His: Luca (paperback)

The moment I catch sight of the taller of the two men, I can’t take my eyes off him. He moves with the sleek elegance and power of a jaguar sheathed in a cut-to-fit silk black suit. A black shirt and black tie add to the menacing warning to anyone who dares to get close. The man is lethal, one glance is all it takes to see it. The very air around him vibrates with raw, primitive power. He turns, our eyes meet and holy shit, all the air leaves my body in a whoosh.

 A man takes my hand and guides me down the ladder and still I can’t take my eyes off the man. He is moving toward me with purpose. In motion he is stunning. Beautiful; it isn’t fair for a man to be beautiful.

 If I had seen a picture of him I wouldn’t have believed it was real. Thick black hair is threaded with silver at his temples. His forehead is broad and heavily lined. A large nose has been broken and reset and is ever so slightly crooked. It should detract from his beauty, yet it oddly adds to it. It also warned that the brutal strength beneath his expensive suit isn’t just for show.

 He has the kind of cheekbones that could cut diamonds they’re so sharp. His lips are wide and appear soft and longing flows through me to find out what they would feel like against mine. The thought stuns me. I’ve never been kissed. I’ve never wanted a man to kiss me.

 For a moment, I cling to the hand helping me down. I stumble as my ankle aches and my feet meet the loose sand of the desert. I’m caught by two large hands around my upper arms. His touch sends electricity through me so powerful it rocks my very foundation. All around us the atmosphere is thick with a hot, sizzling tension I don’t understand.

 “Are you all right?” he asks in English.

For a moment those hands around my arms tighten before his touch gentles. No, I’m not all right. The electricity surging through me has every nerve-ending begging for more of his touch. Shocked awake from a deep sleep my body is responding to him in a way I had no idea it was even possible for me to feel. And it’s scares the hell out of me.

 “I’m Luca Sabatini. You’re safe now.” Smoke, gravel, and heat, his voice winds around me. I believe him when he says I’m safe. For the first time…in ever, I feel safe because he said so. Black eyes are a void I plunge headlong into. “Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”

 Wait, Luca Sabatini? Mundo said he was a good man but in the same breath warned me not to get close to him, that he was dangerous. I should have known that because I can’t imagine anyone being brave enough to stop any Reyes property. A different fear begins filling me and gives me the strength to at last answer him. “No hablo English.”

 He lets me go with a frown as he motions the man who let the women out over to us. I’m instantly lost without his touch. Luca tells him to ask me in Spanish if I’m okay and if I need a doctor.

 The man asks. I tell him that I’m fine and ask what’s happening. I’m doing my best to focus on the man and ignore Luca Sabatini. He’s dangerous. I have to remember that and forget my body’s disturbing response to him.

 “Mr. Sabatini doesn’t allow sex trafficking or trafficking of any people, period. Is there anything you can tell me about your abduction?”

 I shake my head. “I don’t remember much. I was walking home from the grocery store. The next thing I know I wake up in a room with these women.” I’m praying he can’t tell I’m lying. “What happens now?”

 “If you want to go to Los Angeles, we have someone who will drive everyone who wants to go there. Mr. Sabatini has a shelter where you can stay until you get on your feet. They have a way of getting messages to your family if need be. Or if you want to come to Vegas with us there is a shelter there as well. We’ll need to wait while Mr. Sabatini interrogates the driver.”

 “I’d like to go to Vegas.”  I’m careful to avoid saying I want to go to the shelter.

 The man tells Luca I want to go to Vegas. Luca tells him to put me in his vehicle. The man goes to put his hand on my arm; I nearly jump when Luca growls low in his throat. Violence emanates from him as tells the man he is not to touch me. My eyes meet Luca’s and oh god everything, absolutely every cell in my body melts in the fire of his gaze. His eyes are black ice and just as dangerous. “No one touches her but me, warn everyone.”

 The words are in English; that has to be the only reason why he says them with fierce possession—even though he’s looking at me as if he knows I can understand him. No one touches me but him; why would he say it? My heart thuds painfully against the wall of my chest as my stomach coils tightly with a hunger that has nothing to do with food.