“You seem sad, what happened? Did you guys have a fight?”
“Oh, no.” I shook my head vigorously. “We only ever fought about things like books and movies. Her dad was a real piece of work. She never came out and said it, but sometimes I wondered about his treatment of her. He never yelled, but he hovered, in a really weird way.” I frowned. “One day, she came to my house and said she had to go, that her father had important work and she had no choice but to follow.”
“And she didn’t keep in touch? Your best friend?”
“She did.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Until suddenly, it just stopped. I’ve written her since then, but everything came back saying the address was no longer valid. We always thought it was more fun to send real letters instead of emails. It was kind of our thing. I tried texting a few months ago but it was undeliverable.”
Sergio pulled me close and kissed my head. “I’m sorry. Do you want me to look into it for you?”
I paused then pulled away. “What do you mean look into it? Is that code for kill someone?”
Sergio’s lips twitched. “I don’t shoot everyone, Val.”
“Coulda fooled me.”
His eyes locked on mine. “I’m serious. Do you want me to find her?”
“Maybe.” My stomach dropped. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Consider it done. By the end of tomorrow I’ll have every known location and alias.”
“Alias?” I laughed. “She’s not a spy.”
“True.” He grinned. “Sometimes I forget not everyone wears masks.”
“I don’t.”
“No.” He swallowed. “You don’t.”
The rain started coming down harder as the silence between us grew. I wanted to kiss him.
I wanted him to kiss me.
There were so many things I wanted.
In a perfect world, I’d make him suffer for weeks, months. I’d make him realize that he’d hurt me. In a perfect world, he’d come crawling back and confess undying love.
In a perfect world — he would earn it, but painfully, slowly.
But the world I lived in — the one where Sergio existed — it was a different world, full of broken dreams, shattered expectations, and betrayal. It was a world consumed by doubt, lust, fury, anger, want.
It was a world that didn’t care if I didn’t want to give in, because it demanded it anyway.
“Sergio,” I whispered.
“Yeah.” His jaw twitched as he leaned in, rain slid down his perfect cheek bones.
“Kiss me.”
He didn’t ask if I was sure.
He didn’t hesitate.
He didn’t miss a beat… before his mouth collided with mine… his tongue sliding its way past any physical barrier… before I had the chance to put them up.
Hot hands moved to my breasts as he untied my swimsuit and tossed it outside of the hot tub, his mouth moved down my neck as he pulled me against his already aroused body.
I let out a moan as water splashed around our bodies, pushing us together, pulling us apart, moving with us as his teeth grazed the skin by my ear. His breath was hot as he whispered, “Tell me I can kiss you anywhere.”
“You…” I panted. “…can kiss me anywhere.”
He sighed in relief. “Thank God.” Without warning he slid his hand down my leg and tugged my swimsuit bottoms off then tossed them in the same direction my top had gone.
I didn’t have time to cover myself as he lifted me by the hips and set me up on the edge of the hot tub. All I saw was a sexy as sin dark head bob down and start to suck. I braced my hands against his shoulders as my body arched under the pressure of his mouth.
Back flexed, I dug my fingers into his muscles, trying to balance my body so I didn’t fall backward, whenever I felt like I was going to backflip over the side, he’d grip my hips so hard it almost hurt.
But the pain of him keeping me there.
Was completely forgotten as he moved his tongue, and kissed, and sucked, only to repeat each slow movement with a fast one, followed by tricks I didn’t even know existed.
I felt too much.
The cold rain, as it hit the top part of my body, gave me enough of a chill that I shook each time he took me deeper and deeper with his mouth.
“Sergio.” I pounded his back with my fist. “That’s…” I couldn’t form words, I didn’t know how.
“You taste perfect,” he whispered reverently — but didn’t stop, no, he never stopped. He tortured me until I was panting and then screaming his name at the top of my lungs. It was too much — he was too much.
Heaving with exertion, he pulled my body back into the hot tub only to kiss me over and over again, his hands going from cupping my breasts, down my back, and tugging me against him.
He cursed as I moved against his hardness.
And cursed again when I locked my arms behind his head and did it again. Driving him crazy might just be my new favorite thing.
When I slid my hand into his swim trunks, he bit off such a violent curse I wasn’t sure if he was angry or just at his tipping point.