“No. Definitely not.”

  “You’re living a triple life, and it’s not going to end well. As someone who has hidden who they are from the woman they love, I’m telling you, don’t wait for it to blow up in your face before she finds out.”

  I know I need to tell her, but I dread the idea of her pushing both sides of me away.

  “Things worked out just fine for you and Izzy,” I retort.

  “Brother, there are no words to explain to you how fucking mad she was when she found out. If the DEA hadn’t shot me, she probably would have.”

  We both laugh, but as the man who held her hand and comforted her when we both thought he was going to die, I don’t doubt a word of what he says.

  Izzy showed me that it was possible for a woman to love a man as fucked up as Alejandro or myself, and I’ve longed to find that of my own since.

  thirty three

  ALEXYS

  Even with the door closed, I can hear the two of them going at it over what Mr. Marcano just walked in on.

  I fucking know better.

  At least, I thought I did.

  I thought I knew a lot of things about me.

  As much as I expect the door to Andres’s office to fly open and to quickly find myself on the receiving end of a pink slip, it doesn’t happen. The doors don’t open. At all. The volume of their voices tapers off, but they stay locked in his office.

  At noon, when I leave my desk to take my lunch, I still haven’t heard or seen either of them.

  Shit. This is bad.

  Maybe you’re just working yourself up, and it’s nothing.

  So nauseous from nerves, I have no desire to eat lunch. To keep myself occupied, I walk several laps around the block until my lunch break is nearly over. I am about to walk through the front of the building when my phone buzzes in my hand.

  I should probably change his name…

  MR. RAMIREZ

  Are you at lunch?

  Just walking back into the building.

  We need to address something when you get up here.

  Am I getting fired?

  Fuck no! Why would you be getting fired?

  Nevermind…

  My stomach is in knots the elevator up to my floor. Heading straight to his office, I see Jamie from Human Resources approaching from the other direction. Glaring at me when she sees me approaching, I watch as she walks into Andres’s office. A few steps later, I reach the door, and Andres scowls as he says, “Come in, Lex.”

  Walking into the office, I stand a few feet from both Andres’s desk and the chair in which Jamie is seated. With a flat tone, Andres says, “Have a seat.”

  I uncomfortably take a seat in the chair next to Jamie, leaving us both sitting across from Andres.

  “Miss Noble,” Jamie’s voice oozes with disdain as she extends a folder to me. “Something has been brought to my attention, and I’m going to need you to review and sign the enclosed paperwork to acknowledge your agreement.

  Opening the folder, I begin to read the paper enclosed in it:

  I, Alexys Noble, employed by Marcano Enterprises, entered into a voluntary and consensual relationship with Andres Ramirez. The social relationship has not been, nor will be, made a condition or term of employment…

  “We need a minute,” I close the folder aggressively and toss it onto Andres's desk.

  “Miss Noble—” Jamie begins to reach for the folder.

  “I said we need a fucking minute,” my voice is loud enough that it undoubtedly garnered the attention of everyone within earshot.

  Andres makes a short nod of his head in Jamie’s direction, and she immediately stands to exit his office. As she reaches the door, he calls behind her, “Shut that on your way out.”

  “What the fuck, Andres?” I shout well before the door has fully closed behind me.

  “It’s just a formality,” he stands from behind his desk and begins to walk toward me.

  Standing before he can reach me, I step backward to continue to maintain the distance between us. “What’s a formality?” My voice is still laced with anger, “Letting the whole fucking company know that I’m fucking the boss?”

  He smirks while taking a few quick steps in my direction as his fingers toy with his belt buckle. “I am all for you fucking the boss.”

  “I’m fucking serious,” I shove him away as he tries to reach for me, “This is my fucking job, and I have to face these people every day.”

  “As do I?”

  “No one is going to talk behind your back about how you got a huge fucking promotion because you’re fucking your way to the top floor.”

  “You’re fucking adorable when you’re pissed off,” he manages to corner me and proceeds to promptly cage me in by pressing his hands against the wall on opposing sides of my head.

  “We’ve kissed. Twice.” I huff in exasperation. “You could have at least asked me first.”

  “Is that the problem?” He leans closer smugly. “I didn’t ask you if you wanted to go steady?”

  “You’re a fucking asshole,” I place my hands on his chest to shove him away from me, but his broad body doesn’t budge.

  “Pretty sure you like it,” he leans in until his body is sandwiching me against the wall. “You fucking love assholes that make you lose control. Don’t you?”

  Dipping his head, his lips press against my neck just below my ear. Roughly trailing kisses down my tight throat, his fingers work to undo the top button of my blouse. He pulls the collar to the side as his lips reach the base of my neck. He nips with his teeth just hard enough to elicit a slight whimper as he pins my hands above my head. His lips vibrate above my collarbone as he gravelly whispers, “Try and tell me you don’t want to know what it feels like to be mine.”

  thirty four

  ANDRES

  Her breasts flutter against my chest with each breath she takes. Not a sound comes from her. Taking her silence as my answer, I suck the skin beneath my lips into my mouth. Sucking hard, her nails rake down my chest as she whimpers painfully into my mouth. I don’t relent. Keeping her pained flesh in my mouth, I continue to suck until I am confident that I have left my mark on her.

