Chapter 28
Rio
Tito’s been sending photos all afternoon and giving me a play-by-play of everything that’s going on.
It’s a gift and the biggest fucking curse.
Luna’s wearing a fitted turquoise dress that clings to her curves, framing her like a goddess—the diosa that she is.
Tito
Sel said L went to hang out with that guy at her place.
That was the text that sent me into a crazy rage and brought me here, outside her building, like a fucking stalker.
Then another text comes in from my cousin.
Tito
He’s not there. He just dropped her off and left.
I barely read the text when I get out of the car and cross the street.
A couple is coming out of the building, and I ask them to hold the door.
The man’s about to ignore me, but the woman’s mouth drops when she sees me.
Then, she smiles, and I recognize one of my Sirenas when I see one.
We pose for a couple of photos, and they let me inside the building.
The woman even uses her key fob to let me up on the elevator.
In front of Luna’s apartment, I knock on the door.
The footsteps echo, and the light in the peephole changes, but she says nothing.
“Let me in.”
She still says nothing.
“I can hear you breathing. Come on. I just want to talk.”
“It’s not a good time, Riomar.”
I lean my forehead against her door. “Abreme. Por favor.”
The deadbolt clicks, and the door swings open.
She’s still wearing the dress, and God, the photos are nothing compared to the real thing.
The color is more vibrant in person, and her perfume is bold with dark fruit and rosy notes.
It inundates my senses and I want nothing more than to bury my face on her neck and run my nose over her whole body.
“Wow. Que bella te ves.” Even as I say them, the words don’t sound quite right. “No, you’re breathtaking. Una diosa.”
“Rio…” She shakes her head, turns on her heel, and walks into the open-concept apartment.
It’s different from the place she shared with her mom.
This is more modern, like her bedroom, with a lot of space between the pieces and a table decorated in a style that the professionals insisted on for my places here and in the Dominican Republic.
Behind the green sofa is a large, framed photo of the view of the coast of Samaná.
It’s one of the photos she took from the hill. It makes me smile.
“It looks beautiful.”
“What are you doing here?” The anger rolls off her in waves.
“How was the wedding?” I ask.
“Great. Mami is super happy.” She smiles, and her body relaxes. “She was so nervous.”
“How long is she going to be away on her honeymoon?”
“Six weeks. They’re doing the trip and then going to DR after.”
“You won’t be with her for Christmas. That’s going to be weird, right?”
She’s not asking me to sit. We’re standing like two boxers waiting for the bell to ring.
“Yeah, we are not used to being away from each other for long, but we were going to live separately anyway. Well, if she had it her way, I would have already moved into their house, but they need their privacy as a couple.”
“So do you.” The second the words are out of my mouth, I wish I could swallow them back, because a light switches in her eyes, and they go from soft to sharp to murderous.
“Yes, I need my privacy too.” She throws the words at me in the same cutting tone.
It irks me. “Where is he now?”
She shrugs. “He had things to do.”
With her looking like this? I scoff.
“What?” she asks.
“What could he be doing that is more important than being with you right now?”
“He came to my mom’s wedding. That was the important part of the day.” She lands the blow easily, and I wish it didn’t hurt so much. I wish I had not spent my whole day lamenting that I wasn’t the one there to hold her hand as her mom got married, as her life changed.
“He should be here holding you, whispering in your ear…” I let my gaze slide down her hourglass, stalling on every curve of her body. “Kissing you out of that dress.”
Her chest rises with her breath. “There will be time later for all of that.”
“Fuck, Luna. My eyes are so full of you right now. I could stare at you all day while running my hands up and down your body. I can’t imagine having the right to be here and leaving you. They would have to pry me off and away. He doesn’t deserve you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Or maybe he’s just respectful of my wishes. Have you thought of that?”
And my heart quickens. She didn’t want him here. I smile and take two steps toward her.
“Why didn’t you want him here?” I ask her.
“Who said I didn’t?”
I inch closer. “You just did. You said he respected your wishes.”
“I’m tired. I had a long day, week, and month. I just want to relax in my space, but I guess that’s too much to hope for, because here you come to disrupt it.”
It’s meant to be a jab, but it doesn’t pierce me.
“You said you want peace, but you opened the door.”
“Because you asked.”
“I ask you for a lot of things: a second chance, a kiss, your forgiveness. Can I tell you what I think?”
