“Don’t challenge me,” I warn.
“Really? Are you going to drop me?”
“It’s not worth it.”
I watch as Ares finishes climbing, and he’s level with me, his face inches away from mine. Rocky goes crazy, barking as soon as he sees the intruder, but I’m too busy gawking to call him off.
“Could you control that fleabag?”
“Rocky hasn’t had fleas this month, show more respect.”
“I don’t have all night.”
I sigh in frustration. “Rocky, sit down.” My dog obeys me. “Quiet.”
I step back to let Ares into my room. Once inside, his height makes my room feel small. His eyes look me up and down from head to toe, lingering on my breasts, and that’s when I remember I don’t have a bra on.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I say quickly.
For the second time tonight, I try to use the bathroom as an escape strategy, but I forget one small detail. Ares is not Yoshi. Ares won’t let me flee so easily. His hand grabs my arm, preventing me from moving.
“There’s no way you’re leaving me alone with that dog.”
“Rocky won’t do anything to you.”
“I’m not taking any chances.” He holds me by my shoulders, forcing me to walk to my computer. He pushes me until I sit in the chair and then kneels down to restart my router.
“Why do you feel like the owner of my internet connection?” I ask, but he just shrugs. “I could report you for entering my house like this, you know that, don’t you?”
“I know. But I also know you won’t do it.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Stalkers do not usually report those they stalk. It’s usually the other way around.”
“This.” I point to the window, and then to him. “Would also be considered stalking.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because you like me.” He pauses. “But I don’t like you.”
Ouch! Right in my heart!
I want to argue with him, but his words are like alcohol in a fresh wound. He keeps working on the router, and I stay quiet.
Because you like me, but I don’t like you.
He said it so casually, so honestly. If he doesn’t feel anything, then why did he kiss my neck that day in the cemetery?
Ignore his words, Raquel, don’t let him get to you.
Ares looks up at me. “What? Did I hurt your feelings?”
“Please! Of course not,” I lie. “Just hurry up with that so I can get back to sleep.”
He doesn’t say anything, and I watch him work. Having him this close still feels so unreal. I can see every detail of his face. His smooth skin is without even a trace of acne. Life is so unfair sometimes. Ares has it all: health, money, skills, intelligence, and beauty.
“Done.” He shakes the dust off his hands with a disgusted look on his face. “You should clean your room once in a while.”
I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, excuse me, Your Royal Highness, for forcing you to step into my unworthy room.”
“Cleanliness has nothing to do with money, lazy.”
“Don’t play that card! I don’t have time to clean. Between my summer job, sleeping, eating, stalking you—” I cover my mouth as the words slip out.
Why did I say that?
Ares smiles from ear to ear, a sharp glint of derision in his eyes. “Stalking me is time-consuming, huh?”
“Nope, no, that’s not what I meant.”
Still on his knees, Ares crawls toward me, and I shudder in my chair. He stares at me and he gets so close that I have to spread my legs to let him pass. His face is only inches from mine.
“What are you doing?”
He doesn’t answer, he just puts his hands on the arms of the chair, on either side of my waist. I can feel the heat radiating from his defined body. We are too close. The intensity he emanates doesn’t allow me to breathe properly. My eyes fall to his full lips, and that piercing I can see so well now.
His gaze moves down from my face to my breasts and my exposed legs, and then back up to my face, a mischievous smile crossing those luscious lips. The air becomes heavy and hot around us.
Ares takes my hands in his and places them on top of the arms of the chair, moving them out of his way. His eyes never leave mine as he lowers his head until it’s between my knees.
“Ares, what are you . . . ?”
His lips touch my knee with a simple kiss, leaving me breathless. “Do you want me to stop?”
His eyes search mine, and I shake my head. “No.”
The way the muscles in his arms and shoulders contract as he leaves wet kisses on the tops of my thighs is so fucking sexy. His tattoo just adds fire to this volcano he’s awakening inside me. His soft lips kiss, lick, and suck at the sensitive skin of my inner thighs. My body trembles, and little shivers of pleasure run through me, setting my senses on fire and clouding my mind. His black hair tickles as it brushes against my exposed skin.
Ares looks up as he bites into my skin, causing a small moan to escape my lips. My breathing is erratic, and my poor heart is beating like crazy. He continues his onslaught, moving up and down my thighs, his lips attacking, devouring. My hips move on their own, begging for more, wanting his lips in a place a little higher.
My eyes close by themselves.
“Ares,” I moan his name, and I can feel his lips stretch into a smile against my skin, but I don’t care.
“Do you want me?” His lips brush against the spot between my legs, right over the fabric of my shorts and I feel like I’m going to die of a heart attack. I can only nod. “I want you to say it,” he demands.
“I want you.”
He stops, and I open my eyes to find his face so close to my own that I can feel his heavy breath on my lips. His eyes are locked on mine.
“You’re going to be mine, Raquel.”
And then, just as suddenly as he came into my room, he leaves.
SEVEN
The Club
“Welcome to Dream Burgers. What would you like?” I ask with the Bluetooth device pressed to my ear.
“I’d like two Big Dreamy burgers and a cappuccino,” a woman’s voice says in response.
I select the order on the computer in front of me. “Anything else?”
“No, nothing else.”
“Okay, your order will be seven dollars and twenty-five cents. You can pay at the window. Thank you.”
A car appears next to the drive-thru window, and the woman who ordered hands me her card to pay. After finishing the transaction, I politely say good-bye and pray that no more cars show up, although it’s true that I’d rather serve people here than face them at the counter inside the restaurant. I adjust my cap with the DB for Dream Burgers on it and sigh. I’m exhausted. There’s still an hour before my shift is over, but I’m ready to jump out the window. The sensor alerts me that there’s a new car in the drive-thru, and I curse to myself.
Stop coming in for food, people!
“Welcome to Dream Burgers. What would you like?”
I hear a high-pitched giggle, and then someone clearing their throat. “I would like to order a Raquel to go.”
“Pass to the next window, ma’am,” I say, grinning like a fool.
In a matter of seconds, Dani is idling by my window. Her hair is perfect as always, and she’s wearing cute sunglasses.
“I can’t believe you’re spending the rest of the summer here.”
“I need the job, and you know it. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to kidnap you.”
“I’ve got another hour before I can leave.”
Dani grins like a Cheshire cat. “What part of kidnapping don’t you understand? The part where it’s involuntary? You have no right to say no.”
“I can’t leave.”
“Yes, you can, stubborn.”
I’m about to open my mouth to protest when I feel someone behind me. I turn to see Gabriel, a coworker who wasn’t on the schedule today. His reddish hair escapes from his cap as he gapes at Dani.
My attention returns to my best friend. “What’s going on?”
“Gabriel will cover your remaining hour.”
My eyes flick between Gabriel and Dani. “Why would he do that?”
“We do things for our friends,” Dani says with a shrug. “Don’t we, Gabo?”
He looks at her as if stunned. “Yes.”