Sweet as Sin

by J. Margot Critch

  “Fuck, Maria,” he cursed. She loved the coarse vibration of his voice, the way she made him swear, talk so dirty and crass to her.

  He pulled his hips back and withdrew from her, leaving only the tip of his cock inside her before slamming deeply inside again.

  She moaned, trying to stay quiet, but they both stilled when they heard laughter outside the pantry door. Two of her aunts had walked into the kitchen. He clamped his hand over her lips and held her close, burying his face in the crook of her neck and shoulder. His jagged breath was hot on her skin.

  Maria could hear the women in the kitchen as they prepared coffee and dessert. With Alex’s dick still inside her, she didn’t know if she could hold on until they left. But apparently Alex had other ideas and when his hips pulled back again, she moaned into his hand as he entered her and kept going, finding a pace that had her clamping her lips shut, trying not to scream while her aunts chatted and laughed on the other side of the door.

  He pulled his hips back and slammed them into place again, slapping against her ass with a fury that almost knocked them both forward. He firmed his stance, and then pumped in and out of her. He released her mouth, and his hand went around her, and he found her clit again. He circled it until she met his thrusts. Their movements were fast, jerking, until Maria threw her head back on his shoulder. Alex craned his neck, kissing her, swallowing the cries of pleasure from her orgasm as the women finally left the kitchen. She felt her intimate grip on his member squeeze him, and it was enough for him to finish as he slammed into her once more, his muscles flexing and tensing as he came. She milked him, felt him spasm, filling the condom, until his grip on her loosened.

  He withdrew from her, and they straightened their clothes while he got rid of the condom, tossing it into the small nearby garbage can and covering it with some paper towels. “They’re going to wonder what happened to us,” he told her.

  “We’ll think of something,” she told him. “Think they’d believe us if we said we got lost?”

  “In your childhood home? Probably not.”

  She picked up a nearby unopened bottle of tequila. “How about some margaritas?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, sure.”

  She opened the door and came face-to-face with Jessica, her future sister-in-law. There was no telling how long she’d been standing outside or how much she’d heard. “Hey, Jess.”

  “We were wondering what happened to you guys. What, did you get lost or something?” Maria didn’t miss the questioning in the narrowing of her eyes, suspicious of what she’d walked in on.

  Maria laughed lightly, trying to hide her guilt. She turned on her most innocent smile. Sneaking around in her teenage years, hiding her wicked streak had paid off. “No, we decided to make margaritas, and then—wouldn’t you know it?—we couldn’t find tequila. And typically, when I finally found a bottle, it was on the top shelf.”

  “And you needed Alex to reach it for you,” Jessica offered helpfully.

  “Yup. He’s tall. That’s about it.”

  “And the door blew closed, and the closed-in room made you both flushed and short of breath?”

  “It was a really high shelf,” Alex offered.

  “Sure.” Jessica wasn’t stupid, and Alex knew that she also wasn’t convinced by their lame excuses. Alex didn’t know how to make her forget about what she was probably thinking.

  The three of them shared a quiet, tense moment, and Alex’s eyes widened when Rafael came up behind them. “What’s going on? I was wondering what happened to those beers you were getting.”

  Alex, Maria and Jessica all looked at one another. Maria smiled and held up the bottle. “It’s margaritas instead,” she explained, pushing past everyone else and walking into the kitchen. She looked over her shoulder and frowned when she saw the questioning look that Rafael shot at Alex. They maintained eye contact for a moment before Rafael moved on and left the room without another word.

  * * *

  Alex hung back from the group and mentally scolded himself. It had been stupid, risky. Having sex with Maria in the pantry, not far from the rest of the family, had been dangerous. Anyone could have walked in on them.

  As Maria poured and passed around glasses of margaritas, he thought about how Mr. and Mrs. Martinez had stepped in when he was a child. They’d invited him into their home, accepted and loved him, saved him from a life in the foster care system. He repaid their generosity by watching the delicious curves of Maria’s ass as she moved.

  He wanted Maria with every part of him, and when he looked at her, desire flooded him, filling his entire body, so that it was difficult to move, to breathe, to do anything but hold her, consume her. But she was so good. Too good for him. He would only hurt her, and he knew that he should keep her away. Admitting his feelings for her could make his entire life implode. He could lose everything. He looked up at the family home. He could lose the only people he’d ever called family. They’d been his saviors. He owed them better than betrayal.

  He caught Maria’s gorgeous brown eyes across the fire as she smiled at him. He smiled back. His chest tightened with emotion that he’d never experienced before. Maria saw the best in him, always. And something changed when he was with her. But still, it wasn’t right. She needed, she deserved, better. And even though it would kill him, he vowed to himself to stay away from her.

  He couldn’t take it anymore, so he stood. “Thanks for everything, once again. But I’m going to head home. I’ve got a few things to do tonight.” Turning his back on the group’s objections, he waved and made his way to his car, not stopping to say goodbye to anyone else, lest they see the guilt written on his face. But Maria stopped him before he reached his car and made his escape.

