She frowned. “I believe you mean that.”

  But she didn’t ask more questions, probably because she wasn’t ready to hear the answers. And Trees wouldn’t push her.

  Besides, she wasn’t staying with him forever. It didn’t matter that he was in love with her. His sentiment wasn’t reciprocated. What was the most he could say about her feelings? She didn’t hate him. She didn’t completely distrust him. That was progress, sure. But anything that would lead to a happy ever after? No. He lived in the real world. He had these stolen moments with her, nothing more.

  When she left, it would fucking hurt because he’d probably never see her again.

  “I do. Have you talked to your sister today?”

  She nodded. “Jorge is improving. It is a relief.”

  “Glad to hear it. I’m going to grab a shower and some food. I’ll probably watch a movie after that if you want to join me.”

  Laila didn’t answer, just laid a soft hand on his arm. Tingles blasted through his body. “I have accused you of working against me, trying to hurt me, and betraying me. When I am wrong, I say so. I am sorry.”

  An apology? He’d never expected that. “You’ve been through hell, and I was a stranger. You’ve known me…what? Five days. I’m not surprised trust has been tough for you.”

  “You have not always been easy, but you have been fair. You not only protected me, you avenged me.” She shook her head. “I know you did not kill Hector for me, but—”

  “I did.”

  She sucked in a shocked breath.

  “I told him I was pulling the trigger for you as I did it.” He shrugged. “The truth is, he was reaching for his wife’s gun so he could shoot me, which forced me to kill or be killed. But I have no remorse for putting a bullet in his brain. You might not have had justice any other way.”

  Laila’s expression collapsed. He’d seen her cry tears of sadness, anger, and frustration. She’d shed tears in panic, relief, and satisfaction. But she’d never looked right at him and allowed herself to be utterly vulnerable. She was giving him trust she never had. That was even more evident when the first trembling tear rolled down her cheek and she didn’t look away.

  The sight wrecked him. He thumbed the hot drop away. “Honey…”

  “Hector is one reason I fear the dark. A few weeks after I came to visit Valeria, she and Emilo had a fight. He told my sister to shut up or there would be repercussions. Valeria thought he meant against her.” Laila gave a little shake of her head and looked away.

  Trees tucked a finger under her chin. “You don’t have to say more, little one.”

  “I want to. I have never told anyone.”

  And she’d chosen to pour herself out to him? “Not your sister? Or your mother?”

  “I did not wish to make either of them feel guilty or risk themselves trying to protect me. But that night, Emilo locked me in an underground room with no windows. Two men came in as I slept and…” Laila couldn’t finish her sentence.

  He fucking wished he could go back in time and protect her. She had been a fourteen-year-old girl forced to endure the worst in men through no fault of her own. “Raped you?”

  “They took turns holding me down while…” She pressed her lips together as another tear fell. “It happened again the next night. And the night after that… I-I did not even know who had violated me for days. Then one morning at breakfast, Victor came to sit on one side of me, Hector on the other. As soon as they spoke, I knew. I knew their voices. I knew their smells. I almost threw up, but I did not dare betray my reaction with my mamá watching.”

  “You worried what they would do to her if she retaliated?”

  Laila nodded. “So I complied and became their whore.”

  Trees shelved a violent urge to go back in time and kill Hector all over again—with his bare hands. But Laila needed him now. “Don’t ever use that word to describe yourself again. You didn’t give yourself for a buck; you sacrificed yourself for your mother.”

  More tears fell down Laila’s face. “It did not matter in the end. She still died. They refused her medical treatment when she needed it. I don’t even know if or where she is buried.”

  Another stab in the heart. Trees wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but he brought her close, settling her head against his chest. “I’m so sorry, little one.”

  She sniffled and stepped away. “Tears are useless, and I should stop them.”

  “If they help you heal, then cry away. I’ll hold you. I’ll do whatever makes you feel safe.”

  “Thank you, but safety is an illusion.”