  She breathlessly pants when I slowly release the skin and place soft, wet kisses over the tender mark. Working my way back up her neck, I leave a trail of soft kisses and gentle bites. My tongue licks along the ridge of her ear before I whisper to her, “Mine.”

  Her body becomes rigid at the word, and I feel her breathing accelerate. The faint scent of her arousal floods my senses.

  I fucking love the effect I have on her…as both sides of me.

  “Such a strong-willed and beautiful woman,” I suck her earlobe into my mouth before continuing, “and you soak your fucking panties at the idea of a man taking complete control over you.”

  “Joke’s on you,” her cheek grazes against my scruff as she whispers into my ear, “I’m not wearing any panties.”

  Fuck…

  A growl grows from my lungs, both with excitement from her words and frustration from the fact that a pair of pants stand between me and my dripping cunt. My cock tents the front of my dress pants, and the effect she has on me is not lost on her. Her eyes dip low between us when I grind it over her pants.

  “Since when do you wear pants?” I question. Excluding one night in jeans with that loser Kyle, I can’t remember the last time she wasn’t wearing a dress or skirt.

  “Since I don’t trust myself around you. I was trying to prevent you from kissing me, and it leading into me getting bent over your desk and railed.”

  My hand dips into the front of her pants, and I know she is waiting for me to press lower to her cunt. Gripping the waistband, I pull her from the wall and spin her around, leaving her facing the wall with my cock grinding against her ass. I cannot control the low, devilish laugh that comes a chuckle from me, “And what makes you think pants would stop that from happening?”

  “Before you have any chance of fucking me, you’re going to have to earn it. Prove you’re serious, and I’ll think about letting you find out firsthand how much I enjoy giving up control.”

  My cock spasms in my pants and I feel the wetness of precum on my tip.

  This fucking woman.

  “Dinner. After work,” I adjust my cock as I step back from her.

  When she turns from the wall, she has a smug smile plastered across her face, as though she orchestrated the entire outburst to get exactly what she wanted from me. And like a fool, I played right into it.

  “Give me the folder and a pen,” she eyes the paperwork that started this on my desk. “If you promise to take me to dinner, without the guarantee of me removing these pants, I will sign this form and return it to Jamie.”

  “You have a deal, Miss Noble,” I extend my hand obnoxiously to shake on our arrangement, and she rolls her eyes at me.

  While you aren’t planning to removing your pants, that pretty little mouth is still readily available.

  Right along with that tight little throat of yours.

  I grab my phone as she steps from my office and send a text.

  It’s done

  ALEJANDRO

  You told her?

  No…she signed the form

  TELL HER

  Yes Dad.

  I mean it. Tell her.

  I will…

  I just have to figure out how.

  thirty five

  ALEXYS

  The last three days have been spent bouncing between a romance and a horror movie. I am currently dating two polar opposites of book boyfriends. During the day, I’m being swept off my feet by a billionaire, cinnamon roll with a surprisingly dirty mouth. Come nightfall, I’m committing every cardinal sin imaginable with a morally gray alphahole, whose name and face I still know nothing about.

  As much as I want to give in to my desires and take things further with Andres, I can’t bring myself to rush it. I’m actually getting to know him, I don’t want to rush it. The potential for there to be something real and lasting between us is there. And even if we aren’t sleeping together yet, there is so much fucking passion.

  Every time his lips press against mine, they are fueled with the same desire as our first kiss. They are needy and heated, both of us fighting against our undeniable urges of wanting more.

  Returning from dinner, Andres pulls the car toward the curb in front of my building.

  “Get over here,” he growls into my mouth as his arms work to pull my body over the low-set center console until I am straddling his lap.

  “Not like you gave me much choice,” I snicker with my ass resting against the base of the steering wheel. He reaches along the side of the seat to make more room for me as he slightly lowers the incline of the back.

  Reaching forward, his hands slide under my chin. His fingers gently wrap around my neck as he presses his tongue into my mouth. The breathlessness of the kiss is only intensified by the fingers tightening around my throat. His hands grasp my ass and pulls me up his thighs as he breaks our kiss.

  “Do you feel what you fucking do to me?” He holds me tight against his rigid cock, “I fucking love having this big, beautiful ass on my lap, and I’m dying to watch it bounce up and down on my cock.”

  I grind my hips against his impressive length as I lean forward for more of his lips on mine. He grips me bruisingly hard, and his hands accentuate my movements, rubbing me harder against him.

  “These fucking pants,” he snarls as I slide against him, “they are the only thing keeping me from driving my cock inside of you.”

  His fingers slide into my hair, and my hips continue to ride him as though he were deep inside of me. Fisting at the hair in his hands, he pulls my head to the side and exposes my neck to him. He licks and kisses along it as he growls, “Fuck. Work those curvy, fucking hips against my cock until you come.”

