Chapter 16
16
C amila stepped out of the shower and dried off. Since Alejandro stormed out, she hadn’t been able to think about anything but their argument. Maybe she had said too much, but there was so much more she wanted to say. So much he didn’t know.
She wiped the condensation off the mirror and stared at her reflection. She was sorry they’d argued, but she wasn’t sorry about what she’d said. For so long she’d held in her feelings, and it was time for her to let them out. He had clearly needed to get a few things off his chest too. How their words would affect their relationship moving forward remained to be seen.
She laughed softly and without mirth. Actually, he’d been clear they wouldn’t have much of a relationship after he left, as if she hadn’t already been suffering from lack of contact.
She pulled the shower cap off her head and let her hair fall onto her shoulders and down her back. Then she covered her body in moisturizing, pineapple-and honey-scented lotion. She re-wrapped her body in the towel and walked into the bedroom.
She pulled up short when she saw Alejandro sitting on the end of the bed. He moved so quietly, she hadn’t heard him come in. When did he come back and how long had he been sitting there? He still looked angry, but his broad shoulders were rounded, as if the fight had gone out of him.
“What would you have said, if I had asked you to marry me?” he asked, his voice low and deeper than she’d ever heard it.
Camila licked her dry lips, her heart racing two times faster than normal. “I would have said yes,” she answered in a whisper.
Neither of them moved for the longest time. They simply stared at each other. Did he care? Did her answer matter? Did he understand she was baring her soul to him without any guarantee he would reciprocate her feelings?
Finally, Alejandro came to his feet and walked slowly over to where she stood. He swallowed hard, his face twisting with pain. He caged her head in his big hands.
“If I had known—if I had known, Camila, I swear I would have done everything differently. Fuck . Months would not have gone by without you seeing me. I love you. I love you so goddamn much. I have loved you for as long as I can remember. I think I fell in love with you that very first day, when you said hola and handed me the flower.”
Tears filled her eyes and caused his face to blur. “Jandro… I wish…” Her voice cracked. Overcome with emotion, she couldn’t continue, but no more words were needed.
He bent his head and kissed away the tears streaming from the corner of her eyes and onto her cheeks. His lips on her skin were a welcome balm, soothing the ache from all the years they had hidden their feelings from each other. He pulled her closer, and she melted into him, their hearts beating in sync, unshackled from the doubt, fear, and insecurity that had kept them apart.
Clutching his shirt, she lifted her lips, and right away the fingers of one hand tunneled into her hair and his mouth seized hers.
Finally . Yearning unfurled in the pit of her stomach.
The kiss was chaotic and urgent. Alejandro slid his tongue along the seam of her lips, and she parted them with a gasp, allowing his tongue to plunder her mouth and eagerly explore.
Heart pounding in her chest, her world narrowed to the pressure of his mouth moving against hers—firm, demanding, yet tender. She savored his masculine flavor blended with the sharp taste of the dark beer. The heat between them built quickly, spreading through her body with the speed of an explosion. Beneath her fingertips, his heart beat in the same rapid staccato as her own.
Time stopped. The kiss was everything she had imagined and more. She was lost in it, in him, unable to remember a time when she hadn’t wanted or needed this.
His taste was intoxicating, flooding her senses until nothing else mattered. Nothing but their mouths seared together, his one hand clenched in her hair while the other pressed her flush against his hard body. Her knees weakened as she clung to him, fingers tightening in his shirt as if letting go would cause her to lose her balance and this moment.
There was a desperation in the way Alejandro kissed her, as if he, too, had been waiting for this—aching for it—just as much as she had been. The way he held her, the way he kissed her, was a confession.
She ran her hands over his chest. His body was composed of solid muscle. She pushed his shirt higher, letting her fingertips trace the ridges of his abdomen. Touching his flesh was intoxicating and arousing. All these years, every time she’d touched him had been in friendship. This was sexual, and her brain was short-circuiting.
“I want you naked,” he husked in her ear.
She helped him remove his clothes, barely managing not to tear them to shreds. Transfixed by the beauty of his naked body, all Camila could do was stare. Broad shoulders flanked a tight, muscular chest that narrowed around lean hips to cradle a— wow —she caught her breath at the sight of his jutting erection nestled in the hairs between his thighs.
She dropped her towel to the floor before they fell onto the bed in a tangle of naked arms and legs. His lips found her neck, and his long fingers cradled her behind.
“You have such a beautiful ass. I could look at it all day,” he whispered.
“That can be arranged.”
“Don’t tease me.”
Leaning over her on one elbow, Alejandro kissed his way down her shoulder, at the same time allowing his hand to trace the curves of her body. Down her side and over the flat plane of her stomach.
Then his mouth moved lower, warm and moist, his tongue flicking against her heated skin. He hovered above her erect nipple, letting his breath tease the taut peak. Camila sucked in a deep breath that transformed into a moan of frustration at his unbelievable self-control.