  It was a fucking sad statement, but he could see why she believed that. Every time she’d found some refuge—like the safe houses in which she had hidden after escaping her brother-in-law’s compound—they had been repeatedly uncovered and invaded.

  Trees shook his head. “Even if you don’t think safety is real, I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”

  “I believe you will try.”

  He couldn’t help himself. He cradled her face and kissed her forehead. He’d love to do more to prove that she was safe with him, but in the moment, all he could give her was his word. “Always. I promise.”

  To his shock, she curled her fingers around his wrists and tilted her face under his. “Can I ask something of you?”

  “Anything.”

  Her big hazel eyes turned imploring. “Take me to bed.”

  His heart seized up. She was asking him to get closer? She wanted to connect with him? Maybe, but she wasn’t thinking about love. Did she even believe such a thing existed? “Laila, you don’t owe me anything, especially not your body.”

  “I know. That is why I want you. For the first time, I will know what sex without hate, force, or desperation is like, where the only motive is pleasure. Will you show me?”

  Jesus… He couldn’t say no to that. But he didn’t just want to give her a good time; he wanted to give her his love. “Are you sure, honey? You know I want you, right? How I feel about you isn’t much of a secret. But—”

  “I am sure.” She rose on to her tiptoes and guided his face down to hers.

  Trees groaned and covered her mouth with his own. Her pillowy lips parted, cushioning his entry. As she curled her hand around his neck, her tongue met his shyly. Her breasts pressed to his chest, and she exhaled with him, into him.

  Desire gripped Trees, choking him with need. After making herself so emotionally vulnerable, she seemed ready to open herself sexually. It was far more than he’d ever expected.

  He pulled back and thumbed her swollen lower lip, his heart jacked up on more than desire. “I’m going to make love to you, honey. I’m going to lavish every bit of pleasure I can on you. Tell me when you’ve had enough.”

  She nodded and reached for the hem of the sweatshirt.

  He gripped her wrists. “Let me do that.”

  Obediently, Laila dropped her arms to her sides.

  Trees tucked his fingers under the baggy fleece and slowly lifted it over her head. Underneath, she still wore the threadbare pink tank and the nearly illegal shorts that clung to her every curve and took his breath away.

  He swallowed as he reached for her thin top, deliberately lifting it to give Laila a hundred opportunities to object. She said nothing, just affixed her darkening stare on him.

  He swallowed as he shed the tank and tossed it to the floor. Next, he popped the button at her waistband. Her zipper followed, a sensuous scratch of noise in the quiet room. Then he peeled the shorts past her hips, eased them down her thighs, and let them drop to the hardwood floor. His breaths turned harsh.

  In the winter chill, she shivered, nipples beading inside her plain cotton bra, but she made no move to cover herself. His gaze swept over her every petite curve and soft swell. Yeah, he wanted her. Of course. But not just because she was beautiful or his type. The way she was giving herself honestly made his desire surge. She had no hidden agenda to escape him, test him, or work him over. She simply wanted him.

  “You okay?” He skimmed his knuckles over the swell of her breast. “You still want this?”

  “Yes.” She reached behind her back and unfastened her bra.

  The tiny scrap of cotton fell between them. Suddenly, his view went from leaving little to the imagination to leaving nothing at all.

  “Laila…” His stare swept down the heavy hang of her breasts and tight rosy-brown nipples, then scraped the valley of her waist, finally settling on the lush curve of her hip—interrupted by soft beige cotton.

  It had to go. He needed her bare.

  “You have seen me naked before.”

  “You get more beautiful every time I do.”

  “Pretty words are not necessary.”

  Trees braced his hands on her hips and brought her against his cock, which filled and throbbed for her. “I’m horrible with pretty words, but I’m really damn good with the truth. And that’s what I’m telling you.”

