Redemption (Reunion Book 1)

by Adrienne Ruvalcaba

  “Miss Johnson,” Diego greeted her with a smile as he ushered her into his office.

  She spied a stack of papers waiting for them at the conference table, and for the first time since her arrival in town, someone else was present at the table for their meeting.

  “You remember George Kitzar the city attorney. I asked him to sit in on this meeting since we’ll be going over the official description of the new position. I want to send out a request for résumés and applications first thing Monday. We also need an update on the status of all the programs on the partnership list.”

  “Of course, Mr. Mayor,” Lilah said with a smile as she took a seat and pulled out the notes from all her phone calls and meetings over the past three days.

  The entire meeting took almost two hours. By the time George Kitzar left the building, Lilah’s neck had grown tense from looking down at all the papers.

  “Tired?” Diego asked with sympathy in his gaze as he looked down at her.

  “Only a little. Today was kind of a long day,” she answered.

  “You still up for dinner?”

  “Of course. I can’t wait to see what you cook,” she said with a smile.

  “There’s been a change of plans,” he said with a shuttered look in his eyes. “I’ll pick you up at your hotel in an hour. I have to take care of a few things.”

  “Okay,” she quietly agreed. There was a noticeable change in his demeanor, but she didn’t ask about it.

  As she walked out of his office, she realized how little she knew about Diego Gonzales. In high school, he had not been quite as loud as the other football players. She thought she had understood his character perfectly when she had pegged him as the typical jock, but now she realized she had never really known anything about him. His GPA had been very high, just like hers. She remembered checking the class rankings on a regular basis and feeling a keen sense of satisfaction during the quarters when she was higher on the list than he was. Why had she always compared herself to him? She hadn’t done that with any of the other student athletes.

  Why had she always been so aware of his presence? Every time he had sat near her, she had bristled with indignation that he should dare to even be in the same room as her. She never thought to analyze that part of her reaction to Diego, until now. Now it was clear that her body was attracted to him whether she liked it or not. At the moment, she liked it, but three years ago it had frustrated her almost beyond reason. The possibility that she might have had a crush on him in high school came down on her head like a ton of bricks. That would explain the racing heart and sweaty palms that had plagued her anytime he was anywhere near her. She had always chalked it up to dislike, but perhaps it had been a bit of both. Either way, she definitely had a crush on him now.

  As she waited for him to pick her up, she thought about the kiss they shared near the high school trophy case. There had been such promise in their physical connection. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was that drew her to him, but she was aware that it was happening and she didn’t want it to end. She was leaving town in less than a month, but Lilah pushed that thought out of her mind as a knock sounded at her door.

  She swung the door open wide, and Diego smiled down at her. “You ready to go?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said as she pulled the door closed behind her. “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking you to the beach. We’ll have dinner together and enjoy the sunset.”

  “Nice! I haven’t been to the beach in more than ten years,” she said with an enthusiastic smile.

  “You’re kidding, right?” he asked.

  When she shook her head, he gave her a look she couldn’t interpret and then opened the car door for her.

  As Diego drove, Lilah paid little attention to the direction they took. She relaxed in her seat and relished the quietude as she watched the familiar landscapes along the roadside. As a child, she hadn’t dared to dream of a world outside the flat, coastal plains of Texas. Now that she’d been lots of other places, seen lots of other landscapes, and gotten to know many different manifestations of nature, she realized she loved this place best of all. She glanced over at Diego’s profile and considered the possibility of extending her stay to two months. Maybe she could convince her publisher to drop a few of her scheduled book tour appearances.

  “Whose house is this?” Lilah asked when he parked in front of a small, white house on a private beach in Quintana.

  “This is my parents’ beach house,” Diego replied. After he caught a look at her face he added, “Don’t worry; I’m not breaking in. They gave me a key.”

  “I’m not worried,” Lilah quickly assured him.

  Skepticism was written all over his face as he said, “I think I’m starting to learn your expressions. You look like you think they’re going to come scold us for being here. Just relax.”

  They entered the house and Diego immediately busied himself starting a fire in the pit outside. Lilah didn’t want to stand around with nothing to do, so she washed the vegetables he had brought along with them.

  Half an hour later, they sat in a couple of wicker chairs outside and shared dinner as they watched the waves below them. She was in the middle of chewing a mouthful of grilled chicken breast when Diego spoke for the first time in almost fifteen minutes.

  “You know what I like about you, Delilah? I like how you don’t have to be talking or being entertained by someone else to have a good time. You are the only woman I’ve ever been around who doesn’t have a serious problem with a little bit of silence. I noticed that about you when we were in high school,” he said in a thoughtful tone.

  “You like quiet?” she queried. She had always thought of him as the life of the party, at least that’s what she had always assumed he was.

  “Believe it or not, I do like quiet. The only problem is that it’s a rare commodity in my life these days. If I want quiet, I have to be alone, and I don’t want to be alone all the time,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Oddly enough, I understand exactly what you mean,” Lilah responded.

