Mi Carino (20 page)

“
Hello beautiful,” he kissed away her objections. Her arms naturally rose and circled his neck. “I’m glad you came.”

“
Me too,” she said a bit breathless. Lance temporarily forgotten, she kissed him hard, giggling. He squeezed her to him then lifted her in his arms and carried her toward the stairs.

Diego rested on his back, her body pressed to his, both of them hot and slickly coated in sex and sweat. Their rhythmic breathing did little to keep pace with their racing hearts. Content, they lay in silence. Marcella exhaled a satisfied sigh and snuggled him. Her arm slipping around his chest, her sex pressed into his thigh with her right leg thrown over his. It felt so right, to be this close to him, especially after the passion between them.

“
I have a question?”

“
Mmm?”

“
Who was that man?”

“
What man, there is no man but me.”

She had to smile over his clipped response. She could drive a steam engine train through his ego it was so big. She listened to the mellow beat of his heart. It never changed in pitch or rhythm. Her head lifted from his chest and she met his gaze. “The man leaving when I arrived, who was he?”

“
He works for me. He is no one.”

“
Oh, okay.” She relaxed.
What was the big deal? He worked for him is all he had to say? What a stupid answer.
“What does he do?” she asked.

Diego ran his hand up and down her back. His touch caused her to press her sex harder into his thigh to stay the achy burn she had for him. Silently she prayed he didn’t want another round. She didn’t think she could take it.

“
Diego?”

“
Did he say something to you?” he asked.

Her brow rose to the odd note of concern in his tone. “Yes, he spoke. He knew my name.”

“
I can’t stop talking about you,” Diego relaxed and gave her a shy smile. It looked almost childlike.
Was he blushing?

Marcella blinked at him. “Really? You can’t?”

“
No, I look at my watch.” He reached for the antique timepiece he always carried. She lifted on her elbow to see it. He rubbed his thumb over the surface. “I look at the time and I think of you, when I will see you again, touch you, taste you. Do you think of me?”

“
Ah… yes, I um, I do.”

Diego nodded satisfied. He put the watch out of her reach.

“
Come here.”

She moved up him and rolled on top.
Darn
it
he was rock hard again
! She touched his jaw with the tip of her finger then traced it to his bottom lip. The hairs of his mustache were so silky and thin over his upper lip they were barely seen. She ran her finger over the softness admiringly. He eased his hands under the blanket and cupped both halves of her ass.

“
I’m glad you decided to stay and let me have you, because you’re mine Marcella. I like this. You please me. It will be just us.”

“
My friends are going to think that I made you up. They haven’t met you.”

He pulled her head down to his and captured her mouth swallowing her words. She gasped in his kiss over his forceful nature, then again succumbed to the seductive pull his flickering tongue had once it entered her mouth. Diego flipped her on the bed and pinned her beneath him.

“
Why can’t I get enough of you Marcella?”

She smiled. “Mmm, I dunno.”

He hesitated to speak. His growing cock pressed between her inner folds. “It is risky, you are risky, but I can’t help myself.”

“
Diego?”

This time the kiss was hard and passionless. She pushed at his chest then he entered her and she shuddered in acceptance. Her hips worked under his plunging to help ease him in, and her eyes rolled to whites under her fluttering lashes. His broken pleas for more of her hauntingly clear in her ear.

Thursday –

Marcella submerged and the warm wave forced her under with such force she nearly reached the ocean floor. The undertow dragged her legs beneath her into the current, and pressure pounded her chest and back, her lungs burned. Marcella gave two, then three strokes and broke through the calm rolling tide, having slipped further back into the sea.

Diego remained on the shore. Marcella swam for him, before another wave came. This time she was ready. It washed over her driving her down. Her feet connected with sand and shells and she swam up against the current, breaking through the rolling waves of foam. The wind was strong. The chill dried her skin as she ran out to the shore topless. Tracing her hands back to smooth down her wavy wet hair she grinned at him. His beach had a pleasant seclusion thanks to the season. “No one would go for a swim in this temperature Marcella,” he said when she stripped and ran toward the water.

The last days of winter gave the town of Port Delgado temperatures of high fifties when the skies were clear of rain clouds. “Awe, of course they would if they saw this ocean. The day’s beautiful. Like you, now c’mon and let’s have some fun!” She called back to him. Of course she ventured the sea alone. But he remained on the shore, watchful, approaching when she took too long to emerge from the waves.

Diego now stood on their yellow and green beach blanket, which was held in place by a picnic basket and a large peppermint, striped umbrella. He wore khaki linen pants rolled up to his claves and a long white loose linen shirt. His dark sunglasses covered his eyes and even in this temperature the man seemed to tan more. Though he complained of the temperature he dressed as if they were vacationing on South Beach.