  “Hey, Alex, wait up!” she called.

  He turned and couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips when he saw her. He was headed for dangerous territory.

  “What’s going on? Why are you leaving?”

  “I have to.”

  “How about I come over tonight?” she asked in that mischievous tone of hers.

  It was his chance to say no. To put some distance between them. The list of reasons why they shouldn’t be together going through his mind: she was so much better than he was, she was too good for him, he was a piece of shit who had betrayed his only family. If Maria got any closer to him—to the real him—she wouldn’t like what she saw anyway...

  Alex cursed his lack of strength when he nodded. “I’d like that. Even though I don’t think it’s such a good idea.”

  “Why not? I’ve got some very good ideas for us to try.”

  When Alex looked down into her dark brown eyes, he saw lust and mischief. And he knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t, resist her. There was no way he didn’t want to be with her. “I’ll see you at nine?”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  IT WAS 9:02 when Alex heard the elevator open in the foyer of his penthouse. He’d long since given Maria the key card for the elevator and permission to come and go as she pleased. He met her in the foyer, and without even saying hello, he lifted her so that she wrapped her legs around his waist. He couldn’t wait another second. He needed Maria—right there, right then. With an outstretched arm, he swept clean the small table in his foyer, sending a stack of mail to the floor, and he perched Maria on the edge. He stood between her spread knees and was grateful that she was still wearing her skirt.

  While Maria unzipped his pants and pushed them over his hips, he reached into his pocket for the condom he’d put there earlier. It took only a matter of seconds for him to cover himself, and push Maria’s panties to the side. In a couple of thrusts, they were both breathing quickly, and Alex could feel her heart pounding against his chest, in time with his own, as he brought them both to the edge, where he threw himself over with a low groan and a shudder, and she clenched and tightened around him in her own release.

  * *
*

  A couple of hours later, they lay on their sides, facing each other in the center of his king-size bed, his thin white bedsheet draped over their legs.

  “Raf asked me to be his best man.”

  “That’s typical. You’re lying in bed with me, and you want to talk about my brother,” she laughed. “But I know. He told me earlier.”

  He smoothed his palm over the delicious curve of her hip. The shape of her made his mouth water, and he recalled dragging his tongue up her torso, tasting her. He sighed. “He’s my best friend, and this is how I repay him.”

  “You need to get over all that. This isn’t wrong if we both want it. I like you. We’re good together. I mean, you want it, too, right?”

  “I do. I like you, too.”

  “Does this mean I’m your girlfriend?” she whispered as she leaned in, conspiratorially.

  “Maybe,” he said, his tone turning playful. Then he sobered. “You’d be my first.”

  She pulled back. “What? You’ve never had a girlfriend?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing that lasted beyond a couple of dates, or late-night booty calls.” He dated women, slept with them, but he’d never had a real relationship with any of them. He’d always made it clear where he stood, and if they couldn’t deal, he would cut out.

  “Not even as a teenager? There was no puppy love? There was no girl you fell head over heels for?”

  He tried to seem unaffected, and to be honest, Alex had never analyzed how he’d felt about it. But the sad look in Maria’s eyes told him that maybe he’d missed out. He looked away. “No. When I started having sex, I realized where my talents lie, and it wasn’t in relationships.” He smiled. “I’m not a serious commitment guy. I figured that if I can show a woman a good time, then she didn’t need anything else from me.” What Alex left unsaid was that he never let anyone get close. What would happen if they did, and they didn’t like what they saw? No one else had.

  “That’s really sad, Alex. You’ve never experienced that new love feeling. Being so infatuated with someone that it hurts.”

  He looked her over—she was so beautiful, naked in his bed, his sheet lightly covering her hip. There was something so pure and loving in her gaze, his chest clenched, and he felt like he could barely breathe. “I don’t know what this is,” he whispered. “But is it painful when I can’t touch you? Then, yeah, I’m feeling it right now.”

  Her response was a simple smile, and without saying anything further, she turned around, facing the wall, pressing her ass into his crotch and leaning against his back. His arms automatically wrapped around her, and he held her close. She was so warm and soft against him, and he could feel her heart beat. Or maybe it was his. They were so close, wrapped up in each other, that he couldn’t tell.

  And that was how they stayed until the sun rose the next morning.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ALEX WOKE UP the next morning, naked, and his sheets tangled around his limbs. When Maria stayed the night, he always slept better than ever. He reached out for her, but found his king bed empty. He’d become so accustomed to having her there that her absence made him miss her. Pushing back the sheet that was strewn over him, he retrieved his pants from the floor and pulled them on.

  The smell of coffee made its way through his open bedroom door, and he followed it to the kitchen, where he saw Maria, wearing one of his shirts, standing in front of the stove he never used.

  “Morning,” he said, making his way to the coffee maker.

  She watched him over her shoulder with a smile on her face. He kissed her.

