Page 61 of Everything We Left Behind

At the skin-on-skin contact, my brain woke up. So did my body.

“Nat,” I groaned, my arms going octopus around her. I pushed her against the wall and pressed my entire length against her. “You’re here.”You feel goddamn amazing.I kissed her hard. My hands roamed up her shirt and cupped her breasts. My hips rocked. I groaned again.

She gasped. “Carlos.”

“Right here.” I bit her neck.

“Ow. Carlos.” She smacked her hands on my shoulders.

Impatient devil,I thought with a growl. I fumbled with the fly of her jeans. She wedged a knee between us, right into my lower abs. “Oomph.”

She squirmed from my arms and moved out of reach. “What the hell, Carlos?” she fumed and flipped on the light.

“Gah!” I squeezed my eyes shut.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I squinted at her. She looked stinking mad, her face tomato red under the freckles, with her fists on her hips. She was so damn gorgeous and hot, and it was freaking wonderful to have the one person in the world I trusted to be here with me. It only made me more aroused.

“I’m on fire for you, Nat.” I motioned at my groin.

She scowled and looked at the messy bed. “Have you been asleep this whole time?”

“Uh ...” I squeezed the back of my neck. My gaze darted to the bed, rumpled sheets heaped on the floor. “Yeah.”

Her nostrils flared. “You probably have to pee.”

At the mention of that bodily function, my bladder roared and arousal died.

“What happened to you?”

“I have to piss.” I flipped on the bathroom light and kicked shut the door.

“Brush your teeth, too,” she hollered. “You reek.”

I relieved myself, washed my hands, and splashed cold water on my face, hoping the chill dissipated the Tule fog condensing inside my head. I couldn’t think or focus. Then I brushed my teeth, twice, and slipped on boxers and a shirt before returning to Nat.

She had opened the curtain and turned on the air to circulate the room’s staleness. She’d also straightened the bed. The sheets were back on the mattress. She was now flipping through a small paper pad and looked up as I approached. She flipped the paper back in place.

“I’ve been beyond worried about you. I’ve been calling and texting since you hung up on me.”

My gaze jumped to the nightstand. “Where’s my phone?”

“Here.” She handed it to me. “I found it on the floor along with my gazillion unanswered texts and calls.”

I launched the screen, saw the queue of notifications, and tossed the phone on the desk. I sagged onto the chair. “I forgot to unsilence it before I crashed.”

“I doubt you would have heard them. You were sleeping like the dead. Do you know how long I banged on the door? Ten minutes,” she answered at my clueless expression.

I scrubbed my face, rough with stubble. “Sheesh, Nat.” I hated that I made her worry, and that she had to fly out here and check on me. “I’ll pay you back for your flight.”

Her eyes protruded and mouth pursed. I guess that remark annoyed her because she stomped to the window. She folded her arms and watched a plane come in for a landing. “God, Carlos, I love you but don’t scare me like that,” she said after the plane touched down on the runway. She swiped a finger under each eye.

I wanted to weep with her but figured I’d already disgraced myself enough in her presence.Horny bastard.

“Come here,” I said, opening my arms.

She curled on my lap and rested her head on my shoulder, tucking her face against my neck. Our arms went around each other and for a few moments, we just sat there. It was bliss.

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