Dancing Shoes and Honky-Tonk Blues (19 page)

“The windows are tinted and the parking lot is empty. Here we don’t have to worry about cameras or microphones,” he adds with a grin but then turns serious. “Abby, are you having second thoughts? Because if you are—”

I shut him up by pulling his head down for a long delicious kiss. It’s about time that I take the lead for once. Needing to feel his warm smooth skin, I begin to unbutton his shirt but of course my fingers are shaking. He gently brushes them away and leans back to remove his leather jacket and then shed his shirt.

“Ouch!” When Rio bumps his head on the ceiling I giggle. “I can’t believe I wanted to do this for two weeks and I end up in the backseat of a car with you.”

“You want to go back to the lodge?”
Please say no.

He raises his eyebrows. “And wait a moment longer? I don’t think so.” To prove his point he leans in for another scorching kiss. I put my hands on his bare shoulders and slide my palms down his back, loving the ripple of muscle while he moves. I want to cup his ass but I don’t have the nerve. Then I think,
oh, to hell with it
, and just do it anyway, adding a squeeze for good measure. He chuckles low in my ear and then deftly unhooks my bra.

“Beautiful,” he says after leaning back to gaze at my breasts, instantly squelching my instinct to cover myself.

“You make me feel beautiful, Rio,” I shyly tell him.

“Because you
are
,” he says and I think he gets it that no one has ever called me that before.

My heart races when he leans down and captures a nipple in his hot mouth. He licks me with his warm, wet tongue and then nibbles sharply, sending a jolt of desire through me that has me arching up for more. Sucking and teasing he moves from one breast to the other, driving me wild. When he scrapes the soft yet prickly stubble on his chin over my sensitive nipples I suck in a breath, wondering if I might have an orgasm right here and now.

He begins a hot trail of kisses between my breasts and then down my abdomen, making my belly quiver. His long hair tickles my skin and I thread my fingers through the baby softness. He finds the zipper on my skirt and I lift my hips for him to tug it off . . .

“Rio . . .” I protest when his tongue circles my navel and then, God, suddenly his hot mouth is between my legs and he kisses me
there
, making my panties moist. I want to tell him to stop, this is too much, but I’m shameless with wanting him and I arch my hips upward against his mouth.

With a groan Rio hooks his thumbs on the sides of my panties and slides them down my thighs and over my ankles. Cool air hits my hot body and I shiver.

“Your legs are
amazing
,” he says in my ear and slowly slides one hand up my calf, making me so glad that I shaved my legs. When he reaches the tender inside of my thigh I tingle all over. He teases, circling his index finger closer to where I so want to be touched but stopping just short.

“Rio?” I open my eyes when the teasing stops. He’s unbuckling his belt and I notice in the dim light that his hands are none too steady and this knowledge goes straight to my heart. He removes his belt with a whoosh and tosses it to the floor. When he leans against the seat I undo the button on his fly and then unzip his pants. While he braces himself up on one elbow I tug his pants and boxers over his hips, sucking in a breath when his penis springs forward hard, proud, and erect.

Unable to stop myself I grasp the long length that pulses and comes alive in my hand. I marvel at the silky soft skin of the smooth round head, thinking that even his penis is perfect . . .

“Abby,” he says in a strained husky voice, “you’re driving me over the edge.”

“Oh . . .” I stop my exploration while he fumbles in his pocket and is suddenly sheathing himself in a condom, something I hadn’t even considered. This makes me think of how inexperienced I am and that maybe I’ll somehow mess this up.

Noticing my sudden silence he tucks a knuckle beneath my chin. “Hey, you okay?”

I nod but his dark eyes continue to search my face. “I just want to please you.”

While shaking his head he looks down at me with such tenderness. “You do please me, Abby. Just let yourself go . . . your inhibitions,” he says, nibbling on my neck. “Your worries,” he continues hotly in my ear and then tugs on my earlobe with his teeth. This must be my personal erogenous zone that I was unaware of, because when he suddenly sucks my earlobe into his mouth it drives me wild and all I can think of is having him inside me. My inhibitions go flying out the window and I open my legs and wrap my arms around him.

