More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Sometimes a girl just wants to be kidnapped by a gorgeous mafia Don and swept away to his villa in the Spanish country where she doesn’t have to think for a few months.
Forgive me for not wanting to be a child bride at almost twenty-two.
“A gentleman pursues. Abuelo would have a heart attack if he heard you were trying to bait a woman like some sort of animal.”
Now, the shoe is on the other foot and I’m unsure of how to act when the woman receiving all the attention is me.
“Intelligent women are extremely sexy.”
“Men always say they like intelligent women. I think it’s just a way to get them into bed.”
There isn’t anything romantic about one-night stands and the logical thing to do is keep my expectations low. Do it for the plot, romanticize my life for the summer, and reduce this little encounter to a color-coded page in my journal. And when I’m old and wrinkly I can look back on this and say God, I was hot. Can’t believe I pulled that guy.
“I’m going to fuck you like you’re mine so keep your eyes open and watch.”
We’re no better than strangers but in this moment, I don’t think anything or anyone could convince me that I wasn’t his.
“Don’t. Move.” He grips my jaw and plants a bruising kiss on my lips. “I’m not done with you.”
Wealth like this makes a simple gift like mine feel entirely useless but no properly raised Latina ever shows up to someone else’s house emptyhanded.
A woman’s first summer romance should be a rite of passage. I’m enjoying every second of mine.
No hay veneno más dulce, que el del amor verdadero “There is no sweeter poison than that of true love,”
I feel invisible to him. And I hate that I no longer want to be invisible.
I watch as Alejandro pauses at the driver’s side door, hand hovering over the handle. His entire body vibrates with tension. I can practically feel it. What I don’t feel is remorse.
“You killed them.” I whisper, more to myself than him. “Does that bother you?” I pause before responding. “Would you do it again?” “Yes,” he answers without missing a beat. “It wasn’t my first time. Most certainly won’t be my last.” “You would kill for me?” Alejandro’s gaze narrows, the line of questioning piquing his interest. “Yes,” again, no hesitation. “If that was what it took.” No one’s ever done that before. Protect me.
When I think about it, getting kissed like this really was worth getting shot at in the end.
“What can I do? What will make you happy? Tell me and I’ll do it. I’ll climb a ladder into the fucking sky and bring you the moon if you ask me to. Tell me what you want. I can’t give you what you want if you don’t ask.”
“Take it. Rack up a few hundred thousand dollars in debt, it’ll make you feel better.”
I’m almost certain she could put a bullet through his chest and he’d follow death without a word of protest.
It’s as if he took the whole “me hating him” thing to heart. God, he’s so sensitive.
But something awful happens when you grow up and realize the adults around you aren’t perfect.
And I fear I’m dangerously, perilously close to falling in love with her.
So it’s just me, alone, in this dark, quiet room, sitting with the knowledge that I became a murderer today. I’m not sure how to feel about it. Numb isn’t the right word. Shocked isn’t it either. Calm. I feel uncharacteristically calm and the lack of a visceral emotional reaction—fear, anger, self-hatred, numbness—is what’s concerning to me. I killed someone today. Doesn’t matter that he was going to kill Alejandro and probably me next. Shouldn’t I feel something?
What makes him any different than Alejandro? They’re both criminals; made men who live and breathe this lifestyle without remorse or consideration. Putting a hit on someone is a part of it. How many men has Alejandro killed? How many fathers, brothers, husbands, and friends? He could’ve just as easily been the man I killed rather than the one I saved. Nothing sets him apart from the corpses in the morgue tonight.
There is something that sets Alejandro apart from the men that were killed today. I just don’t want to admit what it is yet.
How long will I have to look at him and remember how close I came to losing him?
When I close the distance between us, it’s with a kiss I fear has rearranged every fiber of my being.
No matter how many times I’ve touched her, kissed her, been inside her, it’s never enough. It goes beyond want or desire; being with her is a need. A necessity. As vital to life as air, water, food, shelter.
She touches me like I belong to her,
“Yesterday…the man I killed. I don’t regret it.” She blinks and I can’t tell if they’re tears or water. “I’d do it again. I’d kill anyone who tried to hurt you.”
“You’re fucking poison for a man, did you know that?”
Alejandro sits in a large chair, elbows resting on the armrest, legs spread like the world sits at his feet.
I find it odd Sandro would send his younger half-brother to such a serious affair but in order to understand how his brain works, I’d have to cut half of mine out. It isn’t worth the trouble.
I was mastering poisons and building weapons from scratch when you were kissing boys at high school prom. Be realistic.”
I don’t ever want you to be afraid of me. I’ll never raise a hand to you and anyone who does is dead.”
“You have to believe me when I tell you yes.” I’m not sure what she means at first. “Otherwise, how will you know I mean it if I ever say no?”
I’ve never seen my sister cry before. But she cries when Dahlia leaves.
