Desert Heat

by Elizabeth Reyes

  She started to grin wickedly, so he hugged her, laughing. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean I need to get somewhere dark so I could at least adjust. I move away from you now, it’ll be like something out of a dirty cartoon.” Unbelievably, she giggled. “It’s not funny,” he said, but laughed, too.

  Only Bethany could get him in this predicament. By the time they made it to the darkest corner of the dance floor, pretending to dirty dance all the way there, they were both laughing so much they were turning heads.

  “Stop!” he whispered. “People are starting to notice.”

  Chewing her lip with a smile that said she was up to no good, she reached down and wrapped her hand around him over his pants. “Bethany,” he said through his teeth, leaning his forehead against hers, “you’re being bad.”

  “You said you liked it when I was bad,” she whispered, squeezing him softly before letting go.

  “Yes, but not in public. Not here.”

  Pulling her off the dance floor and into a dark corner, he adjusted himself while Bethany attempted to help, giggling out of control the whole time, as he swatted her hands away. He knew even remembering something this silly would have him missing her like crazy the next time they had to go days without seeing each other. Their damn jobs kept them both so busy.

  He finished adjusting, knowing it had been pointless, because he needed her in his arms again, and he’d be adjusting all over again in a few minutes. Pulling her to him, he leaned against the wall as she fell against him, and he kissed her long and deep. When he came up for air, he heard her sigh the way she did so often after he kissed her like that. It reminded him of the way she’d sighed that very first time he kissed her knuckles in the car. “God, I love you.”

  They both froze suddenly. He’d thought of telling her so many times in the past few weeks, and each time decided he’d wait for a better time. Each time he didn’t think the moment special enough, romantic enough, and now it’d just slipped out. Here in a darkened corner of a noisy nightclub where they’d laughed all the way there so he could adjust his boner. Could he be a bigger idiot? Before he could get too angry with himself, she leaned in and kissed him softly, then whispered against his lips. “I love you, too, Damian.” She sighed again softly, something he loved hearing her do now. It was always so real—so pure and spontaneous—when she did so. Sort of like his telling her he loved her. It just poured out. “So much,” she added making his heart swell even further.

  Feeling suddenly panicked that his grown-ass detective self could feel choked up, he kissed her. The emotion of hearing her say she loved him had taken him completely by surprise. He knew it’d be special the day he finally told her, but he hadn’t prepared for hearing her say it to him. Her adding so much to it only intensified the happiness of knowing that once again they were on the same page, because now he knew he wasn’t crazy for feeling this way about her this fast.

  Hugging her tighter, he kissed her even more deeply, finally admitting to himself he’d been nervous that she wasn’t feeling nearly as captivated as he was. He could now attribute his insecurities, his paranoia, and his gut feeling that something wasn’t right to this. He’d always been a sensible guy. The way things had happened between him and Bethany, the two of them so perfectly in tune, felt unrealistic—so improbable. He’d been sure he was being delusional to think this was really happening. And he kept waiting for something to happen, looking for something to justify that notion.

  Now he knew this was all he needed. Confirmation that sometimes things just happen because they were meant to be. They didn’t have to make sense or follow every rule in the book of love. This was possible, and now he had proof he wasn’t nuts for thinking so.

  Lifting her off the floor, he spun her around slowly. “I love you,” he whispered against her mouth over and over again, until she kissed him, forcing him to shut up.

  “I almost wish I hadn’t invited Jerry here tonight,” she said as he put her down. “It feels rude to leave, but all I wanna do now is go back to your place and make love until I have to leave.”

  The thought of her having to leave almost ruined the moment. “Move in with me, Bethany.”

  Her eyes opened wide, the smile flatlining. “What?”

  “So you’ll never have to leave,” he said quickly. “I hate knowing that after tonight, it’ll be days before I get to see you again.”

