Sins of the Flesh

by J. Margot Critch

  “We’re still people. We might be competitors, but you’ll notice that the things we have in common are growing by the day. We both love our families, we both want to help people, we’re extremely sexually compatible. Why not just let it happen? And see where we go?”

  “But where are we going?”

  He stood and extended his hand to her. She watched as the rivulets of water trailed over his smooth dark skin. “Right now, I’m not interested in that, I’m more interested in where we are right now.”

  * * *

  Rafael tugged her wrist until she sat again. He passed her her wineglass, and they drank in companionable silence. She twisted her hair on top of her head, somehow managing to knot it in place, with only a few wet tendrils snaking around her shoulders. He reached out and pinched one and then wrapped it around his finger. The humor in both of their smiles faded, and he saw the moment when her eyes heated with desire.

  “This is crazy,” she whispered.

  “I know.”

  He put his arms around her, pulling her to him, and kissed her. She tasted like wine, but her own taste was just as intoxicating. His tongue searched her mouth, licking, tasting, drinking her in. Her moans, as his hands traveled down her bare back, vibrated from her throat to his, and they made him keep going, wanting to explore more. He lifted her, and in the water, she was almost weightless in his arms. Her lean, muscled thighs wrapped tightly around his waist.

  His mouth kissed its way from her lips, over her jaw, then down the fine line of her throat, and over her shoulder, before he raised her higher and laved attention over her full, high breasts. He took a rosy, peaked nipple into his mouth, and in response she clutched his head and pulled him closer. With his face pressed into her chest, he couldn’t breathe. He could suffocate in her breasts. But what a way to go.

  His dick was pressing upward against the lower part of her ass, and he pushed his hips up so it slid against her. In response to him, she moaned and held him tighter between her legs. He lifted her so she was sitting on the edge of the tub, and he followed her, pushing himself up and out until he laid on top of her. He kissed her again, parting her knees with his own. He notched his dick at her opening, and he somehow managed to stop himself before pushing inside of her, when he remembered the condom he’d left in his pants. Luckily, they were nearby and within reach. He pulled it from his pocket and quickly rolled the latex over his length.

  Kneeling, he was inspired. He turned her so that she was on her stomach and then pulled her hips to meet him, and he slid home. Her sigh was jagged and breathy as she pushed back against him. He pumped his hips forward and back, meeting her, burying himself deeply inside of her. One hand snaked around to her front and found her clit. He circled two fingers over her and he dropped his hand on her ass with a heavy smack that made her cry out. She looked over her shoulder at him, and her eyes flashed in desire.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, her breath reduced to heavy gasps. And with just a couple of thrusts, he felt her clench and tighten around his dick. Spasming in pleasure. He came with a shout, allowing her muscles to milk him until he’d filled the condom. He broke away from her and took a second to dispose of it, and she took the opportunity to settle back into the hot tub. Her eyes were hooded, and her smile was satisfied. The picture of beauty, and he joined her and pulled her close. She shivered in his arms.

  “Still cold?”

  She nodded. “A little.”

  The air was cool on their wet, heated skin, so he scooped her up in his arms, and carried her inside to his bedroom.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  THE PEAL OF Rafael’s cell phone woke him the next morning. When he opened his eyes, two things were apparent to him. First, he was well rested after a suspicious amount of sleep, and the sun was higher in the sky than it normally was at six in the morning, his usual waking time. And, second, when he rolled over to find his phone, he remembered that he wasn’t alone.

  He looked to the other side of his bed and remembered that Jessica was next to him and had been all night. She was waking, as well, and she sleepily looked up at him as he reached over her for his phone. “This is Martinez,” he answered.

  “Hey, Rafael, it’s Jillian. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It being nine, after all, and you aren’t here yet.”

  9:00 a.m.? Shit. He’d slept past nine. He hadn’t slept that late since he’d been a child. It had been a long time since he’d spent a night with a woman like Jessica. They’d stayed up for hours, talking. And when they hadn’t been doing that, they’d used their mouths for other purposes, until, spent, they’d both collapsed into the bed and slept, fully wrapped up in one another.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just got a bit of a late start to my day. I’m actually working from my home office this morning. So, if you could forward any calls to my cell phone, I’d really appreciate it. I’ll be in later this afternoon.”

  “Yeah, sure. If you need anything else, just let me know.”

  “Will do.” He hung up, and turned to Jessica.

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  “Ten past nine.”

  “Oh, God,” she muttered.

  “So, you don’t normally sleep in this late, either?”

  “I don’t, and I haven’t in years,” she said, pushing herself out of bed. Rafael’s eyes locked on the smooth skin of her back and her ass. He almost groaned with need. “Mind if I use your shower?”

  “Go right ahead.”

  She paused and pursed her lips. “Want to join me?”

  Rafael’s mouth opened, about to say yes. But his cell phone rang in his hand. He looked at it and saw it was city council business. He had to take it. But that didn’t mean that every fiber of his body wasn’t trying to make him go into the bathroom with her. But his brain won out. “I can’t. I have work to do. I’m already behind.”

