That was not a lie.

  “Am I supposed to be happy you’ve decided I’m one step above a rapist?”

  “Many more.” She caressed up the rigid bulges of his biceps to his granite shoulders.

  At least he had tried to be. It wasn’t his fault she wasn’t interested in his kindness since it surely came with strings.

  “That doesn’t mean you have to blow me, Laila.”

  “I want to make you feel good. You liked it, yes?”

  He scoffed. “You know the answer.”

  “Then let me finish. Roll onto your back, close your eyes, and feel what I can do for you.”

  When she tried to wriggle out from under his body, Trees refused to budge. “No. I’m betting too many men in your past have used you like that. I won’t.”

  Carajo, she must be more persuasive. Otherwise, he would likely roll away and fall into another fitful sleep. Or worse, leave the bed and wait to see what she was up to.

  Laila pressed a seductive kiss to his steely shoulder. The unexpected softness of his inked skin over hard muscle made her horribly aware of his masculinity and power. “You are not like them. You seem…nice.”

  That wasn’t a lie, either. In her brother-in-law’s compound, Laila had known men with machismo, who had done unspeakably cruel things merely to prove they were “man enough” to be an asset to the cartel. But Trees seemed too sure of himself to bother with that.

  “I’m trying, but you’re making it damn difficult.” He shook his head in the shadows. “Fuck it. I’m probably going to hell, anyway. If you really want this, we’re doing it my way.”

  What did that mean? The possibilities made her heart skitter.

  “Do you hear me, Laila? Or we don’t do this at all.”

  Just this once, she could give him what he sought. She could close her eyes, pretend she was elsewhere while he took whatever parts of her he desired. If he chose to fuck her, it might hurt since no man had penetrated her in months. But after he was done, the pain would subside. And intercourse shouldn’t last long. She had sucked him close to orgasm. A little stimulation, a few pumps of his hips, a couple of grunts, and it would likely be over.

  “All right.” Her voice trembled.

  Trees cupped her cheek. “I’ll make you feel good, little one. I promise.”

  Impossible. Not that it mattered. But somehow his hushed vow made her dizzy and hot.

  “Hurry.” She tried to sound as if she was begging.

  In a way she was. Her unexpected reaction to him aside, the later the hour grew, the less likely nearby campers would be awake to help her find a ride to Louisiana.

  Trees shook his head. “I’m going to take my time with you. I don’t think any man has ever savored you, and you deserve all the pleasure imaginable.”

  Then Trees did something no man had ever done. He lowered his head, laid his mouth over hers, and he kissed her.

  Laila froze. Despite being a giant of a man, he brushed his lips over hers softly. Shock and heat flared inside her. He lingered, his warm breath on her face…then he was gone before she was ready for the kiss to end.

  Trees cupped her face, skimming his thumb over her lips. “You okay?”

  Why did he ask? Why did he care? “Yes.”

  “Good. I’m going to kiss you again. Breathe. Relax.”

  How, when her lips burned? When she was naked and acutely aware of the damp crush of his bare skin against hers?

  “Laila, did you hear me?”

  “Y-yes.” She didn’t trust herself to say more.

  “Close your eyes,” he instructed in that velvety voice that compelled her to comply. “Good. Now breathe in deep.” When she did, he glided a gentle thumb over her cheek in silent approval. “Let it out.”

  As she exhaled, tension began to leave her body.

  “Again,” he prompted. “Do it slowly. Focus on my voice.”

  She did, feeling even more at ease. Then she blinked up at him. For approval, she realized the moment he smiled her way.

  “Perfect. Now I’m going to kiss you. And this time, I’m going to kiss you right.”

  He’d done it wrong before? Too bad. She’d liked it. His lips against hers had been…sweet.

  As a girl, she’d known school friends who had crushes on boys. They had all giggled and whispered about their first kisses the summer she’d turned fourteen. She had been fascinated, even a little jealous, not to have captured any boy’s notice. She’d been so curious to know what kissing felt like. Not long after that, she’d become horribly aware of men’s desires, thanks to life in her brother-in-law’s compound. Then she’d no longer cared that she had never been kissed.

