After Hours Bundle (54 page)

She stomped as well as she could—it was, admittedly, hard to stomp in four-inch heels—onto Alejandro's porch and hammered on the door.

“Do I look like trash? Like I could suck a golf ball through a garden hose?” she demanded when he opened the door.

He blinked. “I beg your pardon?
What
did you say?” He stood there barefoot, in jeans and an open white shirt. “And what did you do to your eyes?” He began to laugh.

“What do you mean, what did I do to my eyes? I used makeup. I lined them and used shadow like the girl said I was supposed to,” she said crossly. “And an old pervert in my parking lot had an accident with a parked car. He says it was because of me, that I looked like I could suck a—”

Alejandro pursed his lips and cocked his head at her.

“—golf ball through a garden hose.”

He shook his head. “Maybe a jelly bean,” he said. “Or a Tic Tac. Only the best of professionals could attempt the legendary golf ball.”

“He said I looked like a pro! Like a five-hundred-dollar hooker. And it's all thanks to
you.
”

“How old was this guy?”

“At least eighty.”

“Then that was a true compliment,” Alejandro noted, “since rates have skyrocketed since his time. I'd say personally that if we fixed your eye makeup, you could be a two-thousand-dollar hooker.”

“Really?” Kate's eyes widened. Then she glared at him. “Why did I consider that a compliment, even for a moment? You have a very strange effect on me, Torres.”

He grinned and took Gracious's leash from her. “So here's my bonus pig. Where's my apology?”

“You don't get one now, since you insulted me.”

He sighed mournfully. “I didn't. I just explained to you that it's a compliment.”

“No, you're saying I look cheap!”

Alejandro's eyes widened. “You think two thousand dollars is cheap? Oh. Well, you
are
a shampoo heiress. I forgot.”

“Gaaaaaah!”

“Care for a drink?”

“Yes. I think it's the only way I can tolerate you.” She looked around her, at Alejandro's things and his decor. He had a modern brown leather couch set into a steel frame, lots of plants that he actually kept alive, and a huge magical-realist painting on one wall.

It depicted a woman and a boy on a flying rag rug, while another woman in a pink smock sucked them towards her with a hairdryer. She stood outside of a house, the door open behind her and filled with cheerful yellow.

Alejo saw Kate looking at it and smiled. “Tia Carlotta, my mother and me after my father died. The Gabriel Garcia Márquez version of us, anyway.”

Kate felt the oddest urge to walk into the painting. She couldn't understand it. “What's the symbolism of the hairdryer? And why does it operate in reverse?”

“Tia Carlotta and my mother started a beauty salon after my father passed on,” Alejandro said quietly. “I used to help there after school and on Saturdays. In the painting, Tia summons us with the hairdryer. Toward a new life.”

“I love the whimsical style.”

“I am glad you like it. That painting will always hang somewhere in my home and in my heart.”

Kate looked around some more. The floor was a pale, neutral tile, with Peruvian woven rugs here and there. A large fountain played softly in one corner.

She followed him into the kitchen, which was modernized with stainless steel appliances. But a large stone mortar and pestle dominated one counter, the ancient tools incongruous among all the shiny machines.

Alejandro made her a drink called a mojito, which was made with crushed mint leaves, about a pound of sugar and a great deal of rum. One sip of it and her eyeballs did figure eights in her head.

He laughed. “That will get you in the mood for dinner and dancing later.”

“Later? It's already eight o'clock.”

“Kate,
mi corazon,
you are in Miami. We won't even have appetizers until 11:00, we'll dine around midnight and we'll stay out until at least 4:00 a.m.”

She gaped at him. “But I'm starving! And I'll be asleep by 11:00.”

“If you're hungry I will grill some chorizo and heat a tamal for you.”

“What are those? Are they animal or vegetable?”

“Chorizo is a sausage and a tamal is similar to a Mexican tamale, but much larger and with slightly different ingredients. You may have both with
ahi,
a hot sauce.”

Alejandro prepared the food, and Kate ate it with pleasure, all before 8:45 p.m. She finished her mojito and looked around for more.

“No, Kate, I think you'd better switch to water or you'll pass out on me.”

She frowned at him. “I can handle my liquor. Besides, what are we going to do for two hours, meditate?”

His eyes deepened, and suddenly she knew exactly what he wanted to do for two hours.

“That's supposed to happen after the date,” she argued.

