Otherwise Engaged (13 page)

“…Daphne?”
Julio called. That kept happening to her today.
People trying
to get her attention after she zoned out on them.

“Sorry.” She
smiled. “What were you saying?”

“You got it bad
for him, huh?” There was something like disappointment in Julio’s voice. He
pulled back from her a little as the song came to an end.

“What? Huh?
Who? No.”

“It’s okay. He
can’t take his eyes off you, either.”

Either? That
implied that she was staring. Was she? Again? “I don’t know
who
you’re talking about,” Daphne lied.

“I hope he’s
good to you. You seem like a great woman. You deserve the best. Remember that.”
Julio kissed her cheek before walking away. Daphne chewed on the inside of her
cheek as she watched Julio go. He had no idea what he was saying. Rain wasn’t
good for anyone when it came to relationships. Right?

Back at their
table, Rain kept finding excuses to drape his arm over the back of her chair
and lean in close to tell her or ask her something. Most of the things he had
to tell or ask her seemed completely unnecessary. She loved the closeness of him,
and that worried her. She definitely couldn’t let herself get used to this.

Beyonce’s
“Single Ladies (Put A Ring On it)” came on. Daphne glanced up at the D.J. who
was bobbing his head along with the beat. She looked at Rain who was smirking
in a not-so-amused kind of way.

“Somebody
thinks they’re funny, huh?” Rain said.

“Maybe it’s a
coincidence,” she said.

“Yeah. Maybe.”
He didn’t sound convinced. “Let’s see. Who could it be?” He looked around the
room, and she followed his gaze.

Carolina and
Manny continued to dance. Carolina’s face had turned red, and she wouldn’t look
in their direction. Manny was grinning, but he didn’t look smug or anything.
Besides, she highly doubted Manny would do something like that. It wasn’t his
style.

“I’ll bet it
was Carolina’s mom. That woman never liked me,” Rain said.

Daphne was
about to protest, but then she looked up. Mrs. Perez was tearing up the middle
of the dance floor in her shiny yellow dress. The woman was positively shining
with joy as she put her hips into her dance moves, meaning each and every one
of them. To say she was radiating glee would have been an understatement. She
looked like she’d just won the lottery or something.

Daphne looked
at Rain. She shrugged. “At least she didn’t clobber you with her purse this
time,” she said, referencing what’d happened after Mrs. Perez had seen Rain
walking around campus on Parents’ Day at college after one of the many times
he’d broken her daughter’s heart.

Rain laughed.
“True.” He hugged Daphne’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. Her cheek tingled
where his lips had touched it. Although the kiss was simple and innocent, it
set her on fire. She remembered the kiss they’d shared the night they’d gone
out Salsa dancing, and her temperature rose even more.

During the cake
cutting, Rain went up with Daphne’s camera to take pictures of the bride and
groom for her. He insisted. She smiled, watching him press his way to the front
so that he could get good pictures.

During the
electric slide,
he made her laugh so hard with his commentary
on the other dancers
,
she couldn’t dance
. Then
he made her show off the Salsa skills he’d taught her. She’d never had more fun
at a wedding. She’d never had more fun period. And it was all going to end
soon. She didn’t want it to end. Maybe it didn’t have to.
At
least for that night.

Later that
night, Daphne and Rain found themselves standing side by side near the back of
the tent. He put his arm around her shoulders. He cupped the shoulder farthest
from him with his hand. She could barely suppress the shiver of pleasure that
his touch sent through her. She couldn’t deny the fact that his touch thrilled
her. She wished she could, though.

“Thanks,” he
said.

“For?”

“Not letting me
wallow my way through this,” he said. “You saved me. I had a lot of fun, and I
wouldn’t have had it—and I would have ruined Carolina’s day like an
ass—if it hadn’t been for you,” he said. He looked down at her with those
mesmerizing eyes of his. How did he manage that look? That one that made you
feel
like you were the only other person on the face of the
planet as far as he was concerned? The man was a professional.
A dangerous one.

“No problem,”
she said. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down on it
slightly to keep herself from saying more.

“You’re such a
fun date.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Why don’t we do this more often?”

“I’ll be sure
to invite you the next time I go to a wedding.” She looked down, turning her
gaze to her shoes.

“You do that,”
he said. He chuckled.

“What?”

“You remember
that dance or whatever we went to together in college?”

“Yeah.” Her
heart hit warp speed. “Why?” She didn’t think she’d managed the casual tone
she’d been trying to pull off at all. It was hard to control her voice or
anything else with her heart trying to escape her chest and all.

