Page 82 of Forget Me

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. A first with Mimi. She licked her lips and breathed, “Uh-huh.”

I reversed and plunged back in, deep as I could go, grinding my stomach against her clit. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she squeezed around me. My eyes rolled back in pleasure, the delightful compression around my dick creating an echoing tightness in my balls. Pleasure swept up my spine and coiled in my center. Fuck! One day I was going to take my time with Mimi.

Today was not that day.

I thrust in twice more until I teetered on the edge. I eased my thumb onto her clit and thrummed it fast. “Come with me, Mimi.”

She let out a sound somewhere between a cry and a sob before her muscles squeezed me. I saw stars when my release rocketed through me. Mimi’s legs shook. Or maybe the shaking was me.

Still inside her, I nudged her up farther onto the bed until there was room for my knees. Then I bent over her, careful not to squash her, and kissed her lips, her cheeks, her forehead. “Mi vida,” I murmured.

“I took Latin in high school, but I know that word from the Ricky Martin song.Vidameans life. Are you saying I’ve taken your life? Killed you? La petite mort?”

An embarrassed chuckle escaped me, blowing the damp curls off her temple. “It’s an endearment. It means—” No, I’d gone too far for retreat. “It means you’re my life.”

She scrambled up onto her elbows, almost knocking into my nose. “What, like, ’til death do us part?” Her expression of horror would’ve made me laugh if it hadn’t sliced into my chest and robbed me of my breath.

I gathered enough air to say, “It’s just a saying, you know? Like, when I called youbaby,I didn’t mean you were an actual infant.” Nervous, I watched her. Would she buy it? Or would she see right through my thin excuse and chase me out like she’d done with every other guy since that asshole, Byron?

She narrowed her eyes. “Let’s save it for in front of Larissa.”

“Wait a minute.” Grasping the base of the condom around my suddenly shriveling cock, I pulled out of her and strode to the bathroom, my heart pounding in my chest. After I’d tossed the condom and washed my trembling hands, I tugged on my jeans and my shirt. Mimi watched me, still naked and sweaty on the bed.

Finally, I sat on the edge and clasped my hands together so she wouldn’t see how they shook. My lungs, my throat, were almost too tight to speak. Controlling my voice as best I could, I said, “This is part of the ruse for Larissa? Sleeping together is part of our date to the gala?That’swhat this is?”

“No.” She sat up and put a hand on my arm. “All I meant was that—that…” She rested her head on my shoulder, and it took all my strength not to touch her. “That it scared me a little. I’ve spent a long time focused on my job and on my goals. Getting close to someone”—she swallowed—“wanting you, having feelings for you, it scares me.”

My heart thumped once, paused, and then set off racing. “You have feelings for me?”

She lifted her head and met my gaze. “I do. I care about you.”

My heart burst like a balloon, raining confetti over my insides. I clutched her shoulders and kissed every part of her beautiful face. “Mimi, I—I…”

I couldn’t say it, not with the warning in her cooling brown eyes. But I felt it deep inside.

I loved her.

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