Valentine's Day (Second Skin Book 3)

by Ophelia Bell

  Two hours later, I give her a couple minutes to admire her new ink before I return with a bottle of lube and my choice from the toy box. She steps away from the full-length mirror, her eyes going wide.

  “No fucking way.”

  I wag the silicone tentacle dildo at her. “You really didn’t think I would choose anything else, did you?” I slip up behind her and peer over her shoulder in the mirror, then lift the aqua colored toy to trace the edge of her tattoo. It’s a heart-shaped cage of vines that matches her other ink, but within it is a smaller heart of knotted biomechanical tentacles in my own style. My heart captured, held hostage, no escape in sight.

  I meet her gaze in the mirror and swallow hard, my Adam’s apple bobbing and making it clear I’m anxious to learn what she thinks. She smiles and shakes her head, reaching over her shoulder to grab the back of my neck, then twisting until our foreheads touch.

  “I love it. Tentacles and all. Now what do you plan to do with this thing?”

  I lift the bottle of lube. “If you’re not too sore, Hugo would like to his turn with your ass. I just wanted something fun to fuck you with while he’s buried in your backside. If you’re game.”

  Hugo is already at full attention, but pleasure zings up my spine when Toni drops her hand and wraps her fingers around my length, tugging me toward the bed. She lies back where she was earlier and lifts her knees to her chest, baring herself entirely to my view.

  I forget to breathe for a moment before I get my act together and climb on after her. The sight is too tempting not to indulge myself, so I drop my head between her legs and press my mouth to her core, swiping my tongue through her wet channel in a long, slow lick, that ends with me sucking on her clit.

  She sighs and relaxes into the position a little more. On the second pass, I ring her asshole with my tongue, teasing the opening before pushing past just a fraction. She moans and flexes, so I do it again and taste a flood of juice from her pussy as it begins to coat her rear opening. The fact that this turns her on so much gets me even hotter, and if I wasn’t so hard it hurt, I’d probably take more time.

  “How much prep do you need?” I ask just to make sure, and I’m not disappointed by her answer.

  “Just fuck me now, will you? I need you inside me.”

  “Do you want me in a condom?”

  She glances at the dish by the bed, staring for a beat before turning back to me and shaking her head. “I want you bare.”

  Fuck yes.

  I waste no time slathering lube down the length of my dick, then spread my knees on either side of her hips to lower my tip to her opening. She exhales and nods when I meet her eyes. I press against her and instantly feel her give way, allowing me inside.

  My head throbs with the intensity of the sensation as her ass grips the head of my cock, then releases, letting me slide deeper. I move slowly, giving her time to acclimate to my girth. Her breaths come as gasps and her spread pussy weeps, adding to the slickness I’m pushing into.

  When I get halfway, I hold tight to her thighs, pulling her the rest of the way onto my cock, then hold her there.

  “Goddamn, you feel good. You ready for more?” I reach for the alien dildo I left on the nightstand. She gives me a breathless nod, licking her lips, then biting down on the lower one when I tease the silicone tip of the tentacle against her clit. The dildo is a curved, tapered shape, smooth down one side, but with molded sucker shapes on the other. I angle it so the suckers will rub on her G-spot when I press it to her opening.

  Her hips jerk and she exhales a sharp breath as the dildo slides into her. Then I begin to move my hips, fucking slowly with the dildo at the same time.

  She lets out a shaky moan and reaches over her head to grip the edge of the mattress.

  “Good?” I ask. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

  Toni closes her eyes and pushes her hips up against mine, sending a blast of pleasure through me when my cock bottoms out inside her ass.

  “Good hurt,” she blurts, gasping for breath. “Don’t stop. Make me feel it . . . tomorrow . . . next week.”

  “That why you like this? Because it leaves a mark you can feel for days?” I pull out and shove back in harder, barely holding onto my focus enough to keep up with the dildo. She reaches down and grabs hold of it, taking over fucking herself with the toy. I’m mesmerized by the sight of the alien shape disappearing into her slick, pink opening while I shove my dick into her ass over and over.

