by Nikki Sloane
We woke up together in the big bed, and sometimes I’d pin her wrists behind her back while I fucked her hard, whispering what a dirty girl she was, while my other hand covered her mouth. “Don’t get too loud, filthy girl,” I’d say. “Don’t want my parents to hear what a slut you are.”
She stole the markets section out of my newspaper every morning at breakfast, even though we had Wi-Fi. In the afternoons, we’d walk to the beach to go snorkeling, or swim in the pool in the back of the house, and holy fucking God, Noemi in a bikini. The best was when the bikini came off and the tan lines remained, her pale and contrasting golden skin that only I got to see.
Our time flew by, and I wanted everything to slow the fuck down. Suddenly it was Friday and we were back at the airport, saying goodbye to my parents and brother, getting ready to board a puddle-jumper to Hilo on the Big Island.
Once again my mother threatened waterworks and it got to me like it always did, twisting me up in an uncomfortable way. She’d fought me so hard when I’d wanted to give up on the darkest days of my cancer. She’d fought for me, and I would forever be indebted.
“I have a serious question for you,” Noemi said when we were seated on the tiny, cramped plane. “Would your brother let you borrow his uniform?”
I laughed, enjoying the gleam in her eye. “It’s doubtful. Why? You like a man in uniform?”
“God, you would look so sexy.” She shivered at the thought. “We know how much you like giving orders.” But her expression soured. “I can’t believe it’s Friday already. It feels like we just got here.”
“Our trip’s not over yet, though.” We’d planned to go to the active eruption site in Volcanoes National Park. We’d both been to Hawaii before, but never to the volcanoes.
It had been a good idea, but the execution failed miserably. The caldera of the volcano had retreated back inside the crater, so we could see the steam from the lava flow, but no actual lava. Impressive, but still disappointing.
As we stood at the railing of the visitor’s center overlooking the massive crater, my phone rang. The restaurant I’d booked for dinner had had a kitchen fire during lunch, and was now closed for repairs. So our final dinner in Hawaii was fast food that we had to drive thirty fucking minutes to get to and back, because I’d booked a cabin in the forested part of the park. We weren’t ready for it to be so unseasonably cold, nor were we prepared for the drenching thunderstorm that began right before check-in.
The tiny A-frame cabin was referred to as a yurt. It had electricity, meaning one outlet high on the wall over the bed and a single dim bulb at the apex of the roof. No running water—the bathrooms were six cabins down the path from ours.
We’d made it inside the cabin with our suitcases and managed to stay somewhat dry, but it was sixty degrees in the yurt without heat, and the temperature was dropping. Noemi stared at the lumpy, ancient-looking bed, which was the only thing in the room, and back to me.
She laughed, a deep throaty sound. I could barely hear her over the rain pounding against the roof and the triangle-shaped windows at the eaves. “What is it?”
“I kind of have to pee.”
“Shit. Me, too.”
We were going to get soaked, but there was no helping it, and we dashed together through the cold rain, splashing in puddles as we made it to the bathroom, and then repeating the journey back to the yurt afterward.
Lightning slashed across the night sky, and thunder rolled through the trees as I unlocked the door and let her inside.
Her teeth chattered. “I get cold easily.”
“Let’s warm you up then.” I pushed back her strands of damp hair and lower my mouth to hers. The lightning cracking outside didn’t have a thing on us when we were kissing. The sparks made my hair lift from my skin. Her hands fumbled with her shirt, stretched it over her head, and there was a sopping noise as she threw it to the floor. She came back to me, hungry.
Her skin was covered in goosebumps, and this wasn’t a tremble in her body, this was shivering. I yanked off my soaked T-shirt and jeans, and pulled back the fluffy, white comforter while she struggled out of her pants.
The light switch snapped off, plunging us into darkness.
A low creak came from the bed as she got in and slid noisily over the sheets, making room for me to follow. I folded her in my arms and her rain soaked skin was cool in my hands. Bright light filled the cabin for a microsecond, and the boom of thunder was so loud the reverberations rattled the windows.
