Page 71 of Dangerous Rhythm

Lina took a deep breath and traced the scar with her fingers. She continued up her sides and onto her chest. He smiled when she stopped short of her breasts.

He covered her hands and guided them over her breasts. “Touch them for me.”

Lina hadn’t been bashful before, but she hesitated at his request.

“Please,” he asked again.

In a tentative movement, she flicked a thumb over a nipple as she squeezed the other globe. When she saw he watched her every movement, she became a little bolder and circled both nipples with her thumbs in a rhythm that infused a dance to her body. The faster she increased her tempo, the higher her torso bowed like a cello begging to be plucked.

Curtis rolled out of bed to shed his underwear and stood by watching Lina giving herself the pleasure she yearned for.

She needs this.

He felt he shouldn’t become the crutch for her to feel alive. He’d be there for her every step of the way, but she needed to want it for herself.

“Touch yourself, Lina,” Curtis said.

This time, she didn’t hesitate. She reached down into her panties and pleasured herself with her fingers. That he was watching only fueled her fire. It was torture for Curtis to stand there, all hard, and keep himself from diving into her.

“Make yourself come, baby,” he urged, as he rubbed his own erection lazily.

He didn’t think Lina needed more encouragement. Her moans grew louder as she reached toward the peak. It was a beautiful sight as her whole body became taut as a freshly tuned guitar string, her head thrown back in a silent scream of ecstasy.

“That’s it, baby.” He joined her back in bed and kissed her still panting mouth. “Let go of all the trouble in the world from your shoulders. Stay here with me.”

He bent to trail a straight line from her mouth, down her neck and the valley between her breasts, down the middle of her stomach all the way to the top of her underwear. Her hips rose in anticipation of him, and Curtis was ready to oblige. With his teeth and fingers, he peeled the scrap of cotton off her.

He nudged her legs open for him and hovered over her. “Lina.”

She looked up at him.

“Be alive with me,” he asked.

Lina reached her hands up to his face. “Yes.”

Curtis entered her slippery heat in an easy glide. “Be with me.”

“Yes.”

He started a rhythm he knew she would duet with him. They moved as one, riffing off each other’s melody, and created a harmony so passionate that they reached their climax quickly.

“I’m coming,” she panted.

Curtis held himself as long as he could and thrust into Lina with everything he had. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he drove into her one, two, three, and exploded.

There was nothing like coming inside Lina to reaffirm the joy of being alive.

To him, there was no living without her now.

twenty-nine

Lina scanned the street as she and Curtis walked to thedim sumrestaurant Uncle Ed had texted her to meet the family at. Even though she was confident that the Stilettos were chasing their shadows on the other side of the world—thanks to the fake breadcrumbs Carmen trailed for them—she still couldn’t let her guard down.

“Will you relax?” Curtis threw an arm around her shoulders. “You told me we’re safe here. We look just like anybody on the street.”

Lina glanced up at him—this six-four gorgeous specimen of a man, especially now that he’d shaved off the beard. He’d insisted he needed to look his best when he met her family.

“Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? You stand well above every man on this street. You’re a sore thumb,” she pointed out.

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