Page 21 of His Gilded Cage

I exhaled and collapsed backwards on the bed.

“See, I know what you need,” she said, climbing on top of me and whispering in my ear. “Make love to me again and forget the pain of the past.”

“I can’t forget,” I said. “I’m going to make him pay.”

“Shhhh . . . Stay with me in this bed,” she said. She lifted my hand and placed it on her pussy. She raised her hips and guided two of my fingers into her wetness. “Stay with me instead,” she said, rocking her head back, her black hair spilling forward. She moaned as she used my fingers for pleasure, guiding me in again and again and massaging herself to orgasm.

I watched her as she moaned and shook above me and it felt as though there was nothing for me but this moment. Right then, my need for vengeance was gone. I wanted nothing more than to come inside her again.

Carmella and I awoke with our legs tangled together between the sheets.

“Promise me you will stay here and rest,” she said, kissing my eyelids with her soft lips. “I have to go to the city.”

“Come back tonight?” I asked, reaching out to grasp her hand. “I feel better when you are here with me. I promise to stay if you promise to come back.”

“I will come,” she said, giggling and kissing me. Her hand brushed my crotch resting just long enough to get a rise out of me. “I will come and then you will come.”

“You tease me,” I said.

“Yes, I do,” Carmella, said. She stretched her arms up in the air and climbed out of bed. I grinned and watched her as she crossed my bedroom. I loved looking at her naked body. Her breasts were small and firm and the curve of her hips called to me. She glanced back over her shoulder at me and I could almost see her as a young girl crossing the room of our hotel in Cabo.

The hotel.

Hotel Casa Dona.

I sat up in bed.

Carmella had left a key for me at the front desk. She had arranged everything that day. I remembered how surprised I had been to learn that she had rented us a room along the ocean. It wasn’t just the cost that had surprised me, it was how brazen she was, renting a room as a single young woman. This wasn’t something she’d ever done before and it never happened again. How had she found the place?

I got out of bed and pulled on some undershorts and a t-shirt. Eyes narrowing, I stood in the center of my bedroom listening to the sound of Carmella singing in the shower.

I had a feeling of déjà vu. I had been here before. In her arms, distracted by her body and her touch. Ten years before she had lured me away long enough for my mother to die. Why did I get the feeling she was distracting me again?

Forget the pain of the past, Marco.

My stomach tightened into a knot. I walked into the steam filled bathroom.

“Why did you pick Hotel Casa Dona in Cabo?” I asked, standing in the doorway.

She stopped her singing and leaned forward, suds of soap sparkled in her black hair. Her gorgeous body glistened with water. “What?” she asked.

“In Cabo,” I said, willing myself to stay focused on her eyes, to avoid the draw of her naked body.

“You mean the hotel where we stayed the day your mother died? Marco, it was so long ago. I’m surprised you even remember the name.”

“How did you find it, Carmella?” I said. “You were in Guadalajara how did you even know about it? Did you call for the reservation? Did you use a fake name? Surely you remember.”

“I don’t remember,” she said, still smiling, but I imagined a strain in her voice. “Maybe my sister suggested it? Or I called a friend, I don’t know . . .”

“You were a housekeeper, Carmella. You did not have extra money for a place like that. This was before we had the Internet at the house, there is no way you would have risked telling anyone where you were going or even worse why you were going . . .”

“Marco, you are talking crazy . . .”

“I called you to invite you to Cabo. I remember thinking you’d never show but I had to ask. I was so happy to see you I never thought to ask you any questions. How did you get there? How did you pay for the room? Who helped you Carmella?”

She stared at me, her face losing all warmth and hardening like a mask. This was the face of my father’s chief of staff. This was the face that had no place in my memories.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Carmella turned off the water and opened the glass door. She stood naked before me. Her head lowered, she looked up at me with those wide brown eyes. “Can you just stop and join me in this shower, Marco,” she said, running a finger along her lower lips.

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