Page 69 of XOXO, Valentina

The rain slowed to a drizzle, and I heard voices in the distance. It was time to move. I squeezed Gabriella’s fingers. It seemed to be the only movement I could muster.

“I never…” She stopped, choking on a laugh.

“You never had sex in public before?” Not that I was an expert, but after that scorching session, I would have to put public sex on my favorite-things-to-do list.

“No,” she said, and something in her voice, in that single word, told me we were talking about more than a romp on the sand. “I never had an orgasm before…” She cleared her throat. “Before you.”

My mind went blank and then my heart pounded so hard, I thought my head might explode. I swallowed roughly, remembering our first time against the door in my apartment, how she’d looked at me like I’d turned her world upside down.

Shit. Maybe I had.

But she’d done the same to me.

31

Chapter 28

Gabi

I didn’t want to move. I’d never been so relaxed in my life. I watched the leaf-shaped blades of the ceiling fan stir the humid air without a single thought in my head. When was the last time I didn’t have a mile-long list of urgent activities waiting for my attention?

My to-do lists were a thousand miles away, and they’d wait until I got back home. Until then, I was more carefree than I’d been in fifteen years.

Ever since I got married at twenty and became a mother a few months later, I’d been rushing from one place to the next. Having a baby, finishing school, becoming a widow and a single mother… It had been one thing after another for as long as I could remember. I hadn’t lain still in a bed like this since I was a teenager composing a love letter to Freddie Prinze Jr.

Joey was asleep beside me, lying on his back with his feet hanging off the edge of the mattress. His soft, steady breath sounded over the mechanical whir of the ceiling fan. I grabbed my book from the nightstand and flipped to the page where I’d left off. I’d barely had the time or energy to read more than a few pages since I’d been in Costa Rica, but I was more interested in the man lying beside me than the cowboy hero in the book.

I laid the book back down in favor of looking at Joey. There was nothing better than Joey Morales lying shirtless against the white linens with his hands clasped loosely over his ribs in peaceful slumber. His wavy hair fell over his forehead, obscuring the dark slashes of his brows. His full mouth smiled even while he slept.

I knew I shouldn’t be staring at him while he was asleep, but he was so beautiful. The more time I spent with Joey, the more I liked him. It was going to be harder than I thought to go back to normal when we returned to Mossy Oak. The thought of only seeing him at work and at sporting events depressed me.

Maybe I could start doing more yoga; then I would see him on Thursday nights. And if I changed my running schedule, I would run into him more at the park. When Shane went to a friend’s house for the night, we’d arrange an occasional sleepover at Joey’s place. My skin flushed at the idea of Joey stretched out on his bed, waiting for me.

I realized I was planning a future with Joey, and I shut my eyes tightly. I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to push away my ridiculous thoughts. I couldn’t be in a relationship, not with Joey or anyone. I had too many moving parts in my life to accommodate a man.

And what would Shane think? His mother dating his track coach? It would never work.

Besides, this was Joey. He could have a different woman in his bed every night of the week. He wouldn’t want me there on a permanent basis.

His chest rose and fell steadily with each breath. I watched the light play across his tanned skin, creating a display of shadow art across the dips and ridges of his chest. He mumbled something in his sleep and rubbed the scripted tattoo over his heart.

Maria.

Who was she? I had plenty of guesses. Mother? Sister? Favorite teacher? The most likely answer was the one that made my heart hurt the worst. She was someone Joey had loved enough to etch her name over his heart forever.

I lifted my hand and traced the letters spelling her name. Joey stirred and opened his eyes.

My palm flattened on his chest. “You’re awake.”

His hand covered mine, and he blinked up at me. “Were you watching me sleep?”

Heat crept up my neck, and I tried to think of a good reason I was propped up on one elbow, staring at him. “I was reading.” I held up my book for proof.

“More porno books?”

I laughed. The book I was reading was a reverse harem with lots and lots of naughty interludes. “Guilty.”

“Who would have thought that Principal Salinger read dirty novels?” he asked. “Is there a naked man on the cover of that one, too?”

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