24. Gemma
Chapter Twenty-Four
GEMMA
Kissing Diego was heaven. I forgot everything but the feel of his tongue twining with mine, and his lips commanding mine with little nips and kisses at the corners before he dove back in. I never knew kisses could be pure intoxication. It felt as if Diego himself were a drug, and I had a straight line to his very essence. Kisses with him weren’t a means to an end. I dwelled entirely in this moment, lost in the delicious seduction of his mouth.
I even forgot where we were. Until there was a loud knocking sound at the back of the truck. I didn’t even know whose truck we were in.
We broke apart, both of us gulping in deep lungfuls of air. “Break it up, you two,” a man’s voice called.
Diego chuckled, casting me a sheepish look. “Sounds like Grant needs this truck.”
“Is this his truck?” I asked, scrambling to gather my brain cells back into some sort of functioning mass.
“It’s a resort truck, but he drives it the most, and he’s definitely the one banging on the back.”
“Oh, my God,” I groaned, leaning my face forward into my hands.
“It’s just a kiss,” Diego said, and I felt his hand slide down my back in a comforting caress.
I lifted my head. “I don’t usually get so caught up in making out with someone that I forget where I am.”
“You and me both, sugar. It’s been long enough that we should be in the clear as far as the bear’s concerned, so why don’t I finish walking you to your car?”
I gathered my dignity and climbed out of the truck. Grant was, in fact, standing at the back of the truck. Along with Flynn, Daphne, Tucker, Nora, and even Harley. Great, just fucking great. Now Diego’s sister knew I was making out with him like a foolish girl.
* * *
Tonight?
That was Diego’s text. One word. Apparently, that was all it took to set my heart to fluttering in my belly and heat spinning through my veins and creating a fizz of excitement in my system.
There was absolutely no chance I was going to say no. Because I was a foolish girl when it came to Diego. This was a strange experience for me. Because of what happened in high school, I’d skipped over having youthful crushes and all that fun stuff. Maybe I was getting the chance now. Even though I didn’t know how this was going to play out, my expectations were so low that I was just going to grab onto this chance with Diego with both hands.
I tapped out my reply. Where and when?
Diego: The brewery? Say, 6?
Me: Sounds good.
My arms were wrapped around Diego’s waist, and cool ocean air tugged at the ends of my hair. He angled the motorcycle into a corner along the road that flanked a bluff, offering an absolutely spectacular view of Kachemak Bay. Nature outdid herself here in Alaska, being all showy almost everywhere you looked.
We were on the way home from that long promised second dinner date, and I was beyond pleased that Diego had picked me up on his motorcycle. It was a small thing, but it was a thrill for me. Diego was plenty sexy without the prop of a motorcycle. Yet, Diego with a black leather jacket over a black T-shirt with black jeans and battered boots to match had my girly parts going into overdrive like cheerleaders at a winning game.
My cheek was pressed against his back, and I savored the feel of the air ruffling the ends of my hair just below the edge of the helmet. We weren’t going that fast. There was really nowhere around Diamond Creek where someone could go fast on a motorcycle. Not anyone with sense. The roads were too narrow and winding. I loved the feeling of freedom on a motorcycle. The experience was very different, and yet it held similarities to riding a horse.
The local brewery restaurant had been delicious. I was discovering that, although Diamond Creek was a small town, the tourists that crowded the town in the summer brought things up a notch. There was plenty of excellent food from casual fare and even close to fancy. With the exception that I didn’t think a single restaurant in the entire state of Alaska required fancy dress for dinner. Alaskan residents would probably boycott if that were the case.
Diego slowed as we approached the road that led to my place, and I giggled to myself as we drove past the very spot he had stopped to help me when Charlie got loose. A moment later, he turned down my driveway.
I reluctantly climbed off the motorcycle. Being plastered to Diego felt good. Not simply good, it felt freaking awesome. I took off my helmet and handed it to him as he opened the small compartment behind the seat where I’d been riding and stowed it.
Charlie nickered softly from where he stood by the edge of the pasture fence adjacent to the parking area. Shasta joined him, looking expectantly toward us with his ears perked forward as Diego and I stood beside his motorcycle. I shifted on my feet to look over, my heel catching on a small rock. When I stumbled, just barely, Diego placed his hand on my shoulder to steady me.
It was nothing more than an incidental touch. And yet, all of my attention swiveled to that spot, like he’d burned a brand on me. Heat radiated from his touch through my clothing, to my skin before sending a flash throughout my entire system.
“Are they hungry?” he asked with a smile, the heat banked in his eyes sending the butterflies in my belly into a tizzy.
His palm slid away from my shoulder, and I missed his touch instantly. I forced myself to focus and behave normally. He didn’t appear addled out of his mind with lust. As if to drag my mind back to reality, Charlie nickered again, this time with a touch of impatience.
“Probably. My yoga class finished only half an hour before you picked me up for dinner, so I’m a little late with feeding them.”
“I’ll help,” he offered, nudging his chin in the direction of the horses.
“You don’t mind?”
“Of course, I don’t mind. I like horses. Come on. No sense in making them wait any longer.”
Diego caught my hand in his as we crossed the parking area into the barn. I gestured for him to follow me into the feed room. “We’re not just putting them to bed. I need to get their food in their stalls first.”
As I turned, I caught him glancing toward the very spot on the wall by the door where I’d gone a little crazy and he had fucked me up against the wall. When his eyes met mine, my cheeks got hot.
“Just tell me what to do,” he said, his lips twitching with a smile.
