Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
B y the time she followed him up the stairs, Kash’s legs were shaking.
Somewhere, a faucet dripped. She couldn’t hear the heater anymore, just the soft scuff of Diego’s socked feet on the hardwood, the brush of her robe against her calves, and her heart slamming against her ribs like it wanted out.
Without saying a word, Diego stopped at her bedroom door, turned the knob and held it open for her like he had done this a thousand times before. Like this was a ritual they had built together as a couple.
Her fingers brushed his as she passed him. The click of the door closing behind them echoed like a temple bell.
She turned, about to say something—anything—but he was already on her. His powerful body pressing hers into the door, every ridge and plane crushing her.
He hadn’t been kidding.
There were no words and no sweet welcome back. Just his mouth covering hers in a bruising kiss, swallowing her breath. His body pinned hers to the door, hard muscle and heat pressing in on all sides.
Her thighs parted instinctively, her hands rising to cup his face, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head with one hand. The shock of being held still made her moan.
But it was his rough kiss—all tongue and teeth—that revved her up instantly. Her breasts flattened against his chest, his cock a hot brand against her belly, he was an inferno of want in front of her.
Kash reveled in his nips and bites, in the rough caresses of his hands over her body, squeezing and stroking. Cupping and kneading. As if she were nothing but a vessel for him to pour his lust into. The raw, consuming intensity of his need made her hot all over.
Her breath whooshed as he trailed kisses down her jaw, like she was underwater and coming up for air. And beneath the arrows of sensation zooming and pooling at her core, sheer joy flickered like a small, smoking ember.
He had needed this with her and he had come to her to demand she give it. And that felt like a claiming, like a benediction.
She struggled against his firm hold of her wrists, desperate to touch him. To show him that she needed him too. Not to break her apart or to make her body respond. But because she hungered for his touch constantly, because she felt empty without his possession.
Because she was incomplete without his smile and his gaze on her. “Diego, please?—”
Her request floated away as he shoved his hand into the waistband of her sweatpants. Hands still in his grip, she felt stretched out, an offering to be consumed by him.
He pushed her sweatpants down in one smooth movement, knuckles grazing her thighs, leaving fire in their wake. Shoving away her thong, his fingers found her slick center and plunged in deep. One finger, then two, then three, without giving her a breather in between.
Her body convulsed, the stretch exquisite. Kash closed her eyes to better absorb his erotic assault.
His mouth was still on hers while he fucked her with his fingers like he knew her body better than she did. No, he truly did know.
She whimpered into the kiss, legs constrained by the sweatpants around her knees. She licked at his tongue, begging him to play. She stretched herself onto her toes and rubbed her breasts against his chest, hoping to distract him. He loved her tits, didn’t he?
She wasn’t ready for it to be over too soon.
His fingers plunged in and out of her pussy, hitting and nudging at her g-spot every single time while his thumb circled her clit in relentless rotations.
The rough pants of her breaths, the greedy sounds of his fingers and the way his chest pressed her into the door, flattening her breasts, and his mouth… Oh God, his teeth sucking at her lower lip, sending a sharp pulse of pain shooting through her that made the pleasure keener.
Stars exploded behind Kash’s eyes and suddenly, she was there. She was also a star, no, the sun itself, and she shattered into a million sparks.
She came with a sob, caught and swallowed by Diego’s mouth, as if that too belonged to him. Arms numb, her body still curled into his as if he could be the shelter from the storm.
“Diego, I?—”
But he still wasn’t in a listening mood apparently, even after wrecking her.
Her knees buckled as he pulled his fingers out of her pussy and painted her lips with her arousal. Dark eyes held hers as she tasted herself first and then licked at the tips of his fingers. Kash flushed as his gaze ate her up.
Without a word, he scooped her into his arms.
She wrapped her limbs around him automatically, stunned at the care in his touch even now. He laid her on the bed like she was made of spun glass.
With slow tugs and confident movements, he stripped her. Her t-shirt. Her thong. The robe had been long forgotten on the floor.
