He collapses against me, his cock grinding into me, spreading my lips. He leans forward so that his hard, sweaty abs lay flat against my back. He wraps an arm around me, cradling and massaging my breasts as his hips pump.
I shift back against him, taking every inch, riding out the position fueled by his need. He sounds like he’s never experienced anything like this, as though I’m gifting him something no other woman will ever be able to.
He finally slips out. I look over my shoulder, watching as he pumps his hand over his cock. He groans as his whole body seizes, a thick jet of release shooting out of his engorged end and spattering over my lower back and my ass.
I collapse onto the bed, a dizzy smile on my face. “Good thinking,” I murmur. “I was getting carried away there.”
He grins and collapses next to me. “Surprised I could think at all when you started moving like that. Goddamn, baby.”
“We should get cleaned up,” I murmur, gently caressing his face. “But first, let me ask you something… are you going to be here in the morning?”
He leans forward and presses his lips against my forehead. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I wake in the middle of the night to Theo crying. No matter how deeply I fall into sleep, Theo’s cries always cut through.
When Rafael tells me to go back to sleep, saying he’ll handle it, I’m sure I must be dreaming. I lie half asleep in bed, watching as he stalks out of the room. A moment later, I hear him pacing in the living room, talking to Theo.
“That’s it, little man. I know the bottle isn’t the same, but you’re doing a great job. Now, let’s see about that diaper…”
I feel like I’ve slipped into a dream when Theo stops crying and Rafael returns, climbing into bed next to me. I close my eyes, falling into a heavy sleep, waking several hours later with sunshine resting on my face.
Rafael stands at the end of the bed, dressed, two cups of coffee in his hands, when I open my eyes again. He smiles when he sees I’m awake.
“You could sleep through a warzone, angel,” he says.
“Theo’s the only exception to that rule,” I agree, smiling as I sit up. “Are you going?”
He sets the coffee down on the bedside table, sits on the bed, and cups my face in his hand. I turn my head toward his touch,savoring the warmth, the intense feeling of belonging, even as I warn myself not to get carried away.
“I’ve got business to take care of,” he says.
Business.
“But I didn’t want to just leave,” he goes on.
“Did I dream about you feeding and changing Theo last night?”
He smiles. “No, that really happened. I had no idea how complicated diapers could be, but I got there in the end.”
“Thanks, Rafe.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m Theo's father. If we were living together, I’d do that at least half the time.”
He must see something on my face: the conflict, the uncertainty.
“But I don’t want to rush things,” he says quickly. “For now, this is enough. Me, you, Theo, a date I’ll remember for the rest of my life… and the bestnightof my life.”
“You think it tops last year, huh?”
He leans in, pressing his lips against mine. “No doubt.”
I let the giddiness rush through me, even as a cautious voice warns me to take this slow, to not get carried away, to remember there are about a million things that could go wrong.
CHAPTER 16
RAFAEL
When I reach the motel, I find Tony and Dante leaning against the hood of a car in the parking lot. Dante is smoking a cigarette, his eyes bleak as he watches me climb from the car. Tony pushes away, all anxious energy, my cousin as fidgety as usual.
