Mr. Douglas moved to the edge of the bed and I sucked in a gasp. He had a gorgeous Gaelic word tattooed across his upper back. I wished I knew what the word meant, but I didn’t dare ask. He sat there, running a hand up and down the back of his shave head. The short hair gave him a dangerous, edgy look. I could see from the outline of the new growth that he wasn’t balding or receding. He was an utter mystery.
He climbed down and reached for his undershirt, coming back to the bed and wiping his come from my skin. The thoughtful gesture suddenly made my eyes burn and I had to swallow hard. It wasn’t unheard of for patrons to be kind or gentle, but it was rare. I believed Marco was gentle with Perla, and I’d always wished for that. I was starving for true kindness.
He tossed the soiled shirt to the ground and pulled on his boxer briefs. I prepared myself to say the words I always had to say if there was no prearranged agreement.
“Se?or Douglas…Quieres que me quede?” Do you want me to stay?
He finally looked at me again, but the passion was gone now. He seemed guarded.
Please say yes, I silently begged. Ask me to stay.
“Do you only speak in Spanish?” he asked.
I paused, taken aback by the question, and then nodded.
“No,” he whispered, and my stomach sunk. In a stronger voice he said, “You may go.”
Dismissed.
Without looking at him I quickly climbed off the bed, picked up my panties from the floor, and left. Luis was waiting outside the door to escort me to the slave quarters.
Josef, Jin, and Perla were all surprisingly there, sitting at the table. The girls sat up straighter, smiles on their faces like they wanted details, though that wasn’t something we normally did. Josef eyed me suspiciously and I felt exposed under his stare.
Not saying a word, I turned for the showers to wash myself as we were expected to do after every encounter with a patron.
Well, what do you know? All three of them freaking followed me in.
“So, chica?” Jin said in Spanish, a hand on her silk-clad waist. “Was he good?”
I had to be careful. Attraction was fine, but I couldn’t imagine Marco would approve of me crushing on a patron. Emotions were off limits. But I could talk about the sex.
“Sí,” I answered, closing my eyes to go under the spray of water. I heard Jin giggle with glee.
“But he didn’t want you to stay the night,” Josef said, getting right to the heart of it. Ouch. He was watching me with his arms crossed and I could practically feel the waves of disapproval coming off him.
Perla tsked. “He’s an artist. He probably sent her away so he could paint.” She smiled at me and left the bathrooms, pulling a grinning Jin alongside her.
I couldn’t look at Josef, and after a minute of my silence he finally left me alone. Why did he have to know me so well? Tonight was my first time in all my days at the villa that I was sad to be let go by a patron, and Josef knew it. It was dumb of me. I shouldn’t have felt that way for any man who came through these doors, but after so long of feeling nothing, I couldn’t help but grab ahold of this sensation, letting it grow. I had so little. What would it hurt?
He couldn’t even force himself to paint after the mind fuck that was his time with Angela. Sending her away had been a spontaneous decision that he regretted now. Colin climbed into the shower and wondered if Marco had another man for Angela to be with tonight since he hadn’t asked her to stay. He shut his eyes tight and wanted to punch the tiled walls at the thought of her being forced into another bed after being with him.
Damn it all to hell. He should have told her to stay. But then…yeah. He’d be expected to take her again and again. And he’d want to. No doubt she thought he was a bloomin’ tosser after the stunt he’d pulled under the sheets tonight.
Although she seemed to enjoy it.
Colin caught his cock in his hand under the stream of water and willed it not to get hard again at the thought of her orgasming beneath him—her nails digging into his lower back and how she rubbed herself, making all those gorgeous fucking sounds. If she’d thought he was strange for not fucking her, she rolled with it, using his body for her pleasure. Made Colin wonder what kind of crazy shite she’d seen…he stopped his thoughts right there.
He was going to get her out of here. That’s all that mattered. And he’d do whatever it took to accomplish that.
Colin needed to earn the trust of Marco Ruiz. He was making good progress, but he wanted to completely win the man over.
He dressed in shorts and a Spanish style button up shirt, and left his room, hoping Marco would be out. Colin followed the scent of acrid cigar smoke out to the veranda where Marco sat with two other men in the open air, flanked by three bodyguards. They looked to be talking business, so Colin steered clear, deciding to take a walk through the warm night instead.
“Se?or Douglas,” he heard called behind him. “Won’t you join us?”
Marco waved him over with a cigar in hand, so Colin went.
He sat in the offered chair and accepted the cigar Marco held out to him. A Cuban.
“Se?or, I’d like you to meet two of my business associates, Juan and Franco.”
Colin nodded to the men, who stared at him a moment before nodding back, unsmiling.