by Aja Cole
And he knew it. He chuckled darkly, and I knew he relished it. I was bearing down, trying to find friction for my clit, when he rose and I sagged in relief. Finally, he would stop his torture.
Instead of what I expected, I felt two big fingers enter me and I groaned, feeling the light sweat on my face. I didn’t know how long he’d teased me with his tongue, but it was too long.
“Just fuck me,” I groaned when he stood up and braced a large palm against my lower back.
“I am, baby,” he murmured, starting a slow drag with his fingers that made me gasp against the deep blue fabric. I opened my mouth to protest, but he started to twist his fingers and fuck me faster, and I lost my breath again. I was always losing my breath with him. I pulled one knee up on the couch, opening myself even further, and he braced me as he moved those fingers quicker and quicker and drove me crazy in the way that only fingers could.
“Luc,” my voice trembled and my body followed suit. Right on the tail end of my orgasm, he plunged into me with one deep stroke and it was like my first orgasm never ended. He began to fuck me relentlessly, hands gripping my hips as he slammed me back against his body. At some point, I’d put both knees up on the arm of the couch, and I was supporting my body on my hands, pushing back and meeting his every stroke. He was fucking me so deep that there was a small tinge of pain mixing in with the pleasure, but I didn’t care.
I needed him this way. I needed him so deep inside me that I’d never forget.
He withdrew completely and I didn’t even have time to miss how he filled me before he’d pushed my body against the back of the couch, and took his place behind me again. Now I was on my knees, my back pressed to his hard front, as he stroked into me and banded an arm around my breasts. His other hand covered my mound and he started to rub my clit, my hand flying over his to keep him there.
“Quiero follar contigo toda la noche. Quiero que sientas mi pene adentro de tu. Lo sientes, bebe? You feel it?” he whispered in my ear and I could only moan. The combination of him fucking me so well and me not knowing what the hell he was saying completely undid me. All I knew was that it was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard.
“I want you to wake up thinking about the next time I’m going to fuck you. I want you to need this as much as I need this sweet cuño.” His hand went around my neck, not squeezing, but keeping a firm grip as he rolled his hips into me.
“I do,” I sobbed, arching back against him. “I need you so much.”
“Show me,” he growled, his hand rubbing faster as I clenched my hands against the suede, needing something to grab as I shook in his hold. “Come all over my cock, and show me how much you need this.” He bit my neck and I yelled out, pulsing around him as I came for the third time.
“Te amo.” He pressed kisses to any part of my skin that he could as he held me tight and shuddered against me, this strong man that’d been the first man to touch me so intimately.
I believed more and more that he would be the last.
32
Luciano
I was skyping with my coach while Thea was napping upstairs, when there was a knock on the door.
We weren’t expecting anyone, and we were still waiting on Gerard and Kimmy to appear from wherever they’d gone off to.
I had a shit ton of questions for her, considering it was her information that made Thea cut me off. Nothing matched up and it was killing me to wait on answers.
Thea was worried enough about it, so I’d tried to seem less bothered.
Really, it was tearing me up inside. I didn’t wish the devastation I’d felt when Thea cut off contact with me, on my worst enemy. My meeting Thea was what made me believe in fate, in soulmates. In there being one person that was so perfectly created for you that time and rationality didn’t matter.
I remembered her reaction when I’d asked her to marry me.
I stood in the doorway of my bathroom unbeknownst to Thea, watching her wiggle that delectable ass and brush her teeth.
I recognized the song “Heartbreaker,” by Mariah Carey. I hadn’t known that before I met Thea. She’d introduced me to a lot of songs, mainly because she was very fond of music and singing around the flat. I found myself humming some of the songs. My favorite this week was a song by Aaliyah called “One in A Million.”
“Heartbreaker you got the best of meee,” she mumbled around her toothbrush, leaning over the sink and not looking in the mirror. She always brought a smile to my face. “But I just keep on com-ing back incessantly!”
I fell in love with her most when she didn’t know I was looking. The person she was when I was around, the person she was when she thought she was alone – they were the same. I appreciated that more than she knew, that she never tried to be anything else other than herself.
I wanted to watch her forever.
“Marry me,” I blurted out, almost instantly regretting my abruptness. I meant it, but I should’ve done it with more finesse. She froze at the sink as her toothbrush clattered to the glass bowl. After a beat of silence, she turned on the water and rinsed her mouth, still not looking up. Finally, she wiped her mouth with a small cloth and turned around. She had part of a pink face mask on her cheeks, forehead, and chin.
“Sorry, I don’t think I heard you right over the music.”
“I think you did.” I walked closer, settling my hands on her waist.
She shook her head, and her wide eyes in the face mask put a permanent grin on my face. “No.”
“No, you won’t marry me?”
“No, I didn’t hear you correctly.” Her chin lifted in that movement that let me know she was cemented in whatever she was saying. “You can’t have said what I think you said and what you just confirmed you said, because that would be crazy because I’ve known you for all of five seconds.”
“More like 7 months.”
“Like I said, five seconds.” She moved away, leaning back over the sink and running the water. She moved her palms in circles on her face, taking off the pink stuff that she’d tried to slather onto me more than once.
