Here to Stay

by Adriana Herrera

  Then why were my eyes burning like I was about to cry and my hands itched to go and pull Caroline’s perfectly manicured nails off Rocco’s forearms?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Rocco

  “I’ll be here!”

  I sighed as I walked away from Caroline, who was sweet but had been sticking to me like a shadow. The night—which I’d already expected to be weird—had so far been excruciating. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Julia and I was starting to fear she was royally pissed at me.

  As I made my way back from the bar, I spotted her going out into the garden. I looked behind me and saw that for once Caroline had veered her eagle eye off me and was chatting with Tariq, Salome, Dani, and José. I liked her fine, but she had the completely wrong idea about my level of interest. Especially with Julia here. Not that she’d given me any indication she cared.

  Although there had been that moment when Caroline put her hand on my shoulder where I could’ve sworn Julia sent her a very unfriendly look. But why would Julia be jealous? I was not her man. Her icing me out for almost a week told me that she was very clear on that.

  I didn’t even fucking know. But the fact was that whenever Julia was around, my entire body was primed to track her every move. The need to get close to her like a gravitational force. And now here I was again, going after her.

  I followed the path that Julia took and found her sitting on a bench in a dark corner. We were in a secluded spot by a copse of trees. It was a little chilly outside and Julia was wearing a bright red coat that she’d left unbuttoned, giving me a perfect view of the plunging neckline of the ivory sweater she was wearing. She looked tired though, and pissed. She looked really pissed. Not wanting to startle her, I stopped a few yards from where she was and lifted my hand before I spoke.

  “Hey.”

  My low voice sounded too loud in this quiet spot, and her head snapped up when she heard me. She seemed surprised to see me there, and her eyes had definitely lost the warmth that she’d looked at me with on Thanksgiving.

  “Are you sure you’re allowed to be talking to other women on your own?” Her tone was placid, but there was a definite edge there.

  Was she really mad because Caroline had been monopolizing my attention all evening?

  Feeling warm and fuzzy about making her jealous was probably not the healthiest reaction, but I couldn’t help it. Julia seemed pissed off by the fact that another person wanted me, and even though it made me an asshole, I was glad to know it.

  I’d been so unsure about what went on between us that night. If I’d been the only one affected by how good it’d been. I didn’t answer, but came closer until I was standing just a couple of feet from the bench.

  “I ran into her here, Julia. We just know each other from the gym.” She rolled her eyes. Like she thought I was just bullshitting her. “Besides, you’re the one who cut me off. You practically ran out of my place the day after Thanksgiving and have barely acknowledged my texts since then. I feel like my head is spinning with you sometimes.”

  She looked up and seemed embarrassed. Dammit. I took a deep breath trying to get a hold of myself. Shaming Julia because she didn’t want what I wanted was not the way to do things.

  “You must already know what I want. That the only woman’s attention I cared about tonight was yours.”

  She shook her head and looked away from me. “Don’t say shit like that, Rocco. Where’s that even going to get us?” She faced me again and when she glanced up her eyes were blazing. I could see the same turmoil there that I was feeling. After a second she stood, a long exhale escaping her lips.

  “Go back to sweet-and-cute Caroline. She’s better for you.” She waved her hands between us, until I caught them and held them in mine. “This isn’t a good idea, Rocco.”

  I stepped up, getting closer, certain she would stop me or walk away. Instead she pressed herself against me and I lowered my head until our lips were almost touching. I could taste her already, feel the heat I hadn’t gotten nearly enough of the last time.

  I took her hands and hooked them around my neck. I didn’t care about making Caroline wait, I didn’t care about anyone finding us. I didn’t care about anything other than having Julia’s mouth, touching her again.

  She gasped as I ran my hands down her back. I stopped at her waist, not wanting to assume. She shook her head weakly, her voice barely audible, while I waited.

  “We can’t be a thing, Rocco.” She sighed, as she pressed herself to me.

  Before I kissed her, I had to say what she and I already knew.

  “We already are.”

  Julia

  We left together.

  We hid in those bushes and kissed and touched until we were both so turned on and disheveled all we could do was slink away like thieves in the night. And I guessed we were stealing. We were trying to rob a little bit of time, as ours was running out.

  Rocco made me impulsive in a way that scared me sometimes. I’d always been hyperaware of people’s perceptions of me. Being an Afro-Latina, trying to show people that I could be in charge, that I could be trusted, meant I had to be above reproach. I could be a mess in my personal life, unsure of what I was doing, but with my job, it was always one hundred percent on track.

  Even breaking up with Matt...that blow hadn’t been as devastating because I had my job here and I knew that if I stayed that would be enough to make things work. But here I was, in a car after leaving my friends hanging, barely able to stay still thinking of what was going to happen once we were at Rocco’s.

  “You okay?” The question and Rocco’s hand gliding over my thigh pulled me from my agitated reverie. When I looked up at his profile, I felt that sick but so good churning that happened whenever he was close.

  Fuck, I wanted him so bad.

