Abel (4 page)

They reached her place and were barely inside when Abel was already all over her. It was crazy how
quickly he could have her feeling out of control and breathless. Just as he pinned her to the wall in the front room, already lifting her skirt, her phone rang. Abel slowed for a moment, breathing heavily against her ear. “You wanna get that?”

Like hell she did. She didn
’t bother to even answer. Instead she turned his chin to hers, needing to feel his lips on hers again already. His tongue stabbed into to her mouth, making her moan in pleasure.

Roni had mentioned how insatiable her young husband was
, and Nellie had imagined Abel would be the same, but it was almost embarrassing how easily she’d given into the scandalous things they’d done thus far. The cruise incident had even been
her
idea. And if what he’d done to her in the restaurant had happened during her marriage, it would’ve been more than enough to keep her happy for the entire next week at the very least. Yet here she was panting—
needing
more
now
as he ripped her panties off.

With her panties off now and her skirt pulled up around her waist
, Abel spun her around, bending her gently but quickly over the sofa. “We’ll get to the tasting soon enough, sweetheart. But right now I
have
to get inside you.”

She heard the rip of a condom pack then his zipper open. Already throbbing
for him in anticipation, Nellie squeezed the sofa cushions with both her hands as she waited the few seconds it took him to get the condom on, and then he was inside her. She cried out at the incredible sensation as he slid all the way in.

Just like the last time
, he brought his hand around front to massage her as he slammed in and out of her again and again, groaning louder with each thrust. His fingers knew exactly what to do, and Nellie couldn’t help moaning in unabashed pleasure. The louder she moaned, the harder he slammed into her. “You like that, baby?”

“
Yes,” she cried out. “Yes!”

As his fingers hit the perfect rhythm
, she knew it was just a matter of seconds before she’d be crying out in ecstasy. With one hand, he continued to build her impending climax while the other one held on to her waist, pulling her back into his thrusts. As erotic as the sound of his body slapping against hers was, it was one she loved thinking about when he wasn’t around—when she was lying in bed at night alone. It was the very thing that had made her blush today when Emily called her on it.

Until now
, Nellie had no idea sex could be this good. Crying out as the bolts of pleasure raced through her entire body, making her legs weak, she used the support of the sofa to help keep her standing. In the next second, he thrust into her one last time with an enormous groan.

They both stood there
, enjoying the contentment with which their sexual encounters always ended. Never before had Nellie felt such satisfaction, and to think she knew this was just the beginning of their evening. He finally pulled out of her and away, turning her around to face him.

The lazy yet sexy haze that draped over his eyes made her smile. He was as satisfied as she felt.
“I’d been waiting to do that from the moment I got in my car to come here tonight.” He smirked against her lips. “Hell, I’ve been waiting to do that since the last time I was with you.” He kissed her sweetly and softly, unlike the way he’d kissed her most of the night. “You look beautiful tonight by the way.” His words were so tender, and he looked so deeply in her eyes in a way she’d never seen him do, that something tugged at her heart. “I love seeing you in your skirt suits.” His playful grin teased. “You’re insanely sexy.” Just when she was beginning to exhale and remind herself to not over think things, he added with the same tenderness as before, “But still beautiful, Nellie,
so
beautiful.”

He kissed her longer this time but just as sweet
ly and softly. She tried concentrating on the sweetness of his kiss—enjoying every heavenly moment of it—but her mind was already fast at work. So he said she was beautiful. He was smooth. How could he not be? The man had probably looked this good his whole life. As young as he was, he’d still had plenty of years to perfect his lines and his delivery.
God,
what a delivery! She’d nearly melted into him from that one compliment alone.

Nellie knew she wasn
’t beautiful. She never had been. Only just recently had she discovered she could even still be and
feel
attractive but beautiful? No. And nothing had reiterated the reality that she was lacking in the way of looks more than the fact that she’d never been enough for her ex-husband. The bastard had cheated on her from the very beginning.

