Chapter 37 #2
The jasmine drifting across the terrace, the lantern light against her skin, and the satin hugging her body were enough for me to lose all sense of control, with zero regrets. I watched quietly as she looked around my private retreat, as if she genuinely understood what this place meant to me.
She had no idea that no one came in here. No one. Yet it seemed I had this room created for her alone.
“I’ll be honest…” Catalina turned slowly beneath the warm lighting, her fingertips brushing lightly along the bookshelf before she looked back at me again. “This feels like a completely different side of you.”
“It is,” I half-smiled. “It’s the authentic side.”
She arched an eyebrow at me, and I almost came undone. “Should I be fortunate to meet the more authentic version of Titus Hawk?”
I stepped toward her, eyes not leaving hers, “You may be the only one who has ever met this side of me, as I rarely show it to anyone.”
Her eyes held mine for a long moment. She wasn’t impressed or dazzled by my words. She seemed to be trying to figure out who the man was beneath the powerful exterior I kept up.
And that was my breaking point. I crossed the room before I could stop myself, and Catalina barely had time to inhale before my hand slid into her hair and my mouth found hers again.
The sound she made against my lips nearly finished me. Every ounce of restraint I’d fought to rebuild during dinner vanished the second she kissed me back.
Her tongue moved against mine as her fingers twisted into my shirt, steadying herself against my hunger for more than just a kiss.
I walked her backward slowly, my attention entirely consumed by the feel of her mouth against mine as the warm light blurred around us. I could still taste the wine she’d sipped while I begged myself to stop imagining exactly what I was doing.
She laughed softly into the kiss as the backs of her legs hit the edge of the bed. “Easy,” she said, breaking the kiss for just a moment.
Easy? God, that was certainly an impossible request.
I gently pulled away, exhaling and calming myself down.
I looked down at her as she sat against the edge of the mattress, her satin dress pooled around her thighs while her cheeks remained flushed from kissing me.
Hell.
Beautiful didn’t even begin to cover it anymore. I stepped between her knees slowly, bracing one hand beside her on the mattress while the other brushed lightly along her jaw.
“You have no idea what you’re doing to me tonight,” I admitted roughly. “None.” I gently traced my thumb over her bottom lip.
Her fingers curled softly into the front of my shirt again. “I think I’m starting to. I’ll admit I’m not afraid.”
I licked my lips, my eyes back on hers. “You should be.”
“No,” she assuredly responded.
I sucked in a breath, running my hands up the sides of her legs, pushing her dress up. My eyes drifted down to her muscular thighs, which I couldn’t believe were mine tonight.
That she was trusting me with her body. God in heaven, how was I this fortunate? My lips went to her throat as I heard her whisper a moan, feeling her fingers twist in my hair, her hand pressing firmly against the back of my head.
Her legs parted more as she gently lay back, giving me better access to climb over the top of her while I worked to remove her dress.
My God, you’d think I’d never seen a woman before. Her full breasts were beyond any fantasy I’d imagined for this exact moment, one I never believed she’d allow me to have with her.
I pulled up as she climbed backward on the bed, her hard nipples practically begging me to take them into my mouth. I licked my suddenly dry lips and bit down on my bottom one when her head fell back into the throw pillows, gazing at me seductively.
How the hell could she do this so easily while I was coming undone from the inside out? Her pale lace panties gave me a glimpse of a neatly groomed dark patch of hair that tempted me to nearly salivate.
I watched her bite her bottom lip, studying me as I memorized the body of perfection that was practically begging me to worship it until sunrise.
That was all it took for me to remove my shirt and make my way to the only meal I desired to eat tonight.
I gently moved over the top of her, her legs falling open. I framed her face between my hands as I studied her eyes to be sure this was what she wanted.
The pressure building in my cock was spurring me to rub against her and assure myself this could be mine tonight. And when I felt her heat through the thin barrier of our clothes, the quiet sound she made against my mouth told me everything I needed to know.
I kissed her chin, then her cheek, and my eyes met her dazed ones. “No sabes lo que me haces.”
She smiled, her hand coming up to my cheek. “And you have no idea what you do to me, either,” she said, repeating my words.
My attention went to her perfect breasts. I dipped my head and used the tip of my tongue to run a circle around her hardened nipple. Before I could think, my mouth covered her breast, and I sucked and pulled it further into my mouth.
She arched her hips up into my waist as if I’d reached for her clit.
Holy fuck, she was as turned on by this moment as I was.
Then, like someone had poured ice water over my head, my brain finally caught up with the rest of me. In the middle of nearly losing every ounce of control I had, one very important realization slammed into me—I hadn’t thought about protection once.
My lips protested as I forced myself away from her body, my forehead dropping to the center of her chest while I tried to steady my breathing.
Hearing her soft pants beneath me nearly destroyed my resolve all over again.
Hell, in that moment, I felt reckless enough to tell her I’d gladly raise the damn kid if tonight went too far.
But thankfully, common sense finally won the fight against lust and dragged me back to reality.
“You are so perfect,” I said.
I felt her body tense, and most likely out of fear of some form of rejection I was about to deliver.
Fuck my life. Why didn’t I just take her back to my other room? Right… because I wanted to prevent this from happening.
Maybe it was for the best?
“Is everything okay?”
I heard the shakiness in her voice.
My eyes lifted to hers. “No,” I said, my voice rough and laced with irritation.
Her eyes became concerned. “What happened?”
“I don’t know how to say this…”
“Well, figure it out because I’m really fucking confused right now.”
I smiled at her irritation.
“Catalina,” I said, my hand reaching for her face. “I don’t have any condoms in this room.”
I think it was the pitiful look on my face from feeling like an absolute dipshit that made her laugh instead of turning into the Catalina who previously had no patience for my bullshit.
“Oh?” she said with an arch of her eyebrow. “For a man who prides himself on running an empire…”
“I know,” I said, rolling my eyes at myself. “I guess I even need your services to help me plan how to fuck you. Go figure.”
She laughed, the moment completely dead. “And because of this one little miss…” she said playfully, pulling a pillow to shield her breasts from me.
“I’m no longer able to view the most perfect breasts I’ve ever seen,” I said, trying to redeem this stupid fuck-up.
I could move a superyacht across the fucking world for this woman, yet a complete lack of preparation was all it took to kill my momentum and leave me realizing I was about to walk out of this room, hanging my head in shame.
Fucking unbelievable.