“Sure. Okay.” She patted his arm and changed the subject, letting him off the hook.
He took her to Shoreline Village in Long Beach. He’d made no reservations, preferring to play it casual. He bought her a blue, light-up rose. She rolled her eyes, but he thought her smile was pleased. They decided on pizza by the bay with churros for dessert. Val licked the remnants of cinnamon and sugar from her tongue.
They strolled the boardwalk hand in hand. When Mina pointed out a spinning, flashing toy reminiscent of one Dante, doting father that he was, always refused to get her, he bought that too.
Mina tried to play it cool, but as soon as she’d spun it high into the air, she broke out in a childlike grin of delight. Her eyes lit up, and she walked a few steps forward, her hands out and her eyes gleaming as she caught it. “Dante always said they were foolish because they didn’t do anything.”
“Some things aren’t supposed to do anything but make you happy,” Val said, plucking the thing from her palms and spinning it up into the air. He smiled smugly when it arched higher. “Dante wouldn’t know a good time if it bit him in the ass.”
“Well, if it bit him in the ass, he’d hardly be having a good time.”
Val plucked the spinning thing from the air and turned a lascivious and predatory grin on her. “I don’t know.” Hooking an arm around her waist, he brought her up close to him, leaning down so they were nose to nose. “I can imagine a good time that might involve a bite on the ass.”
Mina huffed out a laugh, but she crossed her arms behind his neck, pulling him down to her and kissing him.
It was some kiss, sweet and slow. She put a hand to his cheek, her thumb rubbing across his jaw with a caress that had him kind of giddy, truth be told. It was a heated kiss too, just this side of risqué. What was the expression she’d been stuck on years ago? A little bit of church tongue? It was from some movie she’d been obsessed with, but it fit. There was tongue, but it wasn’t so dirty as to be offensive. It was just enough to make his brain go fuzzy and his blood boil hot enough to chase the chill of the early evening off his skin.
Someone nearby made a disgusted noise. It was enough to startle Val, who’d pretty much forgotten they were in a very public place. Sure enough, when he glanced over Mina’s head, there was a man with a disgruntled look on his face, shooing two small children in the other direction. Feeling cheeky, Val winked at him. Mina buried her head in his chest and chortled.
“You can’t help yourself, can you?” She kissed the underside of his chin and dropped her hands to the side, taking his again as she walked on.
“Well, what? Not like I was grabbing your ass or making porn-star noises.”
She snorted, coming to lean up against the railing, looking out over the water.
He stepped up behind her, bracing his hands on the rail on either side of her, caging her in. “Maybe he just thought I was a pervert, hmm?” he murmured low, near her ear, nuzzling her hair. “Maybe he thought you were way too young for me.”
“Bah.” She tilted her head to the side and sighed contentedly as he dropped a line of kisses up her neck. “What’s it to him, anyway? I’m having fun.”
He chuckled, finding her hands and threading their fingers together on the railing. “I’m glad you’re having fun. You seem stressed sometimes. Do you ever just go out?”
At that, she stiffened, and he wondered if he’d said the wrong thing as usual. She blew out a breath and flipped her hand to play with his fingers. “All I’ve really got here is Celeste.” She swallowed thickly. “Celeste is a pain in the ass,” she said with a laugh that sounded fake as hell. “She’s the kind of girl you gotta go where she wants—her kinds of places, her tastes—and it’s not that I don’t have fun…”
“But it’s kinda fancy, the stuff she likes?” he probed carefully. “That’s why you’re always coming home in that little black dress.” He paused a beat. “Or maybe it’s that it’s the wrong kind of crowd.”
She broke free from his hold. “Don’t start, Valentin,” she said as she began to walk away.
“Hey, I’m not asking for details.” He caught her hand again, spinning her back to him. He cupped her cheek, brushing a thumb across her skin where the bruise had been. His throat got tight at the memory. Give him a face to go with whoever had done that to her, and he’d gladly break it. He did his best to put on a smile, catching her eyes and waggling his eyebrows. “It’s just ironic, right? Most people would say I’m the wrong crowd, especially for a woman like you.”
