His Christmas Wish (8 page)

Their mouths tasted and explored one another, remembering and showing exactly what the other liked as he carried her to bed. Don’t think, don’t think, she chanted in her head.

Her back hit the mattress, then the delicious weight of Joaquin pressed against her. Moaning into his mouth, she pushed at his shirt and sat up. “I want this off.”

He sat back on his calves, then gently removed her glasses and set them on the nightstand.

“
That’s an order, soldier.”

“
Yes ma’am,” he said on a laugh and pulled his shirt over his head, in the sexy way that men do. Tight abs greeted her and she kissed the center of his chest, rubbing her cheek in the crisp black hair. “Damn, woman.”

Tugging her own shirt over her head, she arched off the bed when his hands cupped her breasts. “Oh God.” Her bra was the next to go, then their pants and underwear. Panting, she lunged for him, kissing, licking and biting at every inch of his skin.

“
Christ, you’re killing me.” He lifted her to his face, slanting his mouth over hers and burying his fingers in her hair. This time he kissed her like a man starving. His kiss dominated, taking and demanding.

Heat and desire swept over her, tangling together. Four years she had missed this. Four damn years she had gone without a man’s touch and kiss.

His hands coasted down her side, grabbing her hips and squeezing. His erection pressed against her sex as he settled himself between them. Kissing his way down her body, he stopped at her breasts, tugging on her hard nipples and sucking them deep into his hot mouth. She sank her hands into his short hair, her nails scraping as he growled low in his throat.

Suddenly, he shoved her thighs wide and buried his face between them. She screamed at the first pass of his tongue, then again when he sucked her clit into his mouth. “That’s it, baby,” he said against her tender skin and slid a finger inside of her. “Oh hell, you’re so damn tight and wet.” Pulling her to her knees, he sank another finger inside of her and ordered her to move her hips. “So fucking beautiful. Look at us, Sage. Watch me fuck you with my fingers.”

Helpless, she glanced down just as he added a third finger. She whimpered at the slight pain, but then his thumb brushed her clit and she bore down on his hand.

“
Easy, baby…” He caught a tight nipple with his lips and teased the tip of it mercilessly. Blood pounded in her ears. Her heart galloped in her chest. He bit down on her nipple and did something with his talented fingers that shook her entire body.

It all became too much.

Grabbing his wide shoulders, she held on for dear life; her body shattering into a million pieces as she moaned his named with one long exhalation of air that left her limp and weak.

Joaquin gently lowered her to the bed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Keep the bed warm. I’ll be back in a little while.”

As he moved away from the bed and picked up his shirt, she frowned. “Where are you going?”

“
Have to see my parents.”

She gave a pointed look at his groin, where he remained hard and mouthwateringly ready for her. Of course she still wanted him. The orgasm he’d given her was merely an appetizer. “Like that?”

“
Thought I’d give you something to think about while I’m gone.”

“
Oh, trust me, I won’t get the image of that—” She waved her hand in the direction of his penis. “—out of my head.”

A slow grin covered his face, wicked and full of desire. “You gonna do something about it?”

Licking her lips, she nodded. “I think I can help you out.”

“
Like you did for me,” she added, lest he think that what she wanted was something more.

His features turned grim for only a moment, then dropped his shirt and moved to stand beside the bed. She rolled to one side, facing him. A drop of arousal had formed on the tip of his cock. “Taste me.”

Closing her eyes, she took the head of him into her mouth and slowly caressed the length of him with her fingertips. He grunted and captured her chin. “Just your sweet mouth.”

Opening her eyes and lips, she took him deep inside, letting him set the pace as he held on to the sides of her head. Sucking harder, she let him hit the back of her throat and he cursed. She rolled to her hands and knees, and took him deeper.

She licked the hard length. “Want more?”

“
Hell yes,” he said, his voice raspy and deep as she traced her name on the underside of his erection with her tongue. “Open up.” She did as he commanded, her eyes closing once more as he breached her lips. Slowly and steadily he thrust his length into her mouth, his fingers curling in her hair. Doubling her efforts, she sucked on him until her cheeks hollowed.

“
I have to come, Sage. You—”

She caressed his balls, then lightly squeezed when he exploded in her mouth. The taste of him making her wetter and hotter, not stopping until he gently pushed her away. Licking her lips, she looked up at him and smiled. “Now we’re even.”

His brown eyes were dark and guarded, not what she expected. Stepping away from her, he dressed in silence.

“
Are you okay?” Probably the dumbest thing she could’ve asked.

Looking at her, his mouth opened and closed, then thinned. “Fine.”

Her stomach dropped to her toes, but she put on a bright smile. “I’d think you’d be better than fine.” Feeling more than exposed, she grabbed the throw at the end of her bed and wrapped it around her. “I know I am.”

“
I didn’t take you for that kind of woman.”

“
Excuse me?”

He paused at the bedroom door, his broad shoulders rigid. “The kind to play mind games.”

