Infiltrating Your Heart (32 page)

I burst into laughter. I don’t know
what’s funny, but it just got to me.

“Shut up,” I tell Patrick, following
after Isabel. I find her in one of the rooms. It looks like this is where she
works out. The space is mostly clear except for exercise equipment, benches, a
mat, and a small foldable sofa. There’s also a small set of speakers in the
corner attached to a device with an iPod dock.

Isabel has changed into a sports bra
by the time I walk into the room. She turns to face me. I can’t help but run my
eyes down her body. Isabel looks much stronger than I do, with more noticeable
muscle tone. Her biceps are impressive, but still feminine.

“Right down to business,” I say.

“I’m strongly opposed to violence
against women,” Isabel replies. “So I care about your safety, too.”

I walk farther into the room. Behind
me, I can feel Patrick leaning against the doorway.

“Um…can I borrow one of those?” I ask
Isabel, eyeing her bra. “My boobs are big.”

Patrick stifles a laugh. Isabel
smiles at me, but in understanding. She is well-endowed, too.

“Follow me.”

I walk after Isabel, going past
Patrick on the way.

“Not funny,” I tell him. He just
shakes his head.

Once I’ve changed into proper
exercising attire, I return to the workout room with Isabel. Patrick is now
seated on the couch, watching us.

“I’m going to fight you first, to see
how good you are,” Isabel says. “Then I’ll teach you a few restraining moves
and how to break out of them.”

I nod.

“Let’s
start, then.”

Next morning, I wake up feeling sore.
I stretch up in bed, eliciting a yawn.

I’m physically fit, but my muscles
still ache all over. I’d expected Isabel to go easier on me. She held back, but
I still had trouble fighting her off. Isabel’s got a lot more skill than I do.
After all, she’s a cop. They’ve got to know how to fight.

Patrick seemed to have enjoyed seeing
me get my ass kicked. Okay, the last part is an exaggeration, but you get the
idea. I felt relieved when Isabel switched to teaching me arm locks and stuff
like that. She also showed me how to disarm someone holding me at gunpoint.

I decide to take a quick shower to
unknot my muscles. The cool water on my body feels soothing. Once I’m ready, I
turn off the water and grab a towel.

My smartphone rings just after I put
on a skirt. I grab the phone and answer it.

“Hi. This is Mercedes.”

“Good morning, angel. How are you?”

It’s Gabriel. My spirits instantly
lift.

“I’m great, now that I hear your
voice.”

Gabriel laughs.

“Did you miss me yesterday?”

“How could I not? I’m glad you called
me in the afternoon. I was wondering where you were.”

“I was just settling some issues.
It’s all done. Would you like to use your new Sea-Doo?”

Baby, I was wondering when you’d ask.

“Absolutely. Are you coming?”

“Yeah. Should I pick you up at ten?”

“Perfect,” I say. “I’ll be in my
apartment.”

“Okay. I’ll see you.”

“By the way, the first one to the
finish line gets to keep their clothes on.”

A second passes, and then Gabriel
chuckles.

“You’re going to lose on purpose
again, right?”

“Maybe.”

“Not that I’m complaining.”

We both laugh together.

“We could do some other stuff, you
know. Like, finish what we started the last time we raced.”

“Angel, you’re making me want to go
pick you up right now and have my way with you.”

I’m itching to see Gabriel, too. And
to feel his hands expertly caressing every inch of my body.

“You said ten. At least let me eat
breakfast first.”

“Okay, angel. I’ll see you in a few.”

“Bye,” I say, and then hang up. I
look at myself in the mirror. Nothing can shake off my grin.

True to his word, Gabriel stops
outside the entrance to the building at ten sharp. I was standing in the
reception area for five minutes.

I step outside just as Gabriel waves
off the valet before leaning against his car’s passenger door.

“Hi, angel,” Gabriel says. He takes
my breath away.

“Hi,” I reply. I let Gabriel embrace
me. It feels great to be in his arms.

“Is that bag you got a change of
clothes?”

I stand back and nod.

“I’m wearing my bikini right now. If
you like, I can show you.”

Gabriel gives me a wicked grin.

“Sounds good. But not here.”

Gabriel helps me into his car, and
then he goes over to his side. He drives to my father’s house first so we can
pick up my Jet Ski.

Several minutes later, we pull up
near the beach. Gabriel gets out and opens my door. Then we both walk to where
my Sea-Doo is.

“Where’s yours, by the way?” I ask.

“There,” Gabriel points. There’s a
Jet Ski sitting not far from where we are.

“You left it here?” I ask. “Weren’t
you afraid someone might steal it?”

“No. That thing’s super heavy.
Besides, I had someone watching just in case.”

I turn to where Gabriel is looking
over my shoulder. There’s a guy leaning against his Jet Ski now.

“That’s
my friend, Roderick. Let’s walk over and I’ll introduce you to him.”

~*~
Gabriel

Mercedes and I walk to where Roderick
is standing. He walks a few steps toward us.

“Hey, Gabriel!” Roderick says. We
shake hands. “You’re in damn good company, I see,” he adds, looking at
Mercedes.

“Roderick, meet Mercedes Roberts,” I
say. She walks forward and offers her hand to Roderick.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet the
woman who cast a spell on my friend.”

Mercedes laughs as they shake hands.

“More like he cast a spell on me,”
she says.

“She’s definitely gorgeous, man.”

“Didn’t I tell you?”

Roderick nods.

“Gabriel tells me you’ve graduated
recently.”

“Yeah,” Mercedes replies. “I majored
in Advertising at the Academy of Art.”

