For the first time since I returned, I stand back and observe my surroundings. Romeo and Alfredo are engaged in deep discussion. Mr. Dee is telling stories to the Sunshine ladies. Carlos steps from the kitchen and asks everyone if they’re enjoying the food. Choco’s joking with Genie and Greg.
No one needs me here. I plod to Papa’s office and extract my purse. My hands are shaking and the anxiety is back. Shallow breathing, facial perspiration, palpitations.
No one says anything when I walk out the back door.
# # #
Downtown San Diego is one of the cleanest inner cities in the country. The sky is blue and there’s an ocean breeze to wash away any traces of grime. The buildings are free of graffiti and there are few bums hanging around. I walk toward the stadium, past a coffee shop and stop at a convenience store.
Closing my eyes, I take several deep breaths, but my heart is still galloping as if I’m falling into a bottomless pit. My hands shaking, I open the jangling door and step into the air conditioned store.
A clerk eyes me lazily and goes back to watching a soccer match on TV. I hurriedly pick up a pack of Marlboro Lights and a disposable lighter and pop it on the counter before I change my mind. Nicotine will calm me. It’s only one smoke while I figure out what I need to do.
There’s a small patch of green near the stadium with a bronze statue of a baseball player taking a swing. Sunbathers lie on beach towels and tourists take pictures with the stadium as a backdrop. I find an isolated bench under a tree and light up.
The first drag is always the best. It wraps me in a warm, comforting blanket. I hold it a little longer than I should, then spew out a smooth plume of smoke. It leaves me slightly light-headed, but carefree, with endless possibilities.
The stadium rises high in front of me. Empty and stark, a lonely contrast to the accolades on game day. A field of dreams and glory, but most of the time, empty.
Time to get back in the game, Evie, and face your demons. I stub out the cigarette and take out my phone. Three things.
I purchase my return ticket for the coming Monday. I can’t concentrate on studying while at home, but I owe it to my parents to help out at the benefit concert this Saturday.
I text Eric: I’m letting you go. Please continue to not contact me. I no longer consider you a part of my life.
I text Romeo: I’m leaving Monday. Let’s spend Sunday together and talk.
Chapter 26
I didn’t expect my phone to pop alive so quickly, but Romeo calls.
“Where are you?” he says. “Is everything all right?”
I consider lighting another cigarette, but the air is so clean and several tourists gave me the gimlet eye while I was smoking, so I push the pack deeper into my purse.
“I took a walk to clear my head. It was getting kind of crazy in there.”
“Everyone’s having a great time. Listen, Mr. Dee’s son might be able to help me. He knows some local casting agents, and he has a chain of acting schools. I might be able to settle down here.”
“That’s great.” I’m trying to share his enthusiasm, but the truth is, whether he settles here or in the Philippines or in Antarctica, he is part of a life I no longer inhabit.
“I’m going to pay the bill right now and meet you. It’s such a beautiful day. Want to go to Seaport Village or walk around the waterfront?”
“Sure. I guess.”
“Okay, come back in fifteen minutes.”
“I-I don’t feel like it.” I stretch my legs and lean back on the bench. “I’m at the park in front of the stadium, the one with the plaques on the ground and the statue of Mr. Padre.”
“Great. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll meet you as soon as I can get out of here.”
“You don’t have to, really. I’m fine.”
“I want to.” He ends the call.
I scroll through the rest of my messages and re-read each one I sent to Eric. I can’t believe five years has come to this: a series of one-way messages. What happened to the fun times we spent together? The first date? The backrubs? Jogging in the park and driving to the Cape? The first time he took me sailing and I got hit by the boom and knocked overboard. The look of sheer terror and concern on his face when he thought I had drowned. The late night ice cream raids, necking on the T and missing our stop, then walking blocks and blocks chasing leaves, red, yellow, orange. And falling into a pile, pissing off the gardener, fighting and making up.
My fingers swipe to the photo albums. It’s a lurid curiosity, sheer torture, macabre. That happy, studious girl no longer exists. She was loved, desired, hopeful. She thought she had a new family, one filled with accomplished people: physicians, scientists, professors, and bankers.