Falling deeper into
Abel’s embrace, she allowed herself to go with it. Why shouldn’t she? She’d take the compliment: this one and any more he wanted to throw her way. One thing she knew he couldn’t possibly be faking was that he was as turned on by her as she was by him. Even if it was just a sexual thing, for the first time in a
very
long time she felt sexy again—wanted. He’d reawakened a part of her she thought her ex had destroyed for good. She’d enjoy every unbelievable moment he’d give her, and when this was over, she’d walk away a better, stronger, woman because of it.

C
hapter 4

The sound coming from Nellie
’s phone woke them both up. Abel had actually woken up a few hours before when it had beeped a few times. Now it was ringing. He’d almost snuck out earlier while she slept soundly as he had all the other times. She hadn’t even stirred from the phone beeping. But he got caught up watching Nellie sleep. He knew now he must’ve dozed off again, because the last thing he remembered was lying back on the pillow and staring at her.

Not missing
the double take she did when she realized he was still in bed with her, Abel smirked, watching her reach for her phone. The second she saw it, she sat up quickly.

“
Shit! Is that the right time?”

Abel nodded.
“Long exhausting nights will do that to you.” He didn’t even try to hide the satisfaction that the very thought made him feel. Bringing his hands behind his head in no hurry at all to get going, he smiled smugly. In fact, he couldn’t think of anything better than sticking around and going a few more rounds with Nellie. “But it’s Saturday, so it’s okay to sleep in, right?”

Nellie
’s phone rang again, and already she was making her way off the bed. “Yeah, but I was supposed to meet someone this morning.” Grabbing a robe from the chair next to her bed, she flung the short barely-there thing around her. She held her hand up to Abel, clicking the screen on her phone then bringing it to her ear before he could ask who she was meeting. “Logan? I’m so sorry. I’m running really late, but can I meet you in like forty minutes?”

In direct contrast to how fast
he felt his insides warm, Abel sat up slowly, staring at her. He’d had a feeling from day one that, if it ever came down to it he, might be a little bothered to hear about her with someone else. It was to be expected, right? It was human nature. But he hadn’t expected to feel what he was feeling now.

“
Oh, The Country Kitchen sounds delish. Their breakfasts are huge and I’m starving actually.”

He c
ontinued staring at her, feeling a bit of curiosity and
something else
as she rummaged through her drawers. This
had
to be business. No way was she jumping out of bed with him to go meet another guy for breakfast. Sure, they had an unspoken understanding, no fucking demands and all that shit, but he’d been certain Nellie had more class than this. Was she really chatting it up with another dude while he was still lying naked in her bed, listening to her?

The rest of her conversation with the guy was
even more frustrating. The guy was obviously doing most of the talking because she wasn’t saying much more than “uh huh.” She wasn’t giving Abel much more to go on about who this Logan guy was.

The choice of clothes she laid out on the bed as she continued with her call only made hi
s insides warmer. Instead of business attire like the suits that drove him nuts, she laid out a pair of jeans and a casual knit top. As off-putting as the idea of her wearing a sexy skirt suit to go meet
Logan
at The Country Kitchen was, it would’ve at least meant that this was for sure a business meeting, not a casual breakfast date with a guy.

He
’d gotten out of bed himself now and watched as she brought out the big sexy wedge sandals from her closet. She finally hung up just as he’d finished pulling on his pants. He stared at her as he buttoned his fly, doing his best to keep his cool. If he blew up now, this whole thing could come to an end. He’d known from the beginning that it inevitably had to end, but he didn’t know if he was ready to end this just yet.

“
I’m sorry,” she explained, still rushing around the room. “I don’t mean to run out on you like this, but if I’d known you’d still be here this morning, I would’ve canceled this last night.” She paused her rushing for a moment to glance at him a bit uneasily. “I just assumed . . . you know, like all the other times . . .” She looked away before she added the last comment, “That you’d be gone when I woke up.”