  Then he didn’t waste more time talking before he peeled away her underwear. He knelt as she stepped out of them, then tossed the little garment aside. That left him with a face full of her gorgeous pussy. The memory of her taste made him eager to get her on his bed, plant her on her back, and settle his shoulders between her legs again.

  Later. Right now, he wanted to merge himself with her. She’d asked for pleasure, but he’d given her that once. He suspected Laila was aching for more, so he intended to tell her he loved her without saying a word.

  Trees stood and lifted her against his body. Automatically, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, tilting her head for his kiss. She felt so fucking perfect in his arms as he closed the distance to the bed and laid her across the mattress. He followed her to the fluffy comforter, never breaking their kiss. She opened wider to him, her lips soft and sweet. Trees burrowed into her mouth, sweeping in to tell her silently how beautiful she was. How much he desired her. To promise her that, even after she left, she would always be in his heart.

  Beneath him, she parted her thighs, trailing her hands down his back, then under his shirt. Her fingers on his spine made him shudder.

  Laila slid the tee up his torso until it gathered around his chest. He had no patience for it—or anything else—coming between them, so he yanked it over his head, breaking their kiss only long enough to tear off the shirt. Then he swooped down to take her lips again, not giving a fuck where he tossed the garment.

  Skin to skin, he pressed against her with a groan. Her breasts plastered against his chest so tightly he could feel her heart thundering.

  Her fingertips gripped his shoulders, her nails pressing in as she broke away to trail her lips across his jaw and up his neck with rough little pants. “Trees…”

  “There’s no rush, little one. We have all night.”

  Tomorrow would be a different story. The bosses would likely be up in his business about Laila by morning. But goddamn it, between now and sunrise was theirs.

  “I ache for all of you now, but I want it to last forever.”

  Holy shit. That was the closest she’d come to expressing feelings for him. Had he managed to steal into her heart more than she’d let on?

  “I’ll do everything I can to make tonight feel like a lifetime.” He sealed that vow with a kiss, falling deeper into her mouth as he fell deeper under her spell.

  Laila was wide open to him. She wrapped her arms around him and melted against him with a breathy sigh. He skimmed the curves of her torso, feeling his way down to her hips and anchoring her under him. She writhed against his hard-as-hell cock, tearing her lips free to skim them along his neck. God, she was everywhere—rosy-cheeked and breathing hard—pumping out a musk that teased his senses and told him she was aroused.

  She nipped at his ear. He twitched and jerked as sensations ricocheted through his body. He growled. In return, she whimpered and offered her mouth to him again. Dizzy and impatient, he covered her lips and took control of their kiss, losing himself in her. He was in so deep he wasn’t sure he’d ever find his way out.

  He didn’t fucking care.

  Then he stopped thinking and his body took over, ripping at his jeans and toeing off his shoes. Fuck, he’d meant to make this gentle and unrushed, love Laila the way she deserved to be loved, the way she never had been. But she kept urging him on and destroying his restraint.

  With a curse, he stood and shucked his pants. “If you need me to slow down, honey, tell me.”

  But a glance at her through the shadows told him her nipples were hard as stones. Her pussy was swollen and slick.

  “No. I need all of you now.”

  They were on the same page—desperate to bond, to feel each other in a way they hadn’t before.

  “I need you, too.”

  But he had to stop himself from shoving every inch he had inside her, as he had their first time. It had been the tightest fucking fit of his life. She’d closed around him, clinging to him, clutching him every moment he’d been buried deep. And he hadn’t gone easy on Laila, crashing into her stroke after stroke. This time, he needed to hold back, at least a little.

  Trees repeated that objective in his head like a litany. And he was on board—until he lowered himself on top of her. He couldn’t resist taking one of her breasts in his mouth and sucking at her like a starving man while working the other between his thumb and fingers.

  Beneath him, she arched and cried out, threading her hands through his hair and wrapping herself around him even tighter. “Yes. More…”

  He gave Laila what she begged for, sucking on her tender tips harder, nipping, laving, and tormenting until she went frenzied under him. Until he felt her nipples swell on his tongue.

