Dusk Until Dawn

by ANDIE J. CHRISTOPHER

  She’d probably throw a drink in his face, which would definitely preclude his father loving her as much as his sisters did.

  It felt like an eternity before she got to him. And, he knew it would make her uncomfortable, but he wanted to really kiss her. He burned with the need to do more than the simple cheek kiss. Even that lifted something in his chest.

  He pulled back and extended his hand to the brother. “Javier Hernandez. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  Felix’s face was flat, impassive, as if he’d already passed judgment, but didn’t want to say the wrong thing. He looked like a male version of Maya, except stockier and warier—as if that were even possible.

  Maya’s smile was brittle, and it faltered as Javi and her brother stared each other down.

  “Don’t hurt my sister again. Okay, Cubano? Then we can get to names.” Felix took his hand and squeezed it. “You might be tempted to underestimate the ass-kicking I’ll give you if you hurt my sister because I like to suck dick, but I’m from the barrio, and I’m not scared of you.”

  Javi was a little scared of him, and wasn’t planning on hurting Maya. But he liked that she had someone in her corner. Now that he knew that her father was a bad dude, it made him feel better that she had someone in her life—besides him—who would throw down for her.

  “I won’t hurt her. I have sisters, and I feel the same way about them.”

  Felix gave him a half-grin and his stony eyes softened. Maya stopped trying to cut off the oxygen to his fingers, and she leaned into him. He felt as though he’d passed a test.

  Carla piped up then. “Now that you’re done beating your chests, maybe we can make some toasts and eat some snacks?” His sister looked at Maya. “So it’s not just our older brother that’s like that?”

  Felix laughed at Carla’s lame joke, and he had never been more grateful for his baby sister’s off-the-wall sense of humor.

  “Yes, all older brothers.” Felix winked. “At least when we’re nuts about our baby sisters.”

  Maya said, “Javi would sort of deserve it if you punched him in the face. He kicked Cole’s ass when he found out about him and Alana.”

  “As in, one half of the happy couple we’re here to celebrate tonight? The former Navy SEAL? Shit, man. That sounds like a fuck up.” Felix wasn’t done busting his balls even though the tension had abated. He’d fit in the extended family just fine.

  Javi took a sip of his beer. He wasn’t drinking nearly as much of the hard stuff these days. He didn’t want to forget a minute of his time with Maya. When he saw Cole and Alana approaching, he said, “There was precedent. I had to drop Andy Padilla out of a window when she was five, and she kept bringing pendejos home. Right up through this motherfucker.”

  Alana stood next to him and cuffed him on the back of the head. He pretended she’d hurt him. Cole grabbed Maya in a big hug, and said, “You lost me some money. I didn’t think you’d forgive this idiot.”

  Maya winked at Javi. “Oh, he’s still groveling. I can’t decide when I’ll be satisfied with his show of remorse.”

  Cole let her go and laughed. He went immediately to Alana, and kissed her so thoroughly that Maya had to look away. While Carla scolded them for being gross in public, and the attention was off of him and Maya, Javi leaned close to her ear.

  “I’m happy to pay penance any way you make me pay it, mi cielo.” He grazed the back of her neck with his fingers, glad she’d pulled her hair up and out of the way. “You’re trying to punish me by wearing that dress, aren’t you? It’s working because my cock hurts so bad. You’re going to have me hobbled by the end of the night.”

  “That was the plan. You’ll never act like an idiot again.” There was a whisper of a laugh in Maya’s voice and it warmed him over.

  “That’s a plan bound to fail. I’m sure to be an idiot again, just so I can make it up to you,” he said.

  He kissed her cheek again, still wishing it was her lush mouth. He promised himself that he’d drag her to his childhood bedroom before the end of the night.

  There was no way they’d make it to his house before he her fucked senseless.

  Chapter 14

  “Mom, Dad, I want you to meet Maya.”

