Then he kissed the rest of his way up her body, settling his lips just against her ear. “Tell me why you voluntarily left my house with Victor that morning.”

  “I didn’t have a choice,” she sobbed. “Please!”

  Bullshit. “Why? He didn’t force you. My security camera captured you walking to his truck and getting in of your own free will. But you made it down here to my panic room. I know you did because two of my guns are missing off the wall.”

  “I have them,” she vowed.

  “I know. I took them back. What I want to know is why the fuck you left with him when you’d made it safely down to the panic room and you were armed?”

  “You do not understand Victor.”

  “Make me understand.”

  Her exhalation trembled. “He was going to do things…”

  Now they were getting somewhere. “Like what?”

  “Trees…”

  She always implored him in just that tone when he was digging too close to a truth she wanted to bury. Time to show her the real power of this punishment.

  “Not going to tell me?”

  “You will only get angry, and it changes nothing. Please.” Tears clung to the long, upswept curl of her lashes.

  With one hand, he tortured her clit in slow, lazy circles. With the other, he took hold of her chin and leaned close, getting right in her face. “You never keep things from me because you think you have to protect me or my feelings. I’ll deal with the fallout from whatever you say. That’s my responsibility, not yours.”

  “It is not that simple,” she managed to gasp out between jerks of her hips, her silent, involuntary begging for more of his touch.

  “It’s exactly that simple.” And Trees got the distinct impression that whatever she refused to admit…she’d done it not for her own selfish desires or even to protect her family. She’d done it for him.

  Why?

  God, he hoped it was because she fucking cared about him. She must, at least a little…right?

  Don’t get ahead of yourself, buddy.

  “Tell me why you left with him,” he demanded.

  “I-I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Bull-fucking-shit. You’re always thinking. From the moment we met, you’ve proven that you’re constantly looking at your situation and finding ways to finagle it to your benefit. You wanted to escape me. You wanted to save your family. You wanted to keep your distance… You always have your reasons. What did you hope to achieve that morning?”

  She pressed her lips together. “Do not make me say it.”

  What the fuck was she trying so desperately to avoid admitting? Trees didn’t think it was her feelings for Victor. If falling for the asshole was her big sin, she would have already said it. In fact, she would have flung it in his face, like she’d done in La Pesca. But this was something else…

  And he knew how to get it out of her.

  “All right. Let me know when you’re ready to tell me.” He backed away and rolled across the room on the little stool. Bracing his elbow on the desk, he tried to ignore his angry cock throbbing in protest and pulled out his phone. Then he launched a game app and did his fucking best to focus on winning the medieval battle, not staring at the naked beauty with the haunted eyes and pouting pussy less than six feet from him.

  “Trees.”

  “What?”

  “Why do you insist on this torture? Why not accept that I am no good for you and turn me loose?”

  He’d answered those questions, and he wasn’t about to let her change the subject. Besides, he wanted her to understand his frustration. Well, as much as she could. No, she didn’t have a cock hard enough to pound nails, but he doubted she’d much like being misdirected and lied to.

  “Maybe I like toxic. Maybe this shit amuses me. Maybe I just like to tie women up and hear them beg because I’m cruel.” He shrugged.

  “No.” She frowned. “That is unlike you.”

  “Is it? Then maybe I just don’t want to burden you with the truth, and I decided keeping it to myself would be better than treating you like a rational adult capable of making her own decisions.”

  “You are being ridiculous.”

  “So are you. Stop changing the subject. There’s only one thing I want to hear from you now, and that’s the reason you left with Ramos. Tell me.”

  Laila bit her lip, looking as if she was searching for the right words. “Starting a vendetta with Victor will only get you killed. He is already furious that you ended his brother’s miserable life. If you use whatever I tell you against him in some vengeful retaliation—”

  “That’s my choice, Laila. My business. And you’re still dodging me. You’re being a bad, bad girl. I guess it’s time for more punishment.”

  “No. Please. I do not want this.”

  “Really? Then why do you keep choosing it? All you have to do to make it stop is give me an honest, straightforward answer.” She didn’t reply, so he darkened his phone and set it aside, then rolled the stool back to her, taking her hips in his hands and forcibly tilting her pelvis to his waiting mouth. “Let’s see if I can incentivize you.”

  He slid his tongue between her engorged folds and licked her from opening to clit, then focused relentlessly on the little bud, laving, nipping, tormenting her until every inhalation was a gasp, until the blood flushing her warm brown skin turned her rosy. Until her nipples poked the air desperately. Her clit had engorged again, now on the verge of bursting. Then he gave her one last slow, seductive swipe and backed away.

  Instantly, she whimpered, her eyes closing, her head whipping from side to side in protest.

  She looked fucking beautiful, and Trees would give anything to scale the wall she’d put between them, hold her while she clung to him, then take her to his bed and love her so thoroughly she never thought about leaving again.

  Good luck with that…

  “You motivated to answer me yet, Laila?”