  “Trees…” She pressed kisses everywhere she could reach him, urging him on even more with her uneven breaths and mewls. “It feels so good.”

  He could do this to her all night. Hell, he could do this to her forever—if they had that long.

  But they didn’t.

  Instead, he climbed up her body and took her face in his hands. “I want every part of you. I’m going to take you over and over tonight.”

  “Yes,” she whimpered.

  Then he tangled his hands in her hair, slanted his mouth over hers, and seized it again. Her lips clung to his. She opened to him, gave herself over to him with a shaky little breath.

  The kiss seemed endless, as if they could love their entire lifetime in this single melding of mouths. He felt her, dazed and thrilled. He smelled her, female, musky, and mysterious. She aroused him in a way he’d never experienced. She touched him on a level no woman ever had.

  Trees glided his hands down her body, pausing to worship her every dip and curve, before he reached her hips again and lifted her to his probing cock. When his seeking crest found her slick opening, he slid inside, delving down, down, down. Suddenly, she gasped and tensed. He stopped his forward press, settling into a slow, truncated rhythm that made him gnash his teeth and sweat. Everything inside him demanded he sink the rest of his aching length into her, as deep as he could, and imprint himself on her so she never forgot him.

  He held back.

  “Trees. Trees…” she panted, peppering kisses across his shoulders, his neck. “More. Please more.”

  Was she trying to undo him? “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She tossed her head back and forth. “Give me everything.”

  His heart hammered into his ribs. Desire soared. Thought went out the window. Instinct took over.

  Even if he never said the words to her, she was his.

  Fingers digging into her, he held her pinned to the mattress, bracing his knees against the bed, and groaned as he surged as deep into her as he could.

  She cried out, her head falling back into his pillow. The look on her face, now bathed in moonlight, was pure ecstasy.

  The trust she showed stunned him. The sexuality she gave back to him dazzled.

  And something feral in him took over. Teeth bared, he pummeled inside her, eased out with back-twisting slowness, then fused them together again.

  Her teeth sank into his shoulder. Her nails dug into his back. With every thrust, she keened, wrapping herself tighter around him and burrowing her way deeper into his heart.

  His bed shook. The air around them seemed to stop. His body turned to fire. This couldn’t last; he knew it. But he needed to see her pleasure—to feel it—before he gave in to the ecstasy threatening to undo him. Laila gripped him, undulating. She was so, so close…

  “Come for me,” he panted. “I need to feel you.”

  As if his words unleashed her pleasure, she tightened, her back bowing as she let out a hoarse cry that seemed to come from somewhere deep in her soul. She squeezed him tightly, milking him and totally surrendering to him.

  Trees followed her over—a sheer cliff of ecstasy unlike anything he’d ever felt. There was no being gentle, no holding back. He poured himself into her, and when he was done, still panting and sweating, he knew on some level he couldn’t put into words that she belonged to him. The other undeniable fact? He belonged to her, too. She was so deep in his heart he wasn’t sure it would beat again without her.

  Laila rested her head on Trees’s bare shoulder, smiled, and sighed. She had only enough energy left to skim her palm across his naked chest, down the ridges of his abdomen, and back again. If his house caught on fire, she would just have to burn with it because he’d completely wrung her out.

  And she loved it.

  He caught her hand drifting down again and settled it over his penis. Despite the fact he’d taken her four times last night, he was erect again. Knowing he wanted her now flooded her veins with more drugging, addicting desire.

  Yet more than hunger compelled her. They had chased pleasure for hours, as tightly tangled as two people could be. And she still wished she could spend all day giving herself over and over to Trees’s demanding passion. But not merely for the orgasms. She loved being close to him—his scent, his strength, his compassion. Wrapped in his arms was the one place she felt as if safety might not be an illusion.

  Closing her fingers around his shaft, she stroked him slowly. “Good morning.”