For Better or Worse (4 page)

He circled her drenched clit, and
Cassidy rolled her hips upward, chasing his skilled tongue, writhing in
desperation for the exquisite release. She tossed her head from side to side,
thigh muscles and nipples quivering from the excruciating pleasure.

Her loins tightened right before the
climax exploded within her, rolling like a mighty wave that hammered her with
body-wrenching force. She tightened her butt to intensify the effect and cried
out, gasping aloud as her small fingers tightened in his hair. Every muscle in
her body contracted. Ecstasy twisted through her and wrung out loud, hoarse
cries until her throat felt sore, until the sounds finally became soft whimpers
when she drifted back to earth from her orgasmic high.

Antonio removed his boxers and tossed
them to the floor. Catching her pointy chin in between his fingers, he gave her
a tender kiss so she tasted the blend of his sweet flavor and her own desire on
his lips.

“I told you before we were married that
I don’t tolerate sleeping in separate beds, didn’t I?” His eyes glittered with
anger and passion in the darkness.

Cassidy bit her lower lip and nodded.

Antonio dragged one leg of her nubile
body over his right forearm. “I can’t hear you.”

She liked getting her own way, but she also
liked the authoritative way he spoke to her. He had a way of giving her what
she wanted and still keeping control. She didn’t know how he managed such a
fine balancing act.

“Yes.”

“So what made you think you’d get away
with it?”

Cassidy shook her head, unable to
respond to the question as she anticipated him filling her and taking her high
again.

“And then you come to bed and act like
I’m not even lying here next to you while you touch yourself?” he asked,
incredulity filling his voice. “What made you think you’d get away with
that
?
Because you’re mad at me? That’s not the way it works,
mami
.”

He pushed the tank up over her breasts,
forcing the material to make way for his mouth. A mouth that covered her
breasts with torturous kisses and suctioned one of her nipples. His mouth was
heavenly, a pleasure giver, a defense batterer, and she was helpless to resist
it. She arched and twisted like a spring as torrents of pleasure exploded
across her breast from the rough suckling, while his hand wreaked havoc on the
other with firm squeezes, rolling the nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

“You’re not keeping your pretty little
tetas
from me again, are you?”

“No, I promise,” she panted in a pained
voice.

The smooth head of his shaft pressed to
the entrance of her body, and with a determined thrust, he filled her. She
inhaled sharply and then let the breath out with a shuddering moan. No matter
how angry she was at him, sex between them was never a clinical joining of the
bodies. With Antonio, it was all passion and heat, and she felt it now,
circulating around them.

Even in anger they were attuned to each
other. She held him snug inside of her body, tilting her hips up so he could
slide deeper. The soft sounds she made were occasionally joined by his low
groans, their need raw and desperate now that it was unleashed. Cassidy
whimpered as he rode her hard with the furious pumping motion of his hips. She
enjoyed it so much she lifted her other leg over his shoulder. Oh God, it was
the perfect angle, allowing him to go deeper still and inciting a passionate
madness that had her blinking back tears.

The headboard rapped the wall each time
he lunged forward.

“You don’t get to go solo in this bed
unless I’m watching,” he whispered, his breath ragged and hot. He poured the
words between her parted lips, his eyes almost closed, thick lashes that no man
had the right to own shadowing his cheeks. 

Each time she reeled back, she tightened
her feminine muscles as she dragged down his hard length.

“Oh yeah,” he whispered, his voice
hoarse. “
Dámelo. Dámelo, mami.
”

Finally, her body tightened to an
unbearable point. “Baby, I’m coming . . .
Yes
. . .” Her words ended on a
high-pitched scream, stars bursting behind her closed lids as waves of dizzying
pleasure washed over her. She arched her back and cried out, sinking her nails
into his hard biceps.

His lips caressed the damp skin of her
neck as he increased the tempo of his thrusts. She trembled and wound her arms
around him. The pumping of his hips accelerated even more, and within seconds,
he ejaculated and crumbled on top of her like dead weight.

Their damp skin seared together as they
basked in the warm aftermath of lovemaking. She enjoyed the moments right
afterward, when he lay on top of her like this, trying to catch his breath, and
they held on to each other as if they were the only two people in the world.

Antonio stirred, lifting onto his
elbows. With gentle kisses on her neck and collarbone, he slowly brought the
embers of desire back to life.

“Baby . . .” she whispered, tired, but
unable to stop the instinctive response to his touch.

“I’m not done with you,” he whispered in
her ear. “You wanted my attention, and now you’ve got it. No rest for you tonight.”

Ripples of anticipation traversed her
skin at the softly spoken words.

His lips covered her nipples, and she
recoiled from him, still too sensitive, but he refused to let go, sucking
harder as he slipped one hand behind her back and pulled her tight against him.
With little prodding, her thighs fell open when he slipped his hand between her
legs. He gently tapped her slick flesh a few times, and she let out a cry for
more when he stopped. Cream oozed from the heart of her as she readied for him
again.

Tap
,
tap.

Cassidy shivered like she was out in a
snowstorm. “Please,” she begged.

He inserted his fingers inside her wet
channel, and she came dangerously close to coming again, but at the last moment,
he withdrew his hand and lifted his head from her aching breasts. She groaned
in frustration and reached for his hand again, but Antonio nudged her over onto
her side so that her back faced him.

“Aren’t you glad you didn’t sleep in the guest
bedroom?” he asked as he inserted himself between her legs.

Cassidy couldn’t even reply. She tossed back
her hips with renewed vigor when he slid home, her body greedily sucking him
in. 

