The Cuban

by Kim Rodriguez

  “Our minders.”

  The more he told me about himself, the more I realized there was far more to his story than he could possibly tell me in one night, but I had to ask if he was sorry he left. Above all else, there was a great deal of regret in his voice.

  “Don’t you miss it?”

  “Well,” he said, shifting in the chair, “it was a very unplanned, emotional decision, which is never good.” I saw the pain in his eyes as he added, “Yes, it does make me sad that I can’t help people anymore. If that’s it for me, I’ll miss it very much.”

  “Rafa, if there’s anyone who should be a doctor, it’s you. All you need to do is get your license here—” He didn’t let me finish. He’d shut down and was done talking about it, which I accepted. For now.

  “It’s time to get out of the water.” He stood and helped me step out carefully, then patted me dry with a fluffy towel and guided me in the direction of the big mirror over the sink so that he could take a close look under the light.

  “I wish I had my glasses, but you seem better.” I was dying for him to give me a kiss, but instead he just told me to go to the bathroom and meet him in bed.

  Rafa was waiting for me with aloe vera gel in his hand and rubbed it into my tender areas until I was sticky as honey.

  “Where are your clothes?” he asked. I pointed to the closed suitcase beside the dresser. He found a pair of simple cotton panties and held them out for me to step in to, so I balanced myself on his shoulders as he slipped them on and up over my hips.

  “Nightgown?” he asked.

  “No,” I purred, trying to get a rise out of him. I came a little closer, but he simply turned me around to face the bed.

  “Get in.”

  Rafa turned out the light and curled up beside me. “Sleep on your back,” he instructed, draping an arm just below my breasts where I wasn’t red.

  “You’re keeping your clothes on?” Unable to hide my disappointment, I rubbed him through the fabric of his pants, and in spite of his cool demeanor, I was reassured by the fact that at least he was rock hard.

  “They’re clean. I just changed.” He took my hand and dropped it on his thigh with a cute little smack, as if to say and keep it there.

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  “Your skin is raw. It’s not going to happen, so settle down,” he said, a trace of a smile in his voice. “Think about baseball.”

  “Fine,” I said, laughing with him. “Rafa, what happened that day to make you want to leave?” I didn’t want to upset him, but I was dying to know more. He wouldn’t occupy me in other ways, so my mind was still at work.

  “You don’t want to know,” he said quietly. “I’ll tell you about it another time, but for now, just imagine how bad it gets in a poor country like Haiti when there’s no clean water, no shelter, no food and no medicine. People become angry and irrational, and you can only be around that for so long before it gets in your head. You eventually become ill yourself.” Then a pause. “Alright?”

  “Alright,” I said.

  “We’re very lucky,” he said, drifting off to sleep. “No matter what, remember that.”

  ***

  Later, the sun woke me up as it shined through the open balcony curtains. The lovely ocean panorama I had enjoyed all week had been replaced by a view of the dingy Miami cruise terminal, and instead of the soothing movement of the ocean, there was only the rough vibration of an idling ship engine. It had been a rough night, and although Rafa had been there to take care of me, I was still happy to awaken in the bright, clean light of the morning. I thought of all the things I missed about home and felt happy to be getting back to Boxwood and my familiar surroundings. Yet, something was wrong. I looked down at Rafa, who was still sleeping, and I knew. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving without him.

  I took the opportunity to really study him now in the early morning light, wondering if perhaps I could find a flaw or something unpleasant that would make me want to go on with my life as if he had never existed, but I saw nothing but beauty on the outside and the inside. He was utter perfection, and I bitterly questioned how such a selfless man could end up so alone in the world. He’d been a virtual prisoner most of his life, whether of poverty, a communist government, or simply his own loneliness, like me. Now, once again he was adrift with no security and no family. In fact, in the US he would be considered illiterate. A man who had once saved lives every day was now reduced to the most basic existence with no clear path in sight. He made my heart ache, and I was full of need and compassion for him.

