“Knowing ways to mess guys up has its value, though of course it wouldn’t have changed anything that happened while you were held hostage. That wasn’t your fault. It’s totally on them. Worse than pussies to hit a woman in handcuffs when she’s on the ground pleading for them to stop.”
“How did you know all that detail?” I could feel the warmth of shame on my cheeks. I hated that I had begged.
“Campanella sent me a video link.” He lifted his hands, gloves on, and framed my face between them before I could manage to turn it away. Warmth was now the heat of mortification.
“How much did you see?” I whispered.
“Everything.” His amber gaze burned with twin fires of anger. “I would have gone down and stayed down after the first one. But you’re too strong. Too stubborn. Too incredibly proud for your own good.”
I brought both of my hands up to his chest and tried to push him away. I didn’t budge him an inch. He was an irresistible force and just as unmovable.
“Chiquita pero picosa, I like your spice. It turns me on. I don’t want to take that away from you. Only maybe use your heat to learn some techniques to protect yourself when you wave that red flag in front of other bulls, bien?”
“Oh.” I got it now. What he was trying to do. To empower me rather than put me down. Respect rather than sympathy. “I love you.” My eyes burned with fire that differed from his, though they were just as bright. “When I said that it means I get you. That you can let me go now. That I’ll do it.” He wasn’t as versed in the nuances of read-between-the-lines-Miriam as Mike was.
“Not yet. Not till you kiss me.”
I smiled. Then I kissed him. It had been so long since I had felt the firm press of his lips against mine that he had to move his arms to catch me. My knees had gone out from under me from the sheer pleasure that had rocketed through me. Mouth to breasts to core pleasure.
“King.” I breathed his name in awe, my eyes wide and my back bowed to try to arch all those aching parts into him.
“So I’ve been called for more than one reason.” Lips curving into a slow grin, he set me back from him, not awkward at all even with his gloves on. “Go to your class, Reina. If you work hard, and I get a good report from your instructor, I might show you one of those reasons later.”
• • •
King
I’d had a hard-on since that kiss at the gym. Yet the one night I wanted to eat something quick so I could eat something else slow and leisurely, her best friend had decided we all four needed to go out again together. So here I was while he and Alex were at the pickup window. Across the picnic table from Miriam, I watched her lick the ice cream from her red plastic spoon when I would rather we were both somewhere private with her licking something else.
“Don’t you like your ice cream?” she queried as my butterscotch sundae melted beneath the heat of my indifference.
“It’s alright. Not flan for sure. But that’s not really it. I had other plans for tonight.” I gave her a look.
“Oh.” Cheeks flushing, she squirmed in her chair.
“She gets it.”
“Um, no. She has not gotten it. Not in a long time. But she will.” Miriam licked her spoon again, darted her pink tongue out and swirled it.
I groaned. She was doing that on purpose.
“Hey,” Mike said, and took a seat beside her. Alex plunked down beside me. “We were thinking about a movie. Would you like to join us?”
“No!” Miriam and I both replied at the same time.
“Alright then.” Alex grinned knowingly.
Mike smiled. “We had lots of alone time while you two were at the gym. It’s your turn to have the house to yourself.”
“Excellente. Make it a double feature, and I will personally see to it that your flight to LAX to househunt gets upgraded to first class.”
“Change of plans,” Alex said.
“Yeah, we’re not going to LA just yet.” Mike swiveled toward Miriam and shared a bite of whatever chocolate ice cream concoction he had chosen. “I’m not the only one with a best friend in our growing little circle. Alex has Shaina. She’s in Seattle right now with War for Sager and Melinda’s engagement party, so we’re heading there first.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Miriam
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me your brother was getting married?” I stomped inside the house, the rubber soles of my tennis shoes not ringing enough irritation on the tiles as Juaquin tracked directly behind me. The door slammed closed behind him.