She rolled her eyes, but her expression gentled. She turned to him, tilting her forehead against his and stroking his cheeks with a movement so soft it about broke his heart. “You’re not the wrong crowd,” she whispered, and she kissed him.
Well, hell. Fuck if Val’s hands didn’t tremble a bit as he brought them to frame her face. He’d missed this. Not the kissing. Obviously, that was new. Amazing, but very much a new addition to their dynamic. What he’d missed was the fact that everyone else in the whole damn world looked at him like he was nothing but a fuck-up. Not Mina, though. With Mina, he thought maybe he was worth something to somebody.
That he was worth something to a person like her? That was some kind of miracle. It was the only bit of luck in an otherwise luckless life, and Val wasn’t the type to look a gift horse in the mouth.
~0~
It was approaching midnight as they finally made their way back home. Mina was in a giggly kind of mood, all smiles. She’d had a bit of alcohol, but she’d been in a good mood even before the booze.
She laughed, the sound bubbly and bright. It made him smile. He glanced at her, finding she was looking back at him with a big smile on her face. “I still can’t believe you took me to the aquarium.”
“You’ve always loved the aquarium.”
“I loved it when I was eight.”
“I loved it when you were eight too.” He shook his head, glancing at her again. “What did I tell you? Sharks are never not cool. It’s not an age thing.”
Shark Lagoon at the Aquarium of the Pacific was open most Friday nights. That was the reason he’d taken her all the way to Long Beach. She’d whined repeatedly that she wasn’t a child, but when they got into the lagoon area, she’d been just as gleeful to get her hands in the touch-tank to let harmless tiger sharks slip under her fingers as she had when she was a child.
Funny how some things had been the same. Then, he’d kept his arms around the little girl’s waist, because she was a bit too eager to get to the sharks, fearing she’d fall in on his watch. Now, he kept his arms around her waist under the guise of keeping her protected from herself, but in actuality, he just liked holding her.
He’d taken one picture. It was of her, wine glass in hand and skin tinted blue in the light of the shark tank. She had a far-off, spaced-out expression as she gazed into the tank, watching the sharks swim around and around. He watched her, equally spaced out and mesmerized.
It was pretty rare that Val knew what the hell was going on in his life. This? This was new. And good. So good.
And that, when it involved his precious Mina, was a little scary.
Since it was late and unlikely anyone was up, Val pulled up in front of the house. He looked at the house and wished, maybe for the first time in his life, that he could slow down time. He wasn’t ready for this night to end.
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one. Mina put her hand over his on the shifter, moving her fingers along his arm. She walked her fingers up to his shoulders and tickled the skin at the back of his neck. Cupping her cheek, he leaned in to kiss her.
He was thirty-seven years old, making out with a woman in front of his mother’s house, knowing damn well if her mother—his mother—knew, there’d be hell to pay. What even was his life?
She hummed and broke their kiss with a giggle. It was such a cute, beautiful sound that Val had to smile. “Laughing at me, Mia?” He stroked his fingertips along the underside of her c
hin. “I don’t think I’m that bad of a kisser.”
“Ah, no.” Her grin was all teeth. “I like the kisses.”
He pecked at her lips. “Yeah? You like this?” He kissed the corner of her mouth.
“Yeah.” She said the word with a sigh, tilting her head up to catch his lips.
“So why were you laughing at me?”
“I wasn’t laughing at you. It’s just funny.” Mina sat back, her hand pressed to his face, thumb tracing the line of his jaw. “This is the part, like in the movies and on shows, where you don’t know if the woman is going to invite the guy back up to her place.” She laughed again. “But you live in the same house.”
