28. Elka
Chapter 28
Elka
“ W e shouldn’t have done that.” Not this time or the last time. Or the time before that.
“Which time,” Antonio asked, his voice was a smile filled with masculine pride. “Because there have been many times.” He kissed one side of my breast and then the other before kissing the nipple. “Many, many times.”
I shivered at his kiss, at the way his hands softly climbed from my calf up my thigh and over my hip until his thumbs brushed over hard nipples. “Any of them. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that.” Not without talking first, anyway.
“You don’t hear me complaining.” His hands stopped moving and his eyes bore into my soul. “It’s no secret that you want me, Elka. What I want to know is can you love me again?”
As if I ever stopped loving him. I don’t even know when it happened, or how. What did it say about me that I could so easily fall for a man who treated me the way Antonio did? Nothing kind, that much was certain. “It’s not about whether I can or not.”
“That’s all it’s about,” he insisted and kissed the warm skin between my breasts. “Can you?”
My eyes fluttered closed when his lips wrapped around my nipple and I arched into him, the word, “Yes,” ripped from my lips.
Antonio smiled and looked up me, hope swimming in the amber and green swirls of his eyes. “Yes you can or yes to this,” he asked and swiped a tongue across my breast.
“Yes to both, but yeah I could love you Antonio.”
“Again,” he clarified. “You can love me again.”
“No. I do love you.” Denying it would just be cruel and I wasn’t ashamed of how I felt, at least I didn’t think I was.
“But you don’t trust me,” he guessed correctly at the reason for my hesitation. “I don’t deserve it, not yet. But I can only prove you wrong if you stay.”
I didn’t want to leave Tulip but I couldn’t stay. “I can’t live this down, Antonio.”
“There’s nothing to live down. Nothing at all.”
As if proving his point, the doorbell rang and I groaned into his chest. “See what you’ve done?”
He chuckled and the sounded reverberated through my whole body, making it even harder to tear myself away from him. “At least they gave us a few hours before ambushing us.”
I glanced at the clock. Five-fifteen. “Crap, you’re right. Keep them company, will you?” My whole body caught on fire at the way his gaze raked down my body, slow and tempting until I could feel his hands all over my body, his body pumping into mine. “Keep looking at me like that and…,” I sighed or maybe it was a swoon. Who could say?
“And you’ll stay here and let me show you what we have to look forward too after work every day?”
That sounded amazing. “Every day? Now I’m intrigued.” The bell sounded again and I gave Antonio a look before disappearing into the bathroom.
Thankfully, he didn’t join me and ten minutes later I found my living room and kitchen filled with people. “Did my invite get lost in the mail?”
The rooms fell silent as more than a dozen pairs of eyes turned to me, all wearing matching smiles. “We came to celebrate your victory,” Janey said and held up a bottle of bubbly.”
“And convince you to stay,” Penny said, looking fabulous in another of her no-nonsense suits.
“I second that,” Antonio said as he walked into the living room with two mismatched glasses of champagne, handing me one. “Stay,” he urged quietly kissed my jaw.
“Who said I was going anywhere?” Okay so that was a dumb question, but everyone looked so hopeful and I hated to disappoint them.
“All the boxes in your living room for one thing, and your no show at the courthouse,” Nina countered, eyebrow arched, daring me to contradict her. “Where are you going?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Good. That means there’s still time to change your mind. If Antonio hasn’t done it yet.” All eyes turned to the man and he smiled and raised his glass.
“I’m working on it.” He looked down at me and pulled me close, not hesitating to plant a big heart-stopping kiss on my mouth in front of everyone I knew in town.
“You shouldn’t kiss like that with your mother watching,” I whispered in his ear which sent his head tilting back as a loud laugh erupted from his belly.
“When should I kiss you like that, Elka?”
I shivered at the way he said my name. “Always.”
A smile brightened his face at my words and I realized they were true. As embarrassed as I still felt, Antonio was right. These people supported me. They liked me. Just for me. “I like the sound of that.”
“Since you’re staying and loaded,” Nina started without a hint decorum, “I want you to know that I expect a truly epic bridal shower gift.” She flashed a wide smile and winked. “I sent you a few links.”
“That explains the sex swing,” I shot back which sent everyone into a fit of laughter. Except Preston who had turned an alarming shade of pink.
“Oh good. I didn’t want to send duplicate links to anyone. We’re feeling hopeful,” she said with a fake overly enthusiastic smile on her face and I rolled my eyes.
I hadn’t been here long, but Tulip felt like home already. “Thank you all for showing up today. For supporting me.”
“That’s what friends do,” Ry insisted and smacked a kiss on Penny’s cheek. “Now put Antonio out of his misery and tell him you’re staying.”
Staying. It didn’t have a certain appeal which had a lot to do with the big sexy, raven haired man beside me. I didn’t have to trust him fully to stay because I wasn’t staying for him. “Excuse us.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him upstairs to my bedroom and into the master bathroom where I closed the door behind us. “I’m not staying for you,” I blurted out.
His smile dimmed. “Did we need this much privacy for that?”
Dammit. “I’m staying in Tulip but I’m not staying for you. I’m staying for me, Antonio. For me.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, drawing it out several syllables. “What does that mean?”
His words tugged a smile across my face. “It means that I love you Antonio and I want you to show me the guy I’ve seen glimpses of when he wasn’t being mean to me.”
“I will,” he promised.
“I challenge you to make me fall even deeper in love with you, Antonio.” I wasn’t sure that was even possible as I stared up at his confused but hopeful face, his hands on my hips and a gorgeous smile lighting up his face.
“Challenge accepted, babe.”
“Good,” I grinned and jumped up on the countertop, tugging his mouth down to mine. “How long before they expect us back downstairs?” Even as I asked, my hands worked on his button fly until I had him, hard and thick, in my hand.
“At least one orgasm,” he grinned. “Maybe two.”
“Promises, promises.” My legs wrapped around his waist and I closed my eyes, reveling in the way Antonio fulfilled that promise and so much more.
The End.