“That was fun,
too,” he said. “It seems I can never manage to have a bad time when I’m around
you.”

She chanced a
look up at him. She wanted to come up with a really clever response, but this
conversation had taken a hairpin turn into unexpected territory. She had very
little ability left to navigate. “Thanks. I think,” was the best she could
manage.

“Hm,” was all
he
said.
He gave her a mysterious smile.

“What?”

“They’re about
to throw the bouquet.” He leaned forward and nudged the side of her head with
his. “You’d better get over there.”

“No way,” she
said. “I don’t want anything to do with that thing.”

“That’s what
she said.”

“Real mature,
Rain. How old are you? Thirteen?”

“Twelve,” he
said with a shrug. He bumped her shoulder with his. “You really have no interest
in the marriage thing?”

“Not right
now.” That was easier than dragging out the whole story about how she was
pretty sure she was cursed when it came to relationships.

“Hm. Yet
another thing we have in common.”

“We have lots
of things in common, do we?”

He gave her a
look that warmed places that didn’t need more warming at the moment and said,
“I think you’d find that we like a lot of the same things, Ms. Moore.” He
brushed his fingertips over the curve of her neck before he said, “A whole lot
of things.”

Her breath
stuck in her throat along with any words she might have possibly wanted to say.
She realized with a thrill of shock and desire that she wanted nothing in the
world more than she wanted him to kiss her again. No. She wanted more than a
kiss. Who cared if tonight was the only night? She needed to be with Rain. She
would worry about the rest tomorrow.

#

Rain couldn’t
believe how incredible Daphne was. Well, he could, but he couldn’t. He’d always
thought she was attractive, and she was one of his favorite female friends. Well,
one of his only female friends. But still. He’d never made a move on her,
though. They’d been close in college, and he hadn’t wanted to mess with that.

Now all he
could see was the way her backside looked in that tight pink dress.
The sway of her hips.
Those full lips that had been so soft
and sweet under his the other night. She was making him want to forget about the
dangers of sleeping with friends. And how quickly that killed a friendship.
Never failed.

But he and
Carolina had survived it. Hadn’t they?
Mostly anyway.
He
looked across the tent to where she stood with Manny, talking to a group of
their family members—old and new. The two families were one now. He tried
to picture his mom and dad standing there instead of Manny’s, but he couldn’t.

He realized
that he hadn’t been a very good friend to Carolina for a very long time. This
saddened him more than words could say. Trying to turn his thoughts away from
that, he looked at Daphne. “What’s next?”

“We throw these
at them.” She handed him a small satchel of silk flower petals that were
colored to match the wedding’s color theme.

“Okay,” he
said. Grabbing the satchel from her, he took her hand and said, “Let’s go.”

After walking
around to the front of the hotel, they stood at the top of the steps that led
down to a circular driveway and the car waiting to take Manny and Carolina on a
scenic drive around the island before depositing them back at the hotel where
they would retire to their honeymoon suite. Rain realized he was still holding
Daphne’s hand. She looked down at their intertwined fingers, and so did he. She
looked back up at him with beautiful, vulnerable brown eyes. He didn’t know
what made him do it, but he raised their hands to his lips and kissed her
knuckles before letting go of her hand.

She was so
beautiful in so many ways. And he couldn’t doubt that he had more fun with her
than he’d ever had with anyone else over the past few days. And every
conversation with her was interesting. No matter what it was
about.
She was funny. Beautiful. Sweet. She cared about him—hadn’t wanted to see
him suffer through this even though he’d brought all of the pain and
disappointment on himself.

What am I saying? Let me throw these petals,
go back to the suite and behave myself by going to sleep, and forget all this
crazy talk
, he thought. He turned his attention to the glass doors a few
feet away from the top of the
steps
as the cheering
grew wilder. The bride and groom headed toward them, holding hands and shouting
out their thanks for the
felicidades
and thanks to everyone for being there.

Carolina and
Rain locked eyes, and he gave her the biggest smile he had in his arsenal and
whooped a cheer at them, throwing flower petals as she went past. She reached
out and grabbed his hand as she passed as she’d done with several of the
guests.

The song had it
so right. He smiled, and she waved. He had to pretend it was okay. But no, he
wasn’t pretending. It really was. Sure, he’d still think about her, but
differently. He had some closure now. He’d needed to be here, but not for the
reasons he’d originally thought he needed to be at the wedding. Both of them
had needed him there to close this chapter in their lives.