  Maya cleared the first hurdle of not throwing up on one of Javi’s parents. Considering how nervous she’d been when they’d gotten to the party, it was a singular accomplishment.

  His mother looked like Julianne Moore, and it intimidated Maya.

  “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez.” Maya extended her hand, hoping it didn’t shake.

  “Call me Molly.” His mother’s smile was genuine and Maya bit her lip. She couldn’t risk talking and saying something impulsive that would ruin this conversation. This really important, nerve-wracking conversation. “So, you met Javi when he was in business school? Were you a classmate?”

  Maya didn’t miss that his mother was closely examining her sleeve of tattoos while she gathered herself to answer.

  “No, I didn’t go to business school. I was Javier and Cole’s favorite bartender.” Javi’s father’s brows creased, and he looked like his son for a minute—especially when he was pissed about something. She was screwing this up. “I was an MFA student, though. And I taught undergraduate art students.”

  Molly perked up then, and put her a little at ease. She kept her gaze on Javi’s mother, who seemed more open to her than his grumpy father. He and Javi were about the same height. They could have been brothers, but for their age difference.

  “What’s your medium?” Molly Hernandez’s questions about art distracted her from panicking about her husband’s reaction to her.

  “I paint, but I’ve done some mixed media 3-D stuff, too.”

  Molly patted her arm, but her husband still hadn’t said anything, and his lips were pursed. “I’d love to see your work sometime.”

  Maya smiled at Javi’s mother, and it gave her the courage to face his father.

  “Where did you grow up?” Javi’s father squinted at her, as though he was examining a contract with unfavorable terms. It made her feel small.

  She didn’t hesitate to answer. Bullies—even if they thought they were acting like bullies for the greater good—didn’t respect anyone who hid from them. She could have hedged and told him she was from New York, but that would make him respect her less. Besides, she couldn’t be sure that someone like Javi’s father wouldn’t already have done a background check. “Harlem.”

  Javi chose that moment to interrupt. “Maya’s been living in Brooklyn for the past few years, but her work is heavy in Latinx American liberation themes. Mom has a relationship with a few galleries that might be interested in her work.”

  As grateful as she was to Javi for steering the conversation away from her upbringing, she wished he didn’t have to. She wished that she belonged in a fancy house like Karrie had.

  Even with Javi by her side, she felt a little invisible under his father’s hard stare. She wasn’t good enough for this man’s son.

  “Funny, I’m pretty sure most Latin countries are free from Spain’s rule.” Maya barely contained an eye-roll at his father’s comment. She would be a good girl and keep her mouth shut. She would. He continued, “Except for Cuba of course. But you’d probably support a communist regime there.”

  Before she could stop herself or Javi could throw her over his shoulder and get her out of there, the words spilled out of her mouth. “That’s presumptuous of you. To think that, because I grew up with less than you’ve provided your kids with, that I believe in income redistribution.” Hector was taken aback. He’d probably thought that his barb would go right over her head. “Some of my work has to do with the situation in Puerto Rico and how vulture funds have refused to forgive municipal bonds.”

  “So you think investors should walk away with nothing?”

  Maya thought that Javi’s father was a piece of shit, but she couldn’t exactly tell him to eat a bag of dicks in his own h
ouse, so she said, “I don’t think hospitals should close so that rich people can get richer.”

  Javi and his mother both stayed silent, but their wide eyes and careful breaths made her think that not many people stood up to Hector Hernandez. Hector didn’t say anything else, but he sneered in her general direction for a long moment.

  Before things got even more awkward, if that was possible, Molly took her husband’s arm. “Hector and I have to go have boring conversations with his business associates now.” She gave her husband a raised eyebrow. “But it was a pleasure meeting you.”

  Maya’s cheeks heated and she looked down. She well and truly embarrassed herself, and she couldn’t even blame the one mojito she’d had before the confrontation with Hector Hernandez. She fully expected Javi to push her and Felix out the front door.