  The grip on my hair pulls me against his face, and he roughly claims my mouth, only fueling my need to work myself harder against him.

  “Yes,” I whimper against his tongue into his mouth. “I’m going to come rubbing my pussy over your huge cock.”

  “Take what you need, Lex,” his hips rock from the seat in unison with mine, grinding him harder against me, “Think about how good it will feel having me buried inside of you.”

  “Mmmmm,” I groan as my orgasm creeps closer.

  “Do you like the idea of my cock inside you? Filling you?”

  “Yes,” the word groans from my trembling lips and I come against the massive, hard bulge filling the pants beneath me.

  “You’re going to look so fucking good coming around my cock,” he continues to work against my stilled body. The interior lights of the car flicker, and I’m met with his dark eyes staring up at me. His hand is on the handle of the door and he’s pushing the door open.

  “If you don’t go right now, I’m going to pull this door shut and drag you onto the back seat of this car. Where I’m going to pull these pants from you so that I can press every bit of me inside your dripping wet cunt.”

  “Fuck,” my chest heaves at the thought and I hesitate to climb from his thighs.

  Looking around, the windows are misted over from our heavy breaths, blocking the view of us from those passing by on the street. For a moment, I think about letting him drag me back there. But the tiny backseat of this sports car is not where I want to remember my first time with him.

  “I fucking want to, but I should go.” I begrudgingly climb from his lap and out of the car. Standing at the open door, I contemplate inviting him up. But I can’t bring myself to say the words.

  I don’t know if he’s up there waiting for me.

  After ensuring that I am alone, I’ve barely removed my shoes when I hear a knock at the door.

  “What’s the matter,” I yell to Andres on the other side, “couldn’t take no for an answer.”

  Twisting the knob, the door presses open with such force it almost knocks me off my feet. Stumbling backward, I find a familiar masked face storming toward me with a knife in his hand.

  “I don’t need permission to fuck my cunt, mi reina.”

  He slams the door behind him, grabs me, and holds the knife against my throat hard enough that I can feel it pressing into my skin as he forcefully walks me to the kitchen counter.

  Moving the knife, he bends me over the counter and slides it through the thin leather of the belt at the back of my pants. After nicking the waistband with the tip of the blade, he drops the knife to the ground and roughly tears the fabric of my pants until they are loose enough to yank them over my hips.

  Pinning me to the cold counter, my ruined clothes squeeze around my thighs, and he shoves into me as he snarls, “Tell me, mi reina. Do you think you could identify me by my cock? Or would you finally need to see my face?”

  Fucking me hard and fast, I’m about to come when he pulls out of me. His hand presses against my back, forcing me to stay bent against the counter as he vigorously fists himself behind me. He moans and I feel his warm cum splatter over my bare ass.

  Releasing his hold on me, I hear him zip himself back into his slacks. His deep, gravelly voice moves away from me as he whispers roughly, “I’ve told you before, greedy sluts don’t get to come. And we both know you already came tonight.”

  thirty six

  ANDRES

  “Don’t even think about tending to that needy ache between your thighs,” my voice is deep as I threaten her from the doorway. “Or I might fuck you for all of eternity and never let you come again.”

  Leaving Alexys unsatisfied, I leave her apartment as abruptly as I entered and drive back across the city to my apartment. I am a few blocks away when a message pops up on my dash.

  ALEJANDRO

  You home?

  No. About 10 minutes away.

  I’ll be there when you arrive.

  Driving past my building to enter the parking garage, I watch the doorman let Alejandro into the building. One of the many pros and cons of living two buildings down the block from your big brother and business partner is that there is no time limit as to when meetings occur.

  By the time I take the elevator to the top floor, Alejandro has already let himself in to my apartment. He has already poured himself a drink and made himself comfortable on my couch when I walk through the door.

  “We have a problem,” he blurts out before I’ve even shut the door behind me.

  “Fuck,” I drop my keys on the table. “Can I at least get a drink before you completely ruin my night?”

  I pour myself a double shot of tequila on the rocks before taking a seat in the chair across from Alejandro and wait for him to fill me in on the never-ending plight of issues that come with running a drug empire.

  “Rumors are circulating rapidly around Padilla, Garcia is on a rampage about his fucking brother,” his tone is grim as he speaks.

  “No one knows who the fuck we are,” I interrupt him. “He can’t retaliate against a couple of ghosts.”

  “Four men are missing from Los Cangrejos,” he continues. “Rafael already found the families of two of them murdered in their homes. Every last one of them, children too, raped and mutilated.”

  “The others,” my tone becomes as solemn as his.

  “He’s checking in on them now,” Alejandro shakes his head. Both of us know that the chance of any of them being found alive is non-existent. The cartel world isn’t full of forgiveness. It’s full of brutality, every man trying to prove to the others that there is no line he will not cross to remain in control of his empire. Or to take someone else’s.