  “You really need to buy some food,” she said, pushing scrambled eggs around in a frying pan he didn’t know he owned. “The only thing you have are eggs, milk and coffee.”

  He shrugged. “I think there’s an apple or something in there, too.”

  “What if your bourbon and cigar stash was as empty as your fridge?”

  He gasped in mock horror. “Why would you say something like that?” he laughed and, grabbing her by the waist, pulled her to him. “How long have you been awake?”

  “Not long. I was kind of hungry and was dying for a coffee.”

  “I don’t think a woman has ever cooked me breakfast.”

  “It’s just eggs.”

  He kissed her, slow, and their tongues slid together leisurely. “It doesn’t matter.” Holding her, he could definitely get used to lazy Sunday mornings in the kitchen. “So, what are your plans for today?” He toyed with the buttons on the shirt—his shirt—that she wore. “I hope they involve not wearing clothes.”

  She frowned. “That would be amazing, but I have to head to the community center. How about you?”

  “I’m meeting Alana later to go through some stuff for the hotel later this afternoon. But until then, I’m free.”

  “Why don’t you come with me?”

  “What?”

  “To the community center. It’s always a lot of fun. And then you’ll get to see what I do when I’m not an office lackey.”

  “Is that all you think you are? You’re more than a lackey.”

  “I do the coffee runs and make copies. Sure sounds like a lackey.”

  He reached out and cupped her jaw. “You have become an integral part of our office. It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

  “It’s nice of you to say, but you only think that because you think I look great in a pencil skirt.”

  “Well, you do,” he maintained.

  “But there’s so much more I could be doing. That we all could be doing. There are a lot of communities in this city that need help.”

  “We have The Brotherhood’s charitable foundation. We donate regularly to various charities in the city.”

  “I know, and you guys have contributed so much to the city, and I don’t want to tell you how to spend your money, or how to help people. Money is a huge help, but you aren’t on the front lines. There’s more to charity work than writing a check. You don’t physically see the difference it makes in people’s lives.”

  She was right. While they donated a huge portion of their fortunes to local and international charities, he’d removed himself from the life he used to live. He’d forgotten the days he’d spent at rec centers, hiding out until it was absolutely time to go back to his house. And he suddenly couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning with his clothes on. “Sure. That’s sounds like fun. I’d love to go.”

  Maria watched Alex as he played basketball with some of the older kids. Even though he towered over all of them and could reach up and touch the lowered hoop, he still acted as if the kids were giving him a run for his money.

  Her friends and colleagues Beth and Anna came up beside her and watched Alex roughhouse with the kids. “Is that the reason we haven’t seen you much lately?”

  “I’m really sorry I haven’t been around. I’ve been working.”

  “So, you guys are dating?” Anna asked, nodding at Alex, as he made his way down the court.

  “We’re definitely doing something.” She wasn’t worried about telling her friends about their relationship. “But we’re keeping it on the down-low for now.”

  Anna shrugged. “He’s cute. He’s generous, too.”

  Maria’s eyebrows drew together as she turned to her friend. “What do you mean?”

  “Here, look at this.” Anna passed over the check that bore Alex’s signature and a large five-digit donation.

  “He gave you this?” Maria asked, looking from the check back to Alex on the basketball court.

  “Yeah, on the condition it be anonymous. He wouldn’t even let me take his picture. He said the place was all too familiar to him.”

  “Well, it’s really going to come in handy. There is a ton of great things we can do with this money,” Beth said.

  Maria looked back at Alex, who let a
boy get past him with the ball and shoot a three-pointer. They all cheered. He may have looked tough, with his tattoos and ever-present scowl, but Alex was such a sweet man, and she wondered what he’d meant by the place being familiar. He’d come to live with her family when he was young, but no one had ever told her why, or what his own home life had been like. Her heart clenched, and the realization hit her. She was falling in love with Alex Fischer.

  “You know, I’m due for a break,” Beth said. “Want to grab some food in the canteen?”

  “Yeah, let’s go. Anna, you in?”

  Anna shook her head. “I just ate, and I’ve got some paper work to take care of. You guys have fun.”

  Maria and Beth walked down the hall to the community center’s lunch room. Because it was after lunch, the room was empty, and they both selected cans of soda and ice cream sandwiches from the small canteen before sitting at a table that was built for children.

  Even though they were roommates, with all the days that Maria spent at the office and the nights she spent with Alex, they barely saw each other anymore.

  “How’s it going?” Beth asked. “Work and everything?”

  “Really good so far.” Maria frowned. “But I’m getting tired. I’ve just been so busy lately.”

  “With work?” she asked, her eyebrow raised. “Or with Alex?”

  Maria looked away. “The Constitution says that I don’t have to answer that question,” she said with a giggle, as she unwrapped her ice cream sandwich, noting the way her heart pattered in her chest at the mention of Alex’s name. She felt her lips creep upward in an uncontrollable smile.