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Seven

ARIANNA opened her eyes.

She didn't know how long she pretended to sleep, but it wasn't that long. She could hear Senyorito Enrique's deep and regular breathing beside her.

The blanket was covering them. He woke a little bit to pull it over them before securing her in his embrace again.

Now, under the blanket, one of his arms was wrapped around her and one of his thighs was knotted around her thighs.

She wondered how she could get away. She had to extricate herself from him without waking him up.

She had to go home. Her mission here was done. It was all over.

She slowly lifted his hand to place it beside him. That was easy. After that was his thigh.

My goodness, it was heavy!

He was a tall man with a muscular body. The women of the hacienda had always admired his grace and form in the distance ever since Arianna could remember. She didn't know if anyone dared show interest.

The Quirozes were good but the gap between them and the tenants was huge. They were like eagles in the sky and others were chicks on the ground.

Here in St. Archangel Gabriel, they were like gods.

Everyone listened and looked up at them. Officials would work for their graces and would not oppose them for anything.

They were fair but scary enemies. Aside from the senior and his son, anyone would try to be in the circle of the Quirozes and their relatives.

But among all of them, the father and son were the most highly regarded and admired.

They never used their wealth against others. They mostly used their influence for good, which meant anything the majority of those who knew them approved of, secretly or otherwise.

That was why, even as the senior was already in his seventies, women still preened when he was around.

And Señorito Enrique... it was every woman's dream to be his wife!

She still couldn't believe she was in bed with the Señorito.

She had to stop thinking or she would go crazy. Then she winced involuntarily as she felt the soreness in the delicate area between her thighs.

She stared in the emptiness of the darkness for a moment, thinking again.

Feeling.

Even as she could feel the pain, at the same time, the memory of what it was like in his arms was as vividly embedded on her skin.

She could still feel his naked body rubbing against hers.

She could feel the heaviness of arousal in her womb as she saw them inside her head when she involuntarily closed her eyes at the onslaught of the memory.

Her brain was trying to reject it. He couldn't have been the man in the same bed as her. He couldn't have been the man who had taken her.

He couldn't have promised to make love with someone like her.

It was impossible!

But when she turned her face to the man sleeping in the bed, she could see the perfect outline of his nose against the silken gray pillows or the shadow formed by his heavy eyelashes on his cheeks.

There was the perfect curve of his chin, the strength in the shape of his jawline while he slept. His handsome face was mellow, almost soft.

She remembered his tender kiss before he fell asleep, and she couldn't understand why her eyes were getting warm and wet again.

What was wrong with her?

She knew this was going to happen.

She knew why she came here. Why did she want to bawl? What was there to cry about?!

She had better get out of here.

Now.

She had better find out if they'd let her brother go. They had to go home just in case their mother was still up and waiting for them.

She would try even if her body fought for her to sleep, and it would be a losing battle because she was frail.

Still, she would sleep later than she should, and worried about her two kids. She couldn't be sleeping late. It was bad for her health.

She finally managed to get out of bed.

He didn't even move. Not a muscle.

He was drunk, she remembered when she arrived. He seemed to have sobered while they were having sex, but she didn't know how much.

She had never been with a drunk man.

She had never been with a man, period.

She managed not to sniff as she carelessly swiped at the tear that escaped down her cheek with the back of a hand.

She tried to find where her panties went, and it was on the floor near a dresser.

Her undergarment was useless. He'd ripped it apart. How could a man do such a weird thing?

She couldn't ignore the dried smear of blood on the insides of her thighs even as she tried, and she walked towards the door to get out of the room.

Her dress should be good. Right?

She hugged herself as she left the room, found the stairs at the end of the hallway, and went down to the living room.

Whereupon she retrieved her torn red dress on the floor.

Unbelievable!

She knew he was rich. But he didn't have to tear every damn cloth.

Did he expect she would stay longer for him to buy her a new one?!

There was one more piece of clothing left and that was Señorito Enrique's robe. She was worried he would miss it, but she couldn't go home naked!

Not minding her misgivings, she put on the robe to cover her body. She was sure he had many of these and more. He would not even miss a single one.

Then she left the house.

She felt like she was racing against time.

For a moment, as she stared at the darkness of the road beyond, she felt like she could just run and leave this behind her.

If only she could have turned back the clock, this wouldn't have happened.

She was thinking impossible thoughts.

That was her. Always dreaming.

Always trying to believe her troubles would one day be behind her.

It was just that tonight...

Tonight she knew it would be difficult to try to outrun this one or the memory of the man she had left sleeping in his bed upstairs.

She had to go.

And Arianna fled again into the darkness.

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