  “Good morning,” he said, opening his blue eyes. Ojos azules.

  “Good morning to you,” I replied, caressing his face. He held my hand to his cheek and kissed it gently as he sat up.

  “How do you feel?” Rafa squinted uncomfortably in the bright sun, covering his eyes so that he could get a better look at me. His clothes were wrinkled and twisted around his body in odd ways, as if he’d tossed and turned all night. I hadn’t felt him move, but then again, I’d slept very deeply.

  “Much better,” I said coming closer. I draped a leg across his body and hugged him tight.

  “Careful,” he said, lightly caressing my ribs and belly. “It’s not a good idea yet.”

  “I think it’s a great idea.” Totally disregarding his objections, I placed his hand on my breast, but he only looked me up and down, still unwilling.

  “Please don’t make it any harder on me, Amada. It was torture last night.”

  “But I want you,” I said, nuzzling my nose against his. I carefully unbuttoned his Oxford shirt all the way down to his belt buckle and ran my hands all over his torso, pushing the shirt off his shoulders as I leaned down to flick one of his nipples with my tongue and then the other. I felt myself getting wet as I struggled to find a position that would satisfy my increasing need to grind my body against his, and he watched with fascination as I slipped out of my own underwear and opened his pants, exhaling when I released his bulging erection from its confinement. I took it in my mouth, sucking from base to tip, and made a point of looking up at him as I put pressure on the underside with my tongue. It turned him on so much I thought his chest might explode from inhaling so deeply.

  “I’ve been wanting to do that since the moment I saw you,” I said, wiping the saliva off my mouth with an exaggerated swipe of my hand. The idea that a good girl like me had been fantasizing about having him in her mouth must have made him lose it a little, because it took him a second to shake off whatever sensations had taken over his brain, but once he did, he reacted swiftly. When he realized what I was up to, he sat up from his reclining position.

  “Now you’re toying with me, Amada, and if you really won’t take no for an answer, then I’m going to have you any way I like. Maybe on the balcony,” he said thoughtfully. “But it’ll be just for me this time.”

  I giggled at the absurdity of it, knowing he wouldn’t dare with so many cruise ship passengers disembarking down below, but to my horror he took my amusement as a challenge. Releasing me, he sprung from the bed and found a white bathrobe in the closet.

  “Put this on,” he said, still wearing his unbuttoned, open jeans. His engorged cock glistened with moisture from my mouth, an impressive sight indeed.

  “You’re joking,” I said, tying the robe around my waist.

  “Nope. All of Miami is going to hear you call out my name.”

  He took my hand and led me out to the balcony, impatiently positioning me between the rail and his body, and while I was occupied by the movement of the people only a few stories below, Rafa snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me into him, his swollen penis barely concealed by the thin, silky fabric between us.

  “Rafa!” I exclaimed. “What if someone notices?”

  “Oh, are you feeling shy now?” he asked tersely. “A minute ago you were very brave.”

  “It’s not necessary to be so dramatic to make a point,” I said.

  “I disagree,” he sna
pped. “Bend over.”

  Pleased he’d finally given in, I leaned forward enough to see the people down below, expecting to feel him inside me at any moment. I rested my head on my arms, acutely aware of everything around me as he lifted the back of my robe.

  “So pretty,” he said.

  He inserted two fingers deep into my vagina and swirled them around. The sensation was divine, so I arched my back and opened for him, but when his fingers were wet enough, he used one hand to hold me open and the other to spread my own moisture from front to back. The sensation of him in a new place was exquisite, but I froze when he paused there, in the one place he hadn’t touched me before. It was without a doubt the most unexpectedly erotic moment of my life.

  “I’m having some very nasty thoughts, Amada,” he rasped, “but that’s the point, isn’t it? To push me?”

  “I’ve never done that before,” I said, looking over my shoulder. He had a sweet little half smile on his face that was sexy but also infuriatingly smug. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

  “You look ready,” he said, running his finger up and down. I moaned with pleasure never realizing just how good a simple caress in the right spot could feel.

