Page 15 of One Week To Claim It All
“That guy learned idealism got him nowhere. That to get to the top he had to compromise.” And now that he was at the top, he wondered if those compromises might have been too high of a price to pay.
“I think you’re lying.”
“You know me a lot less than you think you do, Esmeralda,” he rebuffed, voice tight with too much feeling.
“I know that the same guy who wrote this memo was the guy I was falling in love with. I know that even though you let my father and his shitty dog-eat-dog view of the world suck you in, you’re the guy who helped your family when they lost everything. You might have turned your back on that man, but he’s still there.” Her finger pressed right on the spot in his chest where his heart was pounding like a jackhammer.
He stood up, shaking from the way her words had struck him. “I’m heading out for the night.”
“You know what else I know?” she asked, voice dripping with something that made him stop in his tracks. “That you’re dying to finish what we started in that creepy bedroom suite this afternoon.” He had to suppress a laugh even as his cock hardened from her words.
“And the last thing I know is that I’d let you... All you have to do is ask.”
His hazel-eyed beauty bit her bottom lip, tucked a curl behind her ear as she waited for his reaction. It had been stupid to kiss her. Stupid and potentially disastrous because the floodgates were now wide open. He’d known he would do it again if she asked him. He’d been dizzy with the possibility of it. And now she had.
Hope had always come at a steep cost for Rodrigo, and he had never paid a higher price than when he’d let himself believe he could have Esmeralda Sambrano-Peña. He’d sworn he’d never again take a gamble like the one he’d taken on this woman. And yet here he was, ten years later, older but clearly not much wiser, about to plunge into the abyss again.
Ten
“If we start this, we’re not stopping until I’ve had you, Esmeralda,” he warned, already moving toward her. In an instant he’d gone from feeling a bone-deep weariness to a madness that crackled under his skin like lightning. Some things never changed, and Esmeralda had a knack for making him forget he was supposed to be measured and stoic.
“Did I stutter, Rodrigo?” He didn’t say a word, he just leaned in and scooped her into his arms, and after a yelp of surprise she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on. “Why can’t I keep my hands off you?” she grumbled as she worked on kissing down his neck, her hands already busy with the buttons of his shirt.
He grunted when she used her teeth on him and wished he could sprint to his office without risking ramming into a glass door. The lights of the entire floor were off except for the small lamp on Esme’s desk and the ceiling light guiding him to the bedroom in his office. Patricio was probably rolling over in his grave right now, but even that thought would not stop him from doing this.
He was tired of holding back, of not letting himself have the things he wanted. The things he craved. Only with Esmeralda had he ever let go, cut loose every one of his passions, and she’d always met him each step of the way. She quenched his every thirst, and it had been so long since he’d felt this kind of urgency. He’d been walking in a desert these past ten years without her. He’d known what was missing, but his need to never step out of line, to stay on track, kept him from her. It had been unfair of Patricio to ask him to stay away from her, but none of that mattered here and now.
He reached the door to the suite in a few swift steps and slammed his hand on the button that would slide it open. Esme tried to loosen the grip of her legs around his waist and pushed off him like she was intending to walk the rest of the way. He was not having it. A sound very much like a growl escaped from his chest as he crushed her to him. “You’re staying right here.” He pressed the point by lowering his head and licking into her mouth.
“Why do I find this side of you so ridiculously hot?” she asked, feigning annoyance at the same time she slid a hand down to his crotch and gripped his hard cock over his pants. “Mmm, looks like someone is ready to unleash himself on me.” She bit his earlobe as he reached a serviceable surface and set her down. She kept her legs around him, but now that his hands were free, he let them explore.
“Mess around and find out, Esmeralda,” he warned, eliciting a wicked laugh from her.
“I’m planning to, Rodrigo.” She was a brat and he loved it. He had to breathe through the need pounding inside him. He pulled back for a second. There was one small light in the bathroom, so that she was cast in shadow. But he could see her leonine eyes, like embers in the dark. Full of the heat that had always burned him down to ashes.
“I want to be right here.” His voice was gravel as he cupped her heat. She writhed against him, gasping from his touch, but he wanted to see her undone. “I’m going to be so deep inside you,” he told her as he nipped her earlobe, coaxing a delicious little moan from her. “But first I’m going to make you scream for me.” He brought one hand to her breast, and tweaked a taut nipple, just like he remembered drove her wild. Her chest was heaving, and he could feel her need in the way she moved against him. “Once I’ve made you come on my tongue.”
“Rodrigo.” She sounded needy and the urge to give her whatever she asked for was almost overpowering. But he wanted to take this slow, savor it and do all the things he’d yearned for and could not have for so long. With agonizing gentleness he took her face in his hands, brought their faces closer, so their lips brushed against each other. He flicked out his tongue for a taste.
“Don’t tease me, dammit,” she protested, making him smile.
“So impatient, Joya,” he teased, before going in for a rough kiss. He ate at her mouth. Their tongues tangled together in a frantic dance. He felt greedy and he already knew he would never get enough of Esmeralda. He’d been starving, taking scraps when this was the only thing that could fill him. He felt the oxygen like fizz in his lungs, every cell replenished from finally getting what he’d needed.
Her. Only her.
His hands drifted down to undo the zipper at her back, then made quick work of her bra while he grazed her throat with his teeth. “Tell me what you want,” he demanded, cupping her naked breasts, his cock getting impossibly harder just from feeling the heft of them. He couldn’t resist grazing the flat of his tongue against one nipple and then the other one. He could devour her and still it would not be enough.
“You,” she whispered before taking his hand and placing it against her hot sex.
“Is this where you want me?” he asked while sliding his hand under her skirts, looking for her wet heat. He felt the silkiness of her skin as his palms moved over her thighs. He sucked in a breath when he reached her core and discovered what was waiting for him. “Where are your panties, Esmeralda?” He could not sound mad if he tried.
She pressed a smile to his neck and nodded. “I showered before the reception and didn’t exactly have a change of clothes here.” Her tone was casual, but he could hear that she was very pleased with herself for undoing him. Roughly, he picked her up again until her feet hit the floor and helped her step out of her dress. He was about to toss it to the side, but she stopped him before he balled up the fabric.
“Oh no you don’t. That’s Siriano. Place it on the armchair,gently.” It was extremely hard to focus with her completely naked in front of him. But he did as she asked, then took her by the hand and led her to the bed.
“So beautiful,” he said, once she was on her back, laid out for him like an offering. He used his hands to spread her legs and admired her for a moment. He’d missed this. Ten years of making do when he knew this bounty was out there. All that flawless brown skin, for him to touch, to lick, to suck, to claim. With two fingers he parted her folds and placed his lips right at her core, tongue darting out to taste her.
“Don’t stop.” He’d always loved how demanding she was. That her self-consciousness flew out the window whenever he had his mouth and hands on her. That he could make her lose herself in pleasure. She groaned and fisted his hair in her hands—moving against him as he worked to pleasure her, and the little moans and gasps she made set his blood on fire. The taste of her was intoxicating, filling all his senses until she was all he could hear, taste, see and smell. Soon she was bucking against his mouth, cries of ecstasy piercing the silence of the room.