She grinned and walked out of the water, in her bikini bottoms. She’d brought one over to his place for the indoor Jacuzzi. Even she didn’t imagine running out into the ocean in the middle of February.

“
You will catch a cold. I told you not to go in the water, you are so stubborn,” he said wrapping her up in a towel.

“
I love it though. The water isn’t cold. Besides, admit it, you like seeing me in my skivvies.” she said her teeth chattering.

He held her close trying to warm her up. “Let’s go back in. You’re shivering.”

“
You care? What about the night on your deck? I was shivering then and you weren’t concerned,” she asked searching his eyes.

“
Of course I care, I don’t want you sick. I never want you harmed.”

“
Then make me happy Diego.”

His head lifted. She could see the shadow of his eyes behind the dark lens of his sunglasses. “Name it
nena
, what do you wish for?”

“
Let’s swim together.”

“
Marcella, it’s fifty degrees out, we should…”

“
It’s seventy degrees in the ocean. Make love to me… in the sea…don’t you want to?” she pushed away from him, the towel dropping from her shoulders. The harsher winds lifted it from the sand and blew it along the shore. She stepped back grinning.

Diego shook his head and watched her. He wished he could understand her courage, her strength. He knew little of it from the women in his life, in particular his mother. Thanks to his wretched mother’s influence he trusted no one, let alone beauties like Marcella. But she touched him, in soft unexpected ways. He remained unable to deny her anything. He removed his sunglasses and tossed them. He began to undo the buttons of his shirt. The cold winds tossed tiny grains of sand in his eyes. He squinted without the cover of his sunglasses to keep her in his line of sight. She ran out into the water, the round fullness of her ass bouncing and her slender toned legs disappearing into the blue waters.

Undressed, his flesh prickled with newly formed goose bumps. Diego wanted to laugh. His Marcella had been right. The cold is invigorating.

He went after her. His new addiction. His Marcella.

Friday –

“
Here, lift your head.”

Marcella sneezed. She opened her eyes, feeling achy all over. Diego sat on the edge of the bed with a tray. He dipped in the spoon and blew over the soup. Her throat was itchy and raw and her nose runny. “Marcella, take it.”

She obeyed. The hot soup coated her tongue and soothed the soreness of her throat as it went down. Her nasal passages cleared and she inhaled.

“
I will make you well,” he said with a determined look on his face.

“
I’m not a ‘U type’ of girl. I’ve taken care of myself plenty.” She coughed. Her fever left her shaking under the covers down to the soles of her feet.

“
I should have never let you go into the sea. Eat, rest.”

Marcella stared up at him, and she realized those tendrils of desire had turned into thick cables that anchored her heart to his. She had fallen for the man, and it would be hard to resist him. And even now, as he fed her soup and stroked away her fever she had to admit, she knew nothing about him. Only the ways he made her feel.

Diego leaned in and kissed her between the brow. “Better?”

Marcella sunk back into her pillows. “Better,” she said softly.

Chapter Ten

The day was unusually busy. From her office she heard the soft chatter mixed with laughter. New and returning customers strolled through the gallery thanks to the Egyptian funerary she acquired from Juan Juarez. For all her hard work, planning, and praying, the payoff had been delayed thanks to her blasted head cold. She became a prisoner of her own misery behind her desk.

Marcella sniffed. She picked up her herbal green tea, taking a pained sip. It was bland, in need of honey and some lemon but the heat soothed her throat. She reclined just a little in her office chair, and raised her wrist. The glare stung her weepy eyes with color beams radiating rays of sunlight off of the circling diamonds along the bezel of her watch. Exhausted, she checked the time. For five days and four nights Diego whispered for her, reached for her, and moved in on her whenever he pleased. Then he enticed her to demonstrate the naughty thoughts that filled her mind, reenacting every sinful detail. It had become their game and Marcella liked playing.

However, the fun paused when she took ill. Though she lapsed in and out of consciousness, he never strayed from her side. She didn’t have to ask for anything. Not since she left home and the care of her mother had she been so adored and cared for. Marcella loved when he spoke to her in Spanish, a mix of words she could and could not understand. The sponge baths he gave when her fever had reduced her to chills and incoherent rambling, were delightful. Every tender moment was real.  

Dropping her head back in the chair, she lowered the mug of lukewarm tea, which had cooled considerably during her daydreaming.  She prayed for a healing. Shouldn’t she be better now? She tried to let her sinuses drain without swallowing by leaning back in her chair. It hurt to swallow. She resisted the urge to rub the itch and sting from her eyes. Diego had warned her. She should have stayed in today as well. Stubbornly she held out hope that the worst of it had passed.