Carolina and
Manny disappeared into the car, and Manny closed the door behind them. Carolina
rolled down the window and waved out of it until the car rolled away from the
driveway and down the street.

He turned to
Daphne and moved a wisp of hair that’d fallen into her eyes aside. “What should
we do now?” he asked.

She gave him an
unsure look and shrugged, but she moved closer and hugged him. “I guess it’s
all over,” she said into his chest.

“Yeah.”

She looked up
at him. Putting his fingers under her chin, he lowered his lips to hers. Her
lips eagerly moved over his as if she’d been waiting for that moment. He put
his arms around her and held her to him, putting all of the hunger and desire
she’d stoked in him all night into that kiss. She matched him in eagerness, her
tongue stroking against his forcefully. He moved his lips to her ear.
To the sensitive skin behind it.
Her breath hitched, and she
pressed her body close to his. She had to be feeling what she’d done to him
pressed against her stomach, and at that moment, he wanted her to.

He glanced up
to see that they had a small audience on the steps. He’d completely forgotten other
people were there. Daphne opened her eyes, looking as if she were coming out of
a daze. Turning her head in a slow, lazy fashion, she followed his gaze. Then
she looked back at him. Caressing the hair at the nape of his neck in a way
that made him shiver at the same time that it made his erection even harder,
she said, “Wanna head back to the suite?”

“Oh yeah,” he
said in a low voice, thinking of all the things he shouldn’t want to do to her
but couldn’t wait to do. The only thing he’d wanted to do since first seeing
her in that dress was
rip
her out of it. He knew that
was the wrong sort of thought, but she seemed to have similar thoughts on her mind.
And he couldn’t fight it anymore. He’d been fighting it for more than nine years.
He couldn’t fight it for one more single second.

“Let’s go,” she
said in a sultry voice. Taking his hand, she led the way back to their suite.

Chapter Eighteen

They were still
in the hallway when they started groping each other. He pressed her against the
wall next to the door of the suite and covered her mouth with his. She couldn’t
think about right or wrong or more than one moment to the next. All she knew
was that she wanted him.
As close as possible.
On top of her.
Inside of her?
Yes,
inside of her. She could think tomorrow. Tonight wasn’t about thinking. Tonight
was about the things she’d wanted to do to him since she first met him.

Her hand
reached out for the doorknob of the door to the suite. He grabbed her hand and
placed it low on his hip. He pressed closer to her, and she felt his hard-on against
her stomach. He gave her a heated, liquid look. A look he’d never given her
before. He seemed drunk with desire. Then he went back to nibbling at the
underside of her chin.
Down her neck.

“Inside,” she
said, all other words failing her.

“In a minute,”
he murmured. “Not yet.” He slipped her dress up to mid-thigh so that he could
spread her legs and stand between them. His hand wandered farther up her thigh
until his fingertips grazed the skin at the top of her hip.

“Not out here,”
she said.

He pressed
closer, and she moaned at the sensation of pleasure the friction sent through
her. Her eyelids fluttered closed. His mouth went to her neck, and she leaned
into him. Pushing her back against the wall gently, he moved his mouth lower,
grazing his teeth over her breasts through the fabric of her dress.

“No?” His
fingers dipped beneath her thong, and he pulled the scrap of material down from
her hip a little.

She gulped. “No,”
she sighed. She came to realize that if he tried to remove her thong out here
in the hall, she wouldn’t stop him. She needed him now. Wherever it happened,
it had to happen soon.

He pulled back
a little, letting her dress fall back down her legs. Biting her lip, and
fighting a sensation of disappointment, she fumbled through her bag, looking
for the room key.

He slipped a
key card out of his pocket, waved it in front of the white rectangle above the
knob on the door, and the green light went off. Pushing the door open, he held
it so that she could enter first. As soon as it closed behind him, he unzipped
her dress. She helped him slide it down her body, and it pooled around her
feet. He stared appreciatively. She wore only a thong and silver high-heeled
sandals. Pulling her to him, he cradled one of her breasts in his large hand.
His thumb made slow circles over her nipple while his mouth closed over the
nipple of her other breast.

She bit her lip
as pleasure she’d never felt washed over her. His expert touches were like
nothing she’d ever felt before. She was surprised she could stay on her feet
while he touched her like this.

He moved his
kisses back up to her mouth while his hands continued to explore her breasts
before moving lower, over her trembling stomach, down to cup her buttocks. She
pushed closer, rubbing her crotch against his thigh, needing the release he’d
denied her so far.

“It’s been a
while,” she said. “A long time,” she moaned the words out as his fingers
explored her through the fabric of her thong.