  She shook her head slowly, eyes still open wide. “I . . . I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  She blinked twice before she responded, and he saw the tiny flicker in her eyes. “I signed a lease.”

  “Fuck the lease. I’ll pay it off.” The more he thought about it, the better this idea sounded. “You’d be there every night when I get home.” Now there was a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. “You could use one of my cars to drive to and from work.”

  He’d stop short of saying she could quit her job if she wanted to. She didn’t need to work, but he knew that was crossing the line. Her jobs weren’t just jobs to her. They were part of her dream. He wouldn’t ask her to give that up.

  Just as fast as the glimmer of excitement had begun to appear, it was gone. “No, I can’t. Not yet.”

  “Why?” he said, a little calmer; he didn’t want to be pushy. He’d just sprung this on her.

  “Because I have things I have to take care of back home.” She chewed the corner of her lip, something he’d noticed in the past weeks as her nervous quirk. “My sister and brother—we’ve been talking about moving them here instead of me moving back home.”

  “Move back home?” he asked sounding more alarmed than he’d intended. “You can’t.”

  She smiled now, touching his face softly. “I know. You’re the reason why I’ve been talking about getting them out here instead of me going back. But I have to get that taken care of first.” She smiled even more sweetly now. “Trust me, Damian. I can’t think of anything,” she closed her eyes, sighing deeply, then opened them with a blissful smile, “more heavenly than going to bed and waking up in your arms every day. There are just a few things I need to work on first.”

  Damian thought he had a solution for this, too, but he’d already sprung enough on her for one night. He’d wait for another time to tell her about it. Right now he needed to figure out how to get her back to his place without her feeling bad about bailing on Jerry.

  Jerry and Janis must’ve been hit with the same salsa fever they’d been hit with earlier, because they were nowhere to be found. Not even in a dark corner. Damian hadn’t even thought of checking his phone until they’d walked around the entire place. As soon as he saw the text from Jerry with a winky face saying he and Janis had made an early exit, he tugged Bethany toward the exit. “They’re gone, babe. And so are we.”

  “What? They left without saying good-bye? How rude,” she said, giggling.

  He glanced back at her as he practically pushed his way through the crowd with a grin. “It had to be that dirty dancing.”

  “You taking me back to your place for some private dirty dancing now, Mr. Santiago?”

  “You’re damn straight.”

  Damian was glad now that Bethany had said no more surprises after tonight. Because as limited as their time together had been lately, he was done sharing her with his family, or anyone else for that matter. From here on whatever time he had with her, they’d be spending it at his place alone.

  * * *

  The buzzing under her arm had been going for a while. Bethany held her clutch tightly under her arm, not wanting Damian to hear it as they stood waiting for the valet attendant to bring their car around. The long buzzing meant one thing. It wasn’t someone texting, it was someone calling. She was beginning to feel unnerved, because they’d called back-to-back. She thought of Max’s earlier texts and wondered if her not responding had made him angry. Or maybe her sister was trying to warn her of something. Max obviously knew something.

  Damian brought his arm around her and rubbed her shou
lder. “You okay?”

  She glanced up at him; until now she hadn’t realized he’d been watching her. “Yeah.” She smiled. “I’m fine.”

  Damian’s car drove up, and the attendant opened her door for her. Bethany got in and took advantage of the moment it took Damian to tip him and walk around the car to check her phone. She had two missed calls. Both from Max, and just like the last time, her phone buzzed in her hand with a text from Max. Her heart thudded; could he be watching her?

  Not just a Ferrari a classic. Impressive.

  Her heart nearly stopped at the realization that he was watching her. He was there in Vegas. Probably just a few feet away. Had he watched them all night? She felt the air sucked out of her when she looked up and saw him across the parking lot, leaning against a motorcycle.

  The driver’s-side door opened, and Bethany looked down at her phone, clutching it so her shaking hands wouldn’t be so visible. The second her eyes met Damian’s, she knew he knew something was wrong.

