Tempting Victoria

by Mina V. Esguerra

  “Right. The one who runs the music festival?” Nyssa's eyes lit up bright as the sparkling sea. “Do you like her, Nathan? This is so interesting.”

  “We should head out again,” Nathan said. “Before the tour groups catch up.” He decided to skip Gold Reef and head to the next stop instead. He told Bolt this, which thankfully meant that the boat roared to life and it was too noisy to grill him further about his life choices.

  Chapter 8

  Victoria had a simple black dress, something she wore to evening events that she helped organize. It was functional, fashionable, and nondescript. She could look like she belonged at a function without upstaging anyone who actually needed to be seen there.

  Yet she looked sexy in it. It was an A game kind of dress.

  Technically, dinner was the first time she'd actually met Nyssa. The group got back to the island from snorkeling a little after twelve but apparently had lunch together and hung out until Trent and Nyssa took off to walk along the beach on their own. Victoria knew she wanted the time to prepare, but all the hours to herself got her thinking. A lot.

  “You're Victoria,” Nyssa said when she introduced herself. Victoria had meant to be as invisible as possible—tell the couple that dinner was ready, tell Trent that the mango cheesecake was in the freezer (and where to put the ring), stay throughout the serenade, and then head on out.

  But Nyssa hugged her now like a friend, and this wasn't part of the plan.

  “Thank you for helping Trent with this weekend,” Nyssa was saying. “I'm glad he was able to get someone like you to work on this. We're usually both buried under work.”

  “You're welcome,” Victoria said. She wanted to be polite, but there was a checklist to go through. Nyssa seemed like she'd just gotten out of the shower and was already dressed for dinner. Where was Trent? Where was Nathan? She hadn't seen him at all since she brought him his coffee that morning.

  “Trent and Nathan went off somewhere,” Nyssa said. “They'll be back in a sec. I know your brother, by the way. How is Josh?”

  “Good,” she replied, sneaking a glance at the time on her phone. So Nathan went out with Trent for a sec, did he? Eight minutes before dinner was to be served? “He's...the firm he started is doing well, I think.”

  “And you've been working on that music festival in Houston, right?”

  “Yes, Breathe Music. We just finished another one a few weeks ago.”

  “How much work is that? It seems like it would be a lot for one person to do. And you're still in school?”

  “I have a lot of help,” Victoria said. “And I've been helping organize it for years...sometimes it just feels like riding a bike.” Stop talking about me, went a voice in Victoria's head. This was not the right mood for tonight's dinner. “I hope you and Trent enjoyed your day out,” she added.

  “Oh yes, it was wonderful. You think it would be horrid, to stop working and leave the phone in the bag for hours, but the company is what makes it worthwhile.”

  Nyssa and Victoria ended up right in front of the hors d'oeuvres set in small plates on the actual dining table downstairs, and Nyssa picked up a round cracker topped with a fresh salad. “Victoria, I hope you don't mind. I'm just really curious. How well do you know Nathan?”

  Victoria's throat nearly closed up. “I don't know him all that well, Nyssa,” she admitted. “We’ve said the most words to each other this weekend.”

  And yet the way Nyssa nodded tentatively, Victoria had a feeling she knew more. What did they talk about on that boat, anyway? Should she have given Nathan a list of what not to talk about on the damn snorkeling boat?

  ***

  Victoria was annoyed about something when they saw each other again at the house. Nathan had gone around the block with Trent to buy more beer (the contents of their refrigerator was a bit too “classy” according to her client.) He wasn't sure how she'd act toward him after last night, but the cute, frazzled Victoria from this morning was steely and no-nonsense instead.

  The balcony looked perfect though. The lights were back, as well as a small table off to the side, the couple's dinner laid out in serving dishes covered with decorative dome-shaped nets. Salmon, chicken, vegetables on pasta. Champagne chilled in a bucket.

  “Trent told me you're performing something,” Nyssa said as they settled into their seats.