“I’ll take good
care of you,” he said, giving her cheek a sweet kiss that should have seemed
incongruous to what he was doing below her waist, but it didn’t. Her breathing
quickened
as his fingers became more demanding, pushing and
pulling and circling relentlessly. She tensed all over, panting in his ear as
she came closer to the edge. She rose up on her toes as the pleasure
intensified. Grabbing his shoulders, she held on tightly as she came with deep
gasps. Waves of pleasure rocked her body as she hummed out deep satisfaction.

He lifted her
into her arms and carried her into the bedroom. After setting her gently on the
bed, he sat on the edge of it to remove his shoes. He started to unbuckle his
pants, but she put her foot in his lap, nudging the hard-on she’d felt teasing
her through his pants earlier.

He turned his
attention back to her. He crouched over her, stroking her hair away from her
forehead.

“You’re so
beautiful,” he murmured.

For that night,
she wasn’t going to question it, chose to believe he meant it. The warmth in
his hazel eyes raised her temperature even more, which she hadn’t thought was
possible. She welcomed his touches again as he dipped his head and began
trailing kisses over her neck and down to her collar bone as he slipped her
thong down her thighs. She wriggled the rest of the way out of it. They ripped
at his clothing until he wore nothing but boxer briefs. After that, he lay next
to her and kissed her for a while longer while his fingers plied her below,
working their way in and out of her body, creating a slow burn but not bringing
her to a full orgasm.

She waited
impatiently while he disappeared into the bathroom. He returned with a box of
condoms. Tossing the open box onto the nightstand, he got back into bed. She
didn’t stop to think about whether she should be bothered that he was so
prepared. She could only be grateful that he was at the moment.

He lowered
himself over her, careful to support most of his weight on his elbows. He
pressed the tip of his penis against her.

“Okay?” he
whispered against her ear.

“Oh yeah,” she
whispered. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this good.

He pushed in
farther while kissing her throat. She let out a low moan of relief. She was
finally getting what she’d wanted for nine years. His hair tickled the side of
her face, and she inhaled deeply. She smelled his shampoo. She bit her lip,
anticipating pain as he filled her, but there was none. It’d been a long time,
but she must have been really ready for him, he was even more skilled than
she’d thought he would be, or both.

He rolled over
without separating their hips so that she was on top. She rode his hips,
bouncing up and down, her backside slapping his thighs, going faster and
faster. She wanted to savor this, but she couldn’t slow down. She wanted more
and more.
Deeper and faster.
His hands gripped her
hips. She shoved her hands into his hair and arched her back. He reached up to
cup her breasts, and she pushed against him harder. She squeezed her eyes shut
and called out for him. She’d never been so loud during sex, but she couldn’t
stop moaning and calling out his name.

His fingers
found their way inside the folds of skin between her thighs, and he played his skilled
fingers over the sensitive skin there. She felt a mind-numbing pleasure and
came with shuddering gasps. She didn’t want to stop, and he didn’t seem ready
to stop, either. When she came the second time, he came with her. She lowered
herself onto his chest, but didn’t move off him. They lay there like that for a
while, with him still inside her. She listened to his heartbeat return to
normal with her eyes closed and her ear pressed to his chest.

She’d always
wanted this, and she hadn’t been disappointed.

“That was so
damned good,” she whispered.

“Mm,” he said
in a way that indicated he agreed with her.

When she
finally climbed off, all she wanted was to do it again. She told him this, and
he answered by kissing her throat. This time was a lot slower. He was thorough,
kissing every inch of her. He went down on her, making her come yet again
before letting her touch him. Finally, when he was inside her again, it was
slow, sweet. The urgency of the first time was gone.

He looked down
at her with soft, warm eyes. She had the feeling she was seeing parts of Rain
she’d never seen before. This time, he stayed on top. He kissed her a few
times, but he spent most of the time admiring her body and telling her what he
liked about it. He also spent a lot of it staring into her eyes while caressing
her body reverently. They came together, and he rolled off her and gathered her
into his arms. They lay there in the dark, arms wrapped around each other, not
saying anything. He stroked her arm softly, absently. The slow, steady movement
lulled her to sleep.

They woke each
other up twice more throughout the night, had more sex, and went back to sleep.
One of those times, she’d awakened to him kissing her lips. It was the best
night she’d ever spent with anyone anywhere.

They spent most
of the next day having sex. By late afternoon, they were both exhausted.

Rain sat up on
the side of the bed. “I’m going to cook for us,” he announced.