  I hold her thighs wide with my hands, but slide them down to spread her folds, baring her swollen clit. She gasps when I brush my thumb over it, then press down, forcing the nub against the textured edge of the dildo as she drives it into herself.

  Her rhythm falters and she arches with a cry. The tattoo in the center of her chest glistens with vibrant red and black, the light catching it and making it appear to pulse. But maybe that’s just the blood pounding through my head.

  She fucks herself faster, writhing and bucking wildly, and it’s all I can do to keep up, driving my dick harder into her until we’re both a mess of slamming hips and animalistic grunts. She emits one last keening moan, and then her ass clenches hard and releases. The sensation throws me into a tailspin, and I lose myself as the world turns upside down. My cock explodes inside her, the frenzied twists of her hips keeping the momentum going so long I can barely stand it.

  Then it’s over and we stare at each other, both smiling, half-surprised, but also not surprised at all.

  I slide out and collapse at her side. She lets the dildo drop to the floor as her body goes slack against me.

  “Pretty sure you topped yourself that time,” she murmurs in a sated slur.

  “Pretty sure we were both present. Your ass . . . Fuck.” I bury my face against her neck and squeeze her tight. “Best sex of my entire life.”

  Her sigh is pure bliss. “Same here.”

  “Seriously?” I say.

  “Don’t let it go to your head. Chances are there’s still better to be had at the rate we’re going. But yeah.”

  “Is it the kink factor, or something else?” I ask, a little ashamed to sound like I’m fishing for a compliment, which is exactly what I’m doing.

  She turns in my arms and looks into my eyes. “You aren’t trying to measure up to a dead man, are you? Please don’t.”

  I drop my gaze and half-shrug. “He was everything to you. I don’t think I can compete with his memory, but I won’t deny I like the idea of pleasing you more than he did.”

  “He was different,” she says. “But I rarely let myself admit to wanting more out of sex with him. We were pretty vanilla, and I was fine with it. I guess I let myself conform to his ideal, in a way. He didn’t like the idea of me getting pierced, so I just let that desire go because I loved him. It’s only better with you because I have a feeling you wouldn’t say no to any of the weird little kinks I left unexplored with Manny.”

  “I just think it’s unfortunate you didn’t have that freedom. Hell, I want to know all your dirty secrets. Nothing’s too strange in my book.”

  She gives me a pointed look. “I’m aware. You did just fuck me with a tentacle-shaped dildo, so you’d better brace yourself for my next off-the-wall request.”

  “And you ought to be prepared for me to say yes to everything. In fact, consider this a blanket ‘hell yes’ to every off-the-wall fantasy you ever have, or have had, in all of existence. If you want to spend the next day using every last toy inside that cabinet, we’ll get it done. Neither of us will be able to sit down for a month, but I think that’s a bonus for you, isn’t it?”

  She grins and reaches around, smacking me hard on the ass. “You bet your sweet, hot ass. Speaking of sitting down . . . I think that’s where I want to put a tattoo next. Right on the fleshy part of your ass. For my eyes only.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Her phone buzzes again, interrupting our banter. This time it’s the alarm reminding us that we have a dinner date in less than an hour, so we bo
th scramble up to bathe yet again.

  39

  Toni

  Lena Prieto arrives promptly at six with an entourage of staff carrying baskets of food. The second they step through the door, my stomach rumbles, reminding me we haven’t eaten more than cake since breakfast. Sam at least has the presence of mind to ask for linen service upstairs, though I give him a quietly panicked look because we didn’t clean after all the sex, and our toys are still scattered around the bathroom.

  While Lena directs the staff to set up the dinner, he bends down and whispers, “You think they don’t know their guests actually use the amenities?”

  Sure enough, when I excuse myself to use the restroom a moment after the maids descend with our soiled linens, I find everything we used carefully cleaned and packed inside individual travel cases. Even the jewelry has been cleaned and wrapped in a small silk pouch, accompanied by a small container of cleaning solution.

