Kaya

“Oh my God. Please let me be dreaming or dead,” I whispered.

“Holy shit, is that him?” Emery screeched.

I leaned forward in my chair and face palmed in shame. “This is really happening, isn’t it?”

Alejandro’s husky chuckle as he sat down on the outdoor sofa next to me caused goosebumps to break out on my arms.

“Jesus, he’s gorgeous,” Emery blurted.

I kept right on hiding behind my hands knowing full well that my face was the color of a ripe plum.

Alejandro’s closeness had my heart beating even faster than my mortification did.

“Did you forget I told you I would come over after I came back from the store, Belleza?”

Still behind my hands, I nodded my head. “Mm hmm.”

“Belleza, huh?” Emery asked. “That’s interesting.”

I came out from behind my hands and looked at the screen in interest. “You know what it means?”

“Um, yeah. You don’t?”

“Duh,” I said, careful not to look at Alejandro since I was eighty-eight shades of scarlet due to my embarrassment. “You know I don’t speak Spanish.”

“Yet somehow you can sing Despacito and every Enrique Iglesias song flawlessly,” she pointed out. “Anyway—Belleza means beauty, dork. He’s literally calling you beauty. That’s the hottest thing ever.”

I forgot about my embarrassment as I turned to Alejandro in surprise. “You think I’m beautiful?”

“Sí Belleza, eso es lo que pienso.”

I had no clue what he’d just said but whatever it was went right to my heart, which immediately started pounding harder in my chest.

“I… think you’re beautiful too,” I blurted.

“Cristo! No sabes lo que eso significa para mí.”

I didn’t understand a word yet somehow it was the most sensual thing I’d ever heard. I leaned toward him at the same time he came toward me, and I shivered when I felt the soft heat of his breath against my lips. My eyelids fluttered shut as I waited for him to kiss me. This was it.

“Oh my God,” Emery squeaked. I’d completely forgotten about her—had, in fact, forgotten that other people aside from Alejandro existed. “I want to watch and be nosy so damn badly,” she griped, “but the best friend pledge we took when we were younger means I can’t be an asshole. I’m disconnecting now but trust that next week I want a full update about whatever goes on next. Bye, Elvis! Mommy loves you more than lollipops, chocolate cupcakes and strawberry yogurt. Try to be a good boy! No more stealing. Nice to not actually meet you, Alejandro! I expect I’ll be seeing more of you though. Be good to my bestie or prepare to be ball-less when I get back to America. Even if you tried to hide, I’d find you! Bye!”

I groaned as the screen showed that the session had ended. “I’m so sorry about what she just—”

Alejandro stopped me by placing one finger over my mouth. When I turned my head to face him, the expression on his face made my breath catch in my throat.

“Do not apologize, Belleza. If I ever hurt you, I would deserve no less.”

I hid beneath my lashes as I looked down and bit back the response that waited just behind my lips. No matter what happened between us from that moment onward I knew that being hurt was inevitable because I already liked him far too much. I pushed those thoughts away, locking them up tight to dwell on later. I’d told Emery I would follow my heart and make different decisions. Alejandro was a choice I wanted to make—and dammit, I was doing it.

“What’re you thinking?” he asked huskily.

I shook my head and groaned. “That I’m embarrassed that you just heard any of that.”

“Don’t be.”

I scrunched up my nose nervously. “That’s easy for you to say since you aren’t the one who got busted talking about… you know.” I flushed all over again when I recalled exactly what he’d heard. To say I was mortified was an understatement.

“I mean it’s kind of ridiculous, right? Everyone does it. Or at least they should. No one wants an untended, uh, downtown. It’s just a fact of life. Unless we’re talking about grandmothers who obviously don’t know or care about, uh, current lady garden fashion, it’s just done everywhere. I’m sure even Princess Kate trims. Also, cobwebs aren’t a real thing, just so that you know. I’m extremely cobweb free.”

His grin was wicked as he leaned forward and cupped my head between his hands. The gesture was sensual but also proprietary. There was reverence in the way he stared at me as he leaned closer.

“You babble when you’re nervous.”

His lips were so close to mine that they were only the tiniest fraction away from making contact. I forgot what I was talking about for a second when I looked up into his blue eyes and immediately got lost. When I saw the amusement in his look, I let out an idiotic sounding giggle.

“I do,” I agreed. “I babble. I have no idea what I just said.”

“Having you this close to me means I don’t remember either,” he assured me.

And then without another word, he covered my mouth with his own.

There was no discomfort, nor was there any of the awkwardness I’d experienced in every other first kiss I’d ever had. Not that there were a lot of those, mind you. But as a twenty-one-year-old woman, I’d kissed a few frogs. From the first touch of his lips to mine I knew that Alejandro Cruz was in a class all of his own.

When he gently traced the seam of my lips with his tongue, I gasped. He slid his tongue inside, and I moaned when our tongues connected for the first time. I was a puddle of melted lust as he deepened the kiss. Nothing had ever felt so right—like my lips had been waiting to meet his forever and, finally, things were unfolding the way they were meant to. Within a minute or two sweet gave way to wild and the kiss grew into something larger than life—like a hurricane that had been waiting off shore, gathering strength. I felt out of control and feverish, desperate for more, for things I couldn’t even put a name to.

Without full awareness of what I was doing, I climbed onto Alejandro’s lap and straddled him, desperate to be closer. The small sundress I was wearing was rucked up around my waist, which allowed me to feel him beneath me in a carnal way. More, my body demanded. I’d never had that single-minded need before. Had I been thinking straight, I might’ve been scared. We didn’t break contact, but he seemed to understand exactly what my body was crying out for, which was more connection. That was all I cared about. He slid his hands up my back to hold me tight, bringing me in so that we were as close together as two clothed people could be without melting into each other. I felt raw and exposed, like my senses were on fire. He tasted so good and held me so tight that I never, ever wanted it to end.

What felt like a lifetime later he took his hands from my back and slid them into my hair to cup my head. I moaned into his mouth as I rocked against him, thrilling at the feeling of the warmth of his hands. I liked the way he held me in place and took control of the kiss. The pleasure I got from grinding against his rigid length was damn near perfect. Over and over again I rocked against it, the feeling of his erection through the fabric of his jeans and my silky bikini panties so good I felt like I was on fire. I groaned when he broke the kiss but then smiled when I noticed how dilated his pupils were and the way his breath came in wild gusts.

“God, Kaya,” he groaned. He hugged me to him with one arm while pushing my hair aside with his free hand before he buried his face against my neck. I let out a needy sound as I allowed my head to rest atop his.

“I was maybe four more seconds from coming in my jeans,” he rasped.

Of their own volition, my thighs tightened as I rocked back again.

“Belleza,” he growled, “don’t do that unless you want me to slide my zipper down and free my cock so that I can push your panties to the side and take you the way I’ve been dying to.”

I shivered and clenched tighter as the visual his words provided worked its way through me.

“Not yet, Belleza. Soon. And when it happens for the first time it will not be in the backyard. That is fine for later—but the first time I take you, I want you fully naked. We aren’t there yet, but we will be soon.”

I’d never been as aroused as I was right then. I was tempted to beg, but the rational part of me knew that he was right. We’d just kissed for the first time – having sex needed to wait.