  “Just a short song, and then we'll leave you to enjoy dinner,” Victoria said. She gestured to him, time for him to pick up the guitar that was in the next room. Except Nathan didn't feel right about playing from inside the room anymore, unseen. He'd spent the day with Trent and Nyssa. Victoria may have the idea that he was “the help,” but he sure didn't feel that way. So he touched her elbow and pulled her outside, onto the balcony, amid the pretty lights that weren't candles.

  “So this is an original arrangement by Victoria,” Nathan said.

  “Maybe it would be better if we weren't so conspicuous?” Victoria asked.

  “No please, I'd like to see you,” Nyssa said. “I was hoping I'd see this, you being from Breathe Music and all.”

  He could tell that Victoria was ready to argue about this, but she didn't want to disturb the mood either—so he began strumming. He knew the song enough by now to skip the music sheets. It was a song with lyrics, but Victoria told him he didn't need to learn them. They never practiced together. Nathan felt that she was planning to do the singing herself but never really thought about how he'd feel about it until she opened her mouth, just then, and joined his guitar and her voice.

  At midnight, again / when the moon is blue

  The tides turn, the sea pulls me / Pulls me back to you

  Her voice was beautiful, all controlled vulnerability. The words to the song felt old, but her voice made it something that existed again in this time, in his ears.

  He wondered if she gave up music because it made her seem like she could be touched.

  Too soon, and it was over, and she smiled humbly as she accepted Trent and Nyssa's applause. But Nyssa was more than clapping; she was brushing tears off her cheeks.

  “That's West and the Sea. We read that poem,” she was telling Nathan and Victoria. “My mom and I. It means a lot to me.”

  Victoria knew that because Trent knew that. He’d told her. And Victoria decided to make it into a song. She wasn't sure about happily ever after, but she hoped Trent got points for knowing this, for paying attention.

  Victoria nodded stiffly, accepting Nyssa's hug, before stepping back and pulling Nathan with her. “We should go,” she said. “Enjoy tonight, both of you.”

  ***

  “Which room?”

  “Yours,” Victoria said, a little too quickly. Maybe it sounded like she was planning a quick escape, but he would be one to know. That wouldn't be offensive, would it? She would only be speaking his language.

  Nathan nodded, and speaking of common language—she knew they weren't heading to his room to eat the leftover hors d'oeuvres. The way he was looking at her at dinner, when she sang, when he played...

  Probably the same look she was giving him.

  He locked the door behind him. It was a room that was too small, suddenly, and mostly a bed. Victoria could do nothing else but stand there like she was intending to be on it any second. The only way to avoid it was to hide in the tiny bathroom.

  “You have to tell me why I disgust you so much,” Nathan said even as he began pull his shirt off, and revealed firm, tanned muscle. Those shoulders. That chest. “Fine, you don’t like dirty talk. You won’t hear a word from me. I’ll be that silent fucking guy in porn.”

  He thought she thought he was disgusting? So, so wrong.

  “You don't disgust me,” Victoria said, detecting a stutter in her voice. “And if talking’s your thing...”

  “Let me rephrase that,” he said. “I only want to know what you like. What will get you coming so hard you’ll forget why you hate me?”

  Victoria’s cheeks burned. So did the rest of her. “Stop that. I do
n’t hate you.” Her eyes sure didn’t, not at all, the way they kept looking at his skin, all the exposed skin he was putting on display.

  “Victoria. How do we do this in a way that won't make you regret it?”

  Was that even possible?

  “Is there a reason why...?” He was bothered by her silence, extending past comfortable.

  “No, there's no reason,” Victoria said defensively. “I do want you. I've said that.”

  “Then why—”

  Victoria reached up, reaching for those shoulders, and pulled him into a kiss. He took half a beat to recover and kissed her back, mouth moving on hers, knowing it could own it. And it did. She let her tongue touch his mouth, over and over, until she needed to breathe.

  “I don't want to be talked about,” she admitted, close, right into his ear. “It's like that, when it's you.”