I flip through the memories. Birthday dinner at the country club with Eric’s parents. Celebrating his younger sister’s piano debut at Carnegie Hall. Bringing home Desiree, his Alaskan husky, from the puppy farm. Chinese New Year’s banquet. Passing out red envelopes, receiving flowers and kisses.
A fat teardrop splatters my phone and a shadow blocks the sun. Romeo takes the phone from me and sits down next to me.
He swipes through the pictures while I keep my eyes closed, my face tilted toward the blistering sun.
“You two were in love,” he finally says. “What happened?”
“No clue.” My throat feels like gravel is caught in it.
“You must have theories.” He gives my phone back.
“He’s going to start his internship next week. Maybe he doesn’t want to deal with anything but his job.”
“Then why couldn’t he tell you?”
“I would have pestered him, been accommodating, told him not to worry about me, done anything to stick around. Maybe he doesn’t want a doormat.”
“No.” He takes my hand and squeezes it. “No one wants a doormat.”
“Sorry for dumping all this on you. I guess I’ll go back to the restaurant and finish my shift. Did you still want to spend Sunday together?”
“Even better, let’s spend the rest of the week together. Let’s go to Mexico or San Francisco or Vegas.”
“Seriously? Don’t you have to work?”
He stands and pulls me to my feet. “They’re changing the script again. Hiring another co-star, so nope, got a few days off. We’ll be back for the benefit concert and we’ll still have Sunday. Besides, Genie ditched me for the prom, so I’m all yours.”
The twinkle in his mischievous eyes is so charming I don’t care that he’s only doing this to make me feel better. So what if I’m the latest project between co-stars? This is my last fling before I consign myself to a life of toil and loneliness.
I paste on an eager smile. “Okay, where to?”
“Put on your sexy biker skirt. We’re going for a ride.”
# # #
My legs are wobbly and I can barely walk from straddling a motorcycle for the last few hours. Romeo took me up winding mountain roads in the backcountry, past charred remains of the last wildfire and all the way to the summit of Mt. Palomar .
We’re parked in the gravelly driveway of a small hideaway cabin. Romeo takes off his helmet and clips mine together with his. My shoulders are about to fall off. I let the laden backpack slide to the ground.
He picks it up and gives me a kiss. “Sorry you had to carry it. Told you to pack light.”
“I’m sore all over. I hope they have a hot tub.” I walk toward the tiny cottage nestled underneath a grove of pines. A picnic table sits behind granite boulders and a latticework arbor of roses.
“After I get you in the hot tub, you’ll be sore somewhere else too.” He waggles his eyebrows and wiggles his lip ring with his tongue.
I give him a tiny shove. “This isn’t one of your sitcoms.”
He removes his motorcycle gloves and digs the keys out of the lockbox.
“This,” he gestures grandly when we enter, “is our life. As real as it gets. Me and you. Like it?”
Nice, real nice. The outside might hav
e been a plain A-frame, but the inside is paneled in knotty pine and plush. There’s a river-rock hearth under a vaulted ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows look out to the valley below.
“Look at that view,” I exclaim. It’s unobstructed toward the west, the ground steeply sloping down, littered with giant boulders. On a redwood deck, a hot tub steams under its cover.
“I take it this meets your approval.” Romeo smiles smugly.
“Definitely. Everything you do exceeds my expectations.” I hug him around the neck and shower him with kisses.
His hands wrap around the small of my back and slide up the bottom of the motorcycle jacket, while his lips work over mine, soft and firm, delicious.
“I’m a little grimy,” he says. “Want to check out the shower?”
“Oh, yes, shower, bed, hot tub, everything. You know how to spoil a girl.”
“I do, don’t I?” He pulls away and knocks his forehead on mine. “I’ve also ordered a caterer to bring our food. Let me text him to let him know we’re here.”
“I don’t have to cook?”
He thumbs a message and grins. “Would I be such a caveman to have you cook?”
“No, you’re a dream come true.”
He tosses his head back and laughs. “Who’s writing your lines, Evie? Are you going to tell me you love me next?”