It felt as if his words held a double entendre. However, because I was anything but cool, I simply told him what to do about getting the food ready for the horses.
“Shasta gets some medicine in his feed,” I said, gesturing toward the buckets lined up in a row by the door.
It had taken me a few weeks, but I settled on a system where after I fed the horses in the morning, I brought their feed buckets in here because it minimized me carting things back and forth. “The food for Hazelnut is high end,” I explained, referring to one of the boarding horses and pointing to a labeled bucket.
“It’s vegan,” I added when Diego peered into it, his brows hitching up in question.
“Vegan, it is,” he said with a shrug.
After we got the feed buckets in the stalls, I let the horses in while Diego tossed hay into each stall. “What now?” he asked.
“I usually leave them to eat for at least an hour. They might finish sooner, but then I let them out for a few more hours before bringing them in for the night.”
“An hour is plenty of time.”
Reaching out, he caught my hand in his, reeling me close. In a hot second, sparks were scattering through my body. I was pressed against his hard, muscled form, and he dropped hot kisses along my neck while I shivered all over.
I was terrible at playing it cool, absolutely pathetic. And, apparently, when a man could really get to me, like only Diego could, I melted into a needy girl at nothing more than a few kisses.
“Plenty of time for what?” I asked breathlessly.
Diego lifted his head. “I’m reconsidering if it’s enough time.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said as he turned.
Disappointment sliced through me when he stepped away and reached for my hand. I wanted more kisses and more of, well, just more . He began to stride quickly out of the barn, making sure to pause and close the door completely behind us.
“For me to ravish you.”
“Ravish?”
He flashed a grin at me, sending my belly into spins. “I’ve never actually used the word ravish.”
I giggled, stumbling a little as we almost ran across the parking lot. We climbed the steps, and when I stumbled again, Diego steadied me with his palms curled on my waist.
“Wait.”
It was one word from him, a simple request, but it felt like a command. I obeyed instantly, stopping and glancing over my shoulder at him. He was one step below me, and I began to turn.
“Stay right there,” he ordered.
His hands slid down, coming to rest on my hips just below the curve of my waist. I held still, almost vibrating with need. I could feel the slick arousal between my thighs and was almost startled to notice it. I didn’t even usually get too turned on, much less when I was climbing up the stairs.
One of his hands shifted, stealing under the hem of my blouse and pushing my camisole up slightly. I felt a hot kiss land at the base of my spine, that one touch feeling like a drop of warm honey on my skin. Another one followed and then another, as he pushed the fabric up. My knees felt rubbery, and I could hardly catch my breath as my pulse spun off wildly, like horses let out to pasture with their hooves pounding on the ground.
I distantly heard myself whimper when another hot kiss landed on my skin. He drew back, and I missed his touch acutely. “Diego.” His name was a whispered plea.
Then, we were moving swiftly, stumbling through the front door. The next few moments were a jumble of my senses absorbing one thing after another. The front door slamming. Our clothes falling in a mixture of sounds—the thump of a shoe, my blouse whooshing through the air, and its almost silent rumple on the floor. Diego’s palms on my skin, his lips impatient and teasing on my neck.
I was barely conscious, made of nothing but sensation and the intense craving for more, more, more—more of everything, and all of it related to Diego and his magic touch.
Somehow, we stumbled into my bedroom. The motion sensor lights flicked on, casting the room in a soft, ambient radiance. Diego spun me around right as we reached the foot of my bed. My breath was coming in ragged, shallow heaves. I stared at him, feeling a little wild inside, like a stream rushing over a cliff after the first thaw of spring.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,’ he growled, dipping his head and giving me a rough kiss. One of his hands splayed across my belly possessively and the other cupped a breast, his thumb teasing over my achy nipple. I was a little surprised to discover I was already completely naked.
I wasn’t so out of it that I hadn’t known we were getting undressed, it’s just I’d lost track of the details. Diego was naked too, and I felt the velvety brush of his arousal, hot against the edge of my hip. The core of me clenched, and I wanted him inside me. Now.
Impatient, I reached between us, curling my palm over his silken shaft. His cock pulsed under my touch, and a thrill raced down my spine at realizing my touch affected him that way.
“Slow down, I don’t want to rush this time,” he murmured against my skin, his words and the motion of his lips another sensation that ricocheted through me.
My need was a bonfire with each sensation another match thrown into the raging inferno inside. I made a sound of protest, but he chuckled. “I’m in charge this time.”
Impatient though I was, I would surrender to Diego because I trusted him that completely, and I wanted him that fiercely.
He spread me out on the bed, his lips blazing a meandering trail over my breasts and my belly. Sparks scattered over the surface of my skin as he pushed my thighs apart with a slow, almost lazy pressure. Then, he trailed lingering kisses on the inside of my thighs, and I trembled with an anticipation so intense that by the time he licked into my folds, I cried out sharply.
I felt one finger and then another sink into me, and my hips rocked restlessly into him as he made love to me with his mouth and fingers and drove me completely out of my mind. I didn’t know how long I lasted before the pressure gathering inside me crashed like a wave, pleasure rolling through me in intense spasms.
I was still reverberating from that first climax when I felt him shift and rise up. My eyes flew open. “Where are you going?” I asked hoarsely.
“I have to find my jeans. Need a condom.”
He was gone in a flash. Back before I could protest any further, he was smoothing a condom on, protecting us in a moment of liquid intensity.
I welcomed his weight coming down over me, savoring the press of his thick crown at my entrance and then the slow slide when he filled me.
His hand brushed my tangled hair away from my forehead as he murmured, “I want to see you.”