“Do you love me?” I asked.
“You know I do.” She dried her face and then put some snail cream stuff on it. I didn’t know what the hell it did, even though she’d tried to explain it to me. The labels weren’t English or Spanish, so I had no clue. All I knew was that she looked damned good all the time, so whatever it was, it was A-ok with me.
“I can’t breathe when I think about my life without you,” I admitted quietly as she passed me to go into the bedroom. She stopped in her tracks and looked at me, pleading with her eyes to me for something. I swallowed hard, meeting her where she stood. “I didn’t see it coming, and I wasn’t looking for anything that night in the club. But then I was given you and I haven’t felt the same ever since. If this is one-sided, tell me. I will let you go.” I brought one hand to hold her face, then the other, wishing that she could see into my soul and know that every word I was saying – I felt.
“Luc, I…” she shifted on her feet, going silent, and I dropped my hands. Oh.
She didn’t feel the same.
I breathed in, trying to fight past the lump that was coming into my throat. No matter how many times I swallowed, it wouldn’t go away. “Bien, it’s okay. I understand.” I choked out, willing myself to not show any more.
She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears, and I had to look away. I moved to grab my jacket. I needed some air. “I’ll be back.”
“I’m scared,” she whispered, her voice shaky with emotion. “This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. I came here to learn, to research, not to fall in love with a cocky soccer player!” She threw her hands out, blinking at the ceiling like she was trying to push back the feelings. “I love you so much, you idiot. I’m so scared to lose you, to lose this when I go back home. Long-distance doesn’t last in the same country. Do you think I haven’t stayed awake at night wondering how the hell a whole ocean will go!”
“Do you think I’m n
ot scared?” I shook my head, taking her hands. “But I’m more scared to not use every moment I have with you to show you that you’re mine. I don’t ask the question lightly, and I should’ve done something more elaborate, but I don’t want to wait. I want us to live now, not say ‘maybe’ and ‘soon’ and ‘when we’re older.’ I see my life with you and that is all that I need to know.”
I dropped to one knee, pressing her hands to my lips as she let her tears fall. “So I ask you right now to trust me, to not plan this out, to let our love live and grow however we see fit regardless of what anyone else might think. Theodora Elyse James, mi cielo, mi reina - Quieres casarte conmigo? Will you marry me?”
She closed her eyes and shook her head, murmuring. “I can’t believe I’m saying this right now.”
I got up, pulling her closer. “Will,” I kissed one cheek, “you,” I kissed the other cheek, “marry,” I kissed the corner of her lips, “me?” I hovered over her mouth, waiting on her answer.
“Si,” she muttered, “I do—,”
I kissed her, capturing any words she would’ve given me. Any chance of her taking her answer back.
She was mine.
The knocking on the door became more insistent. I finished my call, assuring the man that’d coached me my entire career that I was taking things easy and resting.
For the most part, I was. It just so happened that Thea was often resting with me.
I looked through the door viewer, immediately recognizing Mrs. James. I opened the door quickly, stepping back to let her and an older man in.
She smiled and greeted me, “Luciano.” She motioned for me to lean down and I did, letting her press a kiss to my cheek.
“I’d like you to meet Thea’s father, Benjamin.”
Thea had told me what her father said to her, and how shitty she felt about it. I stood up straight, offering my hand to the man that I knew Thea respected and loved deeply. If he didn’t approve of me being in her life now that he knew about me, then it’d be even harder for us to continue moving forward.
Benjamin James was a sturdy man. He wasn’t as tall as me, but I was still intimidated by him. I knew that he’d been in the Army, and had been working in architecture and construction for most of Thea’s life. He had a square face and sharp eyes, a deeper brown than Thea’s. There was grey at the temples of his close-cut hair, and his face was blank as he took me in.
“If these were different circumstances, I’d ask for your autograph or something,” he rumbled, a scowl settling on his lips. “But you’re not a player right now. You’re the unknown man that persuaded my logical daughter to marry him without telling her family. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t dislike you on sight.”
“I would lay down my life for Thea. I’d give the game up for her if she asked me to. No amount of money, no amount of recognition would replace the way that she makes me feel. The way I need her in my life.” I declared, meeting his gaze steadily. “I’m sorry that we didn’t think further about what you might feel, but my relationship with your daughter is my priority and everything else – anyone else’s feelings, are second.”
He narrowed intelligent eyes at me, the move immediately reminding me of Thea. He didn’t speak for long moments, but finally, he uncrossed his arms and held out a hand.
“All I’ve ever wished for is for someone to love my little girl as hard as she loves everyone else. It seems to me like you might be that person.”
“I’m trying, sir.” I smiled in relief. I couldn’t remember feeling as nervous with anyone else as I felt meeting her parents.
“That’s all I can ask for.” He gripped my hand in his, before letting it go. “Are you the reason she was so depressed, but trying to act like everything was fine so we didn’t worry a few years ago?”
I nodded my head regretfully. “I think so. But it seems to have been a misunderstanding.”