Rio enters me in one deep, delicious stroke, taking my breath away. He’s so hot, so hard and powerful, but he moves slow and easy, letting me adjust to his size. Intense tingling pleasure, warm and liquid, begins to build. I can tell by his bunched muscles, his ragged breathing that he’s holding back for my sake and I fall a little more in love with Rio Martin. I ease into a slow and steady rhythm with him while running my hands over his sleek, smooth back.

With each long and lazy stroke my excitement builds until I wrap my legs around his waist so he can go deeper, faster. He whispers Spanish in my ear and I don’t need to know what he says . . . all I need to do is feel. Sweet, hot pleasure winds tighter and tighter . . . exquisite, almost painful in the intensity. I arch my back so that we are skin to skin, heart to thumping heart, while I climb higher, searching for blessed relief . . .

“Rio,
God,
” I say and he slides his hands under my ass, going faster, deeper,
harder
until an orgasm bursts upon me like a wave cresting and then crashing to the shore. Rio thrusts deep, stiffens, and comes right along with me.

“
Mi Dios
,” he mutters weakly and I’m pretty sure that means
my God.
Still buried deep within me he captures my mouth and kisses me thoroughly while I’m reeling with little aftershocks.

My world has finally been rocked.

Finally, he leans against the back of the seat, giving me room to lie next to him, and I really wish we were in bed so we could snuggle and then fall asleep together maybe to wake up in a couple of hours to do it all over again. As it is I have to be content with him holding me close in the cramped confines of the car. I kiss his chest where his heart is still beating wildly.

When he chuckles and kisses me on top of the head I tilt my face up and he looks at me for a long moment as if wondering just what to say. Then he leans in and kisses me tenderly, which is nice and all, but I get the feeling it’s to avoid what needs to be said. “You were amazing, Abby.”

Of course I blush hotly, enough that he can probably see it in the dim lighting.

“You
know
that, right?”

I shrug, not to be modest but because I really
don’t
know that, and then brace myself for what he’s about to say because I’m hearing a really big
but
in all of this. Why does there always have to be a
but
?

“But tomorrow we need to go back to instructor and student.”

“Y-you mean and forget this ever happened?”

He shakes his head. “I couldn’t forget this ever happened if I wanted to . . . and I don’t.” He runs his fingertip down my cheek and I wait for the next big
but
to come. “But we need to concentrate on the dancing. This was bound to happen,” he says and then hesitates.

“But . . .” I prompt, and he finishes, “We have to get back to business.”

I lick my lips and then ask softly, “So, was this an effort to get me out of your system? Like the kiss?”

“No,” he says firmly, “but if it
had
been, it would have been a dismal failure.”

I’m confused. “So . . . we’re back to the resistance plan?”
I hate that plan.

“I’m afraid so but now it’s even worse.”

I raise my eyebrows. “How so?”

“Because now I know that being with you was even better than I had imagined . . . and I have quite an active imagination,” he tries to joke but we both know that this situation royally sucks.

“So, it’s like we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“Well, hellfire. I don’t see any way to make lemonade outta this one without getting squirted smack dab in the eye.”

He mulls this over for a second and then chuckles a bit sadly. “You know, I’m finally starting to understand your language.”

“Well, I still don’t understand a word of Spanish except for the fact that it really turns me on. You could be telling me off and I would still melt.”

Rio laughs and says,
“Posterguemos el plan de la resistencia para un pequeño más largo. Vendrá mañana por la mañana pronto bastante.”

“
Were
you telling me off?” I joke. Isn’t it funny how you can joke when your heart is sort of breaking? Must be a defense mechanism or something.

“I’m not sure what telling you off means but I don’t think so.”

“Then what were you sayin’?” I ask when I pretty much have it figured out.