“
Are you kidding me?” She rose from the bed, one hand clenching the blanket around her and the other fisting. “I’m not the one who pretended to be someone who didn’t exist. That was you, Joaquin.
You
. “

“
And this hot and cold act is my punishment?” He turned to face her.

“
Yes…no. I don’t know.” She threw her free hand in the hair, then let it drop. “You messed with my mind and my heart. I was expecting Gage to be here at Christmas, not you. I bought him presents, not you. I decorated my entire house for him, not you. Yet you expect me to say ‘It’s okay Joaquin. I forgive you for breaking my heart again. I forgive you for lying to me.’” Her lower lip trembled, but she would be damned if he saw her cry. “You haven’t even apologized.”

“
You’re right.”

“
I am?”

He took a step towards her. “Yeah. “ A shaky breath left him. “I’m sorry for fucking up your life, for deceiving you. But most of all I’m sorry I didn’t stay and fight for us.”

“
But now you’re going to?” She bit at her bottom lip.

Another step and he was standing so close that he could almost touch her. He nodded. “With everything inside of me.”

Whirling away from him, she clutched the blanket tighter around her and placed her other hand over her heart. It beat a million miles a minute. “I don’t know if—”

“
Don’t fight me on this, Sage.”

“
I don’t want to fight.” She sighed. “I want my life to return to normal.” The blanket slipped lower along her back, exposing a circular scar on her shoulder blade.

Unable to help himself, he traced it and she shivered. “I’ll never forget the day this happened.”

“
Me neither. It hurt like all get out,” she said with a sniff.

Sage had fallen on a floating log while knee boarding with her cousins on the Pamlico Sound. They hadn’t been dating then, but he’d almost swallowed his tongue when he’d seen her fall.

Diving into the water to get to her hadn’t been a second thought, or a regretful one. Not even when his cousins were catcalling him from their boat. Floating and holding her while she cried and bled all over his hand had nearly made him cry, too, as they waited for her cousin’s boat to turn back around to get her.. A temporary truce had been brokered that day between the Morales’ and Caswells, as they worked together to get them both out of the water and Sage to the closest emergency room.

A week later he worked up the nerve to ask her out. It had taken a little over three weeks before she’d said yes. And only two weeks more to realize he was crazy about her. Only a month more to realize he’d found the woman of his dreams.

“
You saved me,” she added.

That he had. “I need you to save me back.” He kissed a bare shoulder. “I need you, Sage. I’ve brought all my worldly goods in that moving trailer. Holland Springs is my home and I plan on making a life here, with you. I want babies and t-ball games…and ballet lessons. I want you to yell at me when I track mud in the house or when I say something majorly stupid, then have make-up sex. I want to grow old with you and drive real slow on Sunday afternoons. “

“
I need more time, Joaquin,” she whispered.

It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but she hadn’t said no. “You can have more time, sweetheart, but I’m coming home, to this house, when I’m done talking with my parents,” he said. “Then we’ll decorate the tree…Hell, we’ll finish decorating the house like we’re the Griswolds.”

She bent her head, dark red strands falling forward, exposing the nape of her neck. An eternity seemed to pass before she turned to face him. Grey eyes soft like rain. “Guess I’ll need to tell my parents, too.”

“
My parents already know,” he admitted.

Her eyes went wide. “How long?”

“
It’s part of the reason they disowned me and kicked me out of the house.”

She grabbed his hand. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He made a face. “I did, in my first letter to you, remember?”

“
Not really.” Pain sliced his heart like a knife. “But I mean then.”

Tipping his head to the side, he asked, “Is that why you keep all of them by your bed?”

Her cheeks turned red, eyes dropping to the floor. “No,” she whispered. “I got them out to tear up in front of you.”

Clenching his jaw, he fought to remain calm. “Like I said, I’ll be back later. I’ll text you when I’m on my way—unless you changed your number again.”

She shook her head. “It’s the same.”

Despite the rage and pain he felt, he kissed the top of her head and left the room.

Chapter Eight

Joaquin barely made it in the door before he was assaulted with hugs and kisses from his family. Aunts and uncles talking to him in a mixture of Spanish and English.

Jesus, he missed this. Almost as much as he’d missed Sage.

“
My baby!” Mariela charged through the group, throwing her arms around his neck while she sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Guilt and relief flooded him. He hated not talking to her, hated that she’d worried, but in his mind, she’d chosen to side with his father- his stubborn, hard-head father.

He tightened his arms around his mother. “I missed you, too,
 
Mamá,
” he said, his voice gruff. Damn, but if he didn’t feel like crying like a five year-old.

She pulled away, inspecting him from head to toe, her brown eyes liquid and filled with everything he was feeling. Her hands shook as she touched his face. “You look older…still my Joaquin though.” Smiling, she patted his arm. “Too skinny. Let’s eat.”

“
Let me see my son,” Juan boomed and the crowd parted like the Red Sea. His father strode up to him, proud and pompous as usual. Joaquin braced for the lecture and the insults. That he wasn’t welcome at this house, the car dealership, yes, but never here.