He’s not the only one.
She smiles again as I ghost my fingers across her nipples. Her eyes roll closed, her back arches, and she moans. I love that sound. I’d give my right ball for the privilege of making her make these noises every fucking day. Maybe my left one, too.
I’m painfully hard. It’s going to take a minute before I can move. She tugs her sports bra back over her tits, and a piece of me dies. When I finally peel my gaze away from her chest and land on her face, cold dread skips through my muscles.
Tears course down her beautiful face all over again, and my stomach sinks. Does she regret this already? Fuck. Did I hurt her?
“Edie?” Should I touch her or leave her the fuck alone? The desire to haul her onto my lap wins out, and I’m hoping that if she’s uncomfortable with the physical touch she’ll speak up.
Instead of pulling away, she buries her head in the crook of my neck and shoulder and sobs.
“Ay, princesa.”I stroke her arm from fingertip to shoulder as she cries. Her tears soak through my dress shirt, which only makes me hold her harder.
“I hate being so miserable,” she manages between broken sobs. My heart fractures with every sniffle and wail. Before the accident I’d never seen her so damn sad. She was the sunshine to my darkness.Ella es el sol a mi noche.
Bright, vibrant, happy, so full of joy the air around her shimmered because she couldn’t contain it all inside. I haven’t seen much of that woman since the wreck, but she’s in there somewhere, and I’m even more determined to help her resurface.
“Edie, when was the last time you were outside?” She stills in my arms but she doesn’t answer. I need to help her remember who the fuck she is. Silently telling my dick he’s going to have to wait, and promising I’ll deal with him in bed later, I scoop her up onto the couch.
“What are you doing?” She wipes her eye with her free hand, lifting her cast, I assume to wipe the other but she pauses, growling at it like she keeps forgetting it’s there.
“Giving you a ride.”
If I don’t ignore the flush deepening in her cheeks, I won’t let her leave the couch. It’s winter in Iowa, and she has two casts, so it’s a workout in itself to first of all find her cold weather gear that fits. So I dig out two sets of my ski gear and dress her in it well enough to take her outside.
Twenty five minutes later, we’re both dressed, she’s mounted on my back, and I’m making my way up onto the roof of our building. It’s a perk of owning one of the top floor apartments, and the rooftop parties over the summer months are epic.
Sweat streams down my face as I get her outside. The wind whips around us and she clutches me tighter. I make my way over to the perimeter wall, holding her in place and letting her acclimate to being outside before I maneuver her to sitting with her back against my chest.
“Don’t let go.” Her voice is quiet in the tranquil night.
Tightening my arms around her waist I nuzzle close to her. “Never.” I doubt she realizes just how fucking serious I am.
She inhales deeply, breathing in the crisp night air, her shoulders rising and falling with each breath and puffs of steam blowing out of her nose.
“I haven’t been outside since I got home from the hospital.”
“I know. That’s my bad. I should have dragged you out kicking and screaming.”
“I’d have tried to push you off this damn rooftop, Pollo.” She giggles.
“I can take you.” Resting my chin on her shoulder, I sigh. How have I missed this for so long? Standing here, her leaning against my chest, braced against me, my arms holding her to me, it feels so fucking right.
We stay in silence for a long time, watching the twinkling lights and the occasional car passing below in downtown Cedar Rapids.
“Thank you, Apollo.”
Brushing my nose into her hair, I mumble,“De nada, princesa.”
“I needed this.”
“Lo se.”And if I have to carry her to the roof every fucking day and night, I’ll do it. “You know, Ares knows a doctor. He’s treating Eloise’s arm pain.”
Edith squirms in my arms, half turning to look at me, demanding more information with her eyes.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. When I pull it out and we both see it’s Papá, she jerks her chin to the phone. “You should take that.”
I should. I’ve been dodging his calls more often than not lately, and I have some paperwork to sign and return to him that is a few days overdue. He wants me, us, to buy another business. He called it a merger, but from the plans he presented me with, it’s a hostile takeover of a rival company, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. They have very public, ethical differences to my father and how he runs his business, so I’m pretty sure he will strip any good from them if he gets his hands on it.