  But as with everything else, Trees seemed different.

  “Is that all right?”

  He was asking permission to touch her? Laila frowned. As if she could stop him.

  Still, if real kissing—whatever that was—would excite him enough to demand a blow job, then her purpose would be served. She could escape afterward.

  “Fine.”

  “I won’t hurt you,” he assured. “If anything I do scares or upsets you, just say red.”

  “You will stop touching me if I say that word?”

  “Absolutely. Immediately.”

  He was lying. There was no way she could utter a simple word and he would cease taking his pleasure. That would be giving her all the power, all the choice. No man would ever do that. After all, what would be in it for him?

  “Why?” she asked skeptically.

  “Because we’ll need to talk so I can understand what upset you.”

  So he could do it again? So he could do it harder? More painfully? More degradingly? Was that his game?

  The tenderness in his eyes made her wonder if she was wrong. But her head—and her experience—said otherwise. Laila didn’t dare show weakness. The word red could not cross her lips. “Okay. Kiss me.”

  As he settled his weight onto her, his stare never wavered, seemingly penetrating all the way down to her thoughts. Laila’s breath caught. Her heart thudded. She felt shaky…and it wasn’t fear. A nervous excitement she didn’t understand made her tremble.

  As he drew closer, Trees’s approaching heat and his warm breath against her lips had her eyes sliding shut. Instantly, the dark made her feel too vulnerable. She squirmed, eyes flaring wide again.

  “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

  If he did, he wouldn’t be the first. She would be fine once she reached Valeria and Jorge. But to get there, she had to give in and let Trees take over.

  Laila closed her eyes again.

  “Good girl.” His mouth settled over hers, perching there as if gauging her reaction.

  She held her breath. Tension gripped her. Would he stay here until her thundering heart beat out of her chest? Or attack her when her guard was down?

  Trees did neither. He cupped her face and nudged her mouth open, drawing her bottom lip between his for a soft, shocking moment. Her skin sizzled as he sank deeper, stealing her thoughts, her breath, and her reluctance. She got lost in the dizzying sensation.

  Before she realized it, she opened beneath him to invite him inside.

  Clearly, he knew what he was doing. She was panting when he pulled away to search her face.

  “Laila?”

  She couldn’t look away. The moment felt terribly intimate. She was stunned to realize how much she liked his kiss. What was he doing to her? “Yes?”

  The question was lost when he covered her lips again, this time urging them even wider. His tongue slipped inside and caressed hers. She recoiled against the new sensation, but he stayed patient and firm, cupping her nape and plunging in again. She couldn’t avoid him, so she yielded, giving him free rein of her mouth until lightning—unlike anything she’d ever felt or imagined—flared through her veins.

  The moment she moaned and surrendered, he wielded his power like a king. He ruled over her blossoming pleasure, using it ruthlessly to sweep through her mouth and take every inch, as if proclaiming that—at least in this moment—she was his to touch and please as he wished.

  Dazed, she curled her arms around his neck as she tilted her head and yielded to him. He continued his siege, sweeping one hand down her rib cage, dipping in at her waist, before cupping her hip with a groan. “Laila…”

  His whisper swept through her, blanketing her skin with goose bumps and tightening her belly with heat. If he was the king, why did he sound as if he worshipped her? It confused her, just like her desire for more of his touch.

  “Want me to stop?”

  Her body answered for her. “No.”

  After his slow smile, he didn’t bother with words or a soft brush of lips. He seized her mouth again, thrusting in and overwhelming her. A fresh surge of desire left her feeling flushed and overheated as sensation spread through her body. Her nipples hardened to painful points. The place between her legs began to ache. She felt a dangerous urge to open herself and welcome Trees inside her.

  His other hand drifted down her body in a slow glide of fingertips that left her gasping. As he settled both on her thighs and spread them apart, she shuddered, her heart beating so rapidly she could hear the roar in her ears.