  “I thought you would.”

  “So, explain to me how a boy who likes quiet turns into one of the popular kids and goes out partying all the time,” she said before she took another bite of her dinner.

  “He gets included in parties because people loved his older brother so much, they figured he must be a younger version of him. Also, the quiet boy realized that being athletic and popular was a good way to get girls to like him, so he forced himself out of his shell,” Diego answered.

  “Are you saying you used to be shy?” Lilah demanded playfully.

  “Yes, but that ended when Hugo made the varsity football team his junior year. I was in eighth grade at the time, and from that football season on, my future was set. Freshman year, everybody knew I was his little brother. Girls who were sophomores and juniors were nice to me in my freshman year, and that cemented my coolness among all the other freshman that year…except you of course.”

  “What makes you so sure I didn’t think you were cool?” she chuckled.

  “Please, Delilah. Give me a little credit. I may have been a high school boy, but I could definitely tell when a girl thinks I’m an idiot,” he responded with a quiet laugh. “The first time you ever saw me, you were playing chess. Ricky shot a spit wad at your face, and you looked up at me. You thought I did it, but you didn’t say anything to me. You just gave me this look that reminded me of the look my abuelita San Juana used to give me when she had to remind me to pick up my towel off the bathroom floor.”

  “I don’t even remember that,” Lilah said.

  “Well, I do. Trust me; it was not a nice look.”

  When they finished, Diego suggested a walk on the beach. By this time, the sun was low on the horizon, and the shore was awash in twilight shadows.

  Lilah kicked off her flip-flops and followed Diego to the small private beach beyond the house. She took a moment to dig her feet into the war
m sand.

  “What are you doing?” Diego asked as he looked down at her buried feet.

  “I’m just feeling the sand, Diego. My feet haven’t touched sand in more than a decade, and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to return to the beach after I leave this time,” she said.

  He pinned her with one of his more serious looks, and he tugged on her hand. “I’ll bring you to the beach every night if you want,” he said as they neared the water.

  “It takes more than an hour to get to this beach from your house,” she reminded him.

  “I know, but if you love the beach, I want to make sure you get to walk on the beach as much as you want,” he replied.

  They walked hand in hand and listened to the waves breaking as the sun went down. The tide came in, and they walked back and forth across the moist sand as they listened to the wind. Lilah tipped her head back multiple times to look at the pink tinged sky all around them.

  “Do you ever miss this?” Diego asked after they backed away from a bigger wave that would have soaked their clothing.

  “All the time,” Lilah admitted.

  Another wave came at them, and Diego wrapped his arms around her from behind and picked her up high above the encroaching water. She let out a loud squeal as her feet flew out in front of her.

  He set her back on her feet, and she spun around to face him. Suddenly, his arms went around her again as he smiled down at her. This time, Lilah didn’t wait for him to kiss her; she stood up on her tiptoes and pulled his face down toward hers.

  As their lips came together, he released a low growl that stirred up fire in her belly. A small wave swirled around their bare feet, and Lilah felt the world spin around her as his tongue slipped into her mouth. Before, his kiss had been tender and caring, but tonight he unleashed his passion. She was quickly overwhelmed by pure lust and physical sensations as he expertly stroked her mouth. His hands went around her waist, and he pressed her tight against his body. She felt the unmistakable sign of his arousal pressed into her belly, and she involuntarily thrust her hips forward to feel more. His response was to pick her up and then slowly slide her down against the front of his body, allowing her to feel his hardened penis as he squeezed her round bottom.

  The kiss started out full throttle, and quickly got out of hand. Lilah didn’t care that they were out in the open, or that someone from another of the few beach houses in the area could easily venture outside and see them. Diego picked her up again and rasped, “Wrap your legs around me and hold onto my shoulders.”

  She followed his instructions, and he pressed his lips into the curve of her neck and shoulder. He seemed to be trying to calm down as he held her, but Lilah tilted her head towards him and commanded, “Keep kissing me.”

  His eyes snapped up to meet hers before he pulled down the front of her dress and exposed her breasts. He dipped his head down and took one of her nipples into his mouth, and Lilah felt pure physical ecstasy wash over her as he worked his magic. She felt the hard bulge of his penis straining against his pants, and she was almost desperate with the need to feel him inside her. She ground her hips against him, loving the friction between their bodies as he kissed his way back up her neck and claimed her mouth again. Waves continued to swirl around them as they unabashedly ground against each other and panted in the darkness. “Lilah,” he said against her neck as she clung to him.

  “Can we please just…”

  “Just what?” he asked as he looked down at her in the moonlight.

  “You know what,” she whispered.

  “Stop? Keep going? I honestly don’t know what you want from me right now,” he whispered back. His need was written all over his face as he held her to him.

  “I want you to make love to me,” she said. “Right now,” she added when he did nothing but stare.

  Without a word, he walked out of the water, and set her down on the damp sand. Lilah was sure she had said the wrong thing, until he started stripping off his clothes. He leaned down to take a condom out of the pocket of his shorts and strode toward her with a determined look on his face.

