“There’s more involved now,” I repeated. “There’s your club. I have nightmares about what happened with Jan and that sweet baby… and Beast… That’s all my fault…”
I walk to her now and cup the side of her face. “Mi cielo, no one is responsible for that except the Donahues and Jan. You did not have any control with her stealing the keys from Bull. You could not control the actions of your father or any of the other culos in that family.”
Her hand trembles as it comes up and lies over mine. She squeezes gently as my thumb absently brushes the silent tears still falling from her face.
“Skull, it’s not that simple. There are other things… There’s…”
I instinctively know what she’s going to say, and I don’t want those words to pass her lips or even exist in her head.
“I didn’t love her, Beth. She knew that, and she knows it even more now. Since the moment I found out you were alive, I haven’t touched another woman.”
“You don’t have to tell me that, Skull, I don’t have a right to know who has been in your bed since I left. I knew that when I gave birth to Gabby, me staying away didn’t have to do with that.”
“Then why the fuck didn’t you come back to me, Beth?” I ask, forgetting to tread lightly.
“I was scared. God, Skull, I was weak. I was pathetic. I don’t have Katie’s courage and I’m not sure I ever will…”
“Las tonterías.”
“Okay, I’ve learned Spanish as much as I could, but that one…”
“Bullshit,” I translate for her, and for the first time since this conversation started, I find a smile. “You’re standing here, Beth. You put your life on the line to save your sister. You faced Matthew and ended him without blinking. That’s not someone who is weak.”
“But…”
“And you survived your grandfather and father,” I tell her, pulling her face closer into mine. Something flashes across her face and I know there are more things to be uncovered, but I can’t tackle those tonight. Right now, I need her. “You’re strong, mi cielo. Even steel bends… when the fire forges it,” I whisper against her lips.
“Skull,” she breathes, and the taste of her lips is right there and I can’t fight it anymore.
“Give me your lips, sweet Beth. Los Necesito mas que necesito respirar,” I whisper before I claim them.
I whimper as he deepens the kiss, unable to fight it anymore. I’m tired of fighting. My hands go up, digging my fingers into his hair. I had forgotten the soft feel of his dark locks slipping against my skin. I had forgotten the taste of him, and after that night in the cabin, it has been haunting me.
He reaches behind me and undoes my hair, letting it fall around my face. I look into his eyes and they glow, so dark and demanding. This feels big. Before, it was just in the heat of the moment, and this… this can’t be explained away. This is opening ourselves back up. Can we really make it work?
His hand moves under the bottom of my shirt, his callused fingers teasing the sensitive skin on my stomach. It feels good, but makes me nervous at the same time. I’m not ready for him to see… me. I need to distract him.
I reach up to push his cut from his shoulders, letting the heavy leather material fall to the ground.
He breaks away from our kiss, staring at me. The desire in his look threatens to burn me alive.
“Mi mujer,” he whispers, my woman… Does he know how true those words are? I have been his from the first moment he looked at me. I fell fast and hard and there hasn’t been a moment since that first meeting that I didn’t want him—didn’t need him.
I drop down to my knees, using my hands on his legs to brace myself.
“Beth…”
“I used to lie awake at night and remember how it felt to hold your cock in my hands. The heat, the feel… as I wrapped my hand around it and stroked you,” I tell him while reaching up to unzip his pants and push them down his hips.
His cock springs out, as if it’s pointing right at me. His dick, dark in color, is wet from the way his pre-cum has risen to the top and spilled out, painting the head in a clear gloss that makes me lick my lips.
“It’d drive me crazy because I could remember everything from the way you heated in my hands, to the texture when I would squeeze your cock tight, and even the way you stretched my mouth. I dreamed of the way it felt to slide my tongue along your shaft as I took you to the back of my throat,” I tell him, my voice a little more than a whisper, my body tense with need.
“Christo, Beth, mi cielo, let me…” he exhales.