“I want to know what you’re thinking. You were so quiet on the way home. If it wasn’t the argument, then what’s going on? Are you still upset about the dream from last night?”
Her tongue felt heavy. She didn’t know what to say to him. She didn’t want to admit the truth. “No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
He exhaled, and somehow he was still leaning closer. “You can tell me, truly. If it’s something I can help?—”
“It’s not,” Grace interrupted. She looked toward their apartment door, as if it could save her. “It’s too embarrassing.” She thought of the way he had touched her at dinner, his hand on her thigh, however briefly, his arms around her when they danced. She couldn’t admit the effect it had on her, how it had consumed her so quickly.
“I doubt that,” he said, reaching out and lifting her chin. “Especially if you knew what’s been going through my mind.”
Grace’s breath hitched, and she blinked up at him, every nerve ending in her entire body suddenly on high alert. She tried to restrain herself, as desperate as she was to know what he meant. “What?” Her voice came out in a husky whisper.
Rafael paused for a moment, eyeing her warily, as if trying to decide if he should answer. “I was thinking about that crease on your forehead whenever you’re scolding me.” He lifted a hand, and his thumb traced a spot between her eyebrows. “And about how you bite your lip when you’re nervous. I can’t stop thinking about your lips, actually, and wondering if you might have been wanting to kiss me last night.” His thumb trailed down her face until it brushed her bottom lip so lightly, she wasn’t sure he was really touching her. “Or maybe that’s totally inappropriate, and I shouldn’t even be bringing it up.”
Grace’s throat seemed to constrict, and her breath became shallow. She couldn’t move for a moment. Elation and terror shot through her, but she already knew she was done for. She didn’t even think about what would happen next. She slid her hands up against Rafael’s chest and then behind his neck and pressed forward on her toes. She moved up in one quick rush until her mouth was on his at last, and the delicious thrill of it filled her. It was better than she’d ever imagined, how he hungrily deepened the kiss and wrapped her in his arms, pressing her entire body flush against his own. He spun her until her back was pinned against their front door and anchored himself even harder against her until she could feel every part of him—his firm chest rising to meet her breasts, his tongue searching her mouth, his thigh pressing between her legs as she involuntarily thrust her hips to feel the friction between them.
Rafael let out a satisfied groan, and Grace was lost to the world. She didn’t even know where she was anymore. It was as if she’d entered another plane entirely, a place she’d never been before. If she would have known ten years ago when he’d tried to kiss her that it would be like this, she would have just let him, all her pride and his surliness be damned.
His mouth moved to her neck, and she gasped. Her hands went into his hair, while his fingers started to roam her body. First, they glided up her spine, then back down to her ass. Then he clutched at the neckline of her shirt and tugged down as his lips made his way down her to the base of her throat. His kisses covered her clavicle and her chest, and Grace’s head fell back against the door with a thud.
“Should we go inside?” Raf asked.
“Yes,” she whispered, though. her brain was screaming.Yes. Yes. Yes.
He unlocked the door at last, and they fell into the apartment, eagerly reaching for each other as soon as they could. He tugged her shirt over her head and wrapped his arms around her as she slid her hands under his clothing, elated to be tracing the hard muscles of his abdomen.
God, he was so hot. Honestly, how could a woman resist him? Sorry, Alma, it just wasn’t possible.She’d tried to heed the warning, but how could she stop herself when he felt likethis?!
“Grace,” he moaned into her mouth. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” He hitched her up against him, and she immediately tightened her legs around his middle.
“Really?” she breathed, and he replied by letting out a string of whispered words in Spanish.
“I don’t know what you just said.”
He nuzzled into her neck. “That’s probably for the best, because it was filthy.”
“Oh.” He scraped her bottom lip with his teeth, and all the fantasies Grace had been holding back started to play out in her mind. Rafael moving over her, his bare skin gleaming in the dim light, his hands all over her body, and then his mouth…
Suddenly, a loud buzzing echoed through the entryway, and they both froze. It took a moment for Grace to realize the sound was coming from her bag, which had been abandoned on the floor the second she’d stepped through the threshold of the apartment.
They remained completely still until the vibration stopped, and then they looked at each other, each waiting to see what the other would do.
Rafael’s breath was heavy. “Grace,” he said, taking a moment to catch his breath.
“You can call me Graciela.” She smirked, bolder now after everything he’d admitted to her.
His lips twitched into a smile. “Graciela,” he said, and the sound made her tighten her legs around him. He groaned then and nuzzled into her hair. “Should we talk about this?”
Should they talk about this?Yes, probably. As much as she wished they could just plow forward, full steam ahead, Grace didn’t want to think anymore. She didn’t want to consider the consequences, no matter how complicated they could be. Of course, Alma had warned her that this would happen, that Rafael was used to getting his way with women, and it was never anything more than sex. But the idea of “just sex” kind of appealed to Grace. She’d just gotten out of a three-year relationship and moved to a new country. It wasn’t like her life screamed ready-for-a-serious-thing. “Just sex” could be simple and fun.
If only it wasn’t Rafael. All their little ties to each other, not to mention the fact that they were living together for who knows how long since the contractors were in no rush to work on her apartment, added a level of intensity to the whole endeavor.
She released her grip on him, and he let her down slowly, waiting for her to say something.
Before Grace could answer his question, her phone started vibrating again. Somehow, it sounded louder and angrier if that was possible. She reluctantly turned away from Raf and grabbed her bag from the floor. She already knew who it would be, the one person who would call her more than once, the whole reason she was here to begin with, the person who had given her the possibility of a new life.
“It’s Alma,” she said, holding up the cell for him to see. Alma had been expecting her to call hours ago, but with all the distractions of the cave research, and dinner, and Rafael… Her throat constricted at the thought of what her best friend would say about all of this.
“Go ahead.” Rafael gave her a sad smile, acknowledging that the fire between them was extinguished, the moment of recklessness at an end.