“Only if you leave right after.”
I cross the distance between us and lean to whisper in her ear. “You don’t want him here tonight because tu sabes que el zángano ese is not going to get it done.”
She scoffs. “Are you serious right now? He’s not a zángano ese. You’re just jealous.”
“Yeah. I am,” I admit. “Because you went and started seeing someone when we were barely over.”
“Rio, what is this? You’re in a whole relationship.”
Her nonchalance needles me. “You know damned well what that is. You know it’s not real.”
She shrugs. “Isn’t that how we started? How long did it take for us to break the boundaries?”
“So it’s the same with any woman? You’re not special? Any woman can bring me back from the place where I felt nothing, where I couldn’t love, and make me crave her every second of every fucking day?”
She holds out a hand. “I didn’t mean to imply that. I just meant that you could give yourself a chance with her.”
I take her chin in my hand so we are eye to eye. “Como, Luna? How am I supposed to do that? I don’t want her. I don’t want anyone else. I only want one body, one mouth, one pussy. And I know it’s the same for you.”
She shakes her head, trying to pull away, but it’s in her eyes as they well with tears threatening to spill.
“Did he try but couldn’t kiss you right?” I kiss the corner of her mouth and run my tongue over it. “Or did you close your eyes and pretend it was me?”
She shoves me away. “Get the fuck out.”
I’m stunned, but I hit a nerve. It’s written all over her blushing skin. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“I said get out.”
And my stomach plummets because I know I’m right, but now she doesn’t want me here.
I turn and begin to walk at a fast pace.
She’s right on my heels. I reach for the door, but she turns me around and throws her arms around me.
Her mouth crashes against mine like a fiera I always say she is when we’re alone.
I push back, staring at her.
Her chest is rising and falling. “Come on. Let’s fuck.”
My heart lurches. That’s not what I expected her to say. “Everything is on your terms. Always.”
“Yeah. And just for tonight. Take it or leave it,” she says.
I don’t answer her with my mouth. I shove the door closed and pin her against the wall.
“I’ll take you every time, Luna. Donde te pueda cojer te cojo. But I’m going to mark myself everywhere in this place, in every cell of your body.”
“Shut up and fuck me.”
I crush my mouth to hers and reach for the hem of her dress, lifting it high over her hips. I cup her ass.
“Come on, I’m ready,” she says, bucking her hips.
“Did he get you ready?”
“No.”
I slip my fingers into her panties. She’s so wet and hot. “Who got you like this?”
“You,” she screams.
I turn her around and slide her panties down.
I don’t even bother to pull down my pants.
I just pull out my cock and pound her with her hands braced on the wall until she whimpers.
I slide her panties off and unzip her dress.
She’s like a rag doll as I take her clothes and mine off and leave them on the floor.
Then I grab her hand and lead her back into her living room. And I see all the places where I want to have her. I’m going to write myself into every corner of this place.
I sit on her pretty emerald couch and open my legs, inviting her to climb on me.
“You want it? Ven cojelo.” It’s a taunt, me pushing my luck because she admitted how much she wants me.
And there’s that angry look in her eyes. She doesn’t pass, though. No, she climbs on my lap and takes a fistful of my hair, crushing her mouth to mine.
Her hands on my hair pull hard, and my dick springs to life again.
“Hurt me, Mami. Break me like you did my heart.”
She blinks a few times, and there’s a light in her eyes of surprise and almost sadness.
“If you’re not going to forgive me, fuck me. Use me. I can’t fuck her either, so let me use you.”
Her gaze narrows, and she bypasses my lips to bite my neck. I open her legs and use the three fingers she loves to prep her and then guide her to my cock.
She moans, and I let her ride me with her teeth clamped on my neck until she goes limp and takes me along with her.
* * *
Luna
“Luna, we should—”
I stop him with a hand in the air. “No. I’m not interested in talking, just fucking.”
His eyes are round, and there’s something almost resentful in the way he looks at me. But he nods and stands.
“Where are you going?”
“Can I have some water?” His tone is testy.
“Look, if you can’t handle this, it’s fine.”
He laughs, and it’s a little ugly. “I can’t handle it? You must have me confused with your little boyfriend.”
“Fuck you.”
“You have been, for hours, but you can’t get enough!” he yells and then lowers his voice. “And you never will. But, come, let daddy top you off again.”