Rio hesitates like he doesn’t want to say what he really
has
to say so I bide my time, drawing little patterns with my fingertip on his bare chest. He has a really nice chest. Finally I decide to help him out. “I get it, Rio. We’re good together but can’t
be
together because of complications beyond our control. Like the fact that there is a ballroom dancing competition that means so much to me and shouldn’t be compromised by having a relationship with my instructor. Oh, and beyond that there is the fact that we’re from totally different backgrounds . . . different countries, for goodness’ sake.
Oh yeah
, and you’ll be leaving here forever in just a few short weeks. What else is there to say?” I ask sadly, totally leaving out Angelina because I hope she isn’t part of the complications even though I think that she might be.

“I basically said that tomorrow it’s back to business, but it’s not tomorrow yet . . .”

“Oh.”

“So, are you, how do you say, catching my drift?”

I answer him with a long hot kiss. In the back of my brain I know that taking my relationship to this level with Rio might not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve already developed feelings for him and this is going to make it so much harder when he’s gone.

But I won’t think about that now while I’m in his arms and he’s whispering Spanish love words in my ear . . . at least I think they’re love words.

Tomorrow will come soon enough.

Blame It on Rio

“I know, I
know
, I just can’t believe it,” Julia says to me as she tops off my glass of wine.
“Angelina,”
she says, drawing out the dreaded name and adding a head bop followed by a finger wave, “is hardly Danny’s type.”

“Oh, I wholeheartedly agree,” I assure Julia and then take a sip of wine. I know that I’ve sworn off wine but it’s been such a tough week that I couldn’t resist a glass . . . or two. “I just don’t know what he’s thinkin’.”

This draws a snort from Julia. “Well, I’ll tell ya. He’s thinking with the little head instead of the big one.”

“What?” I don’t get it.

“His
dick
, Abby. Angelina is leading Danny around by his dick.”

“Oh, the little head . . .” I say and then giggle behind my hand when I sort of picture it in my mind, but Julia doesn’t think it’s all that funny and frowns at me.

“Sorry,” I tell her, feeling bad that I laughed when she is in such distress. “I had just never heard that expression before.”

She waves a hand in my direction. “You’re such a nice girl. Sorry I was such a shit to you in high school.”

I shrug it off because I realize that it truly doesn’t matter anymore and it makes me smile. Wow, the chip on my shoulder is officially gone. How about that?

“You really weren’t a shit . . . just basically ignored me.” It’s hard to believe, though, that I’m sitting here in Julia’s room sharing a bottle of white wine and some little cheese squares and thin round crackers that she brought out neatly arranged on a plastic tray. In fact, everything in her room is neat and tidy, unlike my own, but after a long day of dancing I really haven’t felt the need to tidy up.

And the days have been long, not to mention difficult. After steaming up the windows in Rio’s fancy rental car, he has felt the need to stick to the resistance plan of action, which translates to
no
action. I fully understand why and all but it doesn’t make it easy. On top of that, the jive is damned difficult. There are tons of flicks, kicks, and twirls with lightning-fast feet movement. My big feet just weren’t meant to move fast as lightnin’. I have fallen on my ass no less than each and every day. Today I tripped Rio and we both ended up in a tangled heap that I had hoped would lead to some hot and heavy kissing but he merely tugged me to my tired feet and demanded we do the whole dance over even though it was lunchtime.

“So, do you think Danny and Angelina are
doin
’ it?” Julia asks and her lips tremble like she’s on the verge of tears.

“No,” I assure her firmly, but in truth I’m
not
so sure. Danny and Angelina were all over each other at dinner. Well, she was all over him but he didn’t seem to mind. “I think he might have been trying to make you jealous.”

Her lips stop trembling and she perks up. “You think?”

“Well . . .” I begin as I pick up another slice of cheddar and a cracker. Dinner was this weird stuffed fish drizzled with sauce that smelled funny. I only pushed it around my plate, so this is a welcome snack. I’m dying for some of Mama’s meat loaf.

“Abby!”

“Oh, sorry.” I stop daydreaming about Mama’s cooking and say, “I really do believe that Danny might be tryin’ to make you jealous.” I leave out the part that he was going to try that very same plan only using me. I know that I’m sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong but the wine has loosened my lips. Besides, I didn’t like him flirting with that dark-haired hussy either. Not that I have any designs on Danny anymore. My sights are set on Rio. “He’s not over you, Julia.” This much I know is true.