Sonia shifted her lipstick and some cash into the new purse and handed the old one to Linn, who stuffed Sonia’s belongings into one of the store’s shopping bags and hung the orange outfit over her forearm.
“He’s going to love you in this,” Linn said with a wicked smile.
Sonia had no doubt that he would. She applied red lipstick and dropped the tube into her new purse.
“Ready?” Linn asked.
“All set,” Sonia confirmed.
They exited the dressing room and met Esteban on the sales floor. The moment he turned and saw her, he stilled. Sonia knew the picture she made in the red dress with her red lips. Her mood elevated, she posed with one hand on her hip and one leg jutted out.
“What do you think?” she asked.
Slowly, Esteban walked over and stood so close that she had to tilt her head back to look up at him. She held her breath. A cloud of lust bloomed in his eyes, and she experienced a sense of unbridled power in that moment.
“It’s a shame we have to go to these parties tonight,” Esteban replied.
He handed over his card without even looking at the tag, and it was then that Sonia realized she didn’t know how much the items cost. None of them had price tags attached. When she saw the total, her eyes widened.
Over five thousand dollars! No wonder Linn hadn’t hesitated to meet them.
Sonia gulped.
Esteban signed the receipt, and seconds later they sat in the back of the car with her belongings stowed in the trunk.
Sonia turned to him. “Esteban, I’m not sure about this purchase,” she said.
“Why not?”
“The cost. I feel as if…” Her stomach knotted.
“You don’t think you’re worth it?”
“It’s just…everything is so expensive.”
“I want you to have everything you bought. Isn’t that enough?”
She shook her head, staring out the window. “No, it’s not. Let’s go back.” She regretted staying silent in the store. She’d been so shocked and hadn’t wanted to appear gauche. Now she wished she’d spoken up sooner.
Esteban took her chin between his fingers and gently turned her head back to face him. “Do you like the dresses?”
“Of course. They’re beautiful.”
“And the shoes and the bag?”
“Yes. They’re beautiful, too.”
“Then there is no problem.” His thumb brushed gently along the side of her chin. “Accept my gifts, without regret.”
His hand slipped behind her neck and he edged her forward and kissed her. It felt natural, as if they should be kissing. The desire she’d felt before stirred to life again, and she leaned across the console to indulge in a deeper kiss, parting her lips for the entry of his tongue.
Her body came alive as his fingertip trailed down her jaw line and along the side of her throat, stopping at her cleavage. “You deserve it,” he said softly. Delicate kisses followed the path his fingers trod.
Sonia didn’t pull back. Instead, she leaned into the gentle caress of his mouth and hands, heart racing at a reckless speed.
He sucked her collarbone and flicked his tongue against her skin. The flesh between her legs throbbed, awakened by the persistent, seductive touch of his lips and tongue and the gentle abrasion of his hair-roughened face. If he pushed, even a little bit, he could have her in the back of this car. She was so aroused by him, so hungry for more.
But he didn’t push. Instead, he withdrew, his dark eyes glittering with hunger. “It’s a gift. Nothing more.” He kissed her hand and then sat back.
But he didn’t release her. He continued to hold her hand as they pulled up to the restaurant, and she didn’t want to let him go, either.
Leaving Sonia to wonder what the hell she’d gotten herself into.
Chapter 15
They spent two hours at Nonna. Everyone in attendance had purchased tickets, which entitled them to a selection of wines and a multicourse tasting menu created solely for opening night.
After Nonna, she and Esteban went to Patagonia, where Sonia changed into the orange dress in a private suite. When she exited the room to rejoin Esteban, he’d ditched his tie and opened the top buttons of his white shirt to reveal the tanned column of his neck. He immediately took her hand and escorted her down to the waiting vehicle.
