Chapter 26 26
“My doll,” he rasped in that deep, rough baritone.
Sofía froze.
Every nerve in her body locked, her blood turning to ice in her veins.
She yanked her legs back into the water and wrapped her arms over her chest, trying desperately to shield herself.
Her wide blue eyes darted toward the dark corner of the room where the voice had come from.
For a split second, she thought she was imagining it.
But the shattered lamp on the floor told her otherwise.
He had been there the entire time.
Sitting silently.
Watching her.
The realization drained the color from her face. Panic surged as her eyes frantically searched for something anything to cover herself.
A towel.
A cloth.
But there was nothing close.
The only towel hung by the door.
And to reach it, she’d have to walk out naked.
Her heart nearly stopped when she heard footsteps.
Heavy.
Slow.
Predatory.
Within seconds, he stood in the bathroom doorway, filling the frame with his massive form, looking as dangerous as ever.
Her hands trembled as she sank lower into the tub, silently thanking God for the foamy soap bubbles that barely concealed her body.
Still, the fact that she was practically naked before him terrified her to her core.
She stared at him in disbelief, shock stealing the breath from her lungs.
He had seen her.
All of her.
Her throat tightened painfully.
“W-What a-are y-you d-doing h-here?” she stammered, eyes glassy with fear.
Fernando tilted his head slowly to the side.
The simple gesture made her heart stutter violently.
The very man she had been avoiding with everything in her was now standing in her apartment right there at the entrance of her bathroom while she sat exposed in the bathtub.
He stepped inside with the smooth, lethal grace of a predator closing in on its prey.
Her breath hitched when he sat down on the edge of the tub.
She was certain something horrible was about to happen.
But instead
“Hands on the bathtub,” he ordered.
Not a request.
A command.
She stared at him, eyes wide and trembling.
“P-please… I—l-leave m-”
“I said hands on the fucking bathtub!”
His growl thundered through the room, so loud she was sure the neighbors heard it.
Her lips quivered as tears welled up.
He hadn’t touched her yet.
And that somehow made it worse.
Slowly, hesitantly, she removed her arms from her chest and placed them on the rim of the tub.
Anxiety spiked instantly and her hands flew back up to cover herself.
But he caught her wrists and forced them down again, his glare sharp and deadly.
Sofía dropped her gaze in horror.
Her breasts pushed against the foam, half-visible like pale crescents through the water.
“Why weren’t you coming to the academy?” he asked calmly too calmly.
But there was demand in his tone.
Her chest heaved as panic clawed at her.
“You c-could w-wait in m-my r-room… a-and w-we c-can t-talk th--”
His fingers pressed against her lips, silencing her instantly.
As soon as she stopped speaking, his gaze drifted downward.
To her chest.
His forest-green eyes darkened with hunger raw and possessive.
His knuckles brushed her cheek.
She flinched.
But he didn’t stop.
His touch slid to her neck.
Then her collarbone.
Fire followed in its wake.
Her fingers dug into the edge of the tub when his knuckles skimmed the swell of her breast.
Terror didn’t even begin to describe what she felt.
She was shaking.
But beneath the fear…
Something else stirred.
A strange buzzing in her stomach.
Her heart racing.
Heat flaring wherever he touched.
It was wrong.
So wrong.
And yet her body betrayed her.
The vulnerability.
His control.
His dominance.
It awakened something deep inside her something she didn’t understand and didn’t want.
His knuckles stroked her other breast, making her breath come out shallow and uneven.
Fernando’s expression darkened further.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
He was lighting a fire she had never known existed.
“You avoided me for four fucking days, Ana,” he growled.
Reality slammed back into her.
She abruptly pulled away, covering herself again and curling into the corner of the tub, knees drawn to her chest.
“P-please, Mr. Ruiz,” she whimpered as tears spilled over.
His jaw tightened.
He hated crying.
Always had.
But her tears…
They bothered him in a way he didn’t understand.
Standing up, he walked to the door, grabbed the towel, and set it on the counter beside the tub.
His gaze was lethal.
She couldn’t bring herself to meet it.
His eyes traced every detail of her
Her flushed cheeks.
Those soft pink lips.
Her wide ocean-blue eyes.
Wet black hair clinging to her skin.
That creamy, trembling body.
He had already seen enough to fuel his fantasies for a lifetime.
But the beast inside him wanted more.
All of her.
Every inch.
“Come out in five minutes,” he said coldly. “If you don’t, I’ll drag you out clothed or naked.”
Then he left the bathroom, slamming the door so hard she thought it might rip from its hinges.
She sat frozen in shock.
“FIVE FUCKING MINUTES!” his furious roar echoed through the door.
Her body jolted.
And she finally forced herself to move.