Chapter Twelve

onny was up and dressed by the time Brenda woke-up the next morning. She smiled at him as her eyes landed on him and stretched provactively under the sheet, making it drop down to reveal her breasts to him. "Why don't you come back to bed, baby." She suggested as he gazed at her with hungry eyes.

"As tempting as it is." He replied with a husky voice as he sat down on the bed next to her and caressed one of her breasts. "You've kept me cooped up in this place for weeks and I want to go out and explore." He added with a final flick of his thumb over her hardened nipple. "So, as tempting as the offer is, I'm going to have to decline. I'm going to go down to the lake and catch us lunch."

"You beast." She complained as she pulled the sheet back up over her. "It's not a nice thing to make me want you then go away without satisfying me."

"Consider it delayed gratification." He dropped a quick kiss on her mouth. "While I'm down at the lake fishing, you can contemplate all the delicious things I'll do to you when I get back.

"You fishing!" She couldn't help laughing. "Well, it looks like my city baby has become my country baby."

"I'm very adaptable." He told her as he stood up. "I'm like a chameleon." He couldn't help thinking it was good he was like that, because that might come in handy with the present situation he found himself in. Then he shook off the thoughts so he could enjoy being back with the only woman he'd ever truly loved or would love. "Think of me while I'm gone."

"Oh." She sighed as she snuggled back down in bed. "You know I will. And very sinful thoughts they'll be of you naked and aroused, laying on top of me and inside of me making me feel the kind of pleasure most people only dream of ever experiencing."

"Now you're the beast." He complained as he grabbed his fishing pole and headed out the door. "How am I supposed to catch any fish when I'll be thinking of that every minute I'm gone from you."

"Consider it delayed gratification." She stuck her tongue out at him as he walked out the door. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

arlos watched as Sonny walked out of the house and headed down to the lake. Last night when he arrived at the house, he had sneaked up to one of the windows and peered in. He was surprised Corinthos could even walk after the way they were going at it.

As he entered the house, he recalled all the times he and Brenda had made love. How she'd always act like she was slightly dissatisfied by what she had got. Like she had expected more and had been disappointed by it. Carlos hadn't really given it much thought at the time, since all he cared about what his own pleasure. Her pleasure was very incidental to him. But now it all made sense to him.

Carlos wasn't blind and he could see that in a dim room he and Corinthos would have looked almost exactly alike. She had always liked making love with him in a dimly lit room. Not dark and not light. She had obviously pretended every time they were together that she was making love with Corinthos. And when he, Carlos, hadn't made her feel the way Corinthos did, she'd been disappointed by what they shared.

As all these thoughts were going through his head, his anger towards her only continued to grow. He looked around the house wondering in what room she would be in, then he knew. She was probably waiting in bed for her lover to return and service her again.

He walked into the direction of the bedroom and found no surprise that she was laying naked in bed with a cat-in-the-cream smirk on her face. Her eyes were closed, but she heard him as he entered the room.

"I knew you'd come back." She purred like a contented kitten with her eyes still closed. "Now take off your clothes and come back to bed where you belong." She held back the sheet revealing her body to him.

He sat down on the bed, then lightly caressed her cheek before his hand went around her throat. "Sorry to disappoint you, querida." Carlos spat as he began to squeeze her throat tightly. "It's not your lover you speak to, only your husband."

Her eyes popped open in horror. "Carlos!" She gasped.

"Did you really think you could escape me?" He snarled. "You are my property and you'll never be free of me until I decide to set you free." He added. "Now tell me where my money is, bitch." He took out his gun and held the barrel to the side of her head. "Or when your lover returns he's going to find your brains splattered all over your little love nest."

"Carlos, I can't breathe." She tried to pull his fingers away from his throat. "I can't tell you anything while you're choking me."

"Fine." He removed his hand from around her neck, while she rubbed her throat. "I'm not choking you now, so tell me."

"I'll return your money to you on one condition." She replied. "You can have it if you leave Sonny and I alone in peace. I only want to be with Sonny. It's all I've ever wanted."

"You're trying to bargain with me?" Carlos couldn't help it. He laughed. "You steal a fortune from me so you could shack up with your lover and you think you're in any position to try and bargain with me."

"I know what that money means." She retorted. "If your associates find out that you lost it, they'll kill you." She added. "So that puts me in the position to bargain with you, don't you think."

"You did it on purpose." He suddenly realized. "You wanted them to find out that I'd lost the money and kill me."

"I knew you'd never give me a divorce." She didn't deny it. "So I figured that was the quickest way to be free of you." She added. "If you died, Sonny would never have had to known I was ever married to you. But as luck would have it, you managed to buy yourself time." She paused. "So do we have a deal? My freedom from you for your money back."

"How about this for a deal." He sneered. "If you don't give me my money back, I'll go down to the lake and put a bullet in your lover's head."

"You stay away from Sonny." She warned him. "Sonny has nothing to do with this. He doesn't even know I took the money from you. Just leave him out of this. This is between you and me, Carlos."

"Give me my money." He ordered.

"Then give me my clothes." She retorted.

"I've seen you naked before." He reminded her.

"Not anymore." She spat back. "The only one I want seeing my naked is Sonny. If you want me to give you your stinking money back, then hand me my clothes."

He threw her a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Then he watched while she struggled to get dressed under the sheet so he wouldn't be able to see her nude. When she was finally dressed, she got out of bed and pulled a suitcase out from under the bed.

"There." She spat, as she laid the suitcase open on top of the bed. "There's your precious money. Take it and leave me alone. I never want to see you, again."

He glared down at the contents of the suitcase, then glared at her. "Where's the rest of it." He sputtered.

"That's all there is." She looked him straight in the eye. "I spent the rest."

"This!" He sputtered some more as he threw the pittance remaining in the suitcase around the room. "This means nothing. This is just chicken feed. When I tell them this is all that's left, they'll kill me." Then he looked at her shrewdly. "But that's what you want, isn't it. One way or another you want me dead." He suddenly wrapped both his hands around her throat. "Well, before they kill me, I'm going to kill you." Then he began to strangle her.