  “I’m good.” He nodded at my answer and his strong jaw relaxed, as if we hadn’t ditched all our friends and Caroline so we could go have sex. I almost asked him again if he really thought this was a good idea, if we should do this when we both knew it could not end well, but I didn’t. I wanted to enjoy this, to have him all to myself even if only this one time. Seeing him with someone else had made me greedy, and I wouldn’t even let my own doubts have a piece of him tonight.

  I watched his sure hands on the steering wheel and didn’t let myself think about my own car sitting in a parking lot, where it would sit until I picked it up tomorrow.

  Just as I was wondering how bad the teasing would get, my phone buzzed in my hand.

  José: This text is for AFTER Mr. Quinn has turned that cherry out. I just want you to know Caroline has moved on without assistance. And we’re all here placing bets on whether you two are actually going to make it to a bed or if you’re getting busy in the arboretum parking lot.

  A laugh burst out of me as I tapped out a message.

  “What is it?”

  “Our friends being clowns.”

  Julia: Thanks for the update. We did make it out of the arboretum, but can’t make any promises about Rocco’s garage. I’m turning off my phone because I don’t need any of this hateration as I diligently undo every single one of my professional boundaries to get laid.

  With that, I powered off the device in question, slid it in my purse, and ran a hand over Rocco’s leg. If I was going to do this, I was going to be all in. If we only had tonight, I was going to make it worth it.

  “I can barely think from wanting you in my bed already.” Rocco’s voice was tight with need, and, fuck, he was hot. I looked up and saw that we were almost to his garage. The anticipation of having him to myself was like boiling water bubbling under my skin.

  “We’re almost there.” I sounded dazed and I could feel the pulsing between my legs, aching already for what I knew Rocco would give me.

  Rocco ran a finger along my thigh, as the tension in the car built. “I can’t wait
to suck on your tits. Get you nice and wet for my dick. I want in you, so bad.”

  Damn, but he was a dirty bastard.

  “Fuck.” I groaned as I spread my legs and, without taking his eyes of the road, he placed his hand right on top of my sex.

  “You’re so hot for me.” He was growling more than talking and I felt each of his words unspooling every doubt I’d had about doing this. “I’m going to make a three-course meal out of you. Sit you on my face and make you scream until you’re hoarse.”

  His hand was taking turns between pinching my nipple and sliding down to rub on my clit. I was panting and literally seeing spots from holding my breath.

  “Tell me what you like.”

  I didn’t even know where to start, but I’d never had a problem with saying what I wanted and I wasn’t going to be shy now.

  “I want you to make me come with your tongue, I want to ride your face, and then...”

  I reached over and grabbed his dick hard, because two could play at this motherfucking game. “We’ll see who gives better head.”

  “We’re almost there.” I grinned at the edge of desperation in his voice and ran my hand over his erection one more time, as he brought his hands back to the steering wheel.

  “I need to keep both hands on this wheel before I pull over and take you right here.”

  “You do that, Rocco.” I could be smug too. He wanted to play. We’d play.

  By the time we finally came to a stop and he powered off the car, I was halfway on his lap and taking his seat belt off.

  He pushed the seat back and had both hands on my ass and his tongue in my mouth in two seconds flat.

  “I can smell you.” He sucked in his teeth, nostrils flaring, as he got a good grip on the hair at the nape of my neck. His hips thrusting hard into me, and fuck he was rubbing me just right. I was going to come in this damn parking lot. “I had to jerk off in the gym on Friday because I still had you on my hands. Fuck, I want to tongue you for hours. Can I put my teeth on your nipples?”

  Oh, shit.

  I nodded, just as he was pushing up my sweater and pulling back the sheer lace of my bra. He flicked his tongue softly around the areola, and grazed his teeth on the tight nub. He had one hand on a breast and the other pulling on my hair just hard enough to make more wetness gather at my core.

  Once this man had full access to my body, he was going to wreck me forever. I already knew.

  He played with my breasts for another minute while I desperately tried to get some friction going on in the groin areas.

  After one last long pull of my nipple, he gently kissed it and then put my bra back and sweater back into place, our eyes locked together the whole time.

  “We need to go up, because I can’t see in here and I want to have good lighting and space. I want to get you sweaty, Julia.”

  “But I’m already dripping.” I could be dirty too.

  He just smirked and pushed his door open. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  The ride on the elevator was...interesting. But we managed to get into his apartment mostly clothed. I was now gloriously naked in his bed watching him undress for me.

  I was on fire for him, my skin tingling from how turned on I was. And I was having a hard time deciding where to look. My eyes roaming all over that hard body. Rocco’s idea of fun was torturing me by taking off each piece of clothing excruciatingly slow. Socks, slacks fluttered to the ground, and his eyes fixed on mine, those baby blues burning me up.

  “You see something you like, Ms. Ortiz?”

  I didn’t answer, just bit my lip, dipped my hand into my sex, and moaned.

  “Fuck.” It was like someone tasered him on the neck. He feverishly grabbed the hem of his shirt and then I remembered what was under there.

  “Stop.”

  He froze with his sweater halfway up his torso, revealing hard abs and tanned skin.

  “Turn around. I want to see your tattoo.”

  He considered me for a second and a predatory smiled followed. “You like my back piece?”