Val couldn’t deny the surge of lust that went through him at the idea she was deciding whether or not to invite him inside. He knew what he wanted. There were complications, all of them shouting at the back of his mind, but he could shut them up if she wanted to…
Well, he could shut them up for whatever she wanted—anything she wanted.
With a sigh, he got out of the car. She did the same, and as he walked around the front of the car, he reached a hand out. He twined their fingers together, keeping only a little distance between them. “It doesn’t have to be different, you know. I’m going to walk to the door, and I’m going to kiss you goodnight.” He stopped in front of the door, pulling her to face him. He held both her hands, ducking her head so his nose ghosted along hers, almost but not quite touching. “Then I’m going to go home.”
She searched his eyes, her lips pursed in amusement. He took a step closer to her, wrapping a hand around her waist and splaying his hand across her lower back. He pulled her flush against him. She sighed against his lips when he kissed her.
Man, she drove him so crazy.
Somehow, Val managed to break their kiss. It would be so easy—so easy—to fumble for the door and pull her through it and upstairs. He would do it, but only if she said the magic words. Only if she invited him in.
She bit her lip and took a step back, though she kept her arms looped loosely around his neck. His skin tingled. Every breath they took, breathing in each other’s air, was heavy with possibility.
A mischievous smirk came over Mina’s features. “Can I see you again?”
He laughed. “A second date?” Hooking a finger under her chin, he brought her face toward him. “I can arrange that.”
“If you want to,” she said casually. She shrugged. “You know, I’m an independent woman. Maybe I make more than you.” She grinned at him. “How about I take you out?”
He laughed—not because it was ludicrous, but because he was just so charmed by her. He played with her fingers, amused. “A Mina date. Now that’s something I’d like to see. But how about you let me have one more, hmm? I have an idea I want to use before you figure out this whole thing is crazy.”
There was that giggle again. It wasn’t at all little girlish. It was a light, pretty thing, and he just liked it a lot. “Well…” she said.
He gave her fingers one last squeeze. “Goodnight, mijita.” He stood back, his eyes on her.
She bit her lip, hiding a smile as she fumbled for her keys. She opened the door and looked back at him. “Goodnight.”
After she went inside, he lingered for ten seconds on the porch. Then he followed her in.
She was waiting inside the door, and she burst out laughing when he came in. Pressing his lips together into a line to hold back his own laughter, he pushed the door closed and leaned against it, his eyes on hers. Her laughter died, and she swallowed, her eyes darting up and down his body.
Val sucked in a breath. Funny. He’d never known that a look could feel like fingers on his skin. His cock twitched, and he dug his thumbnail into the fleshy part of his palm to quell the urge to go to her. He’d promised her the choice. If she were anyone else, he’d be on his way home by now. He had to remember that.
She seemed to sway on her feet, looking at him like she was famished and he was the feast. But after a few tense seconds, she breathed in through her nose. She angled her body away from him, though her head was still turned toward him, and started walking toward the stairs.
He hesitated, waiting until she turned to face forward before he followed. Maybe it would’ve been more gentlemanly for him to go to the kitchen and wait for her to be upstairs with the door to her room closed. But he wasn’t a gentleman. And he was a bit of a masochist. He followed.
The air was electric, singed with a burning heat and crackling. A million different scenarios played in his head. He could rush forward, scoop her into his arms, and carry her to his room, to his bed. She wouldn’t say no, and he knew that.
He thought of his mother’s words again. In that one moment, he had to decide to do right or wrong.
She got to the top of the stairs and stopped. He stopped two steps beneath her, each of them breathing as if the short journey had winded them. Looking back at him, she licked her lips and opened her mouth.
But after a few more moments, she turned and walked again. He followed a few steps behind as they made their way soundlessly down the hallway. When she reached out to touch her doorknob, he could see her hands were trembling.
He reached his door and wrapped a hand around the knob. He turned and leaned against his door, his eyes intent on her.
