Chapter 38
LAYLA
Santiago kissed me like he never had before. He kissed me like this was it, like this was the beginning of forever for us.
The scary part—and the amazing part—was that it wasn’t impossible that he was right. It didn’t sound like there was much standing in our way anymore and he’d said that he loved me. Freaking loves me.
After days of confusion, uncertainty, and heartache, it all felt a little unreal. I couldn’t quite believe that any of it was true, but with every one of his bruising kisses and with every beat of his heart against my chest as he held me, I was reminded that it was true.
He was here. I was here. My dad had given us his blessing—sort of—and the Coast Guard had offered him a job that didn’t put him directly in my chain of command. It was too good to be true, and yet somehow, it was happening.
My head spun. Everything had changed since I’d woken up today, but as he groaned into my mouth and slid his hand up into my hair, tugging it just hard enough to keep me in the present, I tried to let go of my disbelief.
This was real. Santiago Cortez had fixed it so that he could be in my life. So that he could be my boyfriend. And also, he said he loves me.
I really couldn’t get over that part. As I held him tighter and kissed him harder, he grinned against my lips and wrapped his arms around me to lift me against him. “Finally made it out of your head enough to make it back to me, huh?”
I smiled. “Can you blame me? You just gave me a hell of a lot to think about.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No, I just want to kiss you. We can talk more later.”
“I can get on board with that plan,” he murmured as he carried me to his bedroom and gently laid me down on the bed. Our lips didn’t part as he crawled onto it after me, covering my body with his own and stroking my cheeks with his fingertips.
We kissed for a long time, making out like lovestruck teenagers who hadn’t been able to touch one another all summer long. Our hands roamed under each other’s clothes but neither of us went for any kind of gold.
I hooked my legs around him and felt him growing against my core, but while my panties were definitely damp and my nipples were begging for attention, I still didn’t take it any further.
Not yet. Instead, we just kept kissing, devouring each other like we had all the time in the world for everything else.
Which, I guessed we now did. Or at least, we could have just as much time as we wanted. Even though we’d had the weekend before, this was different. Then, it’d been only the weekend and we knew we’d be going back to reality when it was over.
Now, however, this was our reality. The thought spurred me on, making me want him more than ever before because now? Now he was mine. For real, and I wanted him to know it. I also wanted him to know that I was his and that, as far as I was concerned, we belonged to each other now.
Finally tugging at the hem of his shirt, I pulled it up and over his head, and our lips parted only to let the fabric pass before his sealed back over mine. His skin was hot under my hands as I ran my palms down his back until I hit the waistband of his pants.
Working fast, I pushed my hands between us and undid his fly, then used my feet to help me get the rest of his clothes off. He chuckled into my mouth at the sudden urgency of my movements, but he didn’t stop me.
Instead, he matched my pace, getting me naked just seconds after he was.
His body felt like heaven against my own, his kisses more frantic as he ran his hands down my sides and gripped my hips.
Our moans mingled in the air, our chests mashed together but our lower halves intentionally not lining up.
“Condom,” I whispered between passionate kisses.
He groaned, lifting his mouth away from mine before he nodded. “Just give me a minute.”
Breathing heavily, he rested his forehead against mine, his muscles tight with restraint as he closed his eyes before opening them again. He smiled softly, then dropped a kiss on the tip of my nose before lifting himself up.
I pressed a hand to my chest in an attempt to control the rapid beating of my heart as I watched him climb off the bed and bend over to grab his wallet out of his pants. He pulled a foil package out of it, then tore it open and drew my attention to the long, hard length of him as he rolled it on.
The muscles in his forearms rippled with the movement as he rolled the latex to his base, then smirked when he saw me practically drooling over getting to see him this way.
I couldn’t help it, though. The man was seriously hot and part of me still couldn’t believe that he’d even looked at me at all, let alone looked at me like he wanted to devour me whole.
“Still happy with your purchase?” he teased as he spread his arms out to his sides and turned in a slow circle like he was letting me examine the goods.
My body and my chest suddenly felt hot, but in the best way possible. Even so, I shrugged, trying to play it cool as I watched him stalk back to the bed. “I was actually wondering if it was time to trade it in on a newer model.”
“Newer models might be prettier, but they’re far less reliable,” he joked as he crawled over me again. “Us older models know how to get you there time and time again. Without fail.”
I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his neck as he positioned himself above me, the tip of his cock nestled against my entrance. “I beg to differ.”
“When have I ever failed to get you there?” he asked against my lips.
I shook my head. “That’s not where we differ. There is no newer model who’s prettier. I think I’ll keep you. Might wait another year or so before I trade you in.”
He chuckled before he kissed me again, punctuating his kisses with words as he slowly pushed into me. “Only another year, huh? I think I’m going to have to convince you that I’ve got more than that left in me.”