Why didn’t he take the nipple into his mouth? Why didn’t he put her out of her misery?
Straining upward, she grabbed the back of his head and forced her breast into his mouth. His lips closed around her dark flesh as he sucked and teased the tight bud with his tongue.
Sharp pleasure arrowed to her groin as her head started spinning. She had known his touch would be enjoyable, but this—this was otherworldly good.
His hand slid between her thighs and stroked her slick heat. A mewl of satisfaction escaped her lips as she arched her spine and clutched the back of his head, her fingers sinking into the softness of his black hair.
Noting her reaction to his lovemaking, Alejandro continued to suck and lick, going from one breast to the other. Driving her crazy with each delicious swipe of his tongue and tug of his lips.
She held fast to him and strained closer, working her hips against his hand, and slowly spiraling out of control, as the hairs on his chiseled chest teased her nipples and added to the pleasurable sensations dominating her senses.
He kissed her again. This time with more urgency. He ravaged her—his tongue plundering her mouth and drawing moan after moan from the depths of her throat.
His muscular body pressed down on top of hers, his hard dick between her legs a straight, impatient rod bumping her tender core.
Past hurts disappeared. Nothing else mattered but the two of them in this very moment. In this time. Together at last.
Camila explored his body with relish. He was magnificent. A warrior. But when she saw the bluish-purple bruises on his back, she sucked in a breath of horror. A wave of guilt crashed over her, and her throat tightened with the weight of an unspoken apology, knowing every bruise was because of her.
“Alejandro,” she whispered. She kissed the first mark and felt a tremor run through him. Each time her lips touched skin, his muscles twitched.
Their movements became more frantic. They twisted and turned on the mattress, limbs tangling in the sheets as they caressed and kissed with urgency. She moved restlessly beneath his big body, enjoying every touch of his hand, the earthy scent of his skin, and the hard, roughened texture of his body against hers.
When he curled his fingers beneath her bottom, she immediately spread her legs. Ready. Panting. Anxious to receive him.
The tip of his erection pushed against her, and she whimpered with anticipation.
She wanted him. Needed him like no other.
“Jandro, please. Please ,” she begged without shame. She just needed him so desperately.
Moist heat spread between her thighs as her desire increased, and they locked eyes while he slid his body inside hers. Right before she closed her eyes, he grimaced and closed his eyes, and they both released a low moan.
Camila’s arms tightened around his neck as she urged him to move.
When he did, his thrusts were hard and deep, his hands angling her hips higher to give him more control. She tossed back her head and let loose a cry of unbridled passion. Too much. Oh god. He was too much. She could hardly breathe from the pleasure.
Finally, she belonged to him. Finally, he belonged to her. No barriers between them. Skin to skin. She was in the arms of the man she’d loved for a lifetime.
Her friend. Her protector.
And now, her lover.
Over and over, Alejandro withdrew and then filled her with his swollen, rigid flesh. Driving her mindless. Nothing had ever felt this good.
Suddenly, he stopped and flipped her over. Then he was inside her again, and the pressure was so delicious from that position that her mouth opened on a soft gasp.
Her hair fell in tangled waves as he drove into her from behind. He talked dirty to her in Spanish, whispering the words into the back of her neck. Her fingers gripped the pillows, and she curled her spine, undulating her hips against each magnificent thrust.
“Camila.” The sound of her name was a hoarse growl from a man losing control.
He gripped her wrists and bound both hands to the pillows.
She was completely and utterly dominated by him. “I’m coming,” she gasped, and came with a vengeance. Her entire body shook. The orgasm rocked her with the force of an earthquake.
She cried out like a wild woman, her fingernails biting into her palms as wave after wave of unbelievable pleasure swept through her and took control of her mind. Alejandro buried his face in the side of her neck and whispered her name in a hoarse, pained voice.
“Camila.” He tensed, and then the same shudders rocked him too.
His fingers tightened around her wrists as he fought for control. But what they had experienced was too powerful to control. It couldn’t be contained. He was as lost as she, tossed by the winds of ecstasy. With a final shudder, he collapsed on top of her. His full weight crushing her into the mattress. But she didn’t want him to move. She could stay like this forever.
Alejandro kissed her ear and her cheek and then the corner of her mouth. She kissed him back with a soft moan of satisfaction. Rolling off her, he gathered her close and gently, carefully pushed her hair off her forehead.
“I must look like a mess,” she whispered.
“You look beautiful. Like a woman who has been made love to.”
He tilted her chin higher and placed a tender kiss on her lips. When he lifted his head, he gazed down into her eyes, almost as if searching for something.
“ Te amo , Xochitl.”
Her heart melted. She loved when he called her by her first name.
“Te he amado toda mi vida ,” he said. I have loved you all my life.
Happy tears filled her eyes. “ Yo también. Te he amado toda mi vida.”