“Is that another unwritten WASP rule?” Alejandro asked, the gold chain around his neck gleaming in the low lighting. “Spinneys only do it after dinner? Because if so, it's a rule that I think we should break.”

A
LEJANDRO MOVED TOWARD
K
ATE
, still unable to believe how sexy she looked in the jeans, belly shirt, bad-girl belt and heels. But especially endearing was the fact that she'd somehow gotten black smudges and dots—probably mascara—all over the shadow on one eye, and slipped a bit with the liner on the other.

She was utterly incompetent in the beauty arena, but for some reason this made Alejo want to kiss her all over. So he started to do just that. Then he shrugged out of his shirt and took her onto his lap on the couch and told her in Spanish all the dirty-sweet things he was going to do to her.

I'm going to caress every inch of you with my hands and my mouth. I'm going to suck your nipples through your little cotton shirt until you beg me to rip it off you.

Then I'm going to touch your ass through your jeans and walk my fingers down between your legs until you moan and push against them, trying to find relief.

I'm going to push you onto your back and peel off your jeans. Spread your legs and put my mouth right there and lick you through your panties.

Then I'm going to take the rest of your clothes off and bend you over the back of the couch while I play with your breasts and take you from behind. I'm going to drive you hard and wet until you scream my name and I'm burned into you erotically like a brand….

He knew she didn't understand a word he was saying, but she definitely comprehended his intent, as he stripped the studded black belt off of her and nuzzled at her breasts, stroking the peaks into hot little pebbles. He bit her through the black belly T, and she gasped, arching her back to give him better access.

He made twin wet spots on the black T, and then treated her belly button to a sensual invasion, licking into it and around it, stabbing his tongue below the waistband of her jeans.

Then he tugged the shirt over her head, growling his pleasure when he saw the whisper-thin, apricot lace bra. He left it on, scraping his teeth against her nipples this time and seeming to excite her even more.

He plunged his hands down the back of her jeans, taking full advantage of the stretchy fabric, and encountered bare flesh…with just a tiny bit of lace at the top. Could it be? Had she bought, just for him, a thong?

He was already hard, but just the possibility took him to cold steel. “What have you got on,
mi amor?
Hmm?” He didn't give her time to reply, just stood her on her feet and yanked the new jeans all the way down her legs. She stepped out of them, now wearing only her lingerie, her high heels and a wicked smile. She turned so that her bottom faced him, looked back at him over her shoulder, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

He almost had a coronary. Instead of the serviceable white cotton underpants she'd had on at her condo, Kate wore an apricot lace
tanga
that matched her bra. And it was just as whisper-thin.

It rode the curves of her cheeks, half impudence and half innocence. About midway down, it disappeared into the dusky crevice between them.

Maybe it was the new lingerie, or maybe it was the mojito, but something sure had gotten into Kate because she bent over a little and wagged her bottom at him like a naughty showgirl.

His voice ragged, he asked, “Do they teach you to do that in cotillion class?” Then he sprang at her, intent on dragging her down for all kinds of nefarious purposes.

But she twisted away, escaping into his kitchen in search of more mojitos. He went after her and caught her with her head in the refrigerator, where he'd stuck the pitcher.

Alejandro hooked her by the tanga and pulled her out, pitcher and all.

“Hey! You just ruined a perfectly good permanent wedgie,” she said. “I was starting to dig it.”

“Are you sure you want more to drink?”

“Do I look like I'm waffling?” she asked, raising the pitcher.

He shrugged and found her glass. She poured out a healthy amount and then handed the pitcher back to him. He filled his own glass. “Cheers.”
Clink.

Kate took a big swallow and stared down at herself. “I feel so silly, like I'm impersonating somebody else.” Her expression was part mocking, part wistful.

He reached out a hand to stroke her cheek. “You're not impersonating anyone. You're just discovering a new side of Kate. The sexy side. Your inner vamp.” Was she actually blushing in the dim light?

“I like both sides,” Alejandro added. “Remember, I chased after Khaki Kate, too. Even her orphaned toes were some hot little piggies.”

“Yeah, and look at her now. Khaki Kate is wearing butt floss.” She sucked down some more mojito. “But I'll tell you a secret. Butt floss is not really that uncomfortable. I can't believe it! Though I will say that it would be a serious bummer for anyone with hemorrhoids.”

Alejandro shuddered. “Let's not go there,
mi corazon.
”

“Yeah, let's not.”

“Come with me.” He took her hand and led her into his bedroom, where he lit a big pillar candle and then sat on the edge of his platform bed. “Give me your foot.”

