36. Chapter 36
Chapter 36
I was sandwiched between Monty and his soon-to-be-wife, Kassie, on Cruz’s couch. They’d fed me, given me wine, and completely smothered me since Monty had picked me up at the mall after I’d given my statement to the police.
“That chicken noodle soup was so good,” I said, glancing at the door for approximately the thousandth time in the past hour. Cruz should be here soon.
The couple shared a look over me that seemed to tell a story. “It’s from the deli around the corner,” Kass informed me. “Monty brought me some when I was sick.”
I was surprised his pupils weren’t shaped like little hearts when he looked at his bride. “Well, it was my fault you were sick, Kasserole.” I loved when he called her that. It was so cute.
Kassie bit her bottom lip as they stared at each other. Were they about to start making out with me right in the middle?
Pushing off the couch before I got stuck in the midst of a hot and heavy makeout sesh, I felt the nerves of the day settle in my stomach. Oh crap. Literally.
As I made my way to the bathroom in Cruz’s room, I felt Monty’s presence behind me, and I turned. “I’m just going to the bathroom, Mont.”
He nodded. “Okay, I’ll wait right outside the door.”
“Monty,” I said bluntly, crossing my arms over my chest, “I need to poop, and I’d rather you not be within listening distance.”
His face turned a hundred shades of red. “Oh. Yeah, right. Okay. Um, do you want Kassie to wait by the door?”
I fought a smile. He was taking his orders from Cruz seriously, not letting me out of his sight for even a second since we’d gotten here.
“I don’t particularly want Kassie hearing my digestive noises either,” I told him, giving his thick arm a squeeze. “I’m okay. I promise. I might take a shower too, so don’t call in the National Guard if I’m more than a couple minutes.”
He chuckled. “Sorry if I’m being a little over the top. We just want you to know you’re not alone.”
Tears threatened the rims of my eyelids, but I managed to hold onto them as I gave him a big hug. “Thank you. I know you two are trying to finalize wedding stuff, but I appreciate you being here for me.”
“You feeling safe is the most important thing to both of us right now,” he said sweetly, kissing the top of my head before pulling back and giving me a gentle shove between my shoulders. “Go do your business, and we’ll turn the TV up loud.”
I laughed as I went into the bedroom and closed the door. I really liked those two, and I hoped that one day, I’d be lucky enough to call them my in-laws.
“He’s on his way up,” Monty informed me thirty minutes later, setting down his phone and standing. He seemed to have as much nervous energy as I did.
My hair was still damp from my shower, and I had donned my most comfortable lazy day clothes, a pair of Lululemon leggings and one of Cruz’s sweatshirts that swallowed me whole. I’d stolen a lot of his shirts over the past few months, and after every laundry day, I’d make him wear them for a while so they’d smell like him when I wore them.
There was nothing better than smelling your man on your comfort clothes.
Monty crossed to the door and opened it, standing beneath the door frame with his fingers drumming anxiously against his thighs until we heard heavy footsteps in the hallway outside. Cruz appeared, and the two men stared at each other for a beat before Monty grabbed him in a fierce hug.
I heard low murmurs but couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it was obviously an emotional moment.
“Oh my god,” Kassie breathed, clutching my hand. “They are so cute. Almost like brothers.”
Kass, you have no idea.
When the guys broke apart, we heard Cruz say, “I promise I’m okay, Mont.”
Kassie stepped forward, and Cruz enveloped her in a hug. “Thanks for coming over, Kass. I know you being here helped a lot.”
She sniffled and nodded.
A second after he released Kassie, I was being lifted off the ground by Cruz’s strong arms and carried swiftly down the hallway. “Thanks for everything guys,” he shouted, keeping his eyes firmly on my face, “but… you know…”
“We’ll see ourselves out,” Monty said with a knowing chuckle.
And then it was just us. Me and the man I loved with all my heart.
He lowered me gently to my feet and cupped my face with his big, warm hands. “I’ve been so worried about you,” he murmured. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I want you.”
His exhale brushed against my lips. “I want you too, but I was afraid you’d be too upset or something.” Blue eyes searched my gray ones, looking for any sign that I wasn’t okay.
“I’m not. I need it. I need you.”