  He glanced down at her phone. “What happened now?”

  Shaking her head slowly, she couldn’t even speak, afraid her voice would squeak or break. “N-nothing,” she said, almost breathless.

  Looking completely exasperated, Damian started out of the parking lot. They passed Max as she stared straight ahead. “Look, Bethany.” She could see him grab the steering wheel a little tighter. “I won’t say you’re lying, but obviously there’s something you’re not telling me. If this is about your family’s financial situation, please let me help you. I hate seeing you like this.”

  She glanced casually at the passenger-side window, swallowing back the dread. As far as she could tell, Max wasn’t following them, but she was glad Damian was way off. Still feeling enormously guilty, she decided to come clean at least about one thing. “I knew things were bad, Damian. I just didn’t realize we might lose the house.”

  “How much do you need?” he said immediately. “I can write you a check or if you need it wired I—”

  “No.” She turned back to him, feeling such blinding guilt that she couldn’t tell this amazing man the whole truth that it nearly choked her.

  “Why not?” He sounded as adamant as she felt about taking money from him. “I can guarantee you I can afford it.” He glanced at her, and seeing the tears in her eyes only heightened the urgency in his words. He reached over and squeezed her thigh. “Baby, if this is such a burden on you, why won’t you let me help you? I want to. It’d be so easy for me to do this for you, and I hate to see you like this.”

  She lifted his hand away from her thigh and brought it to her cheek, leaning against it as the tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. How had she been so blessed to find him?

  “Please let me help you with this.” His tone was less urgent now, but she felt the sincere need to make this better for her.

  “I don’t know how much it is exactly. I have to call the bank and find out.” Feeling such a weight suddenly lifted, she turned to him, needing to make one thing clear. “But this would be a loan. I need you to promise to let me pay you back every penny.”

  He turned his attention back to the road with a smile. “Of course.”

  “I mean it, Damian.” She squeezed his hand.

  He smiled even more widely, staring straight ahead. “We’ll work something out.”

  * * *

  Though she had feared for a moment that it could end horrendously, tonight had turned out to be one of the most wonderful nights Bethany had spent so far with Damian. Every moment with him felt special, but tonight was extra special.

  After over an hour of lovemaking in the bedroom, first so hot and frantic they’d barely made it to his bed, Damian slowed it down significantly, savoring every inch of her body, tormenting her with his tongue and leisurely kissing up and down her entire naked body.

  Now she sat on the island counter of his enormous kitchen. She couldn’t even imagine calling this place home. It still felt so surreal how dramatically her life would be changing, and in such a short time. But she had her siblings and aunt to think of first. Most important, before she’d even think of moving in with Damian, she needed things settled with Max. It would be the only way she’d even consider it.

  She smiled as Damian set the tray of fruit down next to her. “I think this is yogurt,” he said, pointing at the white creamy stuff in the middle of the fruit assortment.

  Dipping a strawberry into it, he licked the white stuff. “Yeah, definitely yogurt.” He dipped it again, then brought it to Bethany’s lips, but instead of putting it in her open mouth, he traced her lips with it, smearing the yogurt all over them, then kissed her, licking it off slowly. She sucked the yogurt off his tongue, suddenly aroused again, and sat up straighter.

  “Damian,” she said against his lips. “We’re supposed to be taking a snack break.”

  “We are,” he said, putting the strawberry in his mouth, and she bit it.

  Some of the juice dripped down her chin, and he licked it clean, moving farther down her neck. The tingling down her middle was already starting up again as he slipped his hand in her robe, cupping her bare breast.

  They wore matching half-thigh spa robes he’d surprised her with last week. Damian’s robe said “Hers” and Bethany’s read “His.” But he made her promise if his brothers, Mace, or even sappy Jerry ever saw them, she’d tell them she got them and wouldn’t mention whose robe was whose. “I’ll never live it down,” he said as she’d giggled, stripping out of her clothes just to try hers on.