  She didn’t reply, just sucked in steadying breaths. Every part of her body looked taut, swollen, aching…

  “No?” He sighed. “I wish you’d make a different choice. Can’t you trust me and believe I’m acting with your safety, happiness, and best interests in mind? I guess not. You keep refusing.”

  “Why?” she sobbed.

  Why was he punishing her? Why did he care? “Because I love you. That hasn’t changed. It never will.”

  Laila gaped at him, tears running down her face. “After everything I have done to you?”

  He shook his head. “Until you answer me, Laila, I’m not answering you.” He rolled away and grabbed his phone again. “Should I continue with this game, or are we finally going to talk? And before you answer, you should know that I can do this all night. I can get you to the verge of orgasm over and over again, never letting you fall over. I’ll enjoy spending hours with my head between your legs, lapping up that sweet pussy and keeping you on the verge of climax. So you can either tell me the truth now or go through the torment—”

  “He threatened to burn down your house,” she squeaked out.

  Of all the things she might have said, Trees hadn’t seen that coming. “What?”

  She sighed, more tears clinging to her lashes. “I did not want to tell you. You will only get angry and chase revenge. He is underhanded and brutal. He is ruthless and—”

  “I can be all of those things, too, honey. Every fucking day until he’s dead. But you’re saying you left with him because he threatened my house?”

  Laila nodded miserably. “I can no longer stand this torment you have heaped on me, and I cannot stop you from pursuing Victor. No matter what I say or do, I will lose you forever. So if you want the truth, fine. I was—”

  “You won’t lose me.” He stood and approached her again, cupping her face and delving deep into her hazel eyes. “You can’t lose me.”

  “He will kill you.”

  “He can try, but I’ll see him coming. And I’ll keep us both safe. Keep talking.” When she looked reluctant to go on, he cupped her mound again, sliding his fingers teasingly across her clit. “If you do, I’ll reward you.”

  Her head slid back. She moaned, a long, high-pitched wail of need. “I locked myself in this room when I heard him shout for you. He threatened to burn the house and kill you, so I—”

  “Rushed out to stop him because you were afraid of being burned alive? This room is fireproof. You should have stayed hidden and safe.”

  “And sacrificed you?” She shook her head feverishly. “No. Not when I could save you.”

  “You came out of hiding to protect me?” Did she comprehend how insane that sounded? Trees was well over a foot taller than her. He outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. And he’d been trained by the best to be a lethal son of a bitch. But she’d put herself on the line to save him? “How did you think that was going to work?”

  “I talked him out of revenge by focusing him on another target for his violent urges. I could not bear him plotting your death or destroying your home.”

  “Fuck the house. I bought this place for the land and the privacy, not the structure. Did you really think you needed to protect it with your life?” And why would she?

  She squirmed, gyrating against his now-still fingers. “I saw an opportunity to accomplish many goals at once.”

  “Explain that.”

  Laila hesitated. Apparently, he’d ventured on to something she didn’t want to admit. Trees wasn’t about to let her hold out. He dipped his head and tormented her clit with his tongue again until it was hard as a stone, until she bucked in silent pleading, until he wrung a loud wail of surrender from her.

  “Laila? Explain.”

  “Okay. I-I ache. I cannot…”

  “Think? Yeah, you can.” He brushed his thumb over her again, giving her enough friction to tease but not enough to send her over. “Don’t filter. Use the first words that come to your head.”

  She nodded, gasping. “My plan was meant to save you and your house while distracting Geraldo Montilla, who would then focus more on Victor and less on my family.”

  “And put Ramos on Montilla’s radar?”

  “Yes. I hoped Victor would fight back and weaken Montilla.”

  Was she serious? “Did you grasp that it would probably mean Ramos’s death?”

  She hesitated, licking her lips, squirming again. The answer she was withholding right now was the something she didn’t want to admit. Was she afraid he wouldn’t give her this orgasm if she said she hadn’t meant for Ramos to get hurt?

  “Tell me,” he demanded, dropping his voice. “Now.”

  “Yes,” she gave in with a cry. “I suspected Montilla would kill Victor. I hoped for that.”

  She expected him to believe that after the video she’d sent? Trees scowled. “Bullshit. How about the truth this time?”

  “It is the truth!” she insisted. “After that, I planned to find Kimber’s location to give EM a reason to hunt down Montilla—”

  “So we would off him for you and your family would finally be safe?”

  “Exactly.”

  He had to give her credit. If that was the truth, her plan was both ballsy and brilliant. And something he absolutely itched to spank her ass for.

  But she’d also given him a lot to unpack in that statement. He started with the things she was most likely to answer without pushing back. “So…the distraction to focus Montilla’s attention on Ramos? Is that why you helped him steal the Ferrari?”

  She nodded. “It was my idea. I convinced Victor that if he could show the cartel he was clever enough to take the man’s prized possession, then perhaps everyone would think the old man incapable of continuing the operation and that he should be replaced by someone as daring and crafty as Victor.”

  Trees didn’t ask if Ramos had been dumb enough to believe it. Obviously he had. Laila had appealed to the man’s ambition and vanity and said exactly what he’d wanted to hear. “And you’re seriously telling me you wanted Montilla to kill your lover?”