“I can’t believe you’re truly upset about this.” His hands fell on my shoulders. “I already explained in the Hummer on the way back from the ice cream place.” His grip firm but gentle, he turned me around. “We were in Seattle. It was after my dad’s bypass.” His expression reflected his exasperation. “I had a lot of other things on my mind. It’s a nonissue.”
“It’s an issue because you kept something from me,” I pouted. “Something important.” Slipping out of his grasp, I turned and tossed my purse down onto the chair in the living room.
“Ok, I apologize. Problem solved.” He moved close, bringing our bodies together, his front to my back, his warm hands skimming the outline of my tits and his erection prodding my ass. I went from mad to madly turned-on. “Now let me fuck you, por favor.” He brushed my hair aside and stamped his warm lips to the skin below my ear. A shiver of pleasure rolled through me. “We’ve got the entire house to ourselves,” he reminded me. “For several hours, and it’s me and you. Let’s not waste the opportunity.” His hands finding my hips and gripping them tightly, he pressed a soft, coaxing, lingering kiss into the hollow between my neck and shoulder.
“I wasn’t seeking an apology.” I leaned my head to the side to give him better access to continue moving his lips across my skin, my mouth parting to accommodate the kicked-up pace of my breathing. Each subsequent warm raindrop-like kiss he gave me making my heart beat a little faster. “I just want you to agree not to keep things from me. We’re supposed to be a team.”
“Alright, I agree.” He licked my skin. I shivered and then moaned a moment later when he pulled me backward and caressed my hips, his hands gliding down toward where I already ached before moving back up again. “Do you forgive me?” He rocked his groin against my ass, letting me feel how deliciously hard he was while doing that sexy motion with his hands again, plunging them low, then sliding them back and forth just above my pussy.
“Oh yes,” I replied breathily, unable to remember what we had been talking about or why it had even mattered.
“Bueno.” Good. Another burst of his breath preceded by a hot stream of air that he blew into my ear. My bones melted. Drumming need pulsed inside the flaming fire he had stoked. His fingers at my hips seeming to flex with the same driving urgency for completion, he pressed his mouth below my ear and suctioned the delicate skin.
“Oh my,” I hissed as he swirled his wet tongue, stirring the heat and making me hotter. “Do that again.”
“Absolutely.” I felt the tip of his tongue draw another circle before he glided it upward and slowly lapped at the lobe of my ear.
“Mmm.” That felt so good, and it definitely wasn’t the only place I was wet.
“The only thing of importance I’m keeping from you is my cock. Bend over,” he demanded abruptly, taking my hands as soon as I complied and moving them to the back of the chair. “Hold on tight. This is going to be a hard, fast, dirty ride.” He yanked the yoga pants I’d worn to work out with him down to my ankles. I was completely naked underneath.
“Oh fuck, I love your sexy ass.”
“Stop talking.” I could be demanding, too. “And give me that cock you keep bragging about.”
“Mamasota picosa.” He ran a finger that he must have wet with his tongue down the cleft in my ass, making me draw in a sharp breath before he grabbed me by the hips, yanked me backward and rammed his hard cock into me.
“Ahhh,” I exhaled in a savoring rush, imagi
ning I could feel every beat of his heart with his cock so deep completely filling me.
“Are you ok?”
“Yes,” I replied immediately, understanding why he was checking. He was worried he had been too rough with me. “Everything’s right. Everything’s wonderful. I love you like this. Love you wild. Love feeling you inside me. Oh King!” I exclaimed as he began to move, pulling all the way out and slamming back deep inside me again. “Yes!” I gripped the edge of the chair tighter and pushed backward into his next thrust.
“You are so hot, Reina,” he grunted. “You make me lose my mind.”
“Again,” I begged unashamed with him. “Please, Juaquin.” I clamped my cunt around his thick length as he withdrew to the tip and glided back inside again only harder and faster. “More. Faster. Please.” It had been too long, and I wanted him so badly.
