When he stops in front of me, standing between my legs, the space between us barely exists. His hands brace on either side of my thighs, palms flattening against the edge of the quilt. I so badly want to feel his touch, but the anticipation is equally intoxicating. He dips his head, close enough that his breath grazes my cheek, and the scent of him wraps around me until it’s the only thing I can breathe. “Do you need me, baby?”
The smallest sound escapes me, but I know he heard it. Hearing him call me baby does something more, something similar to the way he calls me gatinha. It’s him, branding me in a way that I never want him to take back. I do need him. More than I could ever admit out loud right now.
He exhales a low sound, one that vibrates somewhere deep in his chest. “Say it,” he demands. “Tell me what you need.”
My fingers reach up to twist in the fabric of his shirt, tugging him closer until the heat of his body seeps through every inch of me. “You,” I whisper. “Just you.”
His hand finds my jaw, his thumb resting beneath my chin, tilting my face as he studies me intently. There’s a momentwhere want becomes something more, something tangible, something inevitable.
Then he leans closer, his mouth brushing mine once, before pressing in harder. The air changes, his breath catching against my lips. Wrapping my legs around him, I pull him down to me, our bodies falling to the bed.
He presses his hard cock into my aching core and swallows the moans escaping me through each pass of his lips over mine. His hand slides from beside my head to the back of my neck, fingers threading through my hair, anchoring me as his tongue licks into my mouth, stealing whatever air I had left. A quiet sound breaks from him—rough, restrained—and it rolls straight through me.
He tilts his head, the scrape of stubble grazing my skin as he deepens the kiss.
Every shift of his body pushes me further into the mattress until I can’t tell whether I’m moving toward him or if he’s simply drawing me in. His hand slips beneath the hem of my shirt, his fingers tracing the bare skin of my stomach in a slow, teasing line that leaves goosebumps in their wake.
Then there’s a definite knock at his door, and the reality of where we are slams back to us instantly. Jay groans, forehead dropping to my shoulder. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Bea’s voice filters through the wood. “Mom says coffee is ready downstairs. Make sure you bring Liv, too.”
Jay mutters something in Portuguese that I’m 90 percent sure isn’t polite.
Bea laughs, voice vanishing. “You two have five minutes before she sends Isabel up!”
He sighs, dragging a hand through his hair. “I swear they live to torture me.”
I’m still laughing when he steps back, eyes bright but soft now. “You okay?” he asks, stretching his hand for me to take.
“Yeah.” I smile, letting him pull me up. More than okay.
***
Hours later, I’ve been stuffed with endless Portuguese treats, all homemade by Sofia, and I’m just about ready to roll into bed.
Jay disappeared upstairs a little while ago with the horde of children, chasing them to the attic room they share when they stay over.
The couples are all snuggled around me now, the low murmur of conversation wrapping around the notes of a record spinning in the background.
Sofia catches my eye from across the room, smiling. “You look tired, querida. Go on up. The guest towels are in the hallway cupboard.”
I nod, pushing myself up from the couch. “Thank you for dinner. For everything. You have a beautiful home, and I’m so grateful you let me celebrate your anniversary with you all.”
She stands, walking to wrap me in a hug. “You are family now. That’s what we do.”
The warmth in her words as well as her arms follows me up the stairs, a quiet echo that lingers even as the house begins to settle for the night. The creak of floorboards shifts beneath my feet as I near the end of the hall.
I’m about to turn into the room I’m staying in when I hear a ripple of giggles, and Jay’s low rumble cutting through them all. The attic door is cracked open just enough for light to spill through.
Curiosity wins as I step closer, careful not to make a sound.
Inside, Jay sits on the edge of a twin bed surrounded by a sea of blankets and small limbs. One niece is curled against his side, the other draped across his lap, and Tomas leans over his shoulder, trying to see the pictures in the book he’s reading. The others are all wrapped in their makeshift beds around the floor, too, all gazing at him like he hung the stars.
“…and then the fox said,you can’t catch me if you can’t see me,” he reads, and Eva lets out a sleepy giggle. He smiles down at her, brushing a strand of hair off her forehead before continuing.
The light catches on his profile, and my heart thumps, sweet and painful all at once. Every breath I take feels slower, steadier, like my body’s syncing itself to the quiet rhythm of his voice. The tension in my shoulders eases, and I don’t even realize I’ve been holding my breath until I let it go.
“Beautiful, isn’t he?”
