Page 68 of No Sweeter Poison

I don’t want his attention to be anywhere else nor do I want to lose focus. I want the two of us to stay right here, in this moment.

He catches on quickly and his jaw tightens, an indecipherable emotion flickering across his face. Alejandro intertwines our fingers and pushes our joined hands into the mattress. When he looks at me, his eyes reach places that the body can’t touch. Between one breath and the next, he’s inside me, and every muscle in my body expands and contracts at once. I catch my breath and he eases out, slowly, inch by inch, before driving down to the hilt, never once breaking eye contact. Part of me regrets bringing our gazes to level but now that I’m watching him, I can’t turn away.

My legs tighten around him and he keeps moving; easy descent, quick retreat, the friction inside me building, winding tight like a coil and begging for release. A thin sheen of sweat covers our skin and every time either of us gets too close to slipping over the edge, Alejandro slows, and waits until the tension builds up again. The slick sound of skin meeting skin fills the room and mingles with our labored breaths.

All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning goes through me and my grip on his hands tightens to the point of pain, my nails digging into the gauze protecting his injured knuckles. He picks up the pace and thrusts faster, harder, trying to get me to that place before the high fades away.

He drops his forehead against mine. I mouth his name but the sound never comes out. A final plunge sends him so deep inside me my back arches off the bed and he buries his face in the crook of my neck, a deep, guttural sound leaving his lips as he finds release. He keeps moving, keeps thrusting, until I meet him there, climaxing loud and hard, as the pressure inside me threatens to split my skull in half.

And when it’s over, we’re quiet for a very, very long time.

Alejandro shifts, as if to climb out of bed, and my grip around him tightens.

“Wait,” I whisper into the darkness.

He doesn’t move.

“Stay.”

I’m not sure why I ask. Maybe it’s the post-orgasm haze that has me feeling sentimental. But the words are out and I can’t take them back, nor do I want to.

He brushes his cheek against mine and kisses the corner of my mouth.

“Okay.”

HIT FROM ALL SIDES

Alejandro

D ahlia’s still asleep when Diego knocks on her bedroom door at a quarter to seven.

He slowly peeks inside. “Dee?”

I sit up and press a finger against my lips. All it takes is a single glance around the room and he has an idea of what transpired last night. Neither shocked nor surprised, he merely dips his head and retreats to the hall, leaving the door slightly ajar.

I slip out of bed as quietly as possible, gently laying Dahlia’s head to rest on the pillow beneath her. She barely registers the shift in weight and stays asleep, for which I’m grateful. After everything we did, I held her as she cried for a really long time. I can’t even remember at what point sleep claimed us both but it couldn’t have been more than a few hours ago.

I get dressed but don’t bother to wear a belt or shirt. Pants are good enough and my entire body aches like a bitch.

Diego meets me out in the hall. “When you weren’t in your room, I had a thought you might be here.”

“What is it?”

His blue gaze travels to the door behind me. “That’s a very, very dangerous game, you’re playing, hermano.”

“She was crying the whole night. I was comforting her.”

“With your clothes off?”

“Did you have something you needed to say to me?” I point to the door behind me. “Or can I get back to what I was doing?”

He presses his lips together before giving a curt nod. I follow him down the hall to the office where Lettie is waiting, wet hair twisted into a towel, wearing loose pajama pants and one of Dad’s old T-shirts.

Taking in my appearance and the direction we came from in the hall, she draws her own conclusions.

“Al—”

“Chastise me later,” I tell her and collapse onto a nearby chair. “What’s going on?”