Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5) (4 page)

He smiled wider.  “Not until you’re done, sweetheart,” he whispered.  I
smiled and then it hit.  My eyes rolled up and my teeth buried themselves in
his neck as my body began jerking and pulsing on him.  He gripped my hips tight
and kept me from falling off of him.  It took a while, but finally the spasms
began subsiding enough to the point where I could stop biting him.  I kissed
him hard, then pulled back and smiled at him. 

“Now it’s your turn,” I said as another shiver rocked my body.  He
grinned as my mouth came down on his again.  I squeezed him tight and began
gyrating my hips.  His surprised mouth came away from mine.  He growled and
pinned my wrists behind my back. 

“Oh my God, Sarah.  How do you… I can’t believe… oh shit, I’m going to…”
then his teeth buried themselves in my neck and I felt his scream in my
bloodstream.

Chapter
Three

I weaved my fingers through his hair and continued moving until I knew he
was completely done, and as I thought about what we had just done.  Three
years.  For three long years we had fought this.  Three years we had denied it
existed or tried to ignore it or fought it with every ounce of strength we
had.  Three years it took to build up to this point.  Three years it took to
explode.  For three years it was hard but my world was fine.  It took thirty
minutes to bring it crashing down.

His teeth pulled out of my neck and he rested his head against my chest. 
Then and only then did we allow the guilt of what we had just done surround
us.  Surprisingly, it was Carlos who broke first.  “Oh, shit, Sarah.  What have
we done?” he moaned. 

I tried to alleviate the pain a bit by pulling his head up, looking at
him and saying, “Do I need to explain the birds and the bees to you?”  I tried
to smile, but I didn’t fool either one of us.

“Very funny,” he whispered then his face grew serious.  “I don’t want to
let you go, Sarah.  How am I supposed to let you go?”

That scared the shit out of me.  “You have to, Carlos.  Dear God, this
was just an amazing experience.  Don’t make me regret it any more than I
already do.  You find a way to let me go, please?”

He stared at me for a second then broke into a grin.  “What the hell is
so funny?” I said.

“I just meant that I didn’t want to let you go right now, here, in the
car.  You feel too damn good,” he mumbled.

I blushed.  “Oh,” I whispered.  “Sorry.”

I smiled and he pulled me tight to him, resting his head on my shoulder. 
I did the same.  I could still feel him inside me.  If we weren’t careful we’d
be going at it again, definitely not something I was ready for, yet but neither
one of us wanted to break this connection – I think we were afraid to face what
would happen when we did. 

“This was so much better than I ever imagined it would be,” he said.

“I know.  For me too,” I said.

Suddenly I jumped because the driver knocked on the partition.  “Folks?”
he said through the dark glass.  Obviously he knew something was going on
because he didn’t just lower the glass like he did last time.  Great, I thought. 
I jumped off of Carlos, both of us groaning slightly as we felt him slide out,
then I tossed his shirt to him.  I threw on mine and pulled on my pants as he
pulled his up. 

“Yes?” I said as I quickly flipped around and sat on the seat.  The
partition slid down. 

“Ummm, sorry to bother you, but it looks like your flight is cancelled
tonight.  You’ll need to go in to the airport to change to a morning flight. 
Then I can take you back to your house or to a hotel if you’d like,” he said. 
A hotel?  All night?  With Carlos? Shit… that was going to be trouble.  Carlos
and I looked at each other, but he waited for me to decide.  I made the
decision that I knew I’d make, but that I really didn’t want to make.  I told
myself that it was because I didn’t want to wake Cindy and the kids by going
back to her house, but I wasn’t fooling anyone, especially me.  I squeezed my
eyes shut and said, “The airport and then a hotel, please.”  I felt Carlos’
hand close on mine.  I leaned my head on his shoulder and he kissed my
forehead.

