“I saw there was trouble,” Alec said now. “Teo took some pictures, the dudes wanted his camera, and he wouldn’t give it up. I got out of the car, but it was too late. They shot my brother in the chest, then in the throat. He made this awful noise, then fell, blood pouring from him. I think he was dead before he hit the ground, but I ran to him, hoping, even praying.”

He covered his face with both hands as if he could erase the memory. “They shot me as I knelt beside him, then again. I’d be dead, too, if it wasn’t for the fact an LVPD cruiser drove by on routine patrol. They whooped their sirens and stopped. The fucks scattered like cockroaches in the light, but it was too late for my brother.”

As if it was now, Alec recalled the heat of the asphalt, the warmth of his blood mingled with his brother’s, Teo’s sightless eyes staring at nothing, and the way his life ebbed. He hadn’t screamed then or cried because he’d passed out from his own injuries. He roused in the emergency room and shouted for Teo until they shot Alec full of dope to shut him up. The next thing he knew, he’d come around by slow stages in the intensive care unit after the first of six surgeries, barely conscious, in terrible pain, and his heart broken. He couldn’t recall much else, but he had remembered his brother’s death. As he sank onto the couch, his eyes burned with tears, but he held them.

Maude slid one arm around his shoulders and rubbed his back with her free hand. The wordless comfort broke Alejandro and he did what he hadn’t until now. He wept for Teo. Grief rose within with a wild fury, a force he could no longer deny, and sobs ripped from his soul. He bawled like a baby with colic, wailed like a new widow, and howled like a werewolf in transformation. Alec sobbed into his hands, body convulsing with the force of his grief. As he mourned, something in his soul shifted. After what seemed like forever but couldn’t have been long, he grew aware Maude spoke to him. Her quiet voice soothed him, but it also sparked desire.

Dealing with Matteo’s death evoked a classic fuck death response. Life conquered the Grim Reaper, and as he calmed, Alec became horny. Already attracted to Maude, he became desperate for release. He stilled, a little at a time, wiped his face with the tissues she provided from her purse, blew his nose, and turned to her.

Alejandro intended to tell her the reason they were in danger, but instead, he had to take her now, needed to sink his erect cock into her flesh, to seek the burning vitality of life to banish cold death. He rose and pulled her upright beside him. “Fuck me,” he growled. “I need you.”

If Maude hesitated, he never noticed, and he didn’t think she did.

He clutched her in his arms. Without thought, by pure instinct, Alec kissed her. Her lips yielded to his, and he burned with a sensual fever. Heat seared through his body, ten times hotter than the fever he’d spiked in the hospital and far more pleasant. His cock extended and turned to rock.

“Yes.” She sighed. “Oh, yeah, Alejandro.”

For once, she pronounced his name right, and he liked it, but when she thrust her tongue deep into his mouth, he forgot everything but the woman in this moment. He cherished her lips with his mouth, then lowered it to nibble at her throat. He dropped his hands to stroke her breasts through her t-shirt, and when he felt her nipples harden at his touch, he almost came in his pants.

“Strip,” he suggested as he slid his sweatpants down, then stepped out of them, kicking the garment to the side. As Maude fumbled with the zipper on her jeans, he pulled her shirt over her head. By the time she shed the denim, he had unhooked her bra. Her generous breasts tumbled free, and he buried his face against them, savoring their size. For a small woman, she had sensational tits.

Alejandro ran his hands down her body, caressing the soft skin, stroking her curves, and straying his fingers into her pussy. First, he rubbed her mound, aware of the heat it radiated, and delighted in her tiny moans. He considered taking her standing but rejected the idea.

“Bedroom,” he grunted, unable to speak in more than one- or two-word sentences. “Let’s go.”

They collapsed together into the nest of tangled sheets on his bed, Maude beneath him. Her hands roamed over his skin, touching, stroking, and yet cautious around his healing wounds. Each caress fueled his desire, and he wanted her more than he could remember ever wanting a woman.

“Take me, Alec,” she gasped. “Take me hard and quick.”