Page 93 of Javier

Why the hell was I nervous?

Walking up to a hotel room with a beautiful woman by my side was a regular occurrence for me. I’d done this countless times. Why was it so different now?

Missy. She wasn’t just any woman. She was Angel,myAngel, and I wasn’t good enough, would never be good enough, to be the man she deserved.

You’re a fucked-up SOB, but if you’re lucky, you can join in her adventure and be the one to teach her pleasure.

The blood swished in my ears when I thought about what she wanted. Explore, experiment, learn. I couldn’t thinkstraight. My dick drained all the blood from my brain. My brand of cocky confidence felt shaky. It was as if it didn’t belong in a bed that held Missy.

“It’s such a lovely evening.” Missy took a deep breath. “Do you smell that?”

The perfumes of the tropical night invaded my nostrils—plumeria and jasmine, thyme and ozone wafting all around me—and yet it was Missy’s natural scent that made me dizzy with want, her heady fragrance punctuated by notes of citrus.

“Look at the moon,” she said. “It’s so full and bright. It’s beautiful.”

I didn’t need to waste my time looking at the moon to recognize beauty. She walked right next to me. I kept my gaze on Missy instead. How could her simple words feel like the sweetest, most devastating type of seduction?

“Javi,” she breathed, patting my wrist softly. “I know that you don’t want or need a relationship. No worries, expectations, or obligations. It’s only us tonight. Okay?”

“Okay,” I mumbled.

I should be the one reassuring and comforting her, not the other way around. In this moment, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about my career, who knew and who didn’t. My mind and heart were open to being with her in whatever way she wanted me. She was right. It was just us. I intended to make this night count.

“Let me ask you this,” I said. “Are you afraid that I could have another nightmare and get violent like the last time?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You didn’t hurt me then, and I don’t plan on us sleeping much tonight.”

I barked a laugh. What a woman. I liked her plan.

It struck me that I couldn’t just go for my usual fast and furious fucks. I had to find ways to make this great for her frombeginning to end. We greeted Pedro, who was stationed at our gate, and arms still entwined, climbed the steps to the door. I let go of her, unlocked the door, and slid the keycard in my pocket.

“Wait.” I swept her off her feet, and bracing her against my chest, carried her over the threshold and kicked the door shut behind us.

She put her hand over her mouth and let out a giggle.

“Too much, right?” I stopped inside the foyer. “Ridiculous?”

“No, not ridiculous.” She caressed me with her gaze. “Romantic.”

Romantic?

I wavered. Nobody had ever accused me of being romantic before.

“I like it, silly.” She reached up and cupped my chin, brushing her fingers over my shaven jaw, a caress so tender that it weakened my knees. “Don’t be afraid to be yourself. That’s all I ask of you.”

In all my years on this earth, no one had ever said something like that to me. Do this. Be that. Don’t do that. Change this. Be a man. Don’t cry. Be strong. Those were the kind of things I’d heard most of my life. And right now, for reasons I couldn’t even begin to decode, her request had me blinking a liquid curtain from my eyes.

I strolled across the room and set her down at the foot of the bed. Dwarfed by the tall headboard, she looked small and fragile sitting on the big mattress, and yet, when I met her stare, strength and determination gleamed in her eyes, the signs of a woman who knew her own mind.

She patted the spot next to her on the bed. I eased down. She took my hand and traced the lines on my callous palm before she followed the outline of my fingers, gliding from one to the next, a soft touch that teased my dick until a tent rose on my lap.She saw this.

I shrugged. “Sorry about that.”

“Are you serious?” She drew back.

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