  Lilah could not have stopped herself from outright ogling him if she had tried. He had the most perfect body she had ever seen in her life. For a moment, it felt like she was trapped in somebody else’s life. She was quiet, boring, and kind of plain looking, but she had this perfect specimen of manhood bearing down on her with a look that said she was the only woman for him. Once the distance between them was closed, he pressed her close and kissed her again. He reached behind her, and unzipped her dress, allowing it to fall into a puddle of fabric at her feet. He then unsnapped her bra and bent down to lavish her breasts with the attention of his mouth again. It didn’t take them long to get back to where they were before he had put her down. His mouth on her nipples was enough to bring her extremely close to the edge of an orgasm, but when he dipped his fingers into her underwear and slowly caressed her clitoris, she lost the battle with her body. She cried out into the darkness as her climax overtook her.

  He looked at her in surprise, and she fought the urge to apologize. “My breasts are so sensitive. When you touch them enough, that’s what happens,” she explained as he stared at her.

  “Lilah, that may be the hottest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” he said as he bent down to lick her nipples again.

  “You’re going to make me have another one if you keep doing that,” she breathed in a plaintive little whisper.

  “Good,” he said with a deep chuckle that sent shivers straight through her.

  “I want to have one with you inside me,” she argued as she stepped out of her underwear.

  They now stood toe to toe, completely naked. She couldn’t stop herself from reaching out and running her hands down his chest. She didn’t stop when she got to his rock hard abs; she kept going until she reached his hard penis. She wrapped her fingers around his shaft and looked up at him. “You’ve probably already heard this a ton of times, but I just have to say it. You have a gorgeous body, Diego.”

  “Thank you for that, Lilah. I’ve always thought you had a beautiful body, and tonight you look like a goddess standing naked in the moonlight. You have to be the sexiest woman alive,” he said as he dipped his head down to kiss her again. He then ripped the condom wrapper open and slid it on. He reached for her and said, “When I lift you up, just wrap your legs around me and hold on to my shoulders. I’ll do everything else.”

  “We’re going to do it standing up?” she asked.

  “Trust me, Lilah. You don’t want to do this in the sand,” he chuckled.

  “Will you be able to hold me up that long?”

  He hugged her close again, and whispered, “Just trust me, Delilah,” as he squeezed her naked bottom.

  That simple statement calmed her reserves, and she happily leapt into his arms. What followed was one of the best and most uninhibited moments of her entire life. Heat engulfed her body as he entered her and held her up. Her inner muscles clenched around him, and he released a breath in her ear. “You feel so good…so good,” he whispered as he began to move with her.

  She felt weightless and free as he bounced her up and down, and she couldn’t stop herself from grinning like an idiot. It all felt so good. From the sexual tension building toward release inside her, to the cool breeze coming in off the gulf, everything happening to her body in that moment felt beautiful. Diego’s muscles rippled and bunched under her hands as she held onto him. The intensity of their lovemaking built quickly, and he thrust into her with mounting excitement as his climax neared.

  Lilah felt her second climax of the night growing closer. She tipped her head back and looked up at the full moon and blanket of stars as she moaned in absolute pleasure.

  “Are you about to come again?” he asked.

  “Yes!” she exclaimed as their wild ride continued.

  “Me too,” he said in her ear. A moment later, his hands clamped down on her waist as he thrust into her several more times and said, �
�Oh God! Lilah!”

  In the same moment, a little squeal was ripped from her lips as she lost herself in the wave of pleasure that crashed over her head and totally consumed her.

  He wrapped his arms all the way around her back and pressed her against him as he panted against her neck. A fine sheen of perspiration covered both of them, and caused her to shiver in the cool breeze. He planted a little kiss on her shoulder and she gave him one on the neck.

  “Are you cold?” he asked as he carefully put her down again.

  Her legs wobbled slightly as she stood there and gazed up at him. “Just a little,” she said, trying not to sound like a love sick teenager who had never been intimate before. She had been intimate plenty of times, just never like that. Vigorous, fun, enlivening! All of those words sprang to her mind as she gazed at him.

  “What does that look mean?” he asked.

  She shrugged and glanced out over the dark water of the gulf.

  He looked at the water too and pulled her against his side. “This is new to me too, Lilah,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what you’re thinking or feeling about us right now, but I’m honestly thinking about how much I hate the fact that you don’t live here. Care to share your thoughts?”

  “I was just thinking that I didn’t know it was possible for intimacy to be that fun, feel that good, and feel so right all at the same time,” she admitted. She had nothing to lose by being honest about her feelings. She was leaving in a few weeks, so they didn’t have a future together. The best they could have was total honesty while they were together. “I never expected to feel anything for you, Diego. I’m unsettled that nothing has turned into something so strong that it scares me a little.”

  He was smiling at her when she looked up at him again. “Don’t be afraid, querida,” he whispered. “I’ve felt this something for you for a long time now, and it has always been strong for me.”