Page 98 of Disguised as Love

He lifted a finger to slide the glasses down my nose so he could look directly into my eyes.

“Raechka, that part of my life had burned itself out before you even entered my world. I was ready to move on. I just didn’t know what came next.”

I bit my lip and looked away, unable to stand the hope in his gaze.

“What comes next?” I asked.

“You.”

“And?” I pushed.

“Nothing else. Just you.”

I struggled against him again. “That’s even more ridiculous.”

He tossed my glasses to the sand.

“I’m going to kiss you now, little one, because I’ve gone a goddamn week without touching you, and if I don’t, I might explode. And if you still doubt why I’m here or think me making you my life is ridiculous, you can try to convince me. But I’m warning you, it’ll be impossible.”

Then, he lowered his mouth to mine, a soft kiss that caused the air inside me to flutter. A gentle glide of lips over lips that instantly ignited into an inferno, that had me darting my tongue along his seam without any control. A quiet moan escaped him. A moan that I returned.

My memories hadn’t played tricks on me. It hadn’t been the situation or the intensity of our time together that had caused our attraction. My body reacted exactly the same way now?with no threats and no guns aimed at us?as it had then. As if I’d never been whole until he’d touched me.

He lifted me so our mouths were closer together, and my legs wrapped around his waist of their own accord. My hands curled around his neck, nails biting into the flesh as I pulled his mouth tighter against mine. His hands skimmed my back and my sides, sliding up my skin to graze my breast, and my breath hitched.

“Tell me how to get to your room before I lose control and take you on the beach with everyone watching,” he said, deep and guttural, desire and lust pounding through each word.

“Everyone?”

I opened my eyes to find Mama, Papa, and Georgie staring out the window as well as the guards on the fence eyeing us.

“The patio to the right, the French door there. That’s mine.”

He strode toward it, turned the handle, and strode inside. “We’ll talk later about how you’re never going to leave that unlocked again.”

The room was soft and white with hints of sky blue and gold. Cruz pushed aside the mosquito netting on the bed and laid me down. His hands instantly went to the strings, tugging at them until they fell apart, and I lay there bare before him.

He was sitting on the bed at my side, and his hands stilled as he took me in again.

“You’re a masterpiece, little one. Keys I want to play for the rest of my life,” he said.

And then he did just that, played my body with his hands. Made me writhe and call his name and promise him anything if he’d just take me over the edge and into the abyss one more time. And he did, with his mouth and his tongue and his fingers. When I came back into the world, I realized he was still fully dressed.

I sat up, crawled into his lap, and began to undress him, slowly nipping and biting at each piece of skin as it was revealed. I forced him to lie back on the bed while I proceeded to remove his shoes and his pants and took my time the way he’d taken it with me. When my mouth enclosed around him, he groaned and pulled me up his body.

“Not until I’ve been inside you at least one more time,” he said and slid home.

I gasped, the pleasure of that single action almost sending me over the edge again. Then, we were moving, pounding out a pace that wasn’t slow or fast, but some delicious rhythm in between. He flipped us over, and it was all I could do to hold on to his shoulders as the waves crested over me, and I cried out his name. His own release followed mine. He thrust into me one last time with a curse and a growl as if he’d lost control all too soon?when Cruz Malone hated losing control.

We lay tangled together, joined still, as our breathing came back down to normal. He ran fingers along my waist and skin, sending soft swirls through me, and causing my insides to flex around him.

He smiled that beautiful, huge smile I’d hardly ever seen but that seemed to reveal the real Cruz. The one who played the piano with a gentle touch. The one who loved fiercely and protected others with a devotion that left little for himself.

“So impatient, little one,” he said, nuzzling my neck with his nose. “We’ll get back to round two in a moment. But first, we need to talk.”

I tried to push at his chest, to get some space so I could think, but he didn’t let me. He wrapped me tighter. “Don’t run away. There’s nothing to fear with me.”

I stilled, eyes finding his. “There is,” I said quietly.

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