  Undoing the belt of her robe, he opened it up, pushing the robe off her shoulders so she now sat there on his center island completely naked. Trembling as his hand made its way down her belly and between her legs, he paused for a moment. “You cold?”

  “No,” she whispered, kissing him feverishly in reaction to his slipping two fingers in her.

  He pulled his fingers out and brought them to her mouth. She loved the way he watched her in awe as she licked and sucked them clean. “God, that’s such a turn-on.” Devouring her mouth, he picked her up and set her down on the lower part of the center island and threw off his own robe.

  Staring at all his beautiful exposed muscles, she spread her legs for him anxiously, as if it’d been too long since she had him in her. With breathless pants against his lips, she ran her hands through his hair, then gasped as he drove into her with a grunt. “I’m not wearing a condom,” he said, gulping, as he slid in and out slowly. “But you’re on birth control now, so it’s okay, right?”

  Technically the doctor at the clinic she’d gone to to get the shot just days ago had told her she needed to wait at least seven days before having unprotected sex to be completely on the safe side. But there was no way she wanted him to stop now, so she nodded, moaning loudly as he slid even deeper now—harder.

  Lifting her behind off the counter, Damian held her up, holding her thighs on either side of his hips, and she wrapped them around him, allowing for even deeper penetration. He sped up, the noise of their bodies slapping against each other echoing against the stark kitchen walls.

  Both her moans and his grunts grew louder as he drove into her harder and harder until . . .

  His carnal groan as he came inside her, and her crying out at the same time, were louder than she’d ever heard them, and they echoed all around the kitchen. He swayed his hips as he continued to empty into her, her warm insides still enjoying the waves of pleasure.

  “I love you, baby,” she whispered when she was finally able to catch her breath enough to speak.

  She felt the familiar emptiness that came with his pulling out, and his strong arm held her as he bent over and lifted his robe, wiping himself clean. Leaning against her between her legs, he kissed her gently as he cleaned her, too. “I love you, too.” She sighed against his mouth, and he added, “so much,” then picked her up and carried her back to his bedroom.

  Lying there watching her beautiful boyfriend sleep, she glanced at the clock. It was nearly midnight
now, and she’d have to wake him soon so he could take her home. Hating to leave his bed, his house, his side was all the motivation she needed. Settling things with Max was her number-one priority now.

  Chapter 20

  Staring out the bus window, Bethany thought of what her Tia Lupe always used to say: La vida es un carnival. Until now Bethany had never really agreed. If life were really a carnival, for years Bethany had been stuck on a roller coaster with far more plunging falls and sharp turns than ups. She’d never gotten off to enjoy the rest of the park, taste sweet treats, or bask in the slow-moving chairlift enjoying the view for a while. Every time she thought it was finally her turn to exit that dreaded roller coaster, it’d take another sharp turn or even an unbearable dive.

  Now it seemed maybe, just maybe, she was closer than she’d ever been to boarding that magical boat ride in the sea of serenity and happiness. There was no doubt that even with all she’d been through in life, Damian held the key to her happiness. Being with him made everything better.

  Lately she’d been doing her best to refrain from showing how deeply disappointed she was each time Damian had to cancel last minute on her in the last couple of weeks since their salsa night. There was no doubt he felt terrible about it, and he did so much to try to make it up to her when they did finally have time together. The case he was working on had heated up, keeping him working longer hours than normal, but he promised her as soon as he was done with this case, he’d take some time off just for her.

  Done with her internship, Bethany, too, picked up more work. Amos had added a second night of her show to his lineup. But he’d also cut out her waitressing at his place. He said it was one or the other, and of course she chose an extra show over waitressing. That still left her with far more time for Damian than he’d had for her in the last few weeks. Regardless, she refused to complain. She knew he was already overwhelmed with guilt. His constant apologizing only made her feel worse about not being able to come clean yet.