“Mhm,” he answered, looking around the condo. “Nice place. I assume you get the sports channels?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mhm,” he said again, a smile lighting his eyes as he moved around me and went to sit on the couch. I looked to Thea’s mom, and she rolled her eyes, following.
It was probably time to wake up my girl.
33
Theodora
“You’re annoying,” I murmured, keeping my eyes closed and frowning as Luc kept bopping my nose with his finger.
“Si, well, I think you want to be up for this.” He trailed his finger to trace my lips.
“For what?” I sighed. Was Kimmy finally back? I wasn’t exactly ready to deal with the possible truth. I was enjoying my little love bubble and I didn’t want to leave it yet, dammit!
“I just met your father.”
That made me shoot straight up, wide awake and wide-eyed.
“He’s not supposed to be here until this weekend.”
“Your mom showed up with him.” He explained, passing me my jeans.
I tugged them on while still in bed, thoughts racing.
My mom and dad, together? In the same place?
“My mom and dad have one basic rule between them, and it’s that they mutually agree to never be around each other unless they’ve been kidnapped and forced.” I pulled on the bra he threw me, then a t-shirt.
“Socks?” he asked, and I nodded. I pulled on the fuzzy rainbow patterned socks and shook my head.
“You might think I’m exaggerating, but you would think they’ve never met each other, the way they try to act like the other doesn’t exist.”
“When did they get divorced?”
“I went to Manchester with married parents, and I came back to chaos. It was that quick.” I bounded down the stairs, and he jerked me up, stopping me from busting my ass because I was going too fast. “Thanks.”
“Mhm,” he answered, “which your father likes to say.”
“Yeah, I think it’s an actual word in his mind. Did he, uh, say anything to you?” I peeked over the stairs, keeping my voice low in an effort not to alert my parents that I was talking about them.
“You’re incapable of talking quietly, Thea. Get down here,” my mom called and I huffed.
“I think he likes me,” Luc whispered, his hands on my hips as he walked behind me to the couch.
“Daddy,” I said, grinning as I walked straight into his arms. He folded me into a bear hug, embracing me hard. He was 6 foot even, and he always gave me that sort of hug no matter when I’d seen him last.
“Thea-girl,” he murmured, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead as he pulled back. “I was prepared to dislike your boy more, but if he makes you happy, then I’m happy.”
“He does, Daddy. I want to throttle him sometimes, but I’m in this for the long-haul.”
“I’d hope so,” he said, grabbing my hand, “even though there’s no ring on your finger.” He looked at Luc with a raised eyebrow. “You mean to tell me, son, that you make more money in a year than most people will see in their lifetime – and my little girl’s finger is bare?”
To be fair, he’d given me a ring years ago but I’d kind of threw it in the river in a symbolic gesture of letting go of our relationship.
“Knowing your daughter, it’s her own fault that her finger’s bare,” my mom cut in, and I made myself push down the natural defensiveness that I felt. Maybe it was all in the way that I took things.
“I did get angry and uh, misplace it. Mom’s right.” I smiled sweetly at her, and she winked.
“Mhm.” My father looked between us all.“There’s something nobody’s telling me, but I like things simple, so I’m going to let you stick to it. You are sticking to it, right?”
“Yes,” Luc and I confirmed immediately.
Luc sat on a large adjacent chair and I sat next to him, looking at my parents suspiciously. “So you two just showed up together? Were you in each other’s neighborhoods or…”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, young lady.” My mother sniffed, folding h
er hands delicately in her lap. I’d gotten my deeper skin tone from my dad, so there was nothing stopping me from seeing the blush creeping up her lighter neck.
I looked at my dad who was intensely focused on the game he’d put on, then narrowed my eyes at my mom, who was avoiding my gaze.
Like two teenagers trying not to let their parents know they were hiding something.
Oh my god.
“You’re back together or something!” I accused, mouth dropping open. I didn’t think it was possible, but my mom got even redder.
“Don’t be ridiculous, child.”
“Kitty Kat,” my dad hummed, a small smile on his lips. I blinked my eyes at my mom while Luc smothered a laugh. My mom looked so offended.
“Benji!” she hissed.
“Kitty Kat? Benji? Who the hell are you two and what have you done with my parents? You know, my parents that I literally had to beg to go to dinner together for graduation? The ones I kept a little schedule for so I didn’t accidentally invite you somewhere at the same time?”
“I don’t know why your mother’s trying to pretend like she didn’t beg me to come back to her.”
“I did no such thing.” She straightened, poking him in the leg. “You begged me!”
“But someone begged? So, you’re like, having a do-over?” I couldn’t imagine what my face looked like. I hadn’t been expecting this at all.
Like on the list of possibilities I’d run through in my head the moment Luc said my dad was there, no realm came up with this.
“Separation is good for the soul,” my dad threw out. “Luc, you got any beer?”
“Yes, Sir. Mrs. James, would you like anything?”
“Sparkling water, please. I know Thea keeps some.”
“Who said I wanted to share?” I replied tartly.
“Take my daughter with you before her mouth gets her into trouble,” she said, while still managing to not meet my gaze. I laughed. She was so full of shit.