He’d promised her a choice. He never said he’d make it easier on her. His need for her was powerful, and he could taste it. He could smell it in the air.
She wanted him too, and she knew damn well all she had to do was take one single step toward him.
With a shuddering breath, she closed her eyes. He heard the turn of the door, and it came open. She opened her eyes, her gaze flicking to him one more time before she stepped inside her room and closed her door with a soft, anticlimactic click.
Staring at her closed door, Val grinned. He ducked his head, chuckling wryly before he turned and let himself in his own door.
Chapter 14
Mina pressed her back against the door and tilted her head to stare at the ceiling. She bit her bottom lip, but it wasn’t enough, and she grinned. What the hell was she giggling about? She wasn’t trying. It just kind of bubbled up out of her like a spring. She clapped both her hands over her mouth.
Her face was hot, like she was sitting in a sauna instead of leaning up against the door of her room. She was just so aware of her body, her skin. She ran her hands around the back of her neck and down her sides. What the hell was this feeling? It was like her skin was crawling, but instead of being creeped out, she was all hot and bothered.
Since when had her skin been able to replay memories? It wasn’t images in her head. It was the scratch of his stubble as he kissed her, the wetness of his tongue. The tingles that went up and down her spine as he brushed his fingers along her back, down her sides… She could still feel the heat of his body as he held her against him.
Mina opened her eyes with a gasp. This room was far too calm for how she felt. The giddiness in her chest gave her wings. If she were a bird, she would fly right out of her window, singing a sweet song and doing loop-de-loops. But since she wasn’t a bird, her feet curled and were ready to run. There was nothing calm about the way she felt just then.
Proximity was a hell of a thing. Even in the dorms, she’d never been this close to someone she wanted to fuck. Come to think of it, she’d never wanted someone as much as she wanted or needed Val at that moment. This was more than emotion; it was an experience. It was something she was living, not just something she was feeling.
There was nothing to think about. She was made of fire, and if she didn’t move now, it would consume her. She needed to smother it skin to skin.
She darted across the hall and opened his door without knocking. He’d chastised her when she was eight, but this was a different world.
He was sitting on the edge of his bed, his head bowed and his hands in his hair—a far cry from the suave, smooth son of a bitch he’d been all
evening. His head snapped up as she came through the door, his eyes wide. She let the door shut softly behind her.
For two or three seconds, they stared at each other. Then, she pushed off the door, and he stood up from the bed. They crossed to each other and met in the middle, his arms wrapping around her and hers tangling in his hair. They stumbled, and he pressed her back against the wall, pinning her with his body. His hand smoothed down her side until he reached her thigh. He cupped his hand around the back of her knee and yanked.
Mina gasped and moaned into his mouth, gripping him around the back of his neck as she found herself balanced on one leg, the other one hitched up around his hip. It opened her to him, and she felt the hardness of his body between her legs. Her head spun, desire ratcheting up at a dizzying speed.
She was no virgin, but it had never been like this. Sex was fun, a good way to pass the time with another consenting adult. But this? This was overwhelming. This was more than want. It was need. It was thirst. It was like some psychedelic dream, where she was falling or flying, with colors and beautiful things that didn’t make any sense all around her, and he was the only thing keeping her tethered to her own body.
Nipping at his lips, her heart pounding, she took his face in her hands. “Please,” she murmured into his mouth. “Please.”
He groaned. “Christ, querida.” Drawing his hands up along her sides, he mirrored her pose, taking her face in his hands. His eyes were dark with lust but intense on her. “You make me so crazy, Mia. Why’d you have to do that, huh? Are you begging me? Do you know how sweet that is?”
Her heart pounded, and her throat closed. She kissed him, soft presses of her lips to his, and she wished she were smoother. It gave her some courage that she could see in his eyes that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. That was powerful. This was Val, and she had him wrapped around her finger. She kissed him sweetly again. “Please,” she repeated, because it was the only word she had to use.
Never Enough Page 10