  * * *

  Jessica stepped out of the shower and realized the clothes she’d worn the night before were probably still poolside, so, wrapped in a fluffy towel, she found one of Rafael’s dress shirts slung over a chair and pulled it on. It smelled like him—spicy, leathery, but with a hint of sweetness—just like him. She pulled the collar and inhaled.

  She walked to the kitchen. Rafael was sitting at his kitchen table dressed in only a pair of gray sweatpants, sipping coffee and reading on a tablet. He didn’t notice as she came up behind him, marveling in the broad expanse of his back. He was gorgeous, powerful, all hard muscle under dark skin. He turned his head and saw her walk toward him.

  He gestured with the tablet. “Looks like I’m ahead again,” he informed her.

  “Is that so?” she asked, heading for the coffee maker. He’d taken a mug out for her, so she poured herself a coffee and joined him at the table. Looking over his shoulder, she read the article. It was true, Rafael was up, and she was down. Again. They’d traded leads every day. They’d been neck and neck for a week now. To hide her worry, she pointed to the picture above the article, one of him at a city gala, wearing a tuxedo and a bright smile that formed dimples on each of his cheeks. “That’s a really sexy picture of you. I’ll bet that’s why you’re ahead, people want to vote for you because you’re pretty.”

  “Is that right?” he asked with an amused smile.

  She nodded. “This is definitely the year of the good-looking politicians. You’re on trend.”

  He looked at her, silent for a minute before he threw his head back with laughter. “Your logic is a little flawed, if we’re talking about good-looking candidates,” he told her, looking her up and down. He put down the tablet and turned to her. They sipped their coffees in silence, watching one another over the rims of their coffee mugs. It was such a comfortable, domestic thing—just two lovers enjoying their morning coffee before they tackled their days.

  The ring of her own cell phone sent her head on a swivel, trying
to locate where she’d dropped her purse the night before. She finally found it in the foyer. It was Gordon.

  “Jessica, have you seen the latest numbers?”

  “Yeah, I just did.”

  “I’ve got a full day, but we should get together this evening. We should reexamine our strategy. If anyone can capitalize on this type of upswing, it’s Martinez.”

  Gordon was right, and she conceded. “All right. I’ve got some meetings this afternoon, but let’s get together with the team later.” She disconnected the call, and turned to Rafael. “I’ve got to leave.”

  “Will I see you again tonight?”

  “Hmm, maybe,” she purred, easily falling back into the role of the smitten lover. She did want to see him again, and was quickly becoming addicted. “I’m meeting with my team tonight,” she told him. “Maybe I’ll stop by after if it isn’t too late.”

  His hands ran down her back and they cupped her ass. “An emergency meeting to figure out how to beat me?”

  “Now you’re up in the polls and you’re feeling cocky?”

  He pushed his hips against her. She could feel his rock-hard cock against her stomach. “You can see how cocky I’m feeling,” he said.

  She rubbed against him, eliciting a rough groan from him. He tried to hold her closer but she escaped his grip, with a giggle. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Have you thought about the party?”

  She could feel the weight of the invitation in her purse. “Yeah, I have. I’ll go.” He smiled and reached for her, and she allowed herself to be pulled into his arms.

  “I’m glad.” He kissed her, and it was sweet, unlike many of their bruising kisses, but it was no more devoid of the passion between them. She wrapped her arms around him and allowed it. She was almost fully under his spell when a ringing phone interrupted them. It was his, and they parted.

  “You might want to get to work yourself, I’d hate for someone to think you’re fooling around when you should be working hard for your constituents.”

  * * *

  A couple of hours later, Rafael was in his office at city hall when there was a knock on the door. Usually, Jillian worked out of his other office, and he normally handled his tasks with the city on his own, unless he requested she come here or he needed her to work remotely.

  “Come in,” he called out. He liked to be accessible to his colleagues and constituents, but he didn’t really have the time to be interrupted. He’d fallen behind in his work and he had to play some serious catch-up. The door opened. He was surprised to see Alex. They didn’t knock on each other’s doors, and instead just walked on in. Rafael rolled his eyes, not interested in talking. He turned back to his computer, and the budget spreadsheets in front of him. “What now?”

  “We have to talk.” Alex strode in and closed the door behind him.

  “If it’s the same reason you stopped by last night, I’m not interested.”

  “Look, I know I’m riding you on this, and I know you’re with Jessica, or whatever is going on there. But I’m worried about you.”

  “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve got everything under control.”

  “But I’m not just worried about you. We’re all counting on you to win here. The Brotherhood needs this. We don’t want to screw this up.”

  Rafael knew that his rise in politics would shine favorably on the group, but it finally occurred to him that they were all counting on him to succeed, and every minute he lost focus on the race, it meant that he was one point closer to losing. They weren’t corrupt, and they wouldn’t abuse power, but they would accept any help that came from Rafael being a political leader.

  “We at least deserve to know what’s going on,” Alex implored him, referring to the group of them. “We don’t keep secrets.”

