Clutch Hit by Faith O'Shea (most popular ebook readers txt) 📗

first tremors began, he found himself lost in her. Her spasms shook him to his core, her whimper weakened his control, and as if on cue, they tumbled together into pleasure, the quakes not subsiding until neither had anything left to give.

Sweat glistened, all but gluing their bodies as one, and he found it impossible to move away from her. When her arms ensnared his neck, he dropped soft kisses on her face.

Her voice was shaking when she said, “Don’t go anywhere. Not yet.”

“I didn’t intend to. I think I have found my place in life. There is nothing left of me that isn’t yours.”

She hid her face in his shoulder. There wasn’t much of her left, either. He’d taken possession of every particle and cell in her body, taken her higher than she’d ever been before, but she could not succumb to falling in love. Not with him. She was surer than ever; she’d be devastated when he cast her aside.

“Please don’t say things like that.”

“You don’t want me to speak the truth?”

I can’t afford to fall for you. It will turn out badly for one of us.

She knew it was her own heart she was trying to protect, but after the way he’d just made love to her, the coating she’d kept in place for years had chipped.

“We have today, Mateo. And maybe tomorrow.”

He kissed her forehead, tucked her against his chest, and rested his head on hers.

“That is really all there is.”

Was he admitting they had no future? Did he know that, as he found his footing here, he’d no longer need her presence?

As if reading her mind, he offered an explanation. “Every morning we rise, it is today. We live each moment in the present. There is no yesterday or tomorrow. Only the now. Perhaps you guard too rigidly against the future and have dragged too much fear from the past. Let that all go. You are safe here in my arms.”

If only she could believe it, she might have a chance…for what? True love? Did that even exist? Love didn’t mean happily ever after. Just look at Casey. Look at her father? It meant heartbreak for them.

Her eyes fluttered close. Mateo had wrung her dry and she didn’t have the energy to fight the feeling of bliss she’d been left with. In this moment, she did feel safe. She cuddled closer and his arm tightened around her, even as he faded into sleep.

She woke to darkness, her growing hunger fed by the intimacy of their tangled bodies. She wanted more of him, more of what he’d given her. It had been a true joining of souls, something she’d never understood before. Knowing it might not last, giving in to the moment of need, she trailed her fingers over his chest, down his stomach until she felt the tight curls around his manhood. He jerked awake when her thumb brushed the tip of his penis and she began to stroke the rigid organ, which pulsed to the rhythm of her heartbeat.

She needed to be filled by him again, with an urgency that stunned her. Moving over him, teasing his chest with her nipples, she adjusted her curves to the hard, muscular planes of his body. His erection throbbed between her legs, searing her. The fire began to flare when she eased herself down over his shaft and took him in. His hands had gone to her hips as she rode him, guiding the in-and-out motion, and she arched hungrily up to meet each stroke until her body surged over the crest. Her world had narrowed to one sensation as her body convulsed in pleasure, the contractions consuming her. When she heard his grunt and felt his release, the relentless surge as he spilled himself into her, she clung to him desperately.

As she lay spent in his arms, her breathing ragged, a threat loomed over her.

“We’ve got to start using protection. I can’t afford to get pregnant and I never asked if you…”

“You are the first I’ve been with without wearing a condom. I should have thought of that when I was out this morning, but I never anticipated this.”

He was cradling her, her head rested against his shoulder. She raised her eyes to him, a smile on her lips. “You might not have anticipated this, but it’s been your end goal since the beginning.”

“I cannot lie. It has been. You are noise in my head, and I am delighting in it.”

She knew what he meant. He was like the streets of Cuba, where noise meant life and vibrancy.

It prompted the question, “Your mother said you always wore a smile, talked to everyone with light-hearted humor. You are not like that here. Is there a reason?”

“Americans are different. They are not so open and easy to get to know. And I am in the process of proving my worth. It is serious business.”

She stroked his cheek, the growth of stubble like sandpaper against her hand. Just another thing about him that made her jelly. Getting her mind off the texture and taste of him, she countered his comment, “You don’t have to bury yourself in it.”

“The only thing I want to bury myself in is you.”

The coil in her gut tightened at the thought. It didn’t take much for her to want him.

“There’ll be no more burying until we have several boxes of condoms in your bedside table drawer.”

“Then that will be my first errand tomorrow… rather later today. It is a new day. And we are still here. Do you see how this works?”

She did. If all her todays were this good, she’d spend her life wrapped up in them.

“Kiss me and then we can go to sleep.”

“No kisses until…later. They tend to lead to other things.”

She grabbed his hair and pulled his lips down to meet hers. “If that’s true, we’ll miss a lot of

lip-locks and they’re too good to pass on.”

He relented with a chuckle and gave her what she wanted. After turning on