Swallowing hard
, he took a deep breath. No way was he going to blow this. He knew he was walking on a tightrope; one wrong move and he could go down head first or worse. He could do the very thing they’d each said they wouldn’t do and the tightrope could snap altogether, leaving no possibility of trying to climb back on. But he had to ask. “Who’s Logan?”

She glanced at him for just a second before looking back down into the drawer she was now shuffling through.
“He’s working on the mixer with me. Now that we have all the funding, we need to sit down and decide what the best way is to go about this and get as much out of the fundraiser as possible.”

While Nellie continued
to explain how normally she didn’t work on weekends, Abel half listened. He was already undoing his fly as he walked around the bed toward her. Knowing that this was, in fact, a business meeting and not something that had nearly set him off, he needed to release some of the tension that had built up so quickly.

A bit startled but immediately smiling as he took her hand and pulled her to him, Nellie kissed him back
, as ravished as Abel felt. “I’m already late,” she gasped in between kisses.

Lifting her to the bed
, Abel smiled. “I’ll make this fast.”

He o
pened her robe as he laid her down gently. Exposing her naked body, Abel stared at her, pushing away the possessive mentality that now dangerously began to swallow up any sound thoughts of keeping this fun and uncomplicated. As much as he wanted to spread her legs, drop down to his knees, and pleasure her until she was screaming his name as she had last night, he now wanted to be inside her again—to remind her that she didn’t need anyone else as long as he was willing to fuck her into oblivion.

Pulling the condom out of his pocket and ripping it open
, he slipped a finger in her to make sure she was ready. Smiling with the confirmation that she was more than ready, he pulled her behind off the edge of the bed, and she wrapped her legs around him. Then he did exactly what he’d wanted to—slammed into her with a purpose, squeezing his eyes shut. Again he was overwhelmed with feelings of wanting to—
needing
to—make to make an unspoken statement here. Her gasping moans as he fucked her faster and deeper with conviction made it all the more pleasurable. This was his secret sinful way of punishing her so good for having made him feel even for a few moments what he’d felt while she’d been on the phone.

Nellie
trembled and moaned with pleasure, her bottom in the air now. As Abel grabbed her ass with both hands and plunged into her harder and harder groaning loudly, things were becoming clearer. There was no mistake about it. There was something so much more satisfying about doing this to her now, something more than just the physical ecstasy of it. He could no longer say that this was only about the sex with the certainty and conviction he’d had when they’d first started this—whatever
this
was.

As much as he hated to admit it, and as much as he
’d like to think he could keep his feelings under control, he felt firsthand today how easily that self-control could go up in smoke if he ever had to be witness to or even hear about Nellie with someone else. Last night he’d had a couple of other revelations. What he was feeling for her now had surpassed anything he’d thought he’d imagined in the previous times he’d spent time with her. He even thought he saw something in her gaze when he called her beautiful. The sparkle in her eyes when he told her how beautiful he thought she was, almost made him say more than he should. Then the infuriating reminder came hurling at him as it did now.

Nellie might be enjoying this as much as he was
, but she’d made one thing perfectly clear last night: She was
great
with this arrangement, and “things were for the best this way.” The reminder of her words and the very thought of Noah saying she wanted to let loose had him squeezing her ass a little tighter now—slamming into her even harder. She may be great with this arrangement, but after today, he wasn’t so sure he was anymore. Things just may’ve gotten complicated.

**
*

Still mulling through the bothersome thoughts of Nellie having breakfast with another guy
, even if it was only business, Abel was grateful for the much-needed interruption to his thoughts. It was all he’d thought about all the way home and even as he showered then had breakfast with his mom and brother. Now Andy, his publicist, was talking his ear off as Abel drove to the gym. Abel had an idea of what it would be like going into this fight as far as the appearances and interviews he’d be required to do to make it big out of 5th Street. Felix had filled him in on some of it. In fact, Felix had even hooked him up with his publicist. He said if anyone could get the buzz going, Andy could because he was the best. Abel just hadn’t realized how overwhelming this would be. Felix seemed to thrive in the spotlight. Abel hated it, especially when the media aired stories that had little to do with the fight itself and were nothing more than what Andy called sensationalized journalism.