As he stretched me open, making me moan when his pelvis hit my swollen clit, I locked my legs around his tight ass. “On second thought, I’m never trading you in. This feels way too good. I’m keeping you forever. You’re mine now.”
“Good, because I wasn’t planning on letting you go. Not ever.” He pulled back to look into my eyes. “Love you, Layla.”
“I love you too, Master Chief Cortez.” With that, I lifted my head and claimed his lips in another searing kiss that neither of us stopped as our bodies started moving together. He made love to me like he was worshiping me. Claiming me. Making me his.
We lasted much longer than I’d expected, but when I finally surrendered to the most powerful orgasm I’d ever had, he was right there with me. Our lips remained fused together, even in the aftermath as we tried to catch our breath.
We kept kissing until he left the bed to take care of the condom, but he didn’t stay away for long. When he came back, he pulled me into his side and held me close, not saying anything as my own mind started racing again.
“What does this mean?” I asked, drawing patterns on his bare chest with my fingertips. “Can we really be together for real now? Even on Station?”
He drew in a deep breath, and my head rose and fell with his chest. “Well, no. I don’t think we can rub our relationship in anyone’s face, but with me being over the instructors now, we’ll hardly ever cross paths enough to raise any suspicions.
That being said, we won’t need to be as careful, either.
Nicholson knows we’re seeing each other and he’s allowing it because I’m not your direct superior anymore, but he said to keep our relationship on the down low.
Not all the higher-ups know and not all of them will be so understanding toward us. ”
“Thank you for talking to him,” I murmured as I turned my head to look up at him. “I don’t really know what to say about everything else you did. Thank you doesn’t seem like enough. I can’t believe you were really going to quit for me.”
A smile tugged at the corners of his lips and he glanced down at me, his long eyelashes framing those perfectly blue eyes as they lowered so he could see me without lifting his head off the pillow.
“You don’t owe me anything, especially not a thank you.
I nearly ruined us before I pulled my head out of my ass.
I’m proud of you for getting over that wall, though.
I’d like to think that being pissed at me helped you conquer it. ”
I ducked my head to hide a smile as I let out a deep breath. “Next time you want to motivate me, let’s find a way of doing it that doesn’t involve breaking my heart. That sucked.”
“It really did, but it all worked out for the best. I’m not saying the ends justified the means, but at the same time, here we are.
I’ve got a new job that I’m pretty excited for, you’ve got a new instructor who I know will take good care of you, and we’re together.
That’s the best result we could’ve hoped for. ”
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I mused, letting my lids flutter closed as I listened to the sound of his steady heartbeat underneath my ear.
The fact of the matter was if things hadn’t gone down exactly the way they had, we might not have ended up here together. It’d been really awful not knowing where he was, what he was doing, or why he’d put a stop to us, but now that I knew what he’d been up to, I was glad I hadn’t known before.
I definitely wouldn’t have let him quit for me.
I probably would’ve wound up making some grand gesture like quitting myself before he could do it, and since the Coast Guard didn’t value me nearly as much as they did him, there wouldn’t have been another job offer forthcoming for me like there had been for him.
At the end of the day, he’d played things completely right and he’d even gotten my dad’s support. I really couldn’t have asked for a better outcome, but he’d still hurt me and I was still going to make him grovel a little to get me to stay.
On that note. “You know, pretty words aren’t going to convince me that this is real. I’m going to need actions to back them up.”
“Like what actions?” he asked. “Nearly quitting my job and then taking another just so we can be together?”
I chuckled. “You might have a point there, but I’m being serious. You can’t disappear on me again or keep me out of the loop on something like this.”
“Well, I’m hoping I won’t have to,” he said. “If all goes well, there won’t be another something like this to keep from you. If something does crop up, though, I will talk to you about it. I promise.”
“Okay,” I agreed quietly. “I’m going to keep you to that.”
He fell quiet for a beat. “Should we go see if we can rustle up something to eat?”
I shook my head against his chest. “No, I just want to stay right here for a little while longer.”
Adjusting his grip on my back, he pulled me closer and settled in, just holding me as I did the same with him.
I was still struggling to get my head wrapped around everything that had happened, but if what he was saying was the truth and if we really could be together now, it meant plenty more nights falling asleep in his arms and waking up to him the next morning.
It was difficult to comprehend that something like that could be our reality from now on, but I sure wasn’t going to complain about it.
Ultimately, this was exactly what I’d wanted for months now but never believed we could have.
Now, I supposed, I just had to hope that we would find a way of really making it work.
This was just the beginning of our relationship. There was plenty that could go wrong and plenty that could drive us apart, but I wasn’t going to focus too much on all that right now. Right this minute, all I wanted was to be with him, and luckily, that was exactly what I got.