We walked into the airport and changed to a morning flight.  They gave us
a voucher for the hotel and we walked back to the limo.  The driver took us to
the hotel next to the airport.  Neither of us had spoken a word to each other
since we had put our clothes back on.  I don’t know about Carlos, but I
couldn’t speak.  I was a fraction away from losing it.  If I tried to talk,
that fraction would disappear in the blink of an eye.  I stood off to the side
while Carlos checked us in.  I heard the gal at the counter say we were in room
1204, so I picked up my suitcase and slowly started walking towards the
elevators.  I turned and waited until Carlos was next to me before I pushed the
button to take us up.  As we rode the elevator in silence, I felt Carlos’ hand
close in mine.  I choked back the sob that wanted to come out.  Dear God, don’t
be nice to me, I thought.  I don’t need nice and sweet and kind.  I need
someone to beat the living crap out of me.  Never, ever had I cheated before,
on anyone.  Not when Rob (my first husband who was killed along with my son
when their car was hit head-on by a logging truck) and I went through our rough
patch a few years into the marriage.  Not when I found out that Rob had cheated
on me.  Not even when I had the opportunity with Jake, who was the nicest, most
incredible looking personal trainer you’d ever meet – and he made it abundantly
clear that he wanted me.  I was definitely tempted to then, but I didn’t.  And
I didn’t love Rob as much as I love Matthew.  I didn’t feel like I belonged
with him as much as I do with Matt.  So why the hell was I cheating on Matt? 
And I say cheat
ing
instead of cheat
ed
, because I knew damn good
and well that the limo was not a onetime thing.  There was going to be more, I
knew that as much as I knew that I felt like shit for what I had done.  What
the hell was wrong with me?

The elevator doors opened and we slowly made our way into the hall,
following the signs to our room.  I wasn’t going to make it much farther.  My
legs were already shaking like crazy.  Carlos swiped the card and held the door
open.  Our sad eyes met as I walked past him into the room.  I made it about
six feet in and then I collapsed onto the floor.  Carlos was behind me
instantly, wrapping his arms and legs around me and holding me tight.  I cried
for a few minutes.  I wanted to sob forever, but I knew that I couldn’t.  I had
to pull myself together.  And I did, much too soon, because I had to call Matt
and tell him we weren’t going to make it home tonight.  How the hell am I
supposed to do that?  Damn it, he’s gonna know.  He’ll hear it in my voice, I
know he will. 

I slowly lifted my head up.  “Oh God, Sarah,” Carlos began, but I stopped
him. 

“Wait,” I sadly said.  “Not yet.  I have to call Matt first and tell him
we won’t get in until late tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh.  Oh shit, Sarah.  Can you?  Are you sure you’re ready to do that?”
he said.

“Fuck, Carlos.  How could I ever be ready to talk to my husband after I
cheated on him?  No, of course I’m not ready to do it, but I have to do it
anyway,” I said as I started to stand up.  Carlos hesitantly nodded his head
and released me from his arms.  I pulled my cell phone from my purse and turned
and looked at him.  “I’ll be out on the balcony.”  I stepped out into the cool,
crisp night, took a few deep breaths, brought his number up on the screen and
went to push the talk button… but I couldn’t.  A few more deep breaths, a few
more seconds of staring at his name and number on my screen, then another
failure to push the button.  More breaths, more staring, another failure.  At
this rate I’d be standing on this damn balcony all night.  Suddenly I heard the
door slide open behind me.  I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to brace myself
because I knew exactly what he was going to do.  Carlos silently stepped out
behind me, took my thumb, pressed it down on the talk button then guided my phone
up to my ear.  Then he patted my back, turned and went silently back inside,
closing the door behind him.  I jumped when I heard the ring.  Please let him
be asleep.  Please let it go to voicemail. 

“Well, hello my love,” came his beautiful, loving,
faithful
voice.  I opened my mouth to respond… and nothing came out.  “Sarah?” he said,
concern starting to seep into his voice.  Get it together you fucking moron, I
thought. 

“Hi, sweetheart,” I said a little too cheerfully.  “Guess what?  Our
flight got cancelled.  We’re stuck here in Texas until tomorrow morning.  Doesn’t
that suck?”

“Oh, that’s too bad.  So are you back at Cindy’s for the night?” he said.

“No, I didn’t want to wake the kids.  The airline gave us a hotel
voucher.  I’m making Carlos’ bony butt sleep on the couch and I’m taking the
bed,” I said.