  “Victoria, it's no one's damn business what we do.”

  “Let's keep it that way. No one finds out about what we do here.”

  Nathan pulled back to look at her. Those eyes swept over as much of her as he could see, again like a body scan, and then he nodded. “Of course. No one needs to know how we broke our own rules.”

  Chapter 9

  He would think about that more, the way she looked relieved, and how the relief led her to admit her arousal.

  Later. He would think about that later.

  Now, he had the more pressing issue of Victoria's mouth against his throat. He reached up toward the back of her neck and found a clasp for the black dress, then a zipper. It gave no resistance, falling to the floor in one smooth motion. His hands connected to the smooth skin of her back.

  Then he paused.

  He knew what to do. It wasn't for lack of knowing. But his own words echoed in his head still. What he said earlier at the boat, that he tried not to be an asshole, sex was one of those times. He listened, paid attention, made an effort to do things she'd like.

  Tonight he knew he'd have to do it differently. Whatever impression about him that Victoria had, he wanted it obliterated. Needed it. He couldn't stand to think that she carried this image of him in her head. When his mouth captured hers, the kiss was fierce, daring her to deny him again.

  Victoria didn't. She pulled him toward her, nails scratching his skin.

  “Wait,” she said. “I said some things last night.”

  He remembered. His dick remembered.

  She smiled. “I don't just say things I don't mean.”

  “Whatever you want,” he managed to say. “I mean that too.”

  He was willing to do it, to give her control. If it would make her comfortable. And it was the right move because she made herself comfortable quickly, pushing him down on the bed, on his back, tugging at his pants, asking him to lose them. She didn't wait for the boxers to come off though and on her own took charge of the situation, getting his cock out and in her mouth.

  Like she meant it. Her wet mouth was much better than his hand.

  The sensation hit Nathan like a punch in the face and he fell back against the bed, his head missing the pillow. He lost sight of her as he did that, and when he opened his eyes again to catch her watching him, watching him fall apart as her tongue lapped around him, he almost lost it.

  Stop. He wasn't going to do that, wasn't going to finish first and leave her with anything to regret. He pulled her up, flipped them so she was on her back, and then hovered over and down her body. Black panties. Silk, confirmed as he slipped his fingers under the soaked fabric. A gasp tore through her throat, more urgent than he'd expected. She'd come if he thrust his fingers inside her, he knew it.

  “Yes?” he asked, the tip of his right middle finger tracing a path up her slit. May I fuck you with my fingers? Will you let me taste your clit? Will you let me feel you come on my mouth? He didn't say it. He already had her wanting him, and his mouth could be put to better use.

  “Please, yes, now,” she said, and his tongue and fingers were on her, inside her, because she let him. She was quivering and wet under his mouth, and as he predicted, all too quickly she clenched around his fingers, legs stiffening, closing around him, and she screamed into her palm.

  “Shit, Nathan,” she whimpered. “I was too loud. I was way too loud.”

  “You like being loud, Victoria?” he murmured, his chin against her thigh.

  “Not usually,” she answered. “And not so quickly.”

  He'd flipped the room light on when they came in. It should have been a harsh and inadequate bulb, but he was watching her under it, and she was beautiful. She was still in her strapless bra and underwear, for god's sake. His fingers were still inside her.

  “I want—” he began to say. He knew what he needed to say to make someone hot for him. It made sex easy, as easy as lighting the fuse and waiting for the inevitable.

  He surprised himself by shutting up.

  ***

  Shit. She shouldn’t be surprised that he would be able to send her off like a freaking rocket with his tongue and two fingers. She’d suspected it, and confirmed it. Ah hell.

  “I hate you,” she said through clenched teeth. Well, she wished she did. If she really did, she wouldn’t have discovered her own weakness in a tiny room at a B&B in Mexico.

  “I knew it,” he replied, laughing softly. “Do I stop?”