“Thank Christ,” he said, his lips quirking up on one side. “I love seeing you in my clothes, Tink, but I need to have you naked so I can feel your skin, warm and… alive.” His voice cracked a little at the end, and I buried my face in his neck and inhaled. He smelled like sweat and man, and it was about the best scent ever.
We held each other for a long moment before I backed up and pulled the shirt off over my head and removed my leggings. “I’m here, Cruz. I’m here, and I’m alive, thanks to you.”
Cruz dropped to his knees and moved his hands reverently over every inch of my body, following each path with tender kisses. Tears streamed down my face. I’d never felt more adored.
His own eyes were suspiciously moist when he looked up and rasped, “I love you, Lehra. Every beat of my heart belongs to you.”
The sight of Cruz on his knees with tears in his eyes made my legs weak. The man looked like a complete badass in a very tight, black, microfiber tee and black cargo pants. The bulge of his biceps threatened the seams, and his tats peeked out from beneath the sleeves.
In a word, he looked invincible. But I loved the way he showed me his softness, the way he shared his vulnerable side with me.
“I love you too, Cruz. Everything about you except for one thing.”
He rose to his feet, eyebrows inching together as he towered over me. “What’s that?”
I dragged my fingers up and down his thick, veiny forearms. “You’re wearing too many clothes right now.”
His smile was devastating, full of affection and dimples. “We can fix that. Why don’t you get in bed, and I’ll go take a shower right quick?”
“No,” I said, clinging to his arms and resting my nose against his chest. “I like how you smell after work. It’s sexy.”
“Baby, I sweat a lot in the body armor,” he warned, but I shook my head and lowered my hands to the hem of his shirt.
“You smell like a man,” I whispered, earning me a low growl from him as I inhaled the salty scent of him. Raising the shirt, I didn’t miss the wince when he lifted his arms above his head. As I revealed his skin, I saw why. “You’re hurt,” I cried, brushing my fingers oh so gently over the deep purple bruises dotting his torso.
“It’s okay, Tink. It’s from the impact of the…” He hesitated.
“The bullets?” I asked, horrified by what I was seeing. “You got shot because of me, and now look at you. You’re… oh my god!” I was nearing hysteria levels, and Cruz took my shoulders and squeezed, urging me to look up at him.
“Lehra, listen. It’s fine. The vest protected me. I don’t have a single gunshot wound, only a few bruises. It happens.”
“It happens? You look like you’ve been beaten with a baseball bat. You could have broken ribs or something.”
He sighed. “The paramedics think a couple are cracked. It’s definitely not the worst that could have happened.” The implication of that settled deep into my gut, and everything inside me twisted.
I leaned down and kissed each circular bruise. Slowly. Softly. “We don’t have to do anything tonight,” I whispered against his warm skin.
Cruz gently cupped my chin and lifted my face. “If you think for one minute that I’m not going to make love to you tonight, Lehra, you don’t know me very well.”
I was officially a puddle.
“If it hurts, promise me you’ll stop.”
His thumb dusted along my bottom lip before he kissed me firmly. “God you’re so fucking sweet.”
“Promise me,” I repeated, and he smiled.
“I promise, but if I’m inside you, the last thing I’ll be thinking about is a few little bruises.”
I didn’t argue the little bruises part, though some of them were the size of my fist. I simply crawled onto the bed and beneath the crisp white sheets before he could try to lift me. Again.
Cruz shucked the rest of his clothes, and I gawked at him without an ounce of shame. Despite his injuries, he was still the most beautiful man in existence, all tanned skin, hard angles, and lean muscles. His cock was already fully erect, the tip glistening with his desire.
Slipping beneath the covers with me, he pulled me into his arms and lowered his mouth to mine. The kiss was laden with promises of forever, and I wound my arms around his neck, pressing my body to his.
The skin-to-skin contact was precisely what I needed, and I relaxed into his caresses as we made out until our lips were sore.
“Do you want me to be on top?” I asked, still concerned about his ribs.
“No,” he assured me, his voice gritty with need when he pushed me to my back and covered my body with his. “I need it like this tonight, mi amor.”
His erection was hot and hard, and he slid the length of himself between the lips of my sex. Back and forth, back and forth, until I was dripping with need for him.
“Please, Cruz,” I whimpered, desperate for him to be inside me.
