Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
We’re almost home when she finally looks my way. “Were you jealous?”
From her tone, it’s clear she isn’t ready to make peace.
“Watching you smile at him?”
She nods, and I tighten my hold on the steering wheel, knowing it’s best if I don’t answer. She shouldn’t know how much she affects me. It would scare her.
“That’s how I felt watching you all night,” she admits quietly. “With Daniella… with everyone.”
I scowl at her only to find her studying my profile.
“I wanted you there, by my side.”
Her eyes slip back to the road. “It didn’t feel like it.”
I hate that she doubts me.
At home, I toss my keys onto the table by the door, then take Isabel’s hand and lace our fingers together, pulling her deeper into my house.
“I tried to save you from the cameras out front. I didn’t think you wanted them taking your picture, asking your name. Your parents still don’t know you’re here. Simone, Annika—they don’t know who you really are.”
Impatient, angry, hungry—I pause suddenly and push her up against the plaster wall. Shrouded in shadows, I step close to her and bend low, my words a quiet murmur. “Next time, I’ll drag you down that carpet with me. I’ll kiss you so they know you’re mine. Aren’t you, Isabel? ¿Nena? Are you mine?”
She swallows and looks away, steeling herself. “I’m leaving at the end of summer, Cristiano. I’m going back to California.”
I smile at her confidence. She really thinks she’s going.
“No.”
Already I’m kneeling down so my lips can blaze a path up her legs. I wind my hands around her calves, sliding them higher, taking her dress up and bunching it at her hips. I kiss her smooth thighs, feel them tense then relax beneath my mouth.
I have to make her stay.
God, I can’t even imagine the alternative.
Earlier today, I sat in a final walkthrough of Sabor a Sol, and though my team was talking, I wasn’t listening. It was like I was submerged underwater, in my own world, their voices dulled to background noise. I was thinking of Isabel as I saw her the other night, sleeping peacefully after we showered together, all her dark hair fanned out over my pillow, her skin still flushed from the hot water. I couldn’t resist tracing her cheek. Kissing her awake, taking her again.
I’m leaving at the end of summer, Cristiano. I’m going back to California.
Her announcement scares the shit out of me. Why am I tempted to plead with her to stay? Why do I have the sinking feeling that despite the chemistry we share, she would say no?
My thoughts have been with her constantly. Juan Carlos brought me lunch yesterday at my office. He forced me to eat when I told him I was too busy, but I couldn’t seem to stay at the table. I wanted to be back with Isabel, preferably tangled in my sheets.
“I knew it would happen one day,” Juan Carlos remarked.
I looked up at him like I didn’t have the faintest clue what he was rambling about.
“Are you trying to reconcile it or something? Convince yourself it’s not happening?” He smiled cheekily.
My impatience was growing by the second. “Spit out what you’re trying to say.”
“You’ve said two words at lunch.” He waved to my food. “You’ve barely eaten. I’ve never known you to leave food on your plate.”
“I had a big breakfast.”
A shit-eating grin spread across his face, but his victory was short-lived. Whatever he saw in my expression stole his joy. His eyes widened and he shook his head.
“Are you okay?”
I never answered him, and in truth, I don’t know if I’m okay, not now as I’m on my knees in front of Isabel, feeling like she’s already slipping through my fingers even while I can still feel her, taste her.
I can’t make it to my bedroom. I pull down her panties and unzip my suit pants and we tear at each other with an eagerness that terrifies me. We let the passion bleed out of us in that darkened hallway and I feel split in half by it, by her.
I lock our fingers together and drag her hands up over her head, holding her captive like that so I can look down into her eyes and search for truths lurking in their depths. She closes her eyes and looks away like she’s trying to shut herself off from me.
Stay.
I sink into her until I’m seated all the way and then I hold still, feeling my body shiver with a wild rush of pleasure.
Stay.
I draw out and pin her hips to the wall, slowly repeating the same maddening process, watching her every little reaction, her pink lips parting, her soft inhale, her eyes partially closed and drugged with need. I kiss her and her arms wrap possessively around my neck, gathering me even closer. She’s shaking as I hold her steady, trying to sate my insatiable craving for her.