  She was shocked when Javi pulled her fully into his arms, instead. They were off in a corner of the yard, and it was late enough at night, after the toasts that people were fully absorbed in their own conversations.

  “I’ve never seen anyone else leave my father speechless.”

  “I don’t think I’m excited about accomplishing that particular first.”

  “What do you mean? It was good fun.”

  Maya snorted. “Your father was going to have the servants remove me if your mother hadn’t pulled him away. And, God, your mother is probably going to have you committed for dating me.”

  Javi shook his head. “You’re overreacting. My father can be a dick, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

  Maya rolled her eyes at him and pulled out of his arms. He let her, but followed when she walked back towards the crush of the party, an eye out for Felix so they could get the fuck out of there.

  “Where are you going?” Javi’s voice was close, so she knew she hadn’t lost him. She wasn’t trying to, but she’d had enough of this particular fancy party. She wanted to go to sleep.

  “I think it’s time for me to go.”

  Javi grabbed her hand and took off at a brisk pace back towards the house. Thankfully, she was tall enough to keep up with him and her heels didn’t sink into any grass.

  He didn’t stop walking until they made it to the foot of the stairs. “Come upstairs with me for five minutes. If you want to go after that, fine. But you ruffling my dad’s feathers is not a huge issue.”

  “Maybe not for you, but I already feel out of place—” She waved her arms around the grand foyer of his childhood home. “And your father is not going to warm up to me.”

  He laid one hand on her cheek. “Yes, he will. And, if he doesn’t, we’ll deal with it. What matters is that I want to be with you. I want you to be here. Nobody else matters.”

  “Fine.” She let him lead the way up the stairs and down the hall, to the left. He stopped at the last door and opened it.

  It had to be a little boy’s bedroom. Javi’s bedroom if the old issue of Maxim on the desk was anything to go by. He’d brought her up her to fool around. Of course, he thought that could solve things. His father wasn’t the only one who could be a little bit of a dick.

  “You think fooling around in your room is going to enamor me to your father?”

  “I wasn’t thinking about fooling around.” When she gave him in incredulous look, he said, “Well, I was, but I was also thinking about showing you something.”

  “Your penis. You wanted a private place to show me your penis.”

  “Always.” He went to the desk in the corner of the room, opened the bottom drawer and pulled out what looked like a photo album. “But I also wanted to show you this. My dad acted like an asshole, but he just had to sign over half my trust fund to Karrie. So, he doesn’t really think it’s a good idea to make a commitment to anyone, much less someone who has something to gain by being with me right now.”

  She wanted to punch him and then leave right then. Before she found Felix and stalked off, victorious, she’d pour a drink on Hector Hernandez and tell him where he could stick half of Javi’s trust fund. She didn’t want it. Sure, she liked riding in Javi’s Porsche and she liked that he sent her really expensive flowers the other day, exotic things she didn’t even know all the names for. But she didn’t care that Javi’s family was filthy rich. She wanted him.

  “I don’t want anything from you.” She realized she was almost yelling, but she was really pissed off and no one from the party could even hear them.

  “Come on. You kind of want my penis.” The disbelieving look on his face cracked her anger down the middle. When he sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to him, she joined him without more protest.

  “These had better be pictures of your dick. I don’t want to look at your father right now.”

  He bumped her shoulder with his, and it warmed her. Joking around like this almost erased the years they’d lost. She was attracted to Javi, of course, but this was a big part of why he was so compelling. They had the same sense of humor.

  “Raging asshole that I am, I don’t keep an album of dick pics in my childhood bedroom.” He opened the leather-bound book, and she gasped. There was a picture of a young Javi. His two front teeth were missing and he was posing with his baseball bat. His father stood behind him. Both of them beamed at the camera. “This is the last time I can remember my father being really proud of me.”

  “That’s awful. You are a wonderful, accomplished, hardworking man.”

