Page 24 of Awake in Cheshire Bay
Wife. The word echoed in my brain and even though he said he didn’t cheat, words rolled off my tongue. “You are married?”
“No.” Even though he continued to keep his arm around me, a far away expression shadowed his face. “Emelia died.”
“Oh.” My tone softened as his face pinched in pain. “You don’t need to talk about it. It’s okay. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
As if I hadn’t spoke, he carried on. “She died two years ago. Car crash.”
I rubbed his cooled hand. “I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard to get over.”
“It is.”
I snuggled deep into him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Ja.”
There were a million questions swirling in my head. “Never mind.”
I didn’t want to really know the answers anyway. It was only curiosity to things that weren’t any of my business, and he’d soon be gone, never to come back to the likes of this tiny town.
Instead of talking, I listened to him breathe, slowly and rhythmically, like he didn’t have a care in the world, something I envied.
He interrupted my thoughts with a question. “Want dance?”
My cheek rubbed against the soft material of his shirt. “No, thank you. I’d rather not go back in there.”
“No, here. Under stars?”
I gazed up into the sky. A million pinpricks of light danced overhead, and the rise of a full moon was just beginning. Dancing under the stars would be so romantic, corny, and only something that happened in the movies.
“Dance. With. Me.” It was the first complete sentence he’d spoken, and the sweet grin on his face was so hard to resist. He rose and extended his hand.
I darted my gaze around, checking for some hidden cameras ready announce how much of a fool I was for accepting his hand, but I saw nothing in the shadows of the tress.
“Okay.” I timidly slipped my hand into his.
He snagged an arm around my waist, and we shifted back and forth to the slow beat rolling out of the bar. I rested my head against his chest, and for good measure I pinched myself on the arm just to prove I wasn’t dreaming. I wasn’t. I don’t know how long we stayed locked together, but it was mesmerizing as it was just the two of us, shuffling our feet on the edge of a scenic outlook with the expanse of the Pacific Ocean steps away.
At one point, I pulled back to gaze up into his face and he stared down into my eyes. I stretched up on my tippy toes to kiss him, and his mouth claimed mine when I parted my lips and gave him permission. The kiss heated me up, and pleasure waves radiated out to my fingers, down to my toes, and settled into my core like never before. I could’ve kissed him all night, and it wouldn’t have been enough. I wanted more. I needed more. And for the first time in a long while, I craved more.
“Let’s go back to my place.” I breathed out as his kisses trailed over my chin and to the nape of my neck. I gripped his hand, and pulled him past the bar, and past the entrance to the wharf.
Under the streetlight we stopped, where he kissed me again, the passion and fire burning brighter and more intensely than it had just ten minutes ago. My hand snaked under his jacket and touched his muscular back, releasing a groan from him and further fueling my desires.
Ten more fast paced minutes and we were at the stairs to my loft. The parking lot deserted as the clock ticked past midnight. I stood on the stairs, putting myself eye to eye with him. I leaned forward and held his face between my hands and kissed him hard. He responded with a deep, guttural moan.
“Let’s go in,” I panted.
Racing up the stairs, I kicked off my shoes and tossed my jacket to the couch, Antonio doing the same. Slowly, I led him down the hall to my bedroom where a more luxurious bed than the one at his motel greeted us, and I turned Antonio, gently pushing him onto it. I straddled his legs and seductively planted a teaser beside his lips and kissed across his whiskery cheek and over to his ear lobe, where I proceeded to flick it with the tip of my tongue before I popped it into my mouth and gently sucked it.
To my delight, he groaned and tightened his grip around my waist which spurred me on. I re-kissed the trail back to his mouth, the prickles of his whiskers tickling the nerve endings in my highly sensitive lips, and sending the energy into my heated core, which had turned from glowing embers into a full out fire.
He parted his lips, allowing me full control, and I kissed with all my heart, probing the depths of him, and feeling a heat and ache swell within me. My hands threaded through his incredibly soft hair, pulling him as close as possible. I yanked on his shirt, trying to free it.
In two quick moves, Antonio pulled the shirt free of his magnificent body, exposing me once again to a well-defined chest. He stared into my eyes as his hands settled upon my shoulders. Casually, I undid my shirt buttons, starting at the bottom and working my way up. When I reached the top, I opened and showed off my royal purple bra.
Goosebumps decorated my skin, but this time, they weren’t from the cold. Tenderly, Antonio kept eye contact and caressed my shoulders as the material slipped further down to my hands, which I pulled free.
His hands returned to my pants and gently shimmied them over my hips, puddling them on the floor beside his shirt. “You are sexy.”