  I forget my embarrassment when I head back down and see the spread of food Lena’s staff have arranged on our table, and sit down with her and Sam while the staff quietly exit, leaving the three of us alone.

  “I hope you like seafood,” Lena says, removing the covers from a few dishes, one of which is a tureen of delicious-smelling soup, along with appetizers of scallops and calamari.

  Sam dives in with the fervor of a starving man, and I’m not far behind. Our host indulges us, delaying conversation until we demolish the appetizers and Sam stands to fill each of our bowls with the aromatic soup.

  “I hope you two are finding your stay a relaxing diversion from recent events.”

  “So much,” I answer, tearing off a piece of bread to dip in what turns out to be a creamy lobster bisque. “I think we both needed this. Thank you.”

  “I agree, but I think we’re both more than ready to go home,” Sam says. “Can you give us the details?”

  Lena sets her soup spoon aside and sits back, wine glass in hand as she looks between us. “It’s really very simple. Arturo frequently works with a shipping company called Typhon. They have infrastructure worldwide, including in Cancún. Several of our suppliers lease their fleets from Typhon. All we’ll be doing is sending you out in one of the empty delivery trucks after it’s been unloaded tomorrow night. You’ll be taken to the airport and loaded onto a cargo jet for the flight back to San Diego.”

  “And Amador won’t be any wiser that we’ve even been here?” Sam asks, standing to refill our wine glasses and uncover the entree platter to start serving us.

  I’ve been studying the older woman intently since she arrived an hour ago, marveling at how much she resembles the painting of her sister that hangs in Arturo’s office. I see her resemblance to Celeste too and wonder if her scrutiny of me has accompanied similar thoughts. Usually women of her generation see my tattoos and immediately write me off, but I suspect she’s had a different outlook on life and the people she deals with for a long time.

  “Amador is not who you need to worry about. I have him under control. Gustavo is the wildcard in all this. I do not trust his attack to take over Zavala. I wouldn’t put it past him to hold onto those new assets, even though he’s letting Vicente believe they’ll be absorbed into his cartel.”

  “So you think he’s setting himself up as a potential competitor,” I say.

  Lena shrugs. “It’s too soon to tell. Vicente is often blind to the details that don’t impact his singular goal. Now that he knows Arturo has two other daughters, he’ll be fixated on using you to leverage some action from his old friend. This is why you must take care when you get home. Make sure you have good security. Do you have a dog?”

  I laugh. “Chris said to get a dog. Maybe I will.” I look at Sam. “What do you think about a shop mascot?”

  He frowns at me and shakes his head. “You’re going to hate my suggestion.”

  “What is it? Not a pair of Dobermans, I take it.”

  “Let me move in with you. My lease is up in two months anyway. Elle and I were going to get a place together, but it sounds like she’s in a safer place already. Chances are Papá Flores has plans to bundle you into some fortress like he’s already done with Elle. We need to be prepared to alleviate his worries. Yes to the dog, but also let me be a shield.”

  “Sam . . .” I shake my head and set down my wine glass. After everything I should jump on this suggestion, especially since I want him with my entire being. But we haven’t even made it home yet. I love my little house near the university. Growing up with twin brothers wasn’t exactly peaceful. Moving into my own place, alone, was one of the best moments of my life. It’s a contradiction, because I hate traveling alone, but my house has always felt like a safe haven. It’s one thing to pledge my love to him, but for some reason inviting him to share that safe haven makes me anxious.

  “It’s just too soon,” I finally say. “Can we revisit it after we get home and get back to normal?”

  His jaw clenches. “There isn’t going to be a normal until this is over. If you don’t want to let them lock you in a tower with my sister, we need to be prepared to prove you’ll be safe enough at your house. Set up a security system if you don’t already have one, get a dog, and let me move in. Or let your brothers move in. I hear security is their forte anyway.”

  “Oh god, no! Those Neanderthals are a nightmare to live with. Sam, I don’t know. That’s my space. I do love you, but sharing it with someone else . . .”