His lips brushed the tight curls at the nape of
her neck, his breath warm, his tongue further moistening her damp skin. One
hand curved under her body to hold her tight, while his hand on her hip held
her in the position he wanted.

She reveled in the power of his body as he took
her from behind, edging her toward ecstasy. She wanted this. Needed this. It
made her feel close to him even in the midst of her discontent.

He spoke to her half in Spanish, half in
English. He cursed, the only time she tolerated it because it turned her on. He
whispered vulgarities that made her insides tremble as he reminded her that
their bodies belonged to each other and told her she was never allowed to
withhold hers from him again.

He didn’t allow her to come, stopping short
each time she came close, using the thick muscle between his legs to beat her
into submission and force her to finally agree to his terms. She would’ve
agreed to anything at that point—to jumping off the nearest bridge—just so she
could get what was so close, almost within reach.

Antonio rolled her onto her stomach and pulled
her to her knees. This was the position she preferred, that he preferred. Looking
down at her from this position was such a turn-on. What an incredibly sexy
image she presented, with his hand at the back of her neck, her moaning into
the pillow, and her backside lifted up to him as an erotic offering.

Sliding in, he used long, slow strokes,
groaning and sucking air in between his teeth. She moved her hips in a circle,
taking every ounce of pleasure he offered into her trembling body.

“I love fucking you,
mami
. Damn . . . I
love . . . fucking . . . you.”

In a complete turnabout, he went from slow
motion to slamming into her with a loss of control that took her by surprise.
He drew out another orgasm with hard, deep beats of his hips that had her clawing
at the sheets and shouting his name.

This time, they climaxed simultaneously. He
tightened his hold on her slender hips and lifted her knees off the bed,
pushing and pushing until neither of them had any energy left and they fell onto
the bed, exhausted.

Antonio rolled onto his back behind her,
panting heavily. For her part, she couldn’t move. She felt as limp and boneless
as a jellyfish, half her face in the pillow, struggling to take air into her
lungs.

He dragged her into his arms, their bodies
curved into a semicircle against each other.

“We can’t keep doing this, Cass,” Antonio said
quietly after a time.

She knew he referred to the constant arguing
and nodded. Staring into the dark room, she whispered, “I love you.” She waited
for his usual response, which meant everything was fine between them and he’d
forgiven her.

“I love you more,” he whispered back.

A slow smile spread across her lips. “I love
you to infinity.”

“I love you to infinity plus one.”

Antonio was a good man, and she was a good
woman. She deserved to be happy.

If only she could remember that.

Chapter Four

Cassidy inserted a pair of small hoop earrings
in her ears and put another dab of gel to her hairline to smooth down the
edges. An elastic band secured her hair at the crown and nape, leaving it as a
huge, wavy puff in the back.

She applied a thin layer of lipstick to her
lips and then popped them to evenly distribute the glossy red tone. She turned
her back to the mirror to check out the view from behind in the black skirt and
smoothed her hands down her hips. Pleased with what she saw, she wiggled her
butt and smiled to herself.

“That’s my job,” Antonio said with a yawn,
walking into the bathroom naked. He rubbed his hand over his morning stubble.

Their makeup session had taken place days ago,
and since then, they’d been acting like true newlyweds again.

“What’s your job?” Her gaze ran the length of
his lean, muscular body, and she couldn’t help the smile that played around her
lips. “Looking at my butt?”

“Yep.” He stepped up to the double vanity and
patted her on the behind. “Looking good.”

“You’re kind of late this morning, aren’t you?”
She worked a flex schedule, which allowed her to work ten-hour days and have
Fridays off. Because of the new contracts her company had won, she had to work
today, even though it was usually her day off. Most of the time she left for
work before he did because she went in at seven to beat traffic, but today he
seemed to be running later than usual.

“I’m going to a meeting downtown this morning
before I go to work, and I need to go pick up my car from the repair shop.”
He’d finally taken his car in to have the starter replaced.

“Do you need me to take you to the meeting?”

“Nah, I’ll catch a cab.”

Cassidy watched him in the mirror.

“What?” He put toothpaste on his brush and
started brushing his teeth.

“I was thinking . . . maybe we could go out one
night. We haven’t gone out in a while.”

Antonio spit into the sink. “What do you want
to do?”

“I don’t know.” She sidled up to him and
slipped her arms around his waist. His skin felt warm and smooth. She rubbed a
hand lingeringly over his bare chest. “Earlier this week, Janice asked me to go
out with her, but I’d much rather go out with you—dinner or dancing or
something.”

“I’d much rather you go out with me, too,”
Antonio said, his voice garbled because of the toothbrush. He finished up and
turned off the water. “Especially if the alternative is Janice. She’s single.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Single girlfriends often give bad advice.”

“You’ve only met her a couple of times.”

“And almost every time she opens her mouth,
she’s male bashing. She’s a bad influence.”

“Don’t be silly. She’s not a bad influence.”

“I don’t care for her. Anyway, the point is, I
don’t spend time with my single male friends in the same environments I used to
before we got married. I don’t want to get into trouble with my jealous wife.”

“I’m jealous?” Cassidy huffed, placing her hand
on her hip. She knew she was but didn’t like being called on it. “What about
you? The last time we played the pickup game, you got into a fight.” Antonio
seldom lost his temper, but that night, his anger had exploded in an
uncharacteristic way.

To spice up their relationship, they’d played a
game a few times where they went out and pretended to be strangers, and she let
Antonio pick her up. She had a collection of wigs she used to change her look
from time to time, but they’d served the dual purpose of spicing up their sex
life by allowing her to become different characters as part of the game.