  His hips sank between her parted legs. He nudged his erection against her sex.

  Instantly, cold iced all the hot aches in her body. Every muscle tensed, preparing for the imminent, painful invasion of his massive penis.

  You can endure this. Focus on Valeria and Jorge.

  “Relax,” Trees murmured as he glided his lips across her jaw and down her throat. “I won’t do anything you’re not ready for. Let me explore you, little one.”

  He proved again he was a man of his word when he skimmed her collarbones with his lips, then dropped lower with a soft drag of sweet, gumdrop kisses. Against her better judgment, Laila softened—until he approached her breasts.

  She’d been groped, pinched, fondled, and squeezed against her will in the past more times than she could count. Hector had always called himself a “boob man” and had been seemingly fascinated with hers, often tweaking them until she cried.

  But Trees proved himself different once more. He cradled one in his palm so gently she almost wondered if she’d imagined it. Then his thumb brushed over the distended tip. Laila gasped at the shocking new sensations skittering through her.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed against the hard crest. “I dreamed of you.”

  Though she’d known that on some level, she still trembled. “Why?”

  “Everything about you makes me ache to touch you.”

  “And now you are.”

  “But I need to protect you, too.”

  “That is your job.”

  Softly, he shook his head as his lips caressed the side of her breast. “Not because I’m paid to, Laila. Because the man in me…”

  He stopped himself from finishing that sentence. His silence unsettled her. What had he intended to say? That he felt sorry for her because she had been treated badly in the past? That he saw her as too weak to protect herself? “What?”

  Trees stared, his gaze so piercing, so achingly personal, she felt penetrated without him even entering her. “Let’s just say I don’t want anything to happen to you for reasons that have nothing to do with EM Security.”

  What did that mean?

  Before she could puzzle it out, Trees skimmed his lips up the side of her breast again, this time dangerously close to her throbbing nipple. Her thoughts evaporated. Against her will, she arched up, offering herself for his mouth.

  Why? That usually brought teeth, biting. Pain. Had she lost her mind?

  But Trees merely lapped at her hard bud with his soft tongue. His deep rumble of approval reignited her.

  Laila met his stare, hot and dark and demanding. With their gazes fused, he enveloped her nipple in his mouth, closing his lips around the sensitive bud and sucking deep.

  The pull jolted clear through her body. Her sex clenched. Her womb cramped. She whimpered as fire spread across her skin.

  “Does that feel good?”

  Lying never crossed her mind. “Yesss…”

  The syllable had barely left her lips before he enveloped her tender bud again and sucked with a sensual pull that shook her to the core. Her other breast tightened with need. The tip—harder than ever—throbbed. She wanted his touch.

  “Trees…” The plea slipped out. Before she realized it, she arched up in need.

  “I’m here, little one. Just feel.” He both soothed and aroused her by cupping her neglected breast, his thumb brushing the painfully taut tip.

  A new wave of heat crashed over her. She hissed and grabbed his shoulders, her eyes sliding shut, her head falling back. She couldn’t fight the urge to spread her legs even wider to him.

  What was happening? What was he doing to her? Was she feeling the desire she’d seen in telenovelas and movies, the kind she’d always believed was fiction?

  “That’s it. That’s my girl…” His voice, low and full of approval, filled her with an even more dangerous pleasure.

  He sucked her aching nipple into his mouth once more while stroking the other. Laila hissed, unable to stop surrendering to the sensations. It was as if he controlled her body—and her mind. Despite being naked, she wished she could bare herself to him more. She ached to be closer, though he was already on top of her, pressed against her from shoulders to thighs. Laila settled for kissing his temple, wrapping her arms around him tightly, and lifting to him, desperate to erase what little space remained between them.

  “I can’t keep my mouth off of you. You’re even sweeter than I imagined.” He devoured her with another hot sweep of his lips.