Noemi’s hand was on my chest and her head tucked into the crook of my neck. She vibrated and chattered from the cold. Was the comforter not on her right? I pulled it tighter against us, urging her closer, although it wasn’t really possible.
Her mouth was on my throat, teasing soft kisses, and I turned my head into her kiss. Heat flamed between us. The storm had interrupted my rhythm and I was sluggish about starting the game we usually played. Maybe it was the fact I couldn’t hear her breathing over the pounding rain and only saw her in flashes of the lighting. My fingertips traced the edges of her damp bra, and I wanted it gone. All of her skin needed to be pressed to mine.
She deepened the kiss, filling my mouth with her sweet tongue as she shifted under the thick comforter and climbed on top of me. The bra. It had to go, fucking now. My fingers curled around the band at the back, undid it, and tossed it aside. Her hard nipples scraped over my chest and I groaned with satisfaction.
“I fucking love your—”
She put two fingers over my lips, silencing me, and replaced them with her mouth a moment later. There was a disconnect in my brain. Who the hell was in charge? Yet her kiss kept my urge to dominate at bay. I clasped a hand on her breast, filling my palm with the weight of it, and gently squeezed. It made her tongue plunge deeper in my mouth.
Her hips shifted and pleasure washed upward from her teasing as she ground herself on my cock. Now the fucking underwear had to go, too. I slipped a hand under them and closed my fist around the band at her hip, tugging. “Get these off.”
She rolled off of me. The cover shifted as she did as asked, and I yanked my boxer briefs down, kicking them away. I rose up on my elbow and turned to her, but her hands were on my shoulders, pressing me back down so she could straddle my lap.
“You think you’re the boss tonight, little girl?”
“Ssh,” she whispered in my ear, and her bare, wet pussy slicked across my hard cock. My mind emptied. All I could think about was the sensation and how I wanted her to do it again. The comforter wrapped around us like a cocoon, but she wasn’t shivering anymore. Her hands scooped under my head, tilting me into her kiss that was a thousand times better than anything else I’d had. She’d fucking ruined kissing. I’d asked if she wanted me to ruin her, and she’d done it to me. No one would match up after her.
My hands skated over the curves of her bare back, my fingertips skimming the hollow of her spine and working lower, until I gripped a handful of her ass. I lifted her, trying to urge her to take me inside. I’d had plans of burrowing beneath the covers and kissing her legs until her knees shook and she begged me to go down on her, but now I was impatient. I wanted . . . that connection.
“Fuck, get on me,” I demanded, my voice strained with need.
“No more talking.”
What? “Excuse me?”
“It’s not an order, Joseph,” she said softly. “Tonight it’s a limit. No words.”
Annoyance rolled hot through me, coupled with unease. Why would she do that? She loved my filthy mouth. Her body slid against mine once again and I bit down on my tongue. Keeping my mouth shut was going to be fucking impossible.
But it was a limit.
I would have to try.
Noemi rose to sit upright, and finally, after a lifetime of torture, positioned my cock so it was right at her entrance. My breath stuck in my lungs as the lightning flashed, flooding the room with the perfect image of her naked body on top of mine, my hands clenching her hips. We moaned together as
The darkness was like a blindfold, and the loud, driving rain was the dominating sound, drowning out almost everything else. But as she began to move, the bed creaked. Her tight, hot body gripped me and I dug my fingers into her skin, like I needed to hold on or I’d lose my damn mind.
She rode me, slow and deep, her knees clenching around my rib cage and her hands pushing on my chest for leverage. I needed it faster, or slower, I didn’t fucking know anymore. Only that I had need. An unsatisfied ache for something, and each of her thrusts seemed to promise relief.
Her heart was pounding beneath her heaving breasts, I could feel it. I could taste her desperation in her frantic kisses, like she had that same need I did. Restless and urgent for the remedy.