  “I like to make you lose control,” I muttered, my eyes closed as my lips parted to take in more air. His touch was literally taking my breath away.

  “I know you do,” he said, moving the tip of his finger in small circles. “You were supposed to be waiting for me last night, but I couldn’t even touch you. Then you tried to seduce me while I was caring for you, which is not allowed. You know I won’t cross the line, no matter how excruciating it is. But that doesn’t keep you from trying. You’re doing it right now.”

  My backside tingled with sensations that were unfamiliar yet so very delicious, and I focused on the people below as he shamelessly continued to rub me there, alternating between hard and soft pressure. I thought about how I must look from his perspective, spread wide open, yet completely trusting of him and sure of my own power. He was right. I knew he’d never do anything I didn’t want, no matter how I behaved. The breeze coming in from the ocean blew over us both and under my robe, exposing me and what he was doing to anyone who happened to glance up from the pier below. For the first time, I wanted to both control and surrender to a man.

  “When I say no, it’s for your own good. You’re not going to get what you want from me by dangling a sweet little carrot in front of my face and then pulling it away. I’m not dumb, and I’m not easily manipulated. Who knows every inch of your body?” he asked, changing to a maddeningly light touch, though I’d lost track of exactly what he was doing because every nerve ending below my waist was on fire.

  “You do,” I gasped.

  “Who else can make you feel this good?” He licked my back with his soft tongue, sweeping upward with his fingers at the same time as if to imply he was thinking about putting his mouth on me, too. The thought of it both excited and frightened me, and he knew it.

  “No one,” I purred.

  “Then why do you try to dominate me? You’d be disappointed if I were weak. Admit it.”

  “You’re right,” I whispered after a long pause, unable to lie. I couldn’t believe he’d expertly coaxed such an unsavory confession out of me. His touch was a hypnotic truth serum.

  I was melting from the sensation of his body and his voice, not to mention his very skillful caress, but above all else he was such an incredible mindfuck that I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. Yet, in spite of my euphoria, or perhaps because of it, he chose that exact moment to move his hand away.

  “Keep going,” I demanded, breathless and on the brink of release.

  “I’m in charge, sweetheart,” he said, letting go and pulling my robe back down with a flourish.

  “Rafa!” I exclaimed, my body still screaming. “You wouldn’t.”

  “I might.”

  Desperate for his hands on me again, I leaned into him and tried to turn around, but he held me still. Unlike me, he had a will of steel, and even at moments like this when it was at my expense, I admired it.

  “Listen,” he snapped, roughly grabbing my hips. “Pay attention, Amada. In the future, don’t make it difficult for a man to do the right thing. You’re safe with me, but it makes me sick to think of you in a situation you couldn’t get out of. Don’t tease men you barely know no matter how harmless you think it is. Promise me.”

  His voice was softer, but his words hung heavy in the air, the implication being that this between us was finite and there would be others, men who were not worthy of my trust. I nodded, then felt him rest his chin on top of my head. It was a surprisingly warm, unguarded gesture, but it didn’t take long before he was back in the moment.

  “Now that we’ve had this little talk, I’ll oblige you. Tell me what you want, and be specific, or I might change my mind.” Now that he was in total control he was more at ease, and when he put his arms on either side of my body and gripped the balcony rail, his thick erection pressed against me, a reminder of all the wonderful things within his power to give.

  “I’m so wet. I want to feel you inside me,” I begged, still bent over. I couldn’t wait much longer. I writhed against his bulk with increasing impatience, but still he didn’t move.

  “Something I don’t know,” he said mercilessly. I have no idea where it came from, but I replied with the first thing that came to mind. If I’d had a chance to think about it, I probably wouldn’t have said it.

  “I want your smell all over me when I’m touching myself in bed tonight, thinking of you.”

  “Mm,” he moaned, his breathing erratic now. His fingers grazed my thighs as he reached for the hem of my robe again.