This was
what Andy was going on about again today. The press had gotten wind that his opponent, who was now the heavyweight champ, had once trained at 5th Street. This wasn’t news to Abel. 5th Street had always been the place to train in East L.A. even back before the gym had become what it was now. Boxers from out of town like this guy were known to come in and not only check out 5th Street but work out there. While Abel had heard about “Hammerhead” McKinley having trained at 5th Street once upon a time, the guy was ten years older than he was. The media was trying to turn this into some kind of grudge match between one of the owners of 5th Street and a former patron of the gym who’d had a falling out. Abel had never even met the dude. It was so stupid.

The problem was
that Andy loved the sensationalism. It made the fight a bigger draw for advertisers wanting to sponsor the fight. The bigger the draw, the bigger the sponsors that would come calling for Abel to represent their products. So Andy said no publicity was bad publicity, except for when they crossed the line and could possibly tarnish his image; then sponsors might drop him.

“
The media does it for obvious reasons—ratings,” Andy explained. “The juicier the story, the more viewers, listeners, and traffic they get to their shows, magazines, and websites. It’s all good. Let them make up as much harmless crap as they want, and you neither confirm nor deny that any of it is true, so you don’t kill the momentum. But you also have to be mindful of one thing: the other side is watching, listening, and taking notes too. They wanna see what gets to you, and the moment they do, they’ll run with it, telling their side of the story, truth or not. They’re doing it for other reasons: to get in your head and anything to throw you off your game. So whatever you do, don’t give them anything to feed on. If you’re cornered into making a statement, keep it vague. This close to the big day, the media starts grasping for anything. They know everyone’s watching, and their story has to be better and juicier than their competition’s.”

“
All right, I got it,” Abel said as he drove into the gym’s driveway.

They
’d been through this before. Abel hardly even watched TV, nor did he ever get caught up in the tabloids. Felix had been the first to tell him that it was better if he just didn’t read them, especially when he was in training. This, by far, was the biggest fight Abel had ever trained for.

“
I’m very serious about this, Ayala. Prepare yourself for not only the media to stop at nothing as the big day approaches but McKinley’s camp to pull some kind of stunt just to rattle you. They’re getting nervous, and they know this is all new to you. McKinley’s been through the whole thing with his alcoholic dad and his younger brother’s domestic abuse allegations, but you . . . You haven’t had to deal with any of that, and even though you may think it’s no big deal now, it is once you start hearing the bullshit over and over. Let me tell you this is why I was calling. It’s already starting.”

Abel turned off his car but didn
’t get out. Suddenly Andy had his undivided attention. “What do you mean? What’s starting?”

Andy sighed heavily.
“I got the call this morning. It could go nowhere, but apparently some bloggers based in Mexico have started some noise about your dad’s connection to the Mexican mafia.”

“
What!” Abel gripped the phone, feeling the very anger Andy had tried to warn him about. “He had no connection to the mafia, and my dad’s been dead for over ten years. Who the fuck is digging that far back?”

“
It’s all bullshit.” Andy reminded him urgently. “This is what I’ve been trying to warn you about. It’s all for ratings—viewers—in this case, traffic to their blog. Apparently these bloggers are trying to start something, and if it takes off, it’ll be all over, true or not. But you
cannot
react to any of it and give McKinley’s camp something to try and bait you with and trip you up. I’m telling you they’d love nothing more than to get into that head of yours. You already have the media dubbing you Aweless Ayala for your indifference to all the hype and your continued ability to stay out of the limelight. Most newcomers eat up the attention. This, I’m sure, is making them nervous. They’re wondering why you’re so sure of yourself and maybe even wondering if you’re hiding something—a secret weapon perhaps. At this stage of the game, paranoia is rampant. So I can guarantee you they’re trying figure out just how to get to you and push your buttons.”