Her heart broke a little even as her body was clamoring for more. “Don’t,” she urged, framing his face in her hands. “Don’t use what’s between us for payback.”
His hand on her core stilled and her body ached.
“If I wanted to torture you,” he said softly, kissing her mouth, her nose, her eyes, “I would step away now and leave you hungering for me as I hungered for you so long ago.”
Guilt rushed in and chewed at her heart. She had walked out on the man she loved without explanation. Without apologies. Just disappeared one day and as far as he knew, never looked back. But it hadn’t been easy for her. She’d left a piece of her soul behind when she’d slipped away from his life. A piece she could never reclaim.
“Rico, I hungered, too,” she whispered and felt the sting of tears in her eyes. “I didn’t want to leave you. I had to—”
Sunlight shone in the black of his hair and glittered across his blue eyes. Outside the terrace doors, the surrounding trees were filled with birds screeching and singing. Inside, silence was as heavy as stone.
He shook his head. “No more. The past is gone. What we have is now. This month and no longer.”
There it was. He couldn’t have been clearer. From the first time he’d proposed this blackmailed month to this very moment, Rico had laid down his expectations. One month. No longer. Her insides twisted and her heart wept, but her body was more interested in the now. In the completion of the orgasm that had been promised.
“This month, then,” she said softly and thought that she saw, however briefly, a flicker of regret in his eyes. But in the next moment, it was gone anyway.
She smoothed one hand across his face as he touched her again, sliding his fingers deep inside her. He stroked her inside and out, increasing the rhythm of his caresses until all thought but one was chased from her mind. She needed.
All she could see was his eyes. Those blue depths that were filled with so many colliding emotions she couldn’t identify them. All she felt was the tightening coil inside her, threatening to explode.
“Rico, please. Now. Be with me.” She bucked against him and tossed her head from side to side. Her heartbeat clamored in her chest and it felt as though every muscle in her body was clenched. Feet planted on the mattress beneath her, she moved into his hand, seeking more, needing more.
When he stopped touching her and pulled away, she groaned tightly. “Don’t stop. Please. Don’t stop.”
“I’m not,” he said through gritted teeth. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”
She heard a drawer open and close, then the distinct sound of a foil wrapper being ripped open. She opened her eyes, looked at him in time to see him sheathe himself and her mouth went dry again. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. How had she ever had the courage to leave him and what she’d found with him? How would she ever survive without him again?
But those thoughts and the millions of others that would no doubt torment her for years to come had no place here now. Here there was only she and Rico. And the passion rising in the room.
Teresa lifted her arms to him and parted her legs in welcome. His body covered hers and in the next breath he entered her, sliding into her heat in one long, smooth stroke. She sighed in soul-deep pleasure at the feel of him within her once more. So long. It had been so very long.
Teresa’s head tipped back on the mattress and she lifted her legs higher, wrapping them around Rico’s waist, holding him to her, taking him as deeply as she could. She wanted to savor the moment. Imprint the feel of him inside her on her brain so that the sensation became a part of her. So that she would never truly feel alone again.