  It’s Lena who diverts the conversation, leaning over to lay a hand on my arm. “You have a little time to think about it, sobrina. But Arturo will need a strong argument to let you keep your freedom. Do you know how to shoot a gun?”

  Sighing, I nod. “Yeah. Since I was a teen. Celeste and I took shooting lessons together. We took martial arts classes too, until she decided she preferred dancing. I kept up with the hand-to-hand training while she was learning to plié, but it wasn’t enough to keep me from getting taken the other night.”

  Lena nods and stands, walking to the satchel she left resting on one of the barstools near the kitchen counter.

  “I understand today is your birthday, so I have a gift for you.”

  I begin to object, but then the actual gift appears. She hefts a small handgun in one hand, releases the magazine, then racks the slide to check the chamber. She sets the gun on the table beside me with the full magazine next to it.

  “I’m guessing you did not travel with one, so take this. Keep it with you until you get home.”

  Sam leans forward, pushing his dishes aside to rest his arms on the table. “That tells me you’re worried Amador might get wise to where we are. Are we in danger of that happening? Be honest.”

  “Like I said, it isn’t Vicente who is the issue. He needs Toni alive, and he knows it. He wouldn’t risk letting her come to any harm. It’s Gustavo who is the real danger. He is unpredictable. I want you to be prepared.”

  I take the gun and do the opposite of what Lena did; I slide the magazine in and chamber a round, then aim the gun at the door. “If he gets to me, I’ll be more than ready to pull the trigger.”

  40

  Sam

  Toni is withdrawn after dinner, but I know better than to push the issue of our plans after we get home. Living together might complicate things, but it’s the best way I know of to make sure she’s safe. None of the alternatives are any more appealing to either of us, I know that much.

  But the lack of communication now is more worrying. She doesn’t seem upset, but she’s brooding over something, and I’m a little afraid to pressure her into sharing. At first I wonder if she’s having second thoughts about us, but I catch her staring in the mirror in the bathroom later after she’s brushed her teeth, idly tracing the edge of her new tattoo with a dreamy look. That calms the worry some—at least her introspection isn’t focused on me, or at least not in a bad way.

  In bed later, she’s more than enthusiastic about sex, and despite having little conversation since supper, we’re just as in sync as ever. Ton
ight she’s wild, pushing me onto the bed and straddling my hips, barely giving me time to get the condom on before she starts riding me like there’s no tomorrow.

  There will be a tomorrow, though, one way or the other. Many tomorrows for us both, because I didn’t bide my time for a decade just to have her snatched away.

  She finally speaks when we’re lying in the dark after. “Do you think they still have the car Chris gave me?”

  “Who? The resort? I imagine so. The valet probably assumes it’s yours. But it’s not like we can go anywhere.”

  “I have the GPS back to where Chris gave me the car. And I bet I can retrace the route to Amador’s compound from there. There aren’t that many roads out that way.”

  My blood chills at the trajectory of her thoughts. “We’re trying to get away from him, Toni. Are you suggesting we go back there? Why?”

  “Gustavo’s there. I just need to face him once with a gun. That’s all it would take. I’m a pretty good shot.”

  “Do you have any idea how fucking crazy that is? And not in a good way. You pull a gun on him, ten men will put bullets in you before you pull the trigger.”

  “Knowing he’s alive and I’m within a few miles of him is killing me, Sam. I want that bastard to pay for what he did to me. To us. Don’t you want that too?”

  She sits up and turns on the light, raking her fingers through her hair, then huffing out a breath as she leans on her knees and stares out the open window toward the water. “He deserves to die. And I can’t stand thinking I won’t be there to watch the light go out of his eyes, to be the one who made it go out.” She turns her hand over and stares at her wrist. “One bullet. That’s all it would take.”

  I sit up and press my lips to her shoulder, then slide my hand across and squeeze her arm. “That’s all it would take for us to lose each other too. I’m not willing to risk it. You’re the one who made me promise not to die on you, so this is me making the same request. Don’t risk your life just to even the score.”