  “He is not my lover. He is my rapist.”

  “That’s not what you said in La Pesca. You insisted that you enjoyed everything he did to your body and that you were with him of your own free will.”

  “I said what I had to so that you would not fight Victor in the street. I knew he would do his best to kill you,” she argued passionately. “When he shot you, I died a thousand deaths.”

  He wanted to believe her, but they were a long way from trust. “Why should I buy that after you criticized me for being suckered by your ‘sad story’? Which lies are the genuine lies, Laila? You sent me a video of you two fucking, so it’s a little hard to believe you didn’t leave me because you have feelings for Ramos and that you weren’t helping him for your own greedy ends.”

  “I swear, I only meant to protect you.”

  “By spreading your legs for him, filming it, and sending it to me with a kiss-off email?”

  The tears that had been trembling on her lashes fell. “Valeria told me you intended to rescue me that night. I knew you were injured. I watched you fall. I held you and you were unmoving. If you had come at Victor, he would have killed you. I could not have borne that.”

  “Because you have so many feelings for me?” He shot her a dubious stare. “You going to try to tell me next that you didn’t mean to hurt me with that video?”

  “No. I knew I would hurt you, and I hated that.”

  “But you sent it anyway. After you let him fuck you, of course.”

  “He did not! I stopped him.”

  Did she think he was stupid? “Really? Were you naked in that video?”

  “I was, but—”

  “Was he on top of you?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Was he between your legs? Was his cock hard? Were you smiling for the camera while telling him that your pussy was there for him and that you’d always be his good little whore?”

  Her expression reflected both misery and exasperation. “All of that, yes. But it was a calculated risk. He had been imbibing tequila all night. He had finished the bottle—straight. I knew from experience that it was a matter of time before he passed out.”

  Trees wanted to be convinced, but he needed to get away from her naked flesh, the smell of her creaming pussy, her dilated eyes imploring him to trust her just one more time… “I have two more questions.”

  “No rewards? I have been honest.”

  Well, she had answered. He would have to think through everything she’d said rationally to decide how much of it was the truth.

  “You’re right.” He reached behind him and dipped into the plastic bag of candy.

  “Not chocolate. Kiss me,” she panted. “Touch me.”

  So she could cloud his head again? He should probably see her request as progress, but without knowing her motives, he couldn’t. There was more than a passing chance that she’d tangled him up so badly that he couldn’t be logical anymore. “You don’t get to demand rewards, honey. You get what I give you. Do you want the chocolate?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’ll go back to my questions.”

  But resisting her wasn’t easy. Desire plagued him. She was right in front of him, stretched out, tied up in his dungeon, naked and begging. He’d had his hands on her, his mouth on her. He could smell her. He was on fire for her. He’d rather sink inside her than snap more questions at her, goddamn it.

  “A-all right.”

  Trees tried to focus. “You say you staged the video of you and Ramos having sex to protect me, but you didn’t let him fuck you? What if you hadn’t been able to stop him? Would you have allowed him to have sex with you to ‘save me’?”

  Laila closed her eyes. “Do not make me answer that.”

  Oh, so she didn’t want to tell him. Too bad.

  He slid his hand between her legs again and glided his fingers over her needy flesh. During their argument, she’d come off some of her arousal high. With a few circles around her clit and a drag of his lips across her skin, he fixed that. “Tell me, Laila. Or I’ll take you right to the edge and deny you again.”

  Her fingers curled into fists. Her face screwed up as she tried to resist the pleasure. “Why? Because you wish to torment us both? There is no acceptable answer. If I say no, you think I was not committed to keeping you safe. If I say yes, you decide I am a puta who spreads her legs to earn the favor of whichever man I am with.”

  She wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t make his question invalid. “Yes or no?”

  “If you love me, why do you want to know this? Can you not accept that I did my best to help you? Perhaps I did not do it the way you would have chosen, but—”

  “No, I can’t accept that.” Mostly because he was a stupid bastard who apparently wanted to torture himself with the answer.

  “I am sorry.” She pressed her lips together mutely.

  Did she think she was going to hold out on him? Not happening.

  He leaned in and stroked her clit in an achingly slow sweep with his tongue, then growled against the vibrating button. “Answer me.”

  “Trees…” She sucked in a shocked breath of pleasure, then wailed, “Stop. This is a no-win situation.”

  She wasn’t wrong about that, either. As much as it made him bristle, he had to be fair. “I promise, honesty won’t earn you more punishment.”

  “No, just your anger.” She sighed out raggedly. More tears fell as the fight finally left her. “Yes. I would have given my body to Victor, despite the fact I hate him and the thought of him touching me makes me sick. While I filmed that video, it took all my will to hide my revulsion. Even though I would have done anything to keep Victor from hurting you, you will still condemn me.”

  If he took her reply cynically, she absolutely looked like a whore willing to spread her legs for Ramos’s favor. But if he looked it like a man she cared for, she had done everything in her power to protect him—even if it cost her.

  “Why?” he blurted. “Why would you sacrifice yourself for me?”