  He had been pulling her panties down past her knees, his grin lazy. Infuriating. Also irresistible.

  “Don’t stop.” Victoria would hate him more if he did.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Nathan rolled off her and picked something up from the floor. She took the opportunity to catch her breath and roll slightly away from him so she could reach behind her and unhook her last item of clothing.

  God, she hadn’t even removed her bra, and she was already halfway incoherent.

  She felt his hands on her hips. Hands, fingers, turning her slightly. Victoria sucked in her breath and braced her knees and elbows, pushing and feeling his erection on her back. Heard foil being torn, his shallow breaths as he took care of their protection.

  Those breaths were hotter than anything she’d ever heard. When she was on the phone with him, his labored breathing was what pushed her to be that wordy. She understood then why he would say those things to a lover, but damn it, he didn’t even need that vocabulary on her.

  I get off on just hearing him breathe. It was insane. She tried to twist around to get a look at him but he’d begun to push inside, testing, teasing.

  “Do it,” she moaned.

  “I'm making sure you're ready.” His voice was low, barely there.

  He's doing it for me. Shutting his dirty mouth because of me.

  Victoria breathed, and tried to relax, and pushed back slowly, taking him in. “I am. I am.” She felt first his hand on her lower back, and then the thrust of his hips, and then the fullness of him inside her, exquisite and sharp. Another slow thrust, and she quaked. It wasn't the kind of thing you got used to. The sound he made as he pushed into her, that rumble in his throat.

  How could she get used to this. Or forget this. Or regret it.

  Or not regret it.

  Wait—she wanted more. It wasn't enough to hear him, feel him like this. She arched up, wanting to connect, wanting her skin against his. Nathan growled and moved her hips, shifted his legs and hers, and then he pulled her up. His hands cupped her breasts, her hands cupped his, and she clung to him this way as he pounded up, faster, the new angle exactly what her awakened, greedy self craved.

  She could hear him breathing right into her ear. God. Victoria closed her eyes and surrendered to all of it. Everything, all her senses, completely overwhelmed. She tried to reach up behind her, grab any part of him, and managed to pull him by the hair closer to her.

  “Fuck,” he whispered. His next groan was deeper, louder, and his hips moved faster, and that was the chain of events that set her off. She gasped and before her breath was out she was coming hard, her body sagging, falling onto him. He hooked an arm around her t
o keep her up and brought one hand down to her clit, and it was like she was pushed onto an even higher wave before she crashed back down.

  She was still coming back down from this as he laid her on her back and pushed into her again, again. He came with a low, tortured groan, his body shuddering, his cock pulsing inside her.

  Victoria welcomed his body as he came down on top of her, seeking her mouth.

  “You have a dimple right behind your shoulder,” he said. “Did you know that?”

  “I didn't.”

  “It's cute.”

  “You make the best sounds when you come,” Victoria said. “Did you know that?”

  “I'll take your word for it. I have no fucking idea what happens to me when it starts.”

  She felt him smiling as he said this. He was still inside her. Those arms she admired were around her now, but not in the rough way she'd imagined.

  Chapter 10

  He was glad that she had packed a bikini after all.

  That was a selfish thought, but there was context. Nathan accepted this job even without the pay because it was still a free trip to Cozumel and he would have Sunday off. He wasn't firm about his plans, but at the last minute he offered to take Victoria on a drive north, where the beaches were less crowded, and she agreed.

  It was a decision he was high-fiving himself now for making. She looked like she was having fun, picking food out of their bag, a packed lunch of fish wraps and soggy nachos, bottled fresh juice, and beer. She didn't ask for anything except more sunscreen, stretched out there on the towel they'd grabbed from her B&B. No book, no checklist, just them on the sand, at the beachfront property of another friend.

  And she looked spectacular in her bikini.

  Yes, she was not like most of the girls he'd been with. If he wanted to use the lame excuse, he could say that he went out with women who were there. When you hung out in college town bars, you met girls who liked going to college town bars.