  I didn’t answer, just pushed off the bed and walked around him. He was tossing the sweater and T-shirt to the floor right as I got to him. I stood behind him, my fingers running over the Manhattan skyline etched on his skin. He sucked his teeth when I pressed my lips to a spot between his shoulder blades and nipped on his skin.

  “Ah.”

  I pulled away and ran my hands over it. Admiring. “I love this,” I said, as I kissed his back and shoulders. Teasing out more shivers. The energy had shifted now from the fever in the car to something more languid but no less intense.

  I pressed my front to his back and we breathed like that for a minute, my breasts against him, our bodies touching everywhere.

  When he turned around, he kissed me long and deep and I felt it in my core. Every touch from Rocco unfurled a new need in me. A more pointed desire.

  When he pulled back and I was breathing hard again, he brought one hand down and ran the pads of his fingers over my clit.

  I hissed and he smiled wickedly. “This is mine now.”

  I nodded, because nothing would make me happier right now than for him to own every inch of my body. “Yes.”

  He picked me up, and in a swift motion I was on the bed again. He ran his hands over my hips and ass as he looked at me.

  “You’re so soft everywhere,” he said, in a shuddered breath, as his hands spread my thighs. Once he could fit his wide shoulders in between them, he sank into the bed. I leaned back, propped on my elbows to look at him. His black hair was disheveled and his face a study in concentration as his big hands and body worked to get me right where he wanted to be.

  It was a hell of a thing to be the object of Rocco Quinn’s focus.

  I was strong from running and yoga, but I was not hard, the contrast of my brown skin and soft thighs accommodating all the sinew that was his body made me a little breathless. We made perfect sense together. And that was not where I wanted my head to go. So I focused back on him.

  He dipped his head and brushed his lips over my sex, then he pressed his nose to my mons, inhaling.

  “I’m obsessed with your smell.”

  I exhaled, feeling addled by how rough his voice sounded. The thought of him wanting my smell on him igniting a fire in my belly. I always thought it was too intense, not easy to wash away, but it seemed Rocco couldn’t get enough of it.

  “Doesn’t it bother you?”

  My voice sounded hoarse, like I’d been screaming. He shook his head again, rubbing against me, this time using his fingers to open me up, just a little, enough to expose my clit, which was aching for him. He stuck the tip of his tongue out and the throbbing between my legs was almost unbearable.

  “No, I love it. I want to tongue you until you’re everything I can taste.”

  He licked into it just a little and then ran the pad of his thumb over it, and my entire body throbbed. I wanted him to fuck me now, but I knew if I waited, if I let him use that mouth on me, it was going to be so worth it.

  “Would you hold your legs open for me, Julia?”

  I nodded and brought my knees up. As I glanced down I saw my chest heaving. I was panting for him.

  He looked up and, almost as if he couldn’t help himself, he quickly lunged and sucked a nipple into his mouth, worrying it with his teeth as he played with my clit with one hand.

  “I love your tits.” He closed his eyes and his hand disappeared under himself. I wanted him inside me, more than I wanted anything else.

  “Come on, Rocco, don’t make me wait.” He bent down, clearly not playing anymore. His tongue lapped hard at me, the tip flicking my clit over and over while he slipped two fingers in me, pressing into that bundle of nerves that made my skin crackle.

  A long-tortured moan escaped my lips from the sensation. I rolled
my head, trying to clear some of the fog his tongue and hands had me in. He used his fingers to spread my inner lips and tapped three fingers right against my engorged clit, soft little slaps that made me scream from how good it was. “Rocco.” I could hardly recognize my own voice, but he was working in earnest now.

  I sat up, gritting my teeth to a particularly delicious thing he was doing with his tongue. I grabbed his hair, raising his head so I could look at him. His blue eyes told me he knew exactly what he was doing to me, and when he ran his tongue over his bottom lip, like he’d just tasted the most delicious thing ever, I almost came.

  I gripped his hair tighter, and panted out, “It’s good to know you can use that tongue for more than running your mouth.”

  He just smirked and went right back in. When he sucked on my clit and reached over to tug on my nipple, I gave up. He was going to make me come harder than I ever had in my life, and I was done fighting.

  “Rocco.”

  He alternated between tongue and fingers with a relentless pressure that soon had my stomach turning into molten liquid and my legs shaking hard.

  “I’m coming.” That was his cue to redouble his efforts, and I was lost to the orgasm.

  “Ohhhhhh fuck that’s good.” My vision whited out as waves of pleasure crashed into me.

  He gently licked me through it and surged back up to tongue into my mouth.

  “Damn, Rocco Quinn, you can sure as fuck deliver on what you promise. I can’t feel my legs.” He laughed and moved so he could keep playing with my breasts. I pressed my hand to his erection and tightened it.

  “When are you going to let me have this?”

  He sucked his teeth and looked at me like he wasn’t sure I could handle what he was going to give me.

  “You want it?”

  I circled his dick with my fingers tight, and then tugged on his balls. “Right now.”

  He moved quickly and in no time had a condom on and I had to pause for a minute to take it all in. This man was hot and hungry. He looked like he could eat me alive, and I wanted to be devoured.