“Romeo!” I pretend to huff and stomp away. He’s constantly teasing, but getting too close to stirring up that squirrelly feeling, the hornet’s nest in my belly all tangled and frightening. The ride up was harrowing enough, what with the hairpin turns and the gnarly leans. That must be why I’m still feeling disoriented and dizzy.
He opens the bedroom door and I gasp. Red rose petals are strewn over a king-sized bed and a box of chocolates sits on the pillow. A pair of white Turkish cotton bathrobes are arranged at the foot of the bed.
“How’d you have time to book this?” I prod him, trying to keep from melting into a messy puddle of goo.
“While you were agonizing what to pack. Remember I told you to pack light because we’ll be naked most of the time?”
“But this feels like a honeymoon and we’re not—”
I cut myself off. No way do I want him to think I’m angling for anything other than a wild fling.
“This is whatever you want it to be,” he says. “I’m going to pamper you, Evie Sánchez, whether you like it or not.”
“You’re so bad.” I tap his nose and step into the bathroom to turn on the shower.
I barely have time to turn around before he presses me against the glass door and unzips my jacket.
Setting me on the narrow counter, he buries his face in between my breasts. Yep, I wore nothing underneath the jacket.
“Shit, if I’d known, I would have stripped you over the motorcycle.” Romeo’s voice rumbles. He presses his lips over one nipple and tongues it.
My chest tightens and sizzles, and I throw my head back, hitting the mirror. Romeo grabs my hands and props them on my breasts.
“I want to see you squeeze them. Go ahead.”
I push them together and roll my thumbs over my nipples. A growl of approval spawns from his throat. “They were against my back the entire ride up, weren’t they?”
“Yes, pressed tightly.” My voice is rough.
“Were you rubbing yourself while I took those tight turns?” His riveting gaze lowers to the waistband of my leather pants. “I thought I told you to wear the short skirt.”
“Sorry.” I give my breasts a bounce. “I don’t think wind burn and chapped skin will be that pleasant in the hot tub.”
“If we make it that far,” he says. “Pull them down, now.”
“Are you always so bossy?” I slowly unzip and smile when his breath hisses. No panties. Waxed, without even a landing strip.
“Oh, Evie, you’re evil.” He tugs the pant legs off me. “When did you get this done?”
“Yesterday, while you were busy shooting the rest of your scenes, I stopped by a waxing salon. Like what you see?”
“Shit, yeah.” He kisses my belly and slides straight down to the V between my legs.
“Not yet.” I snap my legs shut and jump off the counter. The bathroom’s steamy from the hot running water. “Strip, into the shower you go.”
# # #
I’m in a lust-filled haze by the time we emerge from the bedroom. Romeo had stripped when I commanded him, but he hadn’t stepped into the shower. No, not right away. Instead, he pleasured me on the counter, then pressed me against the shower wall, picked me up by my ass and pounded into me.
As if that wasn’t enough, he chased me to the bed and pinned me from behind. Pulling my bottom up to the edge of the bed, he propped me on my knees and leisurely entered me, taking his time while I exploded with a slow burn.
Wrapped in robes, we race to the kitchen and find candlelight, silver platters, and lobster tails. Romeo flips me onto his lap and nuzzles my cheek. “Are you still vegan?”
“No, silly.” I pinch his cheek, and he picks the lobster meat from the split tail and squeezes lemon on them.
“Here, taste this.” He sticks a piece of it in my mouth. It’s sweet, succulent, with a firm texture that melts at the same time.
“Hmm… mmm… Om nom nommers. It’s good.” I moan in appreciation.
“Gimme.” He presses his mouth to mine and teases a piece out.
Gosh, we’re so embarrassing. So lovey-dovey like newlyweds. I giggle and sputter against his lips, but we keep feeding each other and sipping each other’s wine. When our bellies are full, we step onto the deck to the hot tub.
The one-hundred-eighty-degree view of the city below us sparkles like a million stars on a glittering canvas. Romeo lifts the lid and drapes our robes on a lounge chair.
“I’ve never made love in a hot tub before.” I gasp when I lower myself into the hot water.