  “Not out here,” I said, looking back at him then down at all the people below. Earlier it had seemed possible to be discreet, but now I was certain I’d scream his name, just as he’d promised.

  “I want everyone to see what I’m going to do to you,” hummed Rafa, grinding his hips into mine.

  “No, Rafa. It’s only for us,” I begged.

  “Then get on the bed, naked,” he said, now struggling to maintain his composure. “On your hands and knees facing the balcony, and stay that way.”

  I stood up straight and tried to go, but he wouldn’t move. I turned to him, wondering what I was doing wrong.

  “Take the robe off here,” he said, gliding a finger between my breasts.

  I shrugged it off, and with a nod he let me pass. His gaze followed as I went inside and positioned myself exactly as instructed, summoning him to me by arching my back and parting my legs. He walked past me into the bathroom, turned on the faucet for a minute, then came back out drying his hands. When he was finally ready, he placed the towel beside me, guided me back a few inches to where he was standing at the side of the bed, and licked my thigh with his flat, wet tongue.

  “Look at those curves,” he rasped, his voice thick. “As if I ever had a chance.”

  Steadying my hips with his now ice-cold hands, I felt instant relief as he sank deep into my drenched core, followed by waves of intense pleasure throughout my body. I lost myself in the feeling of him inside me, and as he moved in a perfect, steady rhythm, I could think of nothing but how right it was to be joined with him. It approached too fast this time, our sexual energy already at a head because whether we’d realized it or not, every minute since he’d walked in the door last night had been part of our foreplay. It seemed that every minute we spent together, in fact, was nothing but a precursor to this.

  “Oh my God, Rafa,” I sighed, “you feel so good.”

  In response he placed his hand on the back of my head and gently turned me toward the mirror to our right. There we were, wildly grinding against each other, our reflection even more lewd than anything I could ever imagine. I was completely stripped for him, legs spread, mouth open wide, his muscled arms and large hands roaming possessively over my lower back and hips as he guided me back and forth with skilled ease.

>   Rafa stilled as he met my eyes in the mirror, then bent down and hastily pulled out of me, quickly replacing his penis with two clever fingers. He pushed my shoulders down so that my sex elevated and opened for him, and from that perfect angle he massaged me from the inside and licked me as I startled at the unexpected pleasure. When my legs gave way, he easily held me up by the hips with his own strength, and as I caught sight of his profile in the mirror, his face completely buried between my legs, neck and back straining, wildly devouring me from behind, I exploded without warning. I saw our past, present and future as my muscles clenched around him, and to my amazement he was mindful enough to stop what he was doing and watch me, too. Rafa gazed intently at my sex as I climaxed, and as he studied me with curiosity, whatever he observed triggered his own release. While still outside my body, he pulled me close and let go.

  Immediately after my orgasm subsided my legs began to shake, so Rafa slipped his arm under my pelvis and held me up, mindfully avoiding the places on the front of my body where my skin was still hot and inflamed. He took a moment to trace a finger through his own warm essence as it dripped down the back of my thighs before using the towel to wipe most of it away, leaving a small amount that he gently rubbed into my skin there and between my legs.

  “Are you cleaning me or fingerpainting?” I giggled, looking back at him.

  “I don’t know,” he said, smiling back. “Both.”

  When he was done, I crawled forward and attempted to collapse on my stomach, but before he let go he turned me so that I ended up on my back. He tumbled onto the bed beside me, spent but obviously satisfied. We lay together side by side until it became easy to talk again.

  “You’re kind of complicated,” I said, propping myself on my side as I caressed his hard, flat stomach.

  “The world is complicated. I’m simple.” He fondled the outside of my sticky thigh as if it were the most intriguing thing in the world.

  “You have a very strong sense of right and wrong, don’t you?”

  “God knows I tried, but you do not respond well to delayed gratification, Amada. Look what kind of debauchery you drove me to,” he said, absently rubbing his thumb and forefingers together.