“With you,” I told him, standing my ground but also not moving from where I was rooted.
He chose silence again but never broke his gaze from my face.
“I didn’t invite you to stay the night just to get you inmy bed and have sex,” he added quickly, as if he needed to underline it and wanted no room for misunderstanding.
“I know that, Hector. But if this had been a normal date, and you had walked me back to my place at the end of the night. I um…would have asked if you wanted to stay the night.”
He didn’t say anything back, so in true awkward and anxious fashion, I just kept babbling like an idiot, waving my hands in front of my face as I talked.
“I’m not saying you had to come in and agree to have a drink, but, um, that’s what I would have offered you. The uh…drink part, I mean…for you. I would have offered you a drink.”
Okay, I needed to shut up.
“I’m trying to be a gentleman here, Iris,” he said, sounding almost pained.
“What if I don’t want you to be a gentleman?” I told him, grabbing the sides of his head and forcing him to look into my eyes. “Hector, you not being agentlemandoes not mean the only other option is an asshole…I just want you to be you.”
I took a breath and paused for just a moment. “You don’t have to pretend to be who you think I want or think I need when you’re around me. I like you the way you are.”
I pulled my hands back and moved them to the bow at my waist and began to slowly untie the dress. “Don’t be a gentleman, Hector. Just be you.”
His gaze moved from my eyes, down my body towhere my hands were currently undoing my dress. Now untied, I pulled at the fabric slowly to open each side like you would a bathrobe. I heard his quick intake of breath as I opened the dress up to where he could finally see my red teddy underneath.
I watched his chest rise and fall as his breathing picked up. Then, I saw the moment he decided to just say fuck it and give into temptation—me being the temptation.
This time his hands moved to cup my face as he tilted my head back so I was looking straight into his eyes.
“Be sure, Iris,” he said. His voice held a deep timbre and was slightly raw, as if he needed to clear his throat. There was warmth in his gaze, but there was also a raging fire. “I need you to be really fucking sure. We start this, there's no going back. Not for me.”
I thought back to his comment about me being his dream woman, his comments at dinner, and the way he was looking at me at this very moment.
Oh yeah, I was sure.
“Take me to bed, Hector,” I whispered back to him. “I need?—”
Before I was able to finish my sentence, I was lifted up. He bent at the waist—his shoulder to my stomach—and I was hoisted onto his shoulder.
I shrieked at the sudden movement. “Hector! Put me down, I’m too heavy!”
“Woman, you are not heavy at all. In fact, you are nothing but perfection from top to bottom.”
I wanted to disagree with him, but the ease with which he was carrying me into the bedroom—as though I was as light as a feather—was impressive…and I liked it.
We arrived in his bedroom, and this was the first time I had really been in this space. Sure, I had peeked through the door, but now I was in here. He closed the door as I tried to gaze around quickly at the large space, but it was hard since I was upside down.
He once again bent at the waist and then slowly lowered me to the ground, the front of my body sliding against the front of his.
Once my feet were securely on the ground, I stared back up at him as he slid his hands over my shoulders, his fingers underneath the fabric of my dress, and began pushing it over and down my body. I moved my arms slightly behind me so the dress would easily slide off the rest of the way, leaving me with nothing on but my red teddy as I stood in front of him. His eyes were roaming up and down the lacy fabric, taking it all in.
“My eyes are up here, Hector,” I teased.
“I know, but I can’t look at your eyes right now,” he said seriously.
“Why not?” I flirted and gave him a smile.
“Because I’m too busy staring at the most beautiful body I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said reverently as his hands began to roam over my hips and waist, softly caressing me. “Every. Single. Detail. I’m committing it to memory in case you change your mind and this is the only time this happens.”
Dear God…This man lit a fire in me like no one else could.