The head of his dick found my entrance, and he paused there, looking down into my eyes. Time seemed to stand still around us like we were in our own little bubble.
“I love you,” I told him, holding his perfect face and rubbing my thumbs against the slight stubble on his jaw. “I’ve never loved anyone like this.”
Cruz’s eyes swam with emotion when he pushed in the first inch. “I love you too, Lehra. You’re my forever.” He slipped his arms beneath me, binding our bodies together as he entered me fully with aching slowness.
We moved together, our hips rocking in a sublime rhythm that had the bedsprings creaking like a love song beneath us. He covered my mouth with his own, and our tongues joined the band, circling and tasting as he moved between my thighs.
His large body pressed me into the mattress, and I rested my ankles against the backs of his thighs, urging him deeper.
“I can’t get enough of you,” I panted when he kissed across my cheek and to my ear.
“Mi alma ha estado buscando la tuya desde siempre,” he whispered against my damp flesh before translating. “My soul has been searching for yours forever.”
They were the most beautiful words I’d ever heard.
As fat tears streamed from my eyes, Cruz reached for my hands and pulled them over my head, linking our fingers. He still moved slowly on top of me, though there was a desperate edge to our lovemaking now. Like we were attempting to crawl inside one another.
His eyes were liquid blue pools, locked on mine as he tunneled in and out of me, hitting all my perfect spots. When my need coiled like a compressed spring, he seemed to sense it, his cock swelling inside me.
“Together,” he gritted out as my inner walls began to pulse around him.
“Together,” I repeated, squeezing his hands hard when he held me down and angled his hips to grind the smooth head of his erection over my G-spot. The piercing on the top of his dick rubbed against my clit, the dual stimulation overwhelming me in the very best of ways.
“God, baby,” Cruz groaned, his thrusts growing erratic. “You’re so tight around me. So beautiful when you come for me.”
His mouth closed over mine and dominated it as the orgasm took over my body. A series of incomplete words garbled from my mouth and into his, and I arched my hips up for more. I was on fire, the inferno starting at my groin and eating up every inch of my bare flesh.
Cruz’s slick body trembled over mine, his low grunts vibrating the back of my throat as he spilled into me. He released my hands, dragging his fingers down my arms until he was caressing my cheeks. “Love you, baby,” he murmured, sounding as exhausted as I felt.
“Love you too,” replied, my voice thick with satiation.
As we began to come down, he kissed me again, making love to my mouth with his tongue, sweet and unhurried.
“You okay?” I asked him, stroking tenderly along his ribcage when he finally ended the kiss.
“Yeah, I’m good.” Though he groaned when he rolled off me and onto his back. Less than a minute later, he was sleeping soundly, one forearm draped across his middle.
I propped up on my elbow and watched him for the longest time, running my fingers through his hair as he slept. Cruz Estrada was truly a gorgeous man.
And he loved me .
I was the luckiest woman in the world.
“When is your mom arriving?” I asked as Cruz moved me smoothly around the dance floor at Monty and Kassie’s wedding reception.
He smiled down at me, looking like the most delicious man alive in his tuxedo. “Next week. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
“You think she’ll like me?”
“I think she’ll adore you almost as much as I do,” he assured me.
We passed beneath a string of purple flowers wrapped with fairy lights. “That was such a beautiful wedding,” I sighed.
“It was, and Sully was so cute.” Cruz glanced over to where Kassie was doing something that looked suspiciously like the funky chicken with her son, and his face softened.
“Do you want kids?” I asked, and he returned his attention to me.
“I do. How about you?”
My head bobbed up and down. “I’d love more than one. There are some benefits to being an only child, but I always wanted a sibling.”
I laughed at Kass and Sully, who were now doing the Cupid shuffle, even though the band was playing a waltz.
“Do you want to marry me?”
My head whipped around, and I was surprised spit didn’t fly out of my mouth as I gaped at Cruz. He was smiling but didn’t seem like he was joking in the least.
“Are you proposing?”
He pressed a kiss to my lips. “Sweetheart, when I propose, you’ll know it. Right now, I’m just having a conversation.”
“I would marry you in a heartbeat,” I told him, not even having to think about it.
“Good,” he said when the song ended. His eyes focused across the room and then brightened. “Hey, is that a pickle bar?”