Her hands laced with mine and she pushed them until the backs of my palms were against the pillows beside my head. I inhaled. This wasn’t what I allowed. Her on top and in control. Setting the limits was one thing, but she was pushing me . . .
Wasn’t that what I did to her? Pushed until we discovered something new? I squeezed my grip on her fingers, but remained, forcing myself to endure the submissive position. Her undulating body had my pulse roaring in my head. Soft, warm breasts flattened against me when her tongue was tangled with mine again, her damp hair falling in my eyes.
The burn inside me grew to an inferno. I needed more, I needed her to . . . I needed . . .
I kept our hands twined together as I sat up, forcing her upright, and twisted her arms behind her back. My mouth slammed into her throat and from beneath, I drove up into her. The legs around me shook. Her whole body trembled as I plunged inside and retreated, faster and faster until we were gasping loudly for breath, drowning in each other.
Her head tipped back and I set my forehead against her neck, fighting the swell inside as we connected again and again. Humid air dragged through my lips. I released one of her hands and it was instantly on my head, holding onto me, her fingers clutching hard in my hair.
The thunder boomed outside and shook the walls, but we didn’t slow down. It just kept building, and building.
“I love you,” she cried. “Oh my God, I love you.”
Her orgasm burst. It tore from her mouth and her body, shattering all around it, sending me over like a shockwave. Unimaginable pleasure sliced me into a million pieces and everything poured out into her, maybe even my soul.
A single breath.
Then another.
Her shuddering slowed to a stop as the fire in me was finally satiated, and dread replaced it.
I love you.
It echoed in my ears and had sent me soaring, but I hadn’t said it back. Confusion swirled and the words stuck in my brain, which was unable to manage anything. Noemi Rosso was in love with me.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
She climbed off and lay down, pulling the covers up to her neck. Her hand searched for mine, located it, and tugged me. I complied, spooning against her, but I couldn’t breathe. What the hell was I going to do?
“Noemi,” I whispered over the rain.
“Ssh, I said no talking.”
Christ, I didn’t sleep at all.
chapter
TWENTY-SEVEN
NOEMI
I woke up alone. I lay on the sagging mattress and tried not to cry. What the hell had I done? I’d gone and screwed everything up by opening my stupid mouth.
At least it wasn’t a lie.
I was hopelessly in love with Joseph. I felt like I could walk into a room filled with a thousand Paytons, and he’d only see me. I was inexperienced, but I wasn’t naive. I was sure he’d run screaming away if I used the L word, and apparently, I had been right.
I dug clothes out of the suitcase and pulled them on slowly, my body all out of sorts. Like I was hungover from what we’d done last night, or going through the beginning stages of withdrawal, which made more sense. I’d told him I was addicted.
Joseph sat outside on the top of a picnic table and his feet on the bench, his broad back turned to me, but I could see he was talking on the phone. Two Styrofoam cups rested on the table, steaming into the morning air. One was his coffee, and the other water, with an unopened tea bag pinned beneath it. Those little details got to me, something as simple as him remembering I preferred tea to coffee, or discovering a new bottle of my brand of shampoo in his shower.
My heart ached for him, and worse at knowing he didn’t feel the same. I foolishly hoped someday he would. A deep breath filled my lungs and I plastered a light, pleasant expression on my face so as not to give away the turmoil inside. I’d pretend like nothing happened.
A stick cracked under my foot as I approached, and he turned. “Okay, I need to go. Thanks,” he said, pressing a button on the phone, and pocketed it. “Sorry, I had a work call and didn’t want to wake you.”
“Good morning.” It came out too bright and not at all natural.
Joseph’s gaze turned suspicious. It was terribly awkward, standing across from him after I’d put myself out there and not gotten the response I’d wished for. He clearly cared for me, I knew that, but it was still tough to swallow.
“Is that for me?” I pointed to the cup, but as I reached for it, he trapped my hands.
“Don’t you have a good morning kiss,” he said, his eyes like pools of black ink, “for the man you love?”
