Page 54 of Worth the Heat
“So I’ll be atAbuelita’sa lot,” she says sullenly.
“No. Absolutely not. You are my priority, Camila. You are the number one girl in my life. While I may want to take Isabella out occasionally just the two of us, I promise I won’t leave you atAbuelita’sany more than I do now. I can’t come between the two of you and your special cookie afternoons, now can I?”
Camila giggles as she shakes her head. “Abuelitaalways lets me get a cookie with candy inside it.”
I chuckle. “That doesn’t surprise me at all.”
ISABELLA
I’ve never been a woman who likes to kiss and tell. Personally, I feel that what happens in the bedroom should stay between the couple. No one needs to know specifics about orgasms, positions, or moves.
It makes no sense to me why I immediately call my sister Arianna, as soon as I get a moment alone, to gab about how amazing the sex was with Sebastian.
“Is this normal?” I whisper, hiding in the guest room closet. Sebastian’s parents left soon after bringing Camila home, and Sebastian took Camila into the backyard to play. Butterscotch has made himself a comfortable bed out of a pile of shirts I never hung up, and Oreo sits hesitantly in the doorway of the closet. He got too close to Butterscotch, which resulted in a hiss and a smack to the face. I know they’ll make friends eventually, but with cats, it takes time.
“Normal? I don’t know if I’d call it normal,” Arianna answers. “But I know what you’re talking about. It’s different, and oh so good. I’d never experienced anything like it until Stone. Definitely never … finished the way I do with Stone.”
“Finished?” I ask.
Arianna lowers her voice to a whisper. “Little ears are listening, Aunt Isabella. Think about it. Finishing.”
Oh.Oh.
“I understand. Yes, the finishing was something new, and I discovered that what I thought about the caliber of the finisher was not correct.”
“You can say the words, Belly. You’re not on speaker. I’m just watching what I say, because I don’t want to have to explain anything,” Arianna explains with a laugh.
“Oh. Well, before last night, I’d come with a man before, but it wasn’t anything like this. This was …” I trail off. How do I explain the feeling?
“Life-altering. Mind-blowing. Toes curling so much they almost pop out of their sockets. Like you finally met your match, and you’ve been rewarded a million times over. Did I ever tell you about the time Stone hid under my desk and ate me out while Hannah was at the door, talking to me?”
“No!” I exclaim with a giggle. Honestly, that doesn’t surprise me. Arianna and Stone have a very vivid and explosive sex life. I know this, because she tells me all about some of their more unusual experiences. Sometimes in graphic detail.
“Yup. Hannah told me I should eat breakfast after Stone finished his, and then left the room laughing. Mom and Dad caught us in the office a couple of months later. They asked us to keep the shenanigans at home.”
“Which you didn’t do,” I pointed out.
“No, we just bought a better lock for my office door. It’s a little harder to get away with things at the barbershop, considering the front of the shop is a wall of windows, but we make it work. Those spinning chairs bring a new level of excitement to finishing.”
“How is it you could say that Stone ate you out, but you can’t talk about an orgasm?”
“Because my mini-me left the room for a minute to go get another toy, and now she’s back. So I’ll continue using synonyms unless you want me to move to pig Latin.”
“We could talk about something different,” I offer.
Arianna is silent for a moment. “No. This is too good. You never call me and want to talk about this stuff. Who do you talk to about relations with a man?”
“Relations with a man,” I repeat. “I haven’t really talked to anyone about this. I used to talk a little to Amelia, but clearly that isn’t going to happen anymore.”
“You never talked to anyone about men and relationships?” Arianna whispers. “How is that possible? I think I’d actually explode if I didn’t get all of my feelings out.”
I shrug, reaching out to scratch Oreo’s head. “It’s not news that we have differing personalities, Ari. I’ve never been one who needs to verbalize every thought. I take a while to wrap my head around things before I feel the need to talk. But this … this is different, and I needed to confirm that it’s okay, what happened between me and Sebastian.”
“It’s absolutely okay, Belly. I think in your case, you’re finally comfortable with a man because you know he accepts you for who you are. You get to be you, and he gets to love you. I bet that’s a new feeling for you, which is why you’re so nervous about it. And, even though I doubt you’ll admit it, you’re falling in love with him, and you’re scared things might change, or that he’ll regret being with you. Which is dumb, because that man is so far gone for you.”
It’s rare, but sometimes my family can read me so quickly. No one, it seems, reads me like Sebastian can. “I am falling for him. It’s scary, especially because of Camila. There are so many factors I have to take into consideration.”
Arianna is silent, before her voice lowers into a hiss. “Who the fuck is Camila?”