  “But I’m not as hardworking as him. I will never build a business from scratch or have the perfect marriage like him and Mom. He gave me everything, and I squandered it. So, I’ll never measure up.” Maya’s heart broke for him. For the little boy in the picture, basking in his father’s approval.

  “That’s bullshit. If you were thinking that I would sympathize with him more after you told me that, it didn’t work. I really fucking hate the guy right now.”

  Javi set the album aside and turned to face her. “I love that you hate him for me, and that’s kind of my point.”

  “I don’t get what you’re talking about. You’re going to have to translate from sentimental bullshit into English.”

  He laughed and kissed her. “The point is that I busted my ass for my father’s approval, for years. And I realized when Karrie divorced me that I would never get it. I couldn’t marry my way into it. So I just stopped. I stopped working. I stopped trying. But no matter how hard I fell, I didn’t feel better. It wasn’t until my sister got involved with Cole and I saw her happiness that I realized that I want that.” He grabbed the back of her neck and put his face so they were nose-to-nose. “I want to be with someone who really understands me. And you do. My father’s going to get over this bullshit. Or he won’t. But, I don’t care about his approval anymore. I care about yours.”

  She didn’t respond, and time stretched out. She licked her lips and felt her pussy grow wet.

  “You approve of me, right?” His question was husky, like talking to her, revealing a part of himself to her had made him want her more.

  “I kind of feel like approving of your penis right now.”

  “That really wasn’t why I brought you up here.”

  “It wasn’t?” She started flicking the buttons of his shirt open. He’d lost the jacket while they were still out in the yard. “How many girls have you been with in this room?”

  She put her hand on his chest and squeezed a nipple between her thumb and index finger. “N—none.”

  “Don’t lie.” She released his nipple and tugged on a bit of chest hair. The feel of his body, just furry enough, never failed to get her hot. She didn’t know why. Didn’t particularly care. “I don’t care who’s been here before me. I want to be the last girl you fuck in this room.”

  “I want you to be the last girl that I fuck.”

  “We’re not there yet, lover boy.” A big part of her wanted to believe him, but she didn’t want to put too much stock in his words when they were about to get naked. She needed this to be about th
e simple fact of their connection—the carnal thing that made sex between them the best ever. If she could focus on that, maybe she could still make it out unscathed.

  She shoved his shirt over his shoulders and straddled his thighs. Then, she leaned forward so her cleavage was in his face as she stroked his strong shoulders. The sight of his arms straining from the effort not to touch her made her want to paint him again, make sure she got the muscles right.

  “I am.”

  He had to shut up with that. They’d only been doing this for a few weeks and she’d already met his whole family. He’d met the only family she had left. He knew some of her secrets, but she still wasn’t sure that the whole sordid story wouldn’t run him off. Distraction right now was key. She didn’t want to discuss being the last woman anymore.

  She wanted to be the only woman he thought about when he was in this room though. Wanted to be part of this man, what made him. So, she sat on his lap and rolled her pelvis against his cock until he groaned and his head fell back. She grazed his throat with her teeth, loved how it made goose bumps raise all over his body.

  “You’re going to kill me, mi cielo.”

  “I don’t want you dead. I want you happy.” She snaked her hand in between them; in a few deft movements, she had his cock in her palm. It was hot and her pussy went even softer and wetter in anticipation. “Do you have a condom?”

  “Not on me.”

  “You don’t have any condoms in this room?”

  “None that aren’t long-expired.”

  She wanted him so deep inside her that she couldn’t think about anything but coming. She’d have to wait for that, but she needed him inside of her somehow.

  She pulled back and sank to her knees. When she looked up at him, he was biting his lip. Before she could lean in and take him in her mouth, he bent down and pulled her dress down under her breasts.

  “Your breasts are fucking everything. I’m so glad I didn’t see them before. They would have tortured me for almost half a decade.” He fisted his cock while he talked and she grabbed his thighs and squeezed for a second before she reached in her panties and stroked her own clit.