my sandwich and putting it in my mouth.

“That’s delicious,” I say as I chew. “You sure as hell know what you’re doing. So, let’s see, question number one. Is this why you told me to meet you here? To make love?”

He considers what I have just said, taking a sip of the champagne. “No, it wasn’t why I called you. But when I saw you, so beautiful, frustrated and brave, something just snapped in me. I needed you then and I need you now.”

If I ask him now what he means by
needing me
we’ll get into a different conversation altogether. I make a mental note to ask him later and move on to the next obvious question. “So why am I here?”

“To talk,” he says. “We have a lot to discuss and, I have to warn you, it won’t be a pleasant conversation.”

“I didn’t think it would be,” I say, feeling a sudden chill crawl all over my skin. “I have been properly warned.”

“Okay, ask me your questions. Let’s get them out of the way.”

I take a deep breath in. “Is this your yacht?”

He smiles. “Silly girl, nothing is mine. I have no possessions. I’m just a shadow on the wind. I am always at my leisure to disappear.”

The chill deepens, entering my pores and bones. “Whose is it then?”

“It belongs to a friend.”

“Yet another friend,” I say, almost in a whisper. “How do you make so many rich friends? Or enemies, for that matter? Do you fuck them all?”

For a moment, I worry I might have offended him but I have to remember that nothing can offend Tomas. “Not literally, no,” he says with a smirk that borders on evil. “Not all of them. Some I just open up to new opportunities, new escapes. Others I help through rough patches.”

“Like Nate?” I say.

He gets very serious. “Nate’s my friend. He has done for me at least as much as I have done for him.”

I almost reconsider my next question, but say it anyway. “But you do sleep with some of them?”

“I’ve had no commitments,” he explains. “Sex can be a necessary communication in my work.”

“Right,” I say, punching his shoulder. “It’s getting chilly in here.”

“Come here,” he says, taking me in his arms. “I’ll keep you warm.”

I rest my head on his chest as he puts his arms around me, listening to that powerful heartbeat of his and smelling his musky cologne.

“Is that all?” he says. “Are you done with your questions?”

“Hmm, no, one last question. Why did you put on an English accent when you were on the phone?”

“I did?” he says, almost shocked. If it’s because he honestly doesn’t remember or because he didn’t think I’d notice, I can’t tell.

“You know you did. What was the point of that?”

“An old habit of mine,” he says. “It kicks in when I speak to an English person.”

I don’t buy it for a second but there are more urgent matters to worry about. I’m willing to bet good money Tomas will talk about De Luca and how dangerous things have become. Maybe he’ll ask me to go on a cruise with him on this very yacht and leave this ugliness behind us. A girl can dream.

“Your turn,” I say. “What do you have to tell me?”

“De Luca doesn’t like me,” he starts. “I’m sure you’ve figured it out.” His lips part in a devilish smile. “You knew the moment you saw him.”

He’s right, I did. There was no mistaking De Luca’s hostility. “I know this. What I don’t know is why.”

“It goes back to the days I lived on fraud and manipulation. That’s when I met him. A con had gone wrong and I was in debt. He helped me out and then decided he’d keep it over my head for as long as I lived. As long as he lived anyway.” He notices the question forming on my lips. “What is it?” he says.

“Can you be a little more specific?”

“It makes no difference, Taylor. I should have left the island the moment I found out he was here. I knew he owned the villa, but it had been years since he had visited. I thought we’d be safe.”

“What does he do? I mean, what’s his profession?”

“His profession? I guess that’s one way of putting it. He offers protection to those who don’t need it.”

“I don’t understand,” I say.

“The protection he offers is from himself and his goons,” Tomas explains. “He preys on the defenseless. He also offers protection for gun dealers, drug dealers, gambling syndicates and back alley loans. He even owns a whorehouse or two for fun.”

“Like a mobster?” I say.

“Exactly like that.”

Okay, I knew De Luca was a scumbag but hearing it all on a list like this gives me chills. He’s like a virus that corrupts everything and everyone he comes across.

“The reason I treated you that way on the beach that day with De Luca, treated you like what happened between us didn’t matter…”

“You tried to push me away to protect me,” I say, to help him out.

“It’s much more than that. I’m not the right man for you, Taylor. Hell, I’m not the right man for anyone. Seeing De Luca reminded me of that like a ton of bricks had fallen on my head. This is the kind of people that follow me around. It’s true that you have become important to me but I’m beyond messed up. I’m gone, do you understand? There are no lawn mowers or drinking beers at barbecues in suburbia in my future. Keeping you in my life would only be a selfish act.”

“People change, Tomas. Nate changed. You have changed. I have seen it and I’ve had more than a few glimpses of the good in you.”

“You barely know me,” he says, stroking my hair. “You know nothing of the darkness that follows me, the depths of my degeneration.”

“We can go wherever we want, Tomas. You don’t have to engage. We can get out of here and just keep going.”

His smile is bitter, his fingers curling my hair as he kisses my shoulder. “That’s exactly what you should do. At the very least, you have to move out of the house. And that’s final.”

“Move? Without you?” My blood freezes as I’m beginning to understand what he has been trying to tell me.

“For a moment, a very brief moment, I thought I could keep you safe, but I can see clearly now. No matter what I do, I can’t guarantee you’d get out of this unscathed. Or worse.”

I’m trying to wrap my mind around what he’s saying. “You’d rather stay and risk everything, including your life, than go back to LA with me?”

“My problems would follow me. I can’t risk your safety. I can only tell you that I’d sooner die than expose you to danger. You’ve been through enough.”

“Well, guess what, I don’t do as I’m told. I have a brain of my own.”

“Taylor, you can’t joke your way out of this. That pretty little head of yours has a big brain inside but it could also become a target. Do you understand?”

“So you just want me to pack my things and fly to California?”

He pulls back to look me in the eye. “You can go to Athens and wait for me there.”

“How long?”

“As long as it takes to get this sorted.”

“It makes no sense.” My voice is trembling and my eyes get watery so I lower them to keep this truth from him. The truth that I can barely imagine life without him. A single day alone has become unbearable.

He smiles and for a moment I’m hoping against hope that he’s about to tell me he’s been pulling my leg and he will go with me wherever I want to go. But that’s not what he says.

“This is our day, sweet girl. Let’s make the best of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means we’ll go out in the town and do whatever you want—shop, eat, drink, dance, absolutely whatever you want. And then we’ll come back to the yacht and find new ways to scream to the night.”

His tongue seeks out my ear, hot and rough, but if he thinks one night of fucking will ever be enough, he’s more than deluded. “And then what?” I say.

“In the morning, you’ll get in the car and drive to Mytilene to take the boat to Athens.”

“Promise me everything will be okay,” I say quietly, my vulnerability leaking through for the first time.

He takes my face in his hands. There’s so much tenderness in his eyes, it makes my heart break and my knees buckle. “I do. And now you promise me,” he says, almost in a whisper. “Get out of here. Go to a safe place. I won’t rest until I know you’re out of harm’s way.”

“What will
you
do?”

“I’ll do what I do,” he says. “I’ll do what I’ve always done. I’ll work it all out. I am a man with no shortage of solutions.”

It’s hard not to tell him that I don’t believe him but even harder to show I have no trust in him. I nod.

“I believe you,” I say. I know how important that is to him.

Now I see a vulnerability in him that almost breaks my heart. “If you believe in me, Taylor, then anything is possible.”

His sudden smile lights up my entire world.