  She savored the masculine flavor of his kiss as he gripped her hip with one hand and wrapped her hair in his fist with the other. Though his big body pressed her into the mattress, holding her exactly where he wanted her, she didn’t feel trapped, just pleasured.

  When he finally tore away, panting, he looked down her body, his eyes turning even darker. “I’m definitely going to hell.”

  His words had barely registered before he was on her breasts again—thumbing, rubbing, laving, inhaling. Her thoughts faded as he touched the desperate points, sucking them, nipping them until she moaned and melted.

  His hands roamed the rest of her—torso, hips, thighs, backside—stroking, squeezing, and surveying as his mouth left her nipples, continuing down to her abdomen to explore her navel. He dragged his tongue over her skin and muttered growled words she couldn’t hear over the roaring of her heart.

  Soon he would mount her and push inside her. He probably wouldn’t mean to hurt her. He might even care if he did. But he was a man; that wouldn’t stop him.

  Laila fought disappointment and told herself to be practical. Experiencing tingles and heady aches weren’t the reason she was in bed with this man. Neither were goose bumps and racing blood.

  She was in his bed to get him off so he would fall asleep, nothing more.

  Spreading her legs wider, she lifted her hips to encourage him. Instead of impaling her, he continued down the bed, down her body, inching and kissing a little at a time until his mouth loomed over her there.

  Laila blinked at him, wide-eyed, her heart suddenly zipping harder and faster than ever. He raised a brow, his blunt gaze scorching her. She held her breath.

  Surely he wouldn’t kiss her in that most forbidden place. Did men do that?

  In the near dark, his eyes glowed hot with desire as he caressed her thighs, working his fingers under her knees and spreading her wider. “Laila? Honey…”

  His deep-voiced entreaty made her whimper. Was he asking her permission?

  “Do you want this?” He skimmed a pair of fingers over her swollen, shockingly slick flesh, igniting nerve endings she’d never known existed.

  “Want what?” she panted.

  “For me to taste you. Let me.” His voice dropped another octave to a dark, compelling rumble as he raked a finger between her folds. Then he sucked the dripping digit into his mouth with a groan.

  She shivered. Would he really do it? What would that feel like?

  “If you wish.” She worked to keep the whine out of her voice and not sound as if she was begging.

  “Oh, I do. I’m going to make sure you love it.” He lowered his head and dragged his tongue between her folds with a low groan, licking the most sensitive place between her legs as if she were a tasty treat.

  Sensation stunned Laila. She shuddered and panted out a hard breath.

  Dios mío! “What are you doing?”

  Trees parted her wide with his thumbs and raked his tongue through her furrow with more gusto, nearly melting her into the mattress. “Enjoying the hell out of you. Does it hurt?”

  He could ask that question with a straight face? “No.”

  “Good.” Trees lapped at her again, then dragged her hard nubbin between his lips and sucked.

  Blood and ache surged between her legs. Heat jolted through her body as her nipples stabbed the air. Laila struggled to breathe—and she no longer cared if he knew it.

  “Are you uncomfortable?”

  Only with the fact that his every touch thrilled her. “No.”

  “Glad to hear it.” He flicked at her bud, tonguing the very tip before wrapping his lips around it and drawing it into the heat of his mouth again.

  Her tingles didn’t merely grow; they multiplied. Dizziness made her head float. Or was that her heavy breathing she couldn’t seem to control? What was happening to her?

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  She should. But need crashed through her system and shut down her brain. It might be foolish and wrong, but she craved more.

  “No. Please…”

  With growled approval, he bent to her again. If he’d been taking her in one slow suckle at a time before, now he consumed her, opening his mouth over her sex as if to kiss her the way he’d seized her mouth. Sensations brimmed and roiled. She twisted and cried out, stunned and shocked and on fire. Something inside her was building.

  He added to the sensations by working one of his big fingers inside her. It slid in with astonishing ease. No pain. No force necessary. She was wet—something she had never been in her life. His mouth wasn’t the only cause.