“Impressive. So you not only got a
girl with looks. She has brains, too.”

I nod, chuckling.

“Okay. I’ll leave you two alone to
have fun. There’s a girl over there I want to meet.”

Mercedes laughs at that.

“See you later,” she says, and
Roderick walks away. I put my arms around Mercedes from behind.

“He seems fun,” she tells me.

“He can be when he wants. Most of the
time, Roderick can be a bit more serious. He’s an accountant.”

Mercedes and I walk back to my truck.
I remove my shirt, leaving it on the trunk. Then Mercedes takes off her
clothes. Inside she’s wearing a red bikini.

This woman oozes sexiness. That tiny
bikini hardly leaves anything to the imagination. I’m tempted to carry Mercedes
on my shoulder and take her elsewhere.

“Do I look great?” Mercedes asks me
in a sultry tone. Control is hardly possible with her around.

“You look absolutely-freakin-fabulous.”

Mercedes smiles. She opens the bag
that she brought and pulls out a small bottle.

“Care to rub some lotion on me?”

Why does Mercedes have to sound so
alluring? If I knew her better, I’d say she’s playing games with me. She grabs
a foldable reclining seat from the back of my truck and carries it to the
beach. After Mercedes finds an empty spot, she props up the chair and sits back
on it.

I gather my wits about myself and
grab the second chair I brought. Then I make my way over to her.

Mercedes’s glasses are dark from the
sun. She’s got her hands behind her head, looking blissful.

“There it is,” she says, motioning to
the sunscreen lotion next to her. I pick it up.

“It’ll be my pleasure,” I say. I
still haven’t forgotten the last time Mercedes let me do this. I start on her
abdomen first, and work up from there. I can’t see Mercedes’s eyes through her
shades, but I bet they’re closed.

I take my time caressing Mercedes’s
skin, relishing every inch of it. This woman is so delectable she could only
have been created for me.

My hands reach her breasts. I take my
time there too, even though I’ve got a hard-on. I can’t help kneading the soft
flesh, it feels so good. I rub under her bikini top, and my palms stroke her
nipples. I make sure not to expose her. There are people around. I’m glad
they’re not paying attention to us.

Once I finish rubbing sunscreen
lotion on Mercedes, I hand her the bottle.

“Care to return the favor?”

“With pleasure.”

I sit back on my own chair and let
Mercedes do her work. Her sunscreen lotion-covered palms run over my torso.
Giving feels awesome, but I didn’t think receiving would feel just as good. I
focus my thoughts on other things to avoid having another hard-on. The other
people on the beach won’t appreciate it.

Mercedes and I spend a few minutes
relaxing on the chairs. We talk about some stuff, watching the other people
have fun on the beach. There’s a married couple about seventy feet from us.
They’re watching their pair of kids build a sandcastle.

Someday, Mercedes and I will have
kids of our own. We’ll bring them here, and they’ll make sandcastles and play
with water guns. They’ll run along the beach, not quite eager to get on the
water.

“Are you listening to me?” Mercedes
asks. I look over at her, confused.

“Oops, I drifted off. Sorry. Were you
saying?”

Mercedes laughs.

“I asked if you’re ready for our
race.”

“Absolutely,” I reply, standing up.
“But if you lose on purpose,” I continue, moving close to whisper in her ear,
“I won’t buy you ice cream later today.”

Mercedes’s eyebrows rise.

“Ice cream?” she asks, licking her
top lip.

“Ice cream.”

I find Roderick and enlist his help
to get the Jet Skis to the water. Once they’re there, Mercedes walks up to us.

“Ready, angel?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“We’re not racing to the Seal Rocks
this time. As you can see, we had to shorten the distance, as there are quite a
few people out here today.”

“I see.”

“We’ll be racing to the shore below
Lobos Rock. No one will be there.”

Mercedes nods.

“You remember how to start the
ignition, right?”

In response, Mercedes starts her
Sea-Doo.

“Fair enough.”

I start my own Jet Ski. Roderick
begins to count.

“Three…two…one…go!” Roderick says.
Mercedes and I take off.

I urge my machine forward, wanting to
win. Even if Mercedes loses deliberately, she’s still getting ice cream. No way
I’m cheating myself out of a great time with her.

I look over at Mercedes. Her look of
concentration suggests she’s not throwing the game this time. Funny. I didn’t
know I could bribe Mercedes with ice cream.

I can’t help letting out a laugh.

Soon enough, I reach the Seal Rocks
first. I continue past it, looking up at the Cliff House. I would have chosen
the shore under the cliff. Unfortunately, people might see us from there. I
don’t want to get us banned.

We pass Point Lobos. Up ahead is the
goal. I look to Mercedes. She’s still playing to win.

To my surprise, Mercedes reaches the
goal first. I stop when I get there, but she blows past me. Mercedes stops and
makes her way back to me.

“I win!” she says, smiling in
triumph. She flexes her arm muscles.

“Are you showing off?” I ask.

“What? No. I just woke up sore
today.”

My eyebrows furrow.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I worked out kinda hard
yesterday.”

“Well, I know just the way to soothe
those muscles.”

Mercedes smiles, knowing what’s next.

We shut our machines down and make
our way to the shore. As I expected, no one can see us here. On the cliff above
us, there is a bunch of trees. Beyond them is the Coastal Trail. I hope no one
bumps into us.

Turning to Mercedes, I move to be close
to her. She watches me, the anticipation building.

“I’ve never had sex on the beach,”
she confides. I raise my eyebrows.

“Was it, by chance, a secret desire
of yours?”