He unfastened her sandal and ran his hands up her beautiful, lean calves, massaging and appreciating the muscle he found there. “Now the other.”

She gave him her other foot and he removed that sandal, too. Then he turned her and pulled her into his lap so that his stomach nudged her spine and his cock nestled under her rear. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck, her thin shoulders, several vertebrae.

He stroked her waist and belly, her rib cage, her arms, her thighs. He covered her breasts with his palms and warmed them, massaged them, brought them back to being stiff little peaks.

He unhooked her bra and slid the straps down her arms, tossing it aside so that he could feel her naked flesh. He took his time and savored her.

Only then did he slide his hands back down to her thighs and inward, higher. She quivered in his arms as his fingers approached her mons, and she stiffened with tension as he cupped it, stroked it, slid the tanga to one side.

Her crazy, curly hair tickled his chin as she arched her back, and he inhaled the familiar scent of her shampoo as he parted her folds and searched for ways to bring her pleasure. What he was doing had her twining her feet around his calves and moaning softly, which was always a good sign. He slid a finger deep inside her and found her clitoris with his thumb, moving it in slow, slick circles while her feet abraded the hair on his calves and her breathing came more quickly.

“You like that,
mi amor?
”

“Yes,” she whispered, moving restlessly against him.

He settled his chin over her shoulder so that he could watch his fingers bring her pleasure. He was beyond hard now, aching with the need to plunge inside her, but he forced himself to remain patient and heat her slowly to the boiling point. There was a time for fast and furious, but this was not it.

Kate's breath came in shallow gasps now, and she was beyond wet as he played her with every instinct he had. With a hoarse cry, she bucked against his hand, threw her head back and quivered uncontrollably in his arms.

Knowing that he'd pleased her, he felt an intense satisfaction that was almost greater than reaching climax himself. Alejandro finally tipped her forward a little and entered her, exhilarated as she made another soft moan of pleasure. She still wore the tanga and the sight of it, too, turned him on.

He gripped her hips and moved inside her, feeling that he could die a happy man in the tight, wet heat of her. But the angle was difficult for her, so he lay back on the bed and moved into the center of the mattress, tugging her with him.

“Now, straddle me,” he told her.

“But…shouldn't I turn around?”

“No.” He ran his hands over the smooth, soft skin of her bottom. “Lean forward.”

“Alejo, I can't!”

“Why?”

“Because…because I'm sticking my ass in your face!” She seemed mortified.

He laughed. “Not exactly. But we can do that, if you prefer.” He began to pull her toward him, with evil intent.

“No! No, no, no. We are
not
doing that.”

“Then take off your panties and straddle me. I happen to like your rear view, Kate.”

She looked at him dubiously, but slid out of the tanga and dropped it on the floor so that she was entirely naked. Then she climbed onto him, awkwardly. “This just doesn't feel right,” she complained.

“Lean forward onto your knees,
mi amor.
” As she did so, Alejandro almost had another coronary; the sight was so erotic. He parted her and slid in, pulled her back onto him inch by delicious inch.

“Ooooh,”
she breathed.

Transfixed by sensation and the visual, he couldn't even speak. He just moved his hips, pumping in and out of her and tried not to go crazy and hurt her.

Then Kate began to move her bottom in a circle, changing the pressure and the angle as he drove in and out. He lost control and lost his grip on reality, too, as every nerve in his body seemed to zip down to his cock and join the party.

“Deeper,” Kate coaxed, and upped the tempo. “Faster. Please…”

He was only too happy to oblige, slamming into her, afraid he was being too rough. “I do not want to hurt you,” he said.

Kate shook her head. “You're not…feels so good…like I'm melting all over you.” She caught her breath and pushed back, gripping him with her inner muscles. Then she caressed the root of him as he slid out of her, touching his
huevos
as he slid in.

He didn't know where the shout came from, but it emerged from his own throat, just as he exploded within her, the pleasure so intense that it was almost pain. He sat up, wrapping his arms around her as if he'd never let her go, and spilled himself inside her in the most intense climax he'd ever had.

She collapsed against him, breathing hard, but he didn't think she'd come a second time, and this bothered him. Alejo cupped her breasts, nuzzled her neck and moved softly inside her as he plucked at her nipples.

He actually felt the wave of her orgasm as it crested over her and shook her gently—an amazing, deeply intimate experience that he'd never had. It triggered a gentle aftershock of his own, creating eddies that moved in concentric circles, all the way to his heart.