Total pages in book: 767
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
“You’d call me a creature?” I asked, smiling as I formed claws with my hands and stalked toward him in my leopard-print flats.
He held up his hands to form a square, looking at me through it. “When you’re back at school, I’ll remember you this way—a lioness.”
“You won’t have to remember,” I said. “You’ll be able to look up and see me with your own eyes.”
“I want that more than you know.” When I neared, he put his hands on my hips and drew me to him. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.”
“He’ll understand once I tell him how much you mean to me. How much you’ve always meant to me,” I said, smoothing away dark, golden strands that fell right back over his forehead. “My father adores you.”
“Adores?” He arched an eyebrow. “He adores two things in this world—you, and the memory of your mother. The rest of us hope for his respect and his mercy.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You’re exaggerating. These days, he’s more forgiving than most. At least, more than my grandpa ever was. Papá is a fair man.”
“Fairest in all the land,” Diego agreed. “But nothing about the land is fair. Except for his daughter. She’s both her mother and her father, darkly beautiful with cunning eyes.”
My beloved was a poet—a side he only showed to me. I wanted to melt into him, but I could sense the tension in his forearms, the restraint in his touch. Diego followed my father’s example, though, and rarely volunteered when something was wrong. I would’ve happily ignored any problems, except that I didn’t want my time with Diego encumbered by the stresses of business. “What was your argument about?” I asked.
“Nothing, nothing, está bien.” He slid a hand under the hem of my top. I arched into the warmth of his skin on mine while acutely aware of the open door behind me. His green eyes danced as he looked up at me. “Tali?”
“Diego.”
“We have to talk about our future.”
I grinned. “That’s why I’m here.”
“I want nothing more than to be with you.” He sighed. “This town is a jail cell. A death sentence, even. I’m only alive today. Tomorrow is never guaranteed.”
When he talked like that, it hit too close to the truth. So many nights, I’d stared up at the ceiling of my dorm room waiting to hear from Diego, both craving and fearing news. Keeping in touch with someone whose life depended on staying under the radar hadn’t been easy. “It won’t be for much longer,” I said. “You’ll see.”
“But how can I leave?” He inched his fingertips a little higher. “I have responsibilities here.”
I bit my bottom lip as he approached the underwire of my bra. “You’ll get out of them.”
“This isn’t a job I can just quit. Your father took me in when he didn’t have to.” He removed his hand from my top to rest it on the outside of my thigh. “Costa brought me into this business and gave me a chance.”
I didn’t want him to stop touching me, but even though our self-control continued to hold, it was thin. “That doesn’t mean you’re indebted to him forever.”
“I’ll never be able to leave without your father’s blessing, and he won’t give me that.”
“He brought you and your brother in at my mother’s urging, out of a sense of duty for what he did to your parents.” I slipped my hand in his and squeezed. “And yes, he could’ve left you behind, or worse, killed both of you. But he’s also the reason you’re an orphan in the first place.”
Diego’s eyebrows knitted. “I’ve never heard you put it like that. Are you suggesting I hold that against him?”
“No,” I said. “He won’t feel any guilt. He did what he had to. If he hadn’t gone after your parents, they would’ve come for him. And I don’t think the de la Rosas would’ve taken me in if the situation had been reversed.”
“They wouldn’t have. I miss my mom and dad, but you’re right—they weren’t so merciful.” He glanced away. “Perhaps it would’ve ended up worse for you than death.”
What was worse for a young girl than death, I didn’t have to ask. Though our families had been rivals, they’d still abided by a code. Back then, the de la Rosas had trafficked weapons, and the Cruzes had dealt in narcotics. My father and grandfather had imposed a strict pact that neither family would enter into the vile space of human trafficking. And when Papá had discovered Diego’s parents had broken that pact, the de la Rosas had needed to be dealt with.
But it was plotting against my father that’d ultimately gotten them killed.
I sighed. “Maybe we should just smuggle you across the border like a brick of cocaine.” I leaned in conspiratorially. “After all, that’s what the Cruz cartel is known for, right? Our unusually high success rate at getting illegal goods into North America?”