Page 72 of Raul
“Do not be polite when I was wrong.” He took a deep breath and locked his gaze on her face. “I told you a secret that was not mine to tell. A secret that could hurt people I deeply care about. But it was not your fault that I was so…so indiscreet. And I treated you as though it was.”
He took her hands, wrapping his long fingers around hers, the metal scales of his dragon claw ring pressing against her skin. “Can you forgive me for being an asshole?”
“There’s nothing to forgive.” But what did he want from her now? Was this a goodbye apology? Or an I-want-to-keep-seeing-you apology? She searched the elegant planes and angles of his face but could find no answer. “I promise you that I would never reveal anything that you tell me about your family.” Her hurt made her continue. “You should know that about me by now.”
He winced. “I believe that, believeyou, but I am not in the habit of sharing such sensitive information with…others.” He looked down at their joined hands for a moment before he lifted his head with a regretful twist to his lips. “Unfortunately, I am going to be very busy in these days leading up to the wedding, but afterward, perhaps we could go rock climbing together again.”
This was how he was easing her into the breakup. He could have found ways for them to be together, no matter how busy he was. Like tonight’s late visit.
She had known it would happen, so why did her heart feel like it was tearing apart right down the middle? She blinked hard to keep the sudden excess of moisture brimming in her eyes from running down her cheeks.
“I’m busy, too, flying in wedding guests from all over the place.” She had her pride. “Just let me know when your ankle is healed and you want to head out to Las Montañas de los Fantasmas.”
She knew damn well that he would find someone else to take him climbing. It would be too awkward to deal with his former short-term lover. And she was relieved about that.
No, that was a total lie. She would rather torture herself watching the flex of the muscles she knew so intimately than never be near him again.
She noticed that she was holding his hands too tightly and eased her grip.
“Hasta entonces.Until then.” He lifted first one of her hands and then the other to kiss them, his lips warm and firm and sending shimmers across her skin. “Fly safely.”
Then he cursed and dropped her hands to pull her into his arms, his mouth crashing down on hers. The shimmers sank deep inside her and ignited a blaze of yearning. She threaded her fingers into his hair and slanted her lips against his.
She started to hope and then quashed it. If this was the last time, she was going to make the most of it. Because he was so beautiful and sad and noble, and she cared about him to the depths of her soul.
She yanked at his tuxedo shirt so the glittering emerald studs went flying, slipping her hands beneath the fine cotton to feel the beating of his heart under her palms and then skimming lower.
“Ay,Erica,mi amor.” He whispered it against her cheek. “I want you so badly.”
“And I want you, so there is no problem.” She palmed his growing erection.
He groaned. “There are many problems, but at this moment, I forget them all.”
And then they were unbuttoning and unzipping and stripping each other’s clothes off until they were both naked.
“I want to be inside you,” Raul said, his voice a low rasp. “To be a part of you.”
She lay back on the cushions and opened her thighs in invitation.
He scrabbled in the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a condom, stroking it on at lightning speed before he knelt between her legs. “Are you ready for me?”
“Fóllame!I’m beyond ready.” The ache was almost unbearable.
He drove all the way in, and they both cried out.Dios mío,it felt so good to have him moving inside her, melded together. As he stroked in and out, his chest brushed against her nipples so they tightened to points of pure sensation. The feel of his thighs spreading hers wide, the huff of his breath against her face, and the coil of her arousal deep in her belly made her pant his name over and over as he pushed her closer and closer to climax.
He flexed his hips to press against her clit, and her orgasm burst like fireworks inside her, hot and explosive and mind-bending. She pushed up against him and wrapped her legs around his waist to hold him there while her muscles clenched and released around his cock. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Raul! Yes!”
He waited until she let her legs fall away to rest on the sofa cushions before he thrust into her one more time and arched back, braced on his forearms. “Mi amor!Ahh!”
And then they collapsed on the sofa, their bodies crushed against each other, their legs intertwined.
They were connected.
He stroked her hair, and she ran her palm down the ridges and valleys of his back while their breathing slowed. She could feel the post-orgasm flush on her cheeks and the residual tingle in her toes. When she made love with Raul, she came with her whole body and her whole heart.
He lifted his head and started to speak, but she put her hand over his mouth. “Don’t talk. Just feel.”
No apologies, no excuses, no goodbyes…yet.