Kash closed her eyes as he undid her messy braid and fanned her hair around her pillow. Every inch of her skin tingled under his thorough gaze, her nipples already beading at the cool kiss of a breeze. Between her thighs, she was sated and sensitized and yet, a fresh fever broke out on her skin.
When the bed dipped, she hurriedly opened her eyes. Just in time.
One knee on the bed, Diego pulled his shirt off.
Her eyes roamed over him greedily, taking in the cuts of muscle, the faint trail of hair that led down from his navel, the flat ridges of his abdomen that she wanted to trail with the tip of her tongue.
Eyes holding hers, he shoved his jeans down, taking his boxers along. His cock sprang up, thick, beautiful, achingly hard. And his powerfully muscled thighs were a feast to take in.
Kash gasped, parting her thighs in invitation without meaning to. Her core tingled and clenched on emptiness, readying itself.
Walking around the bed, that thick length bobbing with his light steps, he turned on both bedside lamps. Soft golden light illuminated every inch of her skin. Every scar on her knee and stretch mark on her thighs and hips. His gaze danced from the top of her head to her lips, her neck, her aching breasts, the curve of her belly, and the rough curls at her pussy that she hadn’t gotten around to taking care of.
Her stomach clenched, more worried about the eagerness and the neediness he might see in her eyes than her body.
When she looked up, it was to find him looking at her like she was made of magic. Like he wanted to memorize every line and divot and dimple she was made of.
Her throat tightened and yet again, she swallowed the words.
He climbed onto the bed and in one fell swoop, his powerful body covered hers like a shield, like a prayer. Kash drowned under the weight of him, burned under the heat of his skin. Arched so that she could feel it in every inch of her.
He kissed her again, slow now, deep and searching. Like he needed to map her from the inside. Her fingers trembled as they curled around his shoulders.
He’d crudely claimed he wanted to fuck her but this wasn’t sex. This wasn’t him just slating his lust. This was… she had no words for the sensation that filled her.
It folded her in, like waves pulling her under and making her forget the surface altogether.
His mouth left hers to trace her throat, her collarbone. He sucked a mark into the curve of her shoulder, then moved lower. He palmed her breasts, kissed one, then the other, flicking her nipples until she cried out and arched into him. He suckled them until she was sobbing and writhing, nothing but a mindless creature of need now.
Her breath hitched. It was too much but also just right.
He kissed her hips. Her thighs. Her stretch marks. She didn’t understand how he made her feel this seen. This wanted. This ruined.
He lined up at her entrance and looked her in the eyes. Then he pushed in.
Her sharp cry joined his low groan as he seated himself fully inside her.
A blinding jolt of sensation cut her into ribbons of pleasure—stretching, pressure, fullness so intense it bordered on pain. She’d never get used to how he filled her and she never wanted to. And she realized then that her body had long understood how he completed her before her puny mind could grasp it.
When he swiveled his hips, pinning her into the bed, her back arched. Her hands fisted the sheets. Her core clenched him, over and over, urging him into movement, into ruining her all over again.
Instead, his mouth found hers for a soft, soul-stealing kiss. Their tongues dueled, lips met and parted, breaths synced. Kash wondered at how a kiss could break you apart, then put you back together.
And then he moved inside her.
Slowly, steadily, his hips rolling into hers with a rhythm that was maddening in its precision.
Each thrust made her feel fuller, deeper, like she could never get enough of him. She clutched at his back, his arms, his hair, dug her nails into his skin. Her legs wrapped around his waist while he continued to ravage her mouth, as if he couldn’t bear to let go of that tenuous connection.
Her mind spun in circles, her body grounded only by his. His weight. His heat. His need. It was like her thoughts were disjointed strings, slipping through her fingers, reaching for him.
He kissed her again. On her lips. Her jaw. Her eyes.
And then he held her gaze as he thrust deeper, faster, dragging her toward another climax. Her core pulsed, her skin slick with sweat, her breath coming in fractured pants.
She was unraveling, unspooling like thread from a fraying edge. When she came again, it was with a cry that cracked something open in her chest.