And he gave me more of the bad that was so wicked good. Faster. Harder. Deeper. Until I shivered each time he drove in deep. Until my scalp tingled. Until my toes curled. Until I cried out his name each time he hammered his legendary length into me.
“Juaquin. Yes, Juaquin. Don’t stop. Juaquin. Don’t. Yes. Yes. Yes.” I came so hard my eyes rolled back in my head, but he didn’t stop.
“Again,” he demanded, powering me through my orgasm, prolonging it. Fucking me harder, deeper and faster. His fingers gripping my ass to bring me into his thrusts. “You come again.” His thighs slapping mine, he gave me his cock, pounding me as hard as he pounded the beat on his bass drum. Electricity and heat. Friction and pleasure. So much pleasure. I came again, with him this time, both of us reaching the pinnacle together. He was my king after all. Even my climaxes were his to command.
• • •
King
“You sure you’re ok?” I asked after dragging her into the small tub shower combo with me. She was naked so it was difficult for me to focus, but I honed in on her beautiful face rather than those gorgeous tits of hers because she seemed disoriented.
“Yes, of course I am,” she insisted, yet she wobbled unsteadily as she reached for the tiny ledge that held her peach scented shower gel. I gripped her more firmly, frowning when I realized I could feel her ribs. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know.” My eyes narrowed. “Maybe because I just fucked the hell out of you.”
“You did.” Her lips lifted slowly. “How soon before you can do it again?” Her pretty grey-green eyes glinted with renewed eagerness to get wicked with me again, and I loved that, like I loved every single thing about her.
“I can go right now, mamasota.” Her gaze dipped to my cock. She licked her lips, the dollop of bath gel in her hand forgotten. “But it’s a little cramped in here so why don’t we wait until after we shower?”
“Alright.” She brought her gaze up, but stopped it at the center of my chest. “Why don’t you let me soap you off?” Distracted, I decided. She wanted a chance to explore like I did. Maybe I was overreacting about the other. She liked my body as much as she was comfortable with showing off her own. But the weight loss bothered me, knowing Melinda’s history especially. Trauma I knew could be a trigger for anorexia.
“Miriam,” I called to gain her attention.
“Huh.” She lifted her gaze from my chest. Arched into my soapy hands as I began to wash her off. I didn’t even think she had realized that I had stolen the bath gel from her cupped hand. I grabbed her bottle, lathered my hands again and started soaping more of her body. She purred when I did her tits.
I groaned. Her pleasure was my own, plus they were glorious, perfectly shaped to overflow my hands. I tweaked each nipple making them even harder. Her lips parted. My cock bounced eager as she was to have another go. Mind overruling but only just barely, I grabbed the bath gel squeezed out some more and moved lower while the warm water from the shower head behind Miriam mostly only pelted her back. She put her hands on my shoulders when I crouched low to wash her pussy.
“King,” she said, her voice husky in that particular way I recognized. My cock was attuned to it, to her. Totally primed and ready to drill her all over again. The shower was a bad idea.
“Yeah.” I looked up, a mistake as my fingers slid through her slippery folds. Her lids lowered more, her eyes already steamed up and glassy. She shuddered. My fingers had a will of their own. They had grazed her nub.
“Please.” That one word added to all the rest that was her did me in. The cooler overspray did not come even close to putting a damper on the fire she and her hot body ignited. I wasn’t going to be able to get her out of the shower and us into the bed where I would feel safer about taking her again. “Come here, mamasota. Wrap those sexy legs of yours around me and climb on. I’ll do the rest and get you where you need to go.” And I did. I moved. Got her back against the wall. And I pumped my cock into that deliciously tight cunt of hers. Short and shallow fucks then long and deep, I had all the control in this position, but I followed her cues. Her fingernails digging furrows into my skin. Her quickening breaths. She was there. I knew it before she told me.
“King,” she cried.