  Rafael shook his head. “No, I can’t. The fact that you know what she does is too much. Everything else is between me and her.”

  “And what about us? Everything is riding on this.”

  Rafael didn’t speak for a moment. He felt bad. He knew he was screwing up. “You’re right. I have lost some of my focus on the mayoral race. But I know how important this is to all of us. I haven’t forgotten.”

  “You’re in possession of information that will hand you a solid victory,” Alex reminded him. “Can we finally use it?”

  “No,” Rafael said adamantly.

  “What about the fact that she knows about the club? What if she leaks it?”

  “She won’t.”

  “We need to get her out of the race, Raf, it’s getting down to the wire. You guys are neck and neck. You could lose this.”

  “I’m not going to win like that, betraying her.”

  “Well, we need a new plan.” Alex stood. “I’ve got to go, I’ve got meetings. But think about what I said.”

  When Rafael was alone again, he sat back in his chair. He knew Alex was right, but he hadn’t quite grasped the scope of the importance of his run on his friends. They had plans, and having a contact in the mayor’s office would certainly move things along easily for them. Using his position in such a way might sound sketchy to some, but it was the way things got done in his circle.

  He needed a victory. But he wasn’t willing to betray Jessica to get it. Yet it was tempting, to ensure he’d reach his dreams. It would only take one anonymous phone call or email. His eyes slid to his computer, his open in-box. He could email Tanya Roberts from LVTV, or an online gossip rag. But he stopped himself. He wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t. He threw his head back in the chair and spun away from the desk. He turned to see out the window, looking out at downtown Las Vegas, as people hustled about. As a man who had always held such a tight, firm grasp on his life, how had he entirely let it get fucked-up beyond all reason?

  * * *

  “You didn’t come home last night,” Ben pointed out, punctuating the sentence with a forkful of kale, pointed at Jessica.

  “Don’t point your salad at me,” she said, smiling. They’d met for lunch at a trendy downtown bistro. She wanted to spend some time with her friend before she got to work that day, and with how busy the next couple of weeks would be for her, she wanted to get in some quality Ben time.

  “Where were you? Were you with Rafael again?” When she didn’t answer, he went on, talking to himself. “She must have been with Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome, because if there was another guy, she would definitely tell you, Ben, as her favorite person in the universe.”

  She looked around the restaurant and made sure that there was nobody within listening distance. “Okay, yes, I was with Rafael.”

  “You are going to have to start sharing some details, honey.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Length? Girth?”

  “More than adequate. Thanks.” She heard someone say her name, and she looked around and saw two young women sitting at a nearby table looking at her. She waved, and the two women got up and approached her at the table. “Ms. Morgan?” one of them asked.

  “Yeah, hi. How’s it going?”

  The girls looked shy, awestruck. “Sorry, we were talking about you. But I just wanted to come over and say what an inspiration you are. You’re kicking ass.”

  “Well, thanks so much.”

  “No, thank you,” the other said. “You’re standing up for all of us. You’re the voice of every woman who’s ever been told to sit down, or let the men handle things. We’ve actually started an initiative on campus to get people interested in municipal politics and to get out and vote.”

  Jessica was stunned. “Ladies, thank you so much. You guys are the reason I’m doing this. Your words mean so much to me.”

  They both looked embarrassed. “Well, we’ll just let you get back to your lunch. We just wanted to say thank you.”

  Jessica could have cried as she watched the young women walk b
ack to their own table. But Ben seemed unfazed and brought the conversation back to sex.

  “Unusual kinks?”

  Jessica could barely tear her gaze away from the young women. “Outside of the fact that we should be enemies? That we shouldn’t even like each other at all? That we’re running against each other. That every time we’re together, there’s an undercurrent of tension. Like we completely forget that it’s wrong.”

  He grinned. “Maybe that’s what makes it so fun.”

  “Yeah, but he’s everything that I’m rallying against. And God, his home. He has everything, and it struck me last night how much that isn’t my world. And did you see those girls? They believe in me, and look at me, having sex with the one guy I shouldn’t be.”

  “Why do you have to think so much? It’s just sex, right?” Ben asked, and then he leaned across the table and peered at her through crinkled eyes. “Unless you like him.”

  Jessica sat back. She did like him. She didn’t want to. “I don’t know. I shouldn’t. He’s everything I’m against...or so I thought, because it feels like the more I get to know him, the more I like him.” She lifted a forkful of salad to her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. She hadn’t allowed herself to think too much about it, but it was true. She got that same nervous flutter when she thought about him, or knew when she was about to see him.

  Ben shrugged. “So, you like the guy. What’s wrong with that?”

  “It’s not like we can have anything between us,” she said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t be with a man like that. Sure, we’re sexually compatible, but you certainly can’t build a relationship from only that. We’re too different. He’s everything I’m fighting against, he’s arrogant, smug, argumentative, demanding. I can’t be with a man like that.”

  “Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?”

  Jessica frowned. It felt like Ben knew her better than she knew herself.

  “Are you going to see him again?”

  “Yeah,” she sighed. “He invited me to the masquerade party at Di Terrestres next weekend.”