Tender Savage Read Online Free PDF Page B

running down her cheeks and she didn’t know if they were tears of anger, embarrassment, or fear. “I’d like to—”
    “Shh, I know.” He kept his gaze on the gray Formica wall over her head as he reached for the soap. “Just think of something else.”
    Her gaze dropped to his chest and she inhaled sharply. Now that she was closer she could see hisabdomen was crisscrossed with tiny scars. “What—”
    “An ice pick. One of Jurado’s less subtle methods.” He began to massage the soap into her hair. “He prefers an electric cattle prod.”
    Lara felt sick. “I’m so sorry.”
    “Why? It’s over.”
    The torture was over perhaps, but she doubted if the memory could ever leave someone who had suffered the treatment Ricardo had undergone. “I feel ashamed. I’m weeping like an idiot over having them stare at me when you—”
    “Hush.” His tone was as gentle as his hands massaging the soap into her hair. “It’s the little humiliations that hurt the most.” He made a face. “Though I’m afraid I didn’t ascribe to that doctrine when Jurado was wielding the cattle prod.” He tilted her head back and let the cold spray wash the soap from her hair and then turned her around so that she stood with her back to him. “You said you wanted dogs. What kind of dogs do you like?”
    “Mutts. Big furry mutts. They seem to have more character.” She could hear the guardslaughing and she kept her gaze fixed on the wall. “I can’t stand this. When can we get out of here?”
    “They’ll get bored soon.” He added half under his breath, “Or so hot, they’ll go looking for one of the
putas
who serve the prison.” He pushed her forward so that he stood in the full stream of the spray. “I had a Labrador when I was a boy. He went with me everywhere.”
    “I’ve never had a pet. I meant to get one when Brett and I left our foster home, but then we were both in college and it didn’t seem fair.”
    “What did you study in college?”
    “Pre-law. I want to be a lawyer. I’ve always—Are they still looking at me?”
    “Yes.” His voice was thick. “And at me.” He took a step back. “Jurado’s going to be very pleased with their report.”
    Lara stiffened as she realized what he meant. He was aroused. “I thought cold showers were supposed to—”
    “Not after five months. I feel as if I’m turning it to steam as it hits me. Lord, your skin seems to shimmer. Do you know how much I want to touch you?”
    She moistened her lips with her tongue. “What was your dog’s name?”
    “I don’t remember.” His laugh held a note of desperation. “I can’t remember anything.”
    The water didn’t feel cold to her any longer either and she was barely conscious of the gaze of the guards, she realized with amazement. Ricardo was no longer touching her, but she could sense him only inches away, and she had a mental picture of him as she had seen him just a moment ago standing beneath the spray, his long dark hair as lustrous and thick as seal fur, his lean body as tan and tough as well-oiled leather. What had they been talking about, she wondered hazily. Dogs. What a crazy thing to discuss at a time like this. “It’s not good to raise big dogs in the city,” she said breathlessly. “They need to run.”
    “We didn’t live in the city. My family had a rancho at the tip of the island. You have a mole just in the hollow of your spine.”
    “Do I? I didn’t know that.”
    “It’s very tiny.” Ricardo’s voice was so soft, she could barely hear it. “Right at the exact place where your bottom starts to swell so sweetly.” Hewas silent for an instant. “The water is polishing you, making you gleam like burnished gold.”
    She could feel her breasts swell as they lifted and fell with the swift acceleration of her breathing. The muscles of her stomach clenched helplessly.
    Lara heard a sudden shout of laughter and then a swift barrage of Spanish from the guards. “What are they