He pinned his hips down in a few brutal thrusts, groaning into her neck as he spilled into her. The muted roar of his release sank into her pores and she clenched him, determined to claim every drop from him, determined to keep him inside her, snug and tight.
When he let his weight bore down into her, his sweat-slicked forehead met hers, his nose nuzzling hers. She wrapped her arms around him, heart aching, lips finding his temple.
“You okay?” he asked, still catching his breath. “Was I rough?”
She kissed his jaw. “Yes. But I liked it.”
He pulled back to look at her, his lips a dark red, his eyes hazy with release.
“And you?” Kash asked quietly. She couldn’t help running her fingers through his damp hair, sifting through the thick strands. “Everything okay with you?”
“Yeah,” he said, his face buried in her neck. She felt his long inhale against her skin. “Thank you. I needed that.”
The words stung more than they should have. They were so long past gratitude and apologies and yet, she was the one who’d started it. She shifted beneath him and gasped as he hardened inside her again. Dear God, the man had stamina for days. But she couldn’t get distracted by that just now.
Warily, she cupped his jaw, loving the rub of his bristle against her palm. “Are you angry?”
“No,” he said, nuzzling into her hand but keeping his eyes closed. “Just tired.”
Kash stroked her hands down his back, loving the hard planes and clenched muscles. When he moaned, she brought them to his shoulders and kneaded. A soft curse escaped his lips. More contented than she ever remembered, she continued to knead the tight spots in his shoulder and upper back.
With another soft groan that echoed through her, he laid his head against her shoulder. Within seconds, he was asleep, his thick length twitching inside her when she instinctually clenched her pelvic muscles.
The man had fallen asleep. On top of her while he was inside her. And yet, she didn’t mind it one bit. If anything, she loved it that he felt comfortable enough to just let go.
She laughed at her own madness—though it might have been a cry too— then stared at the ceiling as a strange feverishness gripped her. With his breath warm against her neck, his weight crushing her into the bed, it came to her that she was in love. Had been for a while now, whatever else she tried to hide it behind.
Terrifying, disorienting love with a man she had judged for years. A man to whom she’d always be connected to through her niece. A man who, out of the kindness of his generous heart, had helped her heal, who would always see her as the woman who had raised his daughter.
Could Diego see her as more than just Tia’s aunt, want Kash in his life for more than a convenient, red-hot affair?
Doubts pecked at her, like little ants crawling over her skin. And her breath left her lungs in a sudden whoosh. She shifted under him, unable to lie still.
Diego lifted his head from her neck, brown eyes disoriented for a second. “Kash? Fuck, I’m crushing you.”
In the next blink, he was fully awake and pulling out of her.
Kash gasped at the sudden emptiness at her core, at the kiss of a cold breeze over her bare skin. And watched with dawning dismay as he rolled himself right out of the bed.
Even in that half-confused, half-worried state, she couldn’t help but admire the damp sheen to his cut muscles and how his half-erect cock bobbed against his right thigh.
Panic flared across his rugged features, as if he wanted to be anywhere but in the room with her.
“Diego?” Kash said, heart in her throat. She felt bare and vulnerable—not because she was naked—but without his touch to anchor her, without his gaze draping over her, she felt alone in the bed. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t use a condom,” he said, his eyes fixated between her thighs.
A pulse of raw fear shot through her before her period dates flashed through her head. Relief and something she did not dare identify coursed through her in twin waves.
Jesus, what the hell was wrong with her that she felt disappointed that it was a safe time in her cycle?
Feeling dizzy at the turn of her thoughts, she pushed up to her elbows. His cum dripped down her bare thigh and pooled onto the pristine white sheets, making a mess of her. Kash gasped at the strangely thrilling sensation—she’d never been fucked bare and that it was Diego lit a fire under her skin.
Apparently, it was the moment for her mind to go down all kinds of twisted alleys where she could give full rein to wanting crazy things with this man.
When she looked up, it was to find a dark possessive look flash across Diego’s features. Exactly mirroring the buzz in her own body.