Silence followed.  Oh shit.  “Well, just kick him if he snores too much,”
he said without any playfulness in his voice.  “And, Sarah?  I love you more
than anything and I miss you like crazy.”  Fuck, he knows.

“I love you and miss you too, Matt.  More than you could possibly know.”

“Show me,” he said.  “Let’s have phone sex.”

You have got to be kidding me, I thought.  Now?  Of all times?  Of
course, now.  “I’d love to sweetheart, but it’s so late.  I’ve been playing
with the kids all day and I’m really exhausted.  But I promise I’ll show you
the second I get home, okay?”

“Are you coming home as horny as you were the last time you came home
from her place?  You couldn’t keep your hands off of me for three whole days. 
That was awesome,” he said.

“Of course, baby.  This is me we’re talking about, remember?  I’m always
horny and I can never keep my hands off of you,” I said.

“I know that.  And I’m getting excited just thinking about you,” he said,
but I could hear only desperation, not excitement, in his voice.

“Easy, sweetheart, or you won’t make it until tomorrow,” I said.

“Okay, okay.  I’ll try to calm down now.  You try to get some sleep… and
have really erotic dreams about me, okay?” he said

“Only if you promise to have some about me,” I said as I squeezed my eyes
shut.  I didn’t have much more left in me. 

“Oh, I already am, baby.  I already am.  I’ll see you tomorrow, Sarah. 
Goodnight, my love,” he said.

“Goodnight, Matt.  I love you,” I said then I pushed the end button.  I
set the phone on the table behind me and squeezed my hands around the metal
railing so hard I could feel it beginning to bend.  “Shit, shit, shit, shit,” I
said.  Carlos’ hands slowly peeled mine from the railing.  “Grab my fucking
phone, would you please?” I said as I flew past him and threw myself onto the
bed, curling into a ball.

“He knows?” Carlos whispered.

I opened my eyes and glared at him.  “Of course he fucking knows,
Carlos,” I hissed.

“He said that?  He told you he knows?” he said.

“No.  Of course he didn’t tell me.  That’s not his style and you know
that.  But he knows, Carlos. I could feel it, I could hear it in his voice.  Oh
my God, he knows.” I cried.

I felt the bed shift as Carlos sat next to me.  He started to rub my arm,
but I threw his hand off.  “NO!” I screamed “Don’t touch me.  I don’t want
anybody to touch me right now, got it?  I can’t make you feel better this time,
Carlos.  I can’t make myself feel better.  For the first time ever, I can’t
make it alright.  Carlos, I’ve always been able to fix things, always.  But I
can’t this time.  I fucked this up and I can’t fix it.”

“You didn’t fuck this up, Sarah.  I did.  This is my fault.  I’m the one
who couldn’t control myself.  I pushed you into this,” he groaned.

I turned, looked at him and tried to smile.  “Thanks for saying that, but
no you didn’t.  This was both of us.  I wanted this just as much as you did,” I
said.

He moved around behind me and lay down, wrapping me tight in his arms. 
“Fuck, Sarah.  What are we going to do?”

“Now?  Right now, we’re going to sleep.  Nothing more, just sleep.  But I
can’t lose him, Carlos, I just can’t.  It’ll kill me if I do.  How to keep him is
what I have to figure out later,” I said.

“I understand, Sarah.  Night, hun,” he said then he gently kissed the
back of my neck.

“Night, Carlos” I said, snuggling into him a little more.  God, but he
felt so fucking good.  No, Sarah, you can’t.  Sleep, just sleep damn it.  I
closed my eyes.

When I opened them again I looked at the clock, hoping against hope that
it was almost time to get up.  Only twenty minutes had passed.  We still had
hours and hours left in this damn hotel room.  Fuck.  I closed my eyes again.

Ten minutes this time.  Shit.  I cannot lay here, in his arms, awake. 
Close your fucking eyes and sleep, Sarah.  This time I put my hand over them,
maybe that will help.

Five minutes.  Son of a bitch.  This is not funny.  If somebody is
playing a joke, please stop now.  Crap.  I could feel his breath on the back of
my neck.  I could feel his body pressing into mine.  I could smell… damn it. 
Stop it Sarah.  Don’t do it.  Don’t. You. Do. It.