“Me either. I finally get another first?” He pulls me onto his lap, facing him, and gently wraps my knees on either side of his hips. “Let’s do something different, okay?”
“Sure.” I loop my arms around his neck, staring into his deep, dark eyes.
He adjusts the jets to a gentle bubbling and cups my ass. “Let’s sit still, connected, take deep breaths together, but no moving.”
“I don’t know if I can hold still.”
“You will. We’ll concentrate on feeling the connection, me being a part of you, you enclosing me, and breath together, in and out, only breathing. See how long we can be joined. Make it last forever.”
“No bouncing and squirming?” I wiggle my boobs on his chest.
His erection’s unfurling, pressing into the groove between my legs, but he doesn’t move to enter.
“None, hold my gaze, look deep into my eyes.”
“Are you trying to hypnotize me?” I can’t help but rub myself against him.
He stills me with a relaxed hand. “I want it all, your concentration, your focused attention. I want to taste all of you, every flavor, every texture, every drop of your being. Seeing you, Evie.”
“You and me, Romeo.”
“Us, together. Breathe with me, slowly.” His voice is mesmerizing, drawing me to relax. “Have no expectations, just be with me, right now, here, together.”
He places his hand over mine and draws it over his chest. Meanwhile he presses his other hand on my chest. Instinctively, I cover his hand with mine and we breathe in unison.
His other hand traces the outline of my face, my shoulders, my back. Mine slides over his chest. I’m still breathing steadily, fully. Amazingly, his erection has not subsided, even as I remain still. Warmth grows in my breasts where his hand rests, gently moving to my rhythmic breathing. His fingers delicately tease and pat my nipples, shallow, light touches. A distinctly glowing energy flows from my breasts toward my vagina, softening and expanding it.
I want him inside, but he doesn’t move. He continues to breath in tandem with me, and he’s no longer holding me. I let go of thoug
ht and desires. I wait, every cell radiantly alive. My hands move from his chest and dip into the bubbling water. They swim over and around his waist and etch that sexy v-shaped dip on the sides of his abdominals, the iliac furrow.
Romeo’s palms cup my breasts, lightly massaging them in smooth circles, spiraling heat between my legs, opening them. My breathing deepens and my nipples tighten, wet and peaked, sensitive. His eyes are still focused on mine, loving eyes, intense, yet relaxed. He lowers his eyelids and dips his head. I arch back to receive his lips, raising myself above the hot water. The cold air slaps my exposed shoulders as his hot tongue encircles one of my nipples.
Between my legs, his cock rises like a powerful serpent, sliding on its own between my folds. I resist the urge to grab him, to shove myself onto his erection. The melting, welcoming sensations ebb and flow with each measured breath, exciting, yet subdued, unhurried.
My knees tighten around his hips, my feet turn into his thighs. Yes, I want you, Romeo. Yes, enter me. Unspoken, I yearn for this heightened intimacy, more spiritual than the physical exertions earlier in the shower and over the counter. My welcome whispers from inside my body and draws him in. There’s no distinction between in and out. No moment of penetration. He flows into me, gliding, every cell joining me, sinuous, winding into me. My walls vaporize and he is me. His energy streams into me, filling me, millimeter by millimeter, neither advancing nor retreating.
My thighs hum and vibrate with a cool heat and tingles flow from between my legs to join the bliss behind my breasts. An incredible feeling of openness, all encompassing love, wraps its arms tenderly around me and Romeo.
He kisses his way up my neck. Our hands joined, fingers intertwined, his cock buried deep inside of me, beaming love straight to my heart. His lips latch onto mine, sucking my upper lip. I kiss his lower lip, fondle his ring and revel in the joy my simple action brings.
He’s so deep inside of me I can’t tell where he ends and I begin. Our bodies sway, suspended by the motion of the water jets, in a sensuous, dynamic dance, knowing no boundaries. The contractions rumble deep inside of me, fuller, rounder and more diffuse than I’m used to. A lifting sensation spirals from inside me, surrounding my heart and pouring out of every nerve of my tingling body.
Taming Romeo Page 14