A warm flush built up her chest and neck. At least, they seemed to be in lockstep in this madness. “I know. I forgot too.” As if she was approaching an untamed predator, slowly, she stretched her arm out to him. “It’s not the right time for us to get in trouble, if it helps.”
His fingers were cold as he wrapped them around hers and nodded. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been more careful.” The rough thrust of his fingers through his damp hair was uncharacteristically shaky.
“It took the two of us, no?” she said with a soft smile.
Finally, he nodded. But his tight jaw didn’t relent.
Walking around the bed, he pulled his jeans on. It fluttered at the tip of her tongue to beg him to stay, to spend the night with her. But something about the vibes he gave off held her back.
No, she held herself back because she was a coward. Because she didn’t want to betray her tender feelings before she understood the depth of this want for him. Before she understood how many forgotten and forsaken dreams he’d unleashed inside her all over again.
Like wanting a man who would love her, no matter what. Like wanting to build a family with the said man.
The flaps of his shirt danced as he stopped at the foot of the bed and his gaze did another lingering traversal of her bare body. Nostrils flaring, he said, “Do you want me to stay? Help you clean up?”
Kash blinked, holding back tears that knocked like unwanted guests. He clearly didn’t want to stay, and she wasn’t going to beg him. Not because of her stupid pride or ego but because she wanted him to want to stay. Because she wanted him to feel all these strange, glorious, terrifying things about her as she did him. “Still not up for words then?” she said, somehow infusing a thread of humor into the words.
He shook his head, at least giving her an honest answer.
She nodded in return. Stared at the closed door long after it shut behind him.
Her legs were unsteady as she got out of the bed. She cleaned herself up in the bathroom, moving in slow motion while her heart galloped like a racehorse.
Not looking at her reflection, she returned to the bedroom. Crawled back in, pulled the covers over herself, and buried her face into the pillow where his scent still lingered.
Then she wept, silently, into the darkness, profoundly grateful to be alive, to feel this depth of love for him, and for the fear fisting her heart that he might not feel the same.
Because now that she had found a man worth giving over herself to, she could not settle for anything less from him.
* * *
The morning light was too bright, too cheerful when Kash woke up. For several confusing moments between sleep and waking, she didn’t understand the breath-stealing weight on her chest.
Until she took a big breath and the tangled sheets around her smelled like Diego. She rolled to her side, the sunlight highlighting the empty space beside her.
When she sat up, her body ached in delicious ways—her breasts sensitive, her thighs sore, her core tender. A yearning rose up inside her to see him there, powerful frame stretched beside her, muscled limbs warm and tight. And that devilish smirk he gave when he was teasing her.
To reach out and kiss him when she woke up every morning, to have him embrace her after a long workday at night.
To just spend the rest of her life loving him.
Sighing, she slid out of bed gingerly. Her robe was where it had landed last night, bunched near the door.
Everything felt too loud, too colorful, too intense. The floor cold beneath her feet. The sunlight warm on her bare limbs. The ache between her thighs, raw and intimate.
In the bathroom, she stood under the lukewarm stream of the shower longer than necessary, bracing one hand against the tile while water rinsed away every trace of him. But some things were etched in too deep.
Her skin still tingled where he’d kissed her hip, her collarbone. Her lips swollen from his kisses.
And inside her…there was no forgetting the way he’d possessed her. Like she belonged to him. Like he knew her better than she knew herself. Like he could love her better than anyone else ever had.
She dressed quickly in leggings and a fitted top and tied her hair back into a bun, giving herself the illusion of control. The house would be in chaos again today with more wedding prep.
Diego might be everywhere. Or nowhere.
Part of her wanted to find him and ask him why he’d left. Part of her wanted to act like nothing had changed. Pretend she hadn’t watched him sleep like a lovesick fool.
What she couldn’t do—what she didn’t know how to do—was tell him the truth.
That she was already his. That it wasn’t just sex anymore. That she was scared out of her fucking mind.
Not just yet. Maybe not until her brother and Muriel were married and she could think without the wedding chaos around her.
She squared her shoulders, opened the door and stepped out into the world a changed woman. A woman utterly in love.