My pulse quickens, and he presses his mouth to my neck.
“Told you,” he says smugly.
“Now turn Blake around in your arms,” Liza advises. “And just continue as you are. I’m loving how comfortable you are with one another.”
We do as Liza asks, and before I know it, I'm completely engulfed by him. He circles his arms around my waist and buries his head in my hair. He’s all muscles and man, and I’m stunned at how easy it is to relax in his hold.
I place my arms on his and tilt my head back to rest on his shoulder.
“You feel good in my arms,” he says, voicing my thoughts.
“I bet you say that to all the girls.” It’s supposed to come out as a flirty quip, but an unwarranted hint of disappointment and resignation slips through.
“One girl,” he corrects. “But she broke my heart.”
The raw timbre of his voice seeps into the huge cracks of my own battered heart. Each word said with a sadness and resignation that only one who has experienced such loss could really understand.
Unknowingly, his revelation feels like solidarity.
“Okay, now I’m going to ask you to pose for a few shots,” Liza says. “A bit more staged, a bit more direction from me.”
Rosario clears his throat, and I inwardly curse at the timing of Liza’s interruption. I have no idea what I was going to say, but finding out about his broken heart suddenly makes its way to the top of my priority list.
We go through the motions, with Liza ordering us every which way, but the mood is now different. The sexual tension is still there. Palpable almost. But now it’s not just the lust that’s the driving force between us, but the curiosity to know more. To know it all.
A cell phone rings, and Liza stops taking photos. “Sorry, guys. Normally, I don’t have my phone on me, but my sister is so close to her due date, and I’m on hospital duty.”
Instead of caring about Liza and her phone call, my gaze stays locked on Rosario’s. We’re now situated on a chair, his legs spread wide and I’m sitting on his lap. My legs are crossed, and the material of my floor-length dress has fallen to the sides, exposing the top of my thigh. As if they belong there, his fingers are tracing circles on my skin, and my arms are wrapped around his neck.
“Tell me about the girl,” I say.
“Are you going to tell me about the guy?”
“How do you know there’s a guy?”
Looking up at me, he raises his hand and tucks the loose strands of my hair behind my ear. “There’s only one reason a woman like you is here in my arms and not at home in somebody else’s.”
I raise a questioning eyebrow. “A woman like me?”
“You’re gorgeous, Blake,” he says with such conviction. “I can’t be the only person to tell you that.”
He isn’t, but for some reason, coming out of his mouth, it feels like the first time I’ve actually believed someone.
“And you got that from all of this.” I wave my hand around the room.
“No,” he says with a chuckle. “I got that from all of this.”
He waves his hand up and down my body.
When I don’t answer, he slips his hand through mine and brings it to his lips, incessantly peppering soft kisses on my skin. “How about we go out after this and I show you just how beautiful I think you are.”
“Oh, really,” I sass. “So, a man calls me beautiful and I’m just supposed to jump into bed with him?”
He smiles sheepishly. “Who said anything about bed?”
“My bad,” I tease, dropping my hands from his neck. “I thought you wanted to sleep with me.”
Gripping my wrists, he places my arms back around him. “Oh, baby. You have absolutely no idea what I want to do with you.”
“Are you guys ready for a bed?” Liza’s voice cuts in on our banter as she returns, and we both look at her, confused. Was she listening to our conversation? “A bed,” she repeats. “For the photos?”
“Oh.” I shake my head. “Yeah, of course.”
I hop off Rosario’s lap, trying to play it cool, and he’s hot on my heels as the three of us silently make our way to the other end of the penthouse.
“Do you guys need to head to the bathroom to get dressed? Or undressed?” Liza asks.
Looking over my shoulder, I watch Rosario watching me and think of how I would usually be so nervous to undress in front of a stranger. But like a gift from God himself, this man looks at me like there isn’t a single thing of interest around him but me. And I don’t want to lose that.
I don’t want to forget what it’s like to be so enchanted by lust.
I don’t care if he's a stranger who feels more like a long-lost part of me. I don’t care that everything about this is unconventional and unexplainable.
I came here for spontaneity and recklessness, and no matter what, I never do anything half-assed.
“That’s fine,” I say, eventually answering Liza. “I’ll undress here.”
“Perfect,” Liza muses. “Rosario, just unbutton your shirt for now. We’ll see how it goes, and if you’re comfortable, maybe I’ll have you unbuckle your belt and unbutton your pants.”
A barrage of images flash through my mind at the mere mention of him and I together, partially clothed. My breathing turns shallow and ragged, my blood pulses hard through my veins.
I can’t remember a time in my life where I so blatantly wanted a man with such fervent need. I’m the woman who falls in love with a personality first; a typical friends to lovers scenario almost every time.
The physical connection is always the last piece of the puzzle.
But not this time.
Not with him.
Standing on either side of this California King, Rosario and I are facing one another, our eyes daring one another to make the first move.
He touches the first button on his shirt, and I mirror his urgency, reaching for the hidden clasp on the side of my dress. His fingers deftly move to undo the second one, and I begin dragging down my zipper.
By the time his shirt is open, I’ve slipped the straps of my dress down my arms, and we’re both watching the material slide down my body and land in a heap at my feet.
Swallowing hard, I nervously raise my head, and my gaze meets his. His golden-brown eyes are blazing, and my breath hitches at the possibility of being wrapped in his heat.
He shakes his head slowly, almost in disbelief, and in a measured breath his words set me alight. “God, you’re beautiful.”
Chapter Two
Rosario
I thought watching the way the material slid down her body like water would be my undoing, but I was wrong. There was no way I could anticipate what lay underneath, waiting for me.
And it was, waiting for me.
Blake herself was waiting for me, the exact same way I’ve been waiting for her. I didn’t know it till the moment she turned around, but the second I laid eyes on her, every part of me shifted.
The woman was breathtaking. There’s no denying that. Natural copper locks of hair framed her heart-shaped face and fell down in layers to the middle of her back. Her eyes were pools of chocolate I was desperate to drown in.