On the ride to the Blue Top Hotel, Esteban explained he was meeting with a couple of potential celebrity investors. The party was in full swing when they arrived. A mixed group of different nationalities and ethnicities crowded into the main room and spilled onto the rooftop around a glass-bottomed wading pool in the center that allowed guests to look down into the lobby. A deejay stood on a mini-stage pumping house music as strobe lights crisscrossed the dark sky.
Sonia stayed close to Esteban, who let one hand rest on her hip with a possessive touch as he introduced her to the celebrities and movers and shakers in attendance, including some of the Miami Heat players partying with bottles of top-shelf liquor after a winning home game that put them in the playoffs. In the past, this would have been a party she worked, but tonight, she was a guest, and the difference sent adrenalin pumping through her veins.
They’d been there an hour when Sonia excused herself from Esteban’s side. He was in a conversation with one of the basketball players, but before she walked away, he caught her wrist and leaned in.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Fine. I’m going outside to get some fresh air.”
She stepped out onto the rooftop and passed by a woman twerking while her friends cheered her on, recording every movement with their phones. She stopped a waiter on his way inside.
“I’ll take one of those.” She chose a multicolored Miami Vice, a drink she’d grown to appreciate ever since moving to the city. Resting her butt against the railing, she scanned the crowd and saw a familiar face coming toward her.
“Well, hello,” the man said.
“Hello. Craig, right?” At the first party she hosted for Esteban, Craig, an American, attended with his wife, Ivana, a Russian designer. He was clean-shaven, in his late thirties, and had dark hair.
“You remember.” His blue eyes filled with interest. “Damn, you look incredible.”
Sonia blinked. Taken by surprise, she laughed uneasily. “Thank you.”
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I came with Esteban,” she said.
“He’s here? Where?” He looked around.
“Inside, talking business. Is your wife here?”
“It’s not her scene. Every now and again, she gives me a long leash and lets me out of her sight.” He bit his bottom lip and settled his gaze on her cleavage. “I don’t think that’s a good idea for Esteban where you’re concerned, though. Someone might swoop in and steal you away from him.”
Sonia suddenly felt terribly exposed. Craig hadn’t behaved like this at the party, but of course his wife had been there, and Esteban had been nearby. He certainly wasn’t acting like a married man right now.
Craig leaned against the railing. “So, you and Esteban, huh? I figured something was up when he introduced you as his wine consultant.” He laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t believe for one minute that you were at his house to talk about wine.”
“I was,” Sonia said, her cheeks heating.
“Maybe you were, but I know Esteban. He can’t resist a pretty face.”
Sonia sipped from her glass, curious about Craig’s relationship with Esteban, but hesitant to prolong the conversation. “How long have you known him?” she finally asked.
“A long, long time. Before I married Ivana, I lived in Argentina, doing club promotions mostly. That’s how Esteban and I met. We used to party together all over South America. Before Ivana, of course. The good old days.” Regret entered his voice.
“Craig!” a man called from across the room and motioned with his hand. A trio of women stood beside him, all dressed in designer minis and stilettos,
their faces caked in makeup and fake eyelashes.
“I better go see what he wants.” Craig rolled his eyes, as if he didn’t want to leave but the guy was twisting his arm. “Good seeing you again. I hope to see much more of you.” He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss on the cheek.
Sonia stiffened in the loose embrace, and inhaled in shock when his hand brushed her bottom. Another smile, which looked innocent—but not so innocent considering how he’d copped a feel—before Craig sauntered away.
What the heck was that about? If he and Esteban were really friends, why would he do that?
Feeling a little dirty, Sonia decided it was time to find Esteban. She searched inside and outside, but he was nowhere to be found. She sauntered back to the rooftop, resisting the overtures of a couple of men who approached her, and leaned over the railing. She was ready to go. Hopefully, he’d return soon.
Esteban slipped back into the party after stepping out for few minutes to call Abena and give her the names of a couple of contacts to start researching first thing on Monday morning. When he reentered the room, he searched for Sonia. The deejay was now playing reggaeton, which kept people dancing and gyrating.
