Page 24 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
‘Are you annoyed with me because you lost or because you bet something you obviously value on a stupid game?’
He slammed the glass down and spun to face her. Willow sensed she’d shocked him with her blatant observation. That not many people dared speak this way to Jario Tagarro.
‘Watch it,querida.’ He confirmed her theory.
Perhaps she should’ve heeded the warning, but flushed with scooping triumph from the jaws of defeat, she couldn’t curb her response. ‘Why should I when you obviously don’t?’
His nostrils flared wide, his eyebrows clamping into a thunderous frown. ‘If you think baiting me is a good way to get what you want, you’re ridiculously mistaken.’
‘So far, nothing indicates I’ll get what I want. You keep slithering away from telling me what I want to know. I did some research on you, you know. Everyone thinks you’re some honourable man.’ She laughed. ‘I guess you should be commended for pulling the wool over their eyes, right? Because so far, I’ve seen nothing but a man who likes to throw his weight around just as fast as he throws axes in the middle of the night. And when that doesn’t intimidate enough, he growls and plays games just for kicks. You’re no better than my—’ Her vocal cords seized when she realised she’d been about to compare him to her father. To David, even?
But that same instinct that shrieked at her when it came to the other two men who’d hurt and betrayed her wasn’t sounding now.
So she swallowed it down as he stepped up to her, his eyes ablaze. ‘You really enjoy playing with fire, don’t you?’
‘No, I don’t!’ She punctuated her words by poking a finger at his hard chest, then immediately regretted her action when electricity zapped down her palm and spread through her body. ‘You think I want to be here? I have a life waiting for me, you know. Responsibilities that don’t include scrubbing your decks or folding your stupid socks. Answering my calls or emails would’ve saved us both this...this circus. Instead, this is what you’ve driven me to, you bastard!’
‘Oh, yes? Like you’ve driven me to this?’ The incensed query arrived right before demanding fingers spiked into her damp hair, clamping down hard to drive her head up to meet his.
Jario’s lips seared hers in a kiss so fiery, Willow’s breath punched clean out of her lungs. The sizzling kinetic force made her surge up onto her toes, a long moan leaving her throat as sweet, decadent sensation pummelled her.
Theyes, yes, yestrilling at the back of her mind laid bare the naked truth that she—they’d—been moving inexorably towards this. That the first night in the axe den had ignited the spark for this explosion. But never in her wildest dreams had she expected the spectacle of it would be this...seismic.
The lips moulding hers, the tongue coaxing entry, the hand clasping the back of her head, the other on her hip, holding her tight, all coalesced into a blinding,thrillingmagic that inflamed every cell of her body.
Whether she took the step back or he stepped forward, Willow would never know. Yet, between one second and another, she was pressed against the wall, caught between one immovable object and a towering pillar of magnificent Latin male intent on delivering ferocious magic to her unsuspecting system. Magic sheyearnedfor.
She shuddered as the skin on hot skin contact reminded her of their scantily clad bodies. How indecently delicious it felt to be pressed against him like this. She muted the cautionary voice and raised her arms, mirrored his movements by spearing fingers into his hair just as his tongue swept into her mouth.
The hand on her hip tightened, his thumb pressing into her bone, drawing another head-to-toe shiver. She hadn’t even thought it possible to awaken an erogenous zone this way. Too quickly, the caress changed course to her bottom, squeezing her firm flesh as he groaned thickly.
‘Santo infierno.’
He cursed against her mouth and bit her bottom lip right before he plunged back in, boldly inviting her tongue to play with his, his body pressing her harder into the wall until she couldn’t mistake the untamed evidence of his arousal against her belly.
Dear God.
Had any previous kiss, including David’s, felt like this?
No.Absolutely not.
Willow was at once chagrined that she hadn’t known the true meaning of a good...hell,greatkiss until now and exhilarated she was experiencing it. Even if it was delivered by the devil himself.
Even if...? Oh...Oh, God. What the hell was she doing?
With a strangled yelp she pushed against his shoulders.
He stepped back, his chest rising and falling in an elevated rhythm that was still maddeningly slow compared to her heaving one.
‘This isn’t... I’m not going to sleep with you if that’s what...’ She shook her head to clear her lust-addled thoughts.
One eyebrow cocked. ‘You don’t sound sure about that,’ he said.
‘I am. One hundred percent. Y-you’re not even my type.’
He laughed. Deep and just the right amount of rough to evoke dangerous, erotic thoughts that reignited flames barely banked.
A shadow flitted across his features. His eyes hardened, before trailing down her body.