“Really?” she
asked with a slow, lazy smile. She was tired, but in the most delicious way
she’d ever been tired.

“Yep,” he said.
“I’ll be back. I’m going to go out and get a few things.”

“Do we even
have pots and pans in that little kitchenette thing?”

He frowned the
sexiest frown of uncertainty she’d ever seen. “I’ll check.” He bent down and
kissed her nose in a very sweet way. “I’ll be right back.” He got up and walked
from the room completely naked in the confident way a person who’d always been
comfortable with his naked body would. He returned a few moments later and
said, “We do.”

“Okay,” she
said, distracted by the gorgeous sight of Rain with no clothes. This couldn’t
be real life. This gorgeous Adonis who’d done things to her she’d never
imagined anyone doing let alone being pleasurable was now going to cook for
her. At some point it had to end, but she refused to let herself think about
that.

“I’m going to
shower, head out to the store, and then get started on our—well, we
missed breakfast and lunch, I guess,” he said. They laughed. “Dinner.” He
grinned at her in a way that made her miss him already and then headed for the
bathroom.

She sat up in
bed and held her head in her hands. She had to come back to Earth and get real
with herself about a few things. She couldn’t get attached. This was rebound
sex. The man had just watched the woman he claimed to love get married
yesterday. The woman he’d chased to Puerto Rico in hopes of winning back.
Daphne had to get a grip before she got hurt. Rain Foster was not interested in
relationships. Well, if he was, the only woman he wanted a relationship with had
just gotten married. If she didn’t learn how to not treat this like a big
deal—and quickly—the consequences would be ugly.

#

Rain never
slept with women intentionally. Screwed, fucked, kicked them out of bed or left
their bed—yeah. He’d done plenty of all of the above, but he shied away from
sleeping. Except for the rare occasion when he accidentally fell asleep out of
sheer exhaustion, he didn’t sleep with women. No, he never intentionally slept
with any of them.

But he’d had no
intentions of leaving Daphne’s bed last night. Everything about the
night—and the morning after and most of that day—they’d spent
together had been incredible. He’d never wanted anyone like that. No one else’s
body had ever felt so good in his arms, under him.
Around
him.
Silky. Warm. Her kisses were like fire on his skin. And being
inside her. No. It wasn’t usually like that. He’d had to fight hard to stay in
control of himself. Harder than he’d had to fight since he was a teenager. She
reduced him to nothing more than raging hormones. And he liked it.

He thought
about it while he was showering, walking to the bus stop. On the way to the
store downtown he’d been directed to after telling the concierge what he wanted
to buy in broken Spanish—more like Spanglish. He knew the concierge spoke
English, but he’d wanted to get on the guy’s good side and get the insider’s
tips on the best places to buy fresh ingredients. He figured making an effort
with the Spanish would help.

He kept
thinking about it while picking up the ingredients. And on his way back to the
suite. All he wanted was to be inside Daphne again. He hadn’t spent so much of
his day hard since he was a teenager either. He wanted to take her body again
and again. He wanted it all for himself. What was wrong with him? Usually, he
got it in once or twice, and he was done with a woman. No
need
to see or be near
that pussy again.
But with Daphne.
Oh, he couldn’t wait to take her again. Pull her close. Smell her hair, the
perfume on her neck.
If she let him again.
What if
last night was a fluke? What if the past few hours of incredible sex for him
had been pity sex for her? Okay, that took care of his permanent hard-on
problem for the moment.

Wait, no. Daphne
wasn’t the only one. He’d had sex with Carolina more than one night. But this
was different. Different how? Daphne—it couldn’t have been better with
her. Could it have been? Wait, why did he feel like he was cheating on
Carolina? Married Carolina.

Maybe his mind
was playing tricks on him. Sour grapes. He couldn’t have her, so he was
placating himself by telling himself that the sex with Carolina had been bad
anyway. He needed to stop overthinking it. When he got back to the suite, he
was going to behave himself. He wasn’t going to act like a love-starved
adolescent—no, sex. Sex-starved adolescent. That was definitely what he’d
meant.

He needed to
clear his head was
all.
He would cook dinner, they’d
eat, and everything would go back to normal.

That was what
he thought until he opened the door to the suite and saw Daphne sitting on the
sofa watching T.V., wearing his white shirt from yesterday.
And
only his shirt.
He could see from the way she was sitting that she had
on no panties. He threw the groceries at the counter, was vaguely aware that
they’d made it there instead of falling onto the floor, and rushed over to the
couch. Grabbing her thighs with his hands, he smothered her in kisses.