He finally saw her outside, swaying to the music while sipping on her drink as she leaned over the railing. He fixated on her, his body responding to the fluid, gentle motion of her hips. He walked out on the rooftop and came up behind her, snaking an arm around her waist.
She tensed at first, but when she realized it was him, she willingly leaned back, her soft body conforming to his. Esteban pressed his nose to her neck and splayed a hand over her stomach, drawing her even closer so she could feel how much he wanted her.
“I’m the envy of every man here,” he murmured in her ear.
“You’re exaggerating,” she said, with a light blush.
“It’s true.” He kissed her bare shoulder, inhaling her perfumed skin. He wanted to wake up to that scent on his sheets. He trailed his fingertips down the length of her arm and watched in fascination as goose pimples popped up in the wake of his touch.
Sonia turned in his arms and ran a hand down his chest, stroking to his lean waist. The muscles there trembled from the gentle contact. She seduced him with her eyes, looking up at him with an expression that suggested she wanted to devour him.
He pressed her back against the cement wall and slid a knee between her legs. Resting his forearm atop the metal part of the railing, he kissed her cheek and neck, and even beneath the music he heard her gasp. He kissed her ear, and she rubbed her cheek against his hair-roughened jaw.
“So, Sonia, are you sleeping alone tonight?”
Her hand came up between them, and he thought she was about to push him away, but instead, her fingers latched on to the front of his shirt, and she looked up at him with that same sultry look of desire he’d grown accustomed to seeing.
“No,” she said softly.
He wanted to take her against the wall right now. His body was so tight and hard, he felt like one big tension ball. “Let’s go,” he said.
Slipping an arm around her waist, he guided her through the crowd, which had gotten thicker as the hour grew later. On the way out, they ran into Craig. Esteban said a few words and then ushered her out of the hotel into the Maybach.
The ride to the house was made in complete silence. The walk to the door was made in complete silence.
“Lights on,” Esteban said, once they’d entered.
He muttered a Spanish curse and pressed her back against the wall, impatience overtaking him. He’d never been this desperate to make love to a woman before. He could hardly breathe, his lungs tight and constricted as he strained to hold back from tearing off her clothes and burying himself balls deep between her legs.
Their lips meshed together and his tongue slipped over hers, taking command of her mouth. She sucked gently, as if to imitate what she would do to him at another time, to another part of his anatomy. The thought had him growling in his throat, planting both hands on her ass cheeks and grinding his hips into hers, lifting one of her legs off the floor to cradle his erection against her warm core.
He slipped his hand under her dress, pushed aside her panties, and stroked her swollen flesh. She was already wet and hot, which made him want to drop to the floor and lick between her legs.
Dragging aside her bodice, he exposed her breasts. Finally. Bending his head, he sucked on a reddish-brown nipple and it puckered in his mouth. With her moaning softly, he squeezed her breasts and lifted his head to see the soft flesh meshed together, before dipping his head to taste them again, one by one, sucking and savoring. Her eager moans turned him hard as granite.
She stroked his length through his pants. Jesús Cristo. He was trembling, he wanted her so badly. But he didn’t want to take her against the wall. He wanted to strip her naked and make love to her properly, and learn every inch of her delectable flesh.
Sweeping her up into his arms, Esteban said, “Lights off,” and the space plunged into darkness.
He covered her mouth again, and she clung to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and kissing him back with the same fervor and enthusiasm. Her soft mouth inflamed his hunger, and the pulsating ache that hovered in his gut every time she was near became sharper.
Using pure instinct, he walked through the house to the master suite on the first floor. And when he entered the bedroom, he kicked the door shut—ready for the long night ahead.
Chapter 16
Sonia couldn’t see Esteban standing behind her in the dimly lit room, but he stood close and she anticipated his touch. When he finally reached out, he gathered the folds of her dress and eased the chiffon over her head until she stood almost naked, wearing only a lace thong and gold heels.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Sonia.” She’d heard those words numerous times before, but coming from Esteban they sounded more meaningful and impactful.