Oh, shit. When his mouth took mine it stole all the air. His hand cupped the back of my neck, molding to hold me better as soft lips moved against mine, igniting heavy, thick desire between us.
“Are you mad I’m so stupid?” I asked.
His mouth was carving a path along my jaw, but froze. “What?”
“You said I was too smart to fall in love with you.” It was hard to keep myself held together when he was only an inch from me.
He chuckled and the mouth continued to its destination, landing at the edge of my ear. “Yeah, I’m furious. Can’t you tell?”
My legs refused to act like legs, and I put my hands on his bent knees to steady myself. The world was spinning, and he kept me upright.
“When the time is right,” he whispered, “when I know exactly how and when to say it . . . Can you give me a little more time?”
I let out an enormous sigh of relief that shifted into amusement. “Are you telling me to wait?”
Good lord, his smile did not help my weak legs. “Yes, little girl. It will come out of my filthy mouth.”
Our flight didn’t leave until two, so we drove into Hilo and strolled through the touristy section of downtown to kill time, eating ice cream cones under the palm trees on a beach. I watched the bright blue waves lap at the black rock shoreline and tried to enjoy my last few hours here before going back to wintery Chicago, and final exams.
“God, it’s so beautiful.” I put my hand on his leg. “Thank you for bringing me.”
He smiled. “Who should be thanking who? I’m here on a beach, trying to keep myself from getting hard watching you eat your ice cream.”
I licked the cone in what I hoped was a suggestive and not just weird manner.
It seemed to work, but then his expression turned sincere. “Thank you for saying yes.”
“When we get back, we should have dinner with my dad. I don’t like sneaking around.”
Joseph’s body went stiff. “Yeah. I’m going to need a few weeks with that.”
“What? Why?”
His expression was almost a scowl. “I’ve . . . got something to wrap up first.”
My heart beat faster with anxiety. “Oh, no. Are you doing a deal with Katzenberg?” Stay out of it, Noemi. He knows what he’s doing.
“Something like that.” He stood and tossed the remainder of his ice cream away like he’d lost his appetite, and held his hand out to help me up. “C’mon.”
We wandered through jewelry shops and art galleries, and I paused when I saw a framed photograph of a yellow hibiscus against the black lava and ocean in the background.
Joseph lingered behind me. “You want to put that in your bedroom. I’m thinking over the six-drawer dresser?”
“Yes.” I shook my head in disbelief that he’d know that.
“You should. It’d look great there.”
If I bought it, every time I saw the picture I could remember this trip with him. I dug my wallet out of my purse, but my heart sank.
“I can’t.” Embarrassment warmed my cheeks. “My financial manager will see the Hawaii purchase and he might pass that along to my dad.”
I had my own money, in a sense, as I had stocks in the company and other investments, but my credit account came from my father. One year Becca’s spending had gotten out of control, and the financial monitor had been installed to curb that.
Joseph gave me a smile. “Ah. Okay, I’ll get it for you.”
“No, no, you can’t do that. It’s almost three hundred dollars.”
His laugh was like it wasn’t any big deal. “Noemi—”
“I’m serious. I’m not comfortable with it after all the money you’ve already spent on me.”
He stared at me like I was being silly. “But I want to do this.”
How could I explain my irrational logic? Joseph was wealthy and older than me, and I’d already opened the door to a slippery slope. First it was fancy trips, then artwork, maybe next it’d be jewelry. I’d never want a sugar daddy. “No, thank you. I’ve changed my mind, the proportions are wrong. That dresser’s really big.”
His gaze was skeptical. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah. It’s a nice image, though.”
Joseph glanced at his watch. “All right. We should get going.”
We walked to the rental car but as we got close, he pulled to a stop.
“Fuck, I think I set the keys down at the counter when we got ice cream.”
We had to divide and conquer, and while I retraced our steps through the different stores in search of the keys, Joseph went to the ice cream shop. His text came through ten minutes later that he’d found them on the beach, where they’d fallen out of his pocket.
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