“Sí, Reina. I’m right with you. Let go. I’m there, too.” I thrust in deep one final time, stiffened and groaned feeling her hit her climax at the same time, rhythmic tremors that gripped my cock and squeezed every last drop from me. Sweet bliss. As sweet as the woman I had in my arms. The one I never wanted to let go.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Miriam
Propped up on my pillows, I stroked my fingers over his hair, sifting through the thick strands that were as dark as obsidian and had a sheen every bit as glossy. He was still sound asleep. His cheek against my chest. His arms tightly wrapped around my waist. Tired, exhausted like I was, though we’d only managed the two times before Mike and Alex had returned. Juaquin had been disappointed, but no more so than I. The duplex was too small for privacy, and it would be too tiny for even one couple.
It was made for two roommates to share on a tight budget, not two sets of lovers.
Thoughts like that had awoken me early before the sunrise, and my mind had zoomed on a circular track at race car speed, and I had yet to checker flag it. No job. No more paycheck to pay my share of the household expenses, let alone double that. No extra for certain to add to the small nest egg I had already saved. Returning to college seemed to be further out of reach than ever. Even if we could sell the house, we didn’t have enough equity in it for either of us to do more than break even.
And Mike moving so far away. King, too. Soon Tempest would go on the road for their fall tour, not to mention whatever traveling he would have to do to market his solo stuff. My heart clinched more for the inevitable separation from them both than it did over worries about my pocketbook.
Soon it would be me and only me with no backup should something go wrong.
My cell buzz-walked across the nightstand. King stirred. I ignored the call like I had been ignoring most of them even the persistent ones from the hospital. I knew they only wanted money. Dragging my knuckles to follow the thin beard that outlined his jaw, I pressed my thumb into the patch at his chin savoring till the last minute the way he looked as he slept and smiling softly as his golden eyes fluttered open to give me a more beautiful view than any sunrise.
“Hey,” I said.
“Buenos días, Reina.” He lifted his head and glanced at the cell again as it buzzed. “Aren’t you going to get that?”
“Nah, it’s probably just a bill collector. I’d rather touch you.” I stroked his cheek again, letting the pad of my thumb drag across the edge of his lips enjoying the way that made them curve and my stomach flutter. “We can do more. If we’re quiet, we won’t wake Mike.” He needed all the sleep he could get. He was going to try to get all of his massage clients seen before he and Alex left for Seattle. He wanted to tell them goodbye personally. He wasn’t planning on returning to work at either of his jobs after the engagement party.
“I’d like that, but maybe you should rest.” He frowned
at me like he had in the shower when I had gotten a little dizzy. I knew he was only worried about me. I had been a little bit, too, when the vertigo had also happened at Dr. Claffey’s office. He had ordered blood work telling me it was probably an electrolyte imbalance or low potassium from all the running and working out I had been doing. “You really should get that.” My cell was buzzing. Again. “Bill collectors don’t usually call at this hour of the morning.”
“Alright.” He shifted to move off of me, his back smashed up against the wall as I turned on my side to grab the phone. “Hello,” I said, my voice an octave of concern higher than normal. It was Ann. “Is everything ok?”
“Yeah. Why? You sound worried.”
“Do you know what time it is?” I volleyed back as an explanation.
“Pfft. Yeah. Sure, I do. The only time I can get ahold of you apparently.”
Oh shit. I recognized that tone. She was getting ready to go off on a tear.
“You promised, Miriam. You said you wouldn’t shut me out anymore. Then you took off and nearly got yourself killed. Then you made me another deal afterward. Do you remember that deal?”
“Yes.” I whispered.
“Yeah, so I’ve kept up my end of the bargain. I stayed out here keeping my grades up because you said that would make you happy instead of flying out there to be with you. So why the hell aren’t you calling me or answering my calls?”
“I…”
“Texts do not count, Miriam.” She cut me off. “Do not try to tell me texts count. You will piss me way the hell off if you say that.”
“I’m sorry.” I let out a breath as she paused to pull one in probably to lay into me some more.
The Complete Tempest World Box Set Page 187