One warm hand covered her right butt cheek, and the other traced a line down her hip. Then they converged over her abdomen and her breath stilled as they glided in slow motion up her torso to cup her bosom. He filled his palms, squeezing and kneading the soft flesh until her head fell back to his shoulder in a helpless, needy moan.
Behind her, the length of his erection pressed against the cleft of her ass through his pants. As he massaged her aching breasts, rolling the nipples between his fingertips, his mouth lowered to her neck. Sucking gently, he tasted the skin along the side of her throat and the underside of her jaw. Her lips parted, the sensations he evoked making her thrust her body into an arch and reach back to hook an arm around his neck. Her fingers tunneled into his soft hair and gripped the back of his head to hold him fast. She could happily stay like this for hours.
“Yes,” she whispered, angling her neck to give him more.
Yes, to whatever he wanted. Yes, to bringing closure to the pounding hunger that existed between them. She’d give him everything, offer total access to all of her body.
Esteban hooked his thumbs in the fabric at her hips and lowered the underwear to her ankles. On his way back up, he kissed her bottom and squeezed each cheek, moaning in his throat.
Sonia stepped out of her panties and turned around to watch him dispose of his jacket. It dropped with a soft thud to the floor. Next, he started on the dress shirt. Like her own private striptease, he slowly unveiled his body with the opening of each button. When he finished, he tossed that garment to the floor too, and she had the pleasure of seeing his bare chest for the first time. His pants and briefs went next, and when he was naked, all she could do was stand at stare. She’d known he’d be a beautiful man and wasn’t disappointed.
“You’re a beautiful man, Esteban,” she whispered.
The complexion of his skin was an even, tanned color. Driven by the excitement of seeing him naked at last, she explored his hard body—squeezing his biceps, running a hand over the ridges of his abdomen, and smoothing her palms over his hard, hair-sprinkled ches
t. His pecs twitched when she touched, confirming that she stimulated him as much as he stimulated her. Lean, muscular thighs flanked the rigid thrust of his erection between them. He was incredible to look at—perfect in symmetry and form.
Esteban lowered her onto the bed and, lifting each leg, removed her shoes one by one. He planted kisses on each ankle and followed them with nips up to the curve of her calves.
“When I saw you in the first dress at Bella, all I could think about was getting you naked. You looked delicious. Good enough to eat.”
Heat flared in his eyes, and carnal promise weighted those words.
Esteban came down on top of her, his hard flesh pressed long the inside of her thighs. She stroked between his legs, gently touching his shaft and balls. Then his fingers found the spot between her legs. He stroked her wet sex, forcing her hips to strain upward, and listened to his deep groan in response.
He pushed aside her massaging hands and lowered his mouth to her breasts. He teased the taut nipples with delicate tugs of his lips and swipes of his tongue, forcing her to lift her torso higher in a silent plea for more. With a guttural groan, Sonia pressed her hands to the back of his neck, and begged him to suck harder, urged him to be rougher.
His mouth enveloped more of her breast. His tongue flicked across the nipple, even as his hands ran over her bare thighs, abdomen, and hips. Her entire body—her entire being—trembled beneath him.
She wanted him. Now. Waiting become untenable.
“Now, please,” she whispered, uncaring how desperate she sounded. She ached for him and couldn’t take the prolonged torture.
“Not yet.”
He kissed the tips of her breasts, and she thought she’d go mad from the exquisite agony caused by his restraint.
“I want to know every inch of you,” he whispered.
He slid down her body. Her skin, a sensitive live wire of heightened nerves, sparked under the touch of his hard frame dragging over hers. A smile of satisfaction crossed his lips as he moved lower, and his dark eyes filled with lust right before he lifted an ankle over his shoulder and claimed the cleft between her legs with his mouth.
More Than a Mistress (Latin Men Book 5) Page 10