Chapter Sixty

Riel’s back in twenty, and I note his damp hair and change of clothes. “Shower?”

“I smelled like the Windbreaker.”

“I did a quick one, too,” I admit. “I smelled like cleaning supplies.” And I wanted to put on a sundress. Something sexier than my baggy shorts and tee.

Slowly, he comes toward me. “Well now that we both smell good.”

I take his hand, my nerves excitedly skipping and hopping, and start walking back toward the bedroom.

“Viola, I want you to know that boyfriend/girlfriend question Mar asked?”

My heart skips a beat. “Yes?”

“I very much consider you my girl. No ‘friend with benefits’ as Gillian would say.”

I didn’t think it was possible for me to fall any harder for this guy. I moved here to get a fresh start and refocus my life. I never imagined Riel would step into it.

“My God, I love you. Like completely, utterly, head-over-heels love. Like the kind of love I would write a poem about.” I smile. “That is if I liked poetry and knew how to write it.”

Laughing, Riel follows me the last few feet into my bedroom. “That’s okay. I’ll take your crappy poetry anytime.” He pulls me in, and holding me close, he gazes into my eyes. I feel the muscles in his body tremor, and I tighten my arms around his middle. “Sorry,” he says. “I’m nervous.”

“Me, too,” I tell him.

His gaze takes a few seconds to roam over my face, like he’s gathering his thoughts. “I think I quite possibly fell in love with you the first time I saw you. You were under that desk, that fine ass of yours up in the air, and then you scooted out and looked up at me from behind your glasses. Your big blue eyes blinked, and I lost it. I knew I was in trouble.”

Warmth flows through my body, salving every emotional wound I’ve ever had, and leaning up on my tiptoes, I kiss him. “I love being in love. I didn’t think it’d feel this way.”

He traces a finger down my nose. “How so?”

“Like I have to share the same air with you. I have to see you. Touch you. Hear you.”

His finger trails across my forehead. “Watching that sexy brain of yours figure something out is what does it for me. Oh, and your smell.” He inhales. “You have the best smell, all sweet and edible.”

No, he has the best smell. Reaching up, I run my fingers through his dark hair and touch the ends. “Right here it curls when it starts to grow out, did you know that?”

“Mm.” He trails his nose along my hairline.

“And your eyes—they are the most incredible eyes I’ve ever seen. That was the first thing I noticed on you.” Leaning back, I look up into them. “Right now they’re glowing amber and have tiny flecks of green in them.” I touch the crease in his cheek. “By the way, your dimples drive me insane.”

He flashes them, and my stomach whirls.

Riel leans forward, stopping a hair’s distance from my lips, and we study each other for a couple of long seconds. “I didn’t think fantasies came true,” he whispers, sliding my glasses off. “I can’t believe you’re in love with me, Viola Burnett.”

He presses a slow kiss to my right cheek and then my left, and then taking my hand, he places it on his chest. “My heart’s racing. Can you feel it?”

I put his hand on mine. “Mine, too.”

He slides his fingers up and grasps the back of my neck and inching closer, he molds our bodies together. He takes my bottom lip between his teeth and slowly releases it.

Sitting back on the bed, I draw him down with me. “Condoms are in the drawer.”

He stretches out on top of me and runs his hand along my outer thigh and up under my sun dress.

“What did you say to me the other night on the boat?” I whisper. “When you spoke in Spanish?”

Riel looks me in the eyes. “I said that you are the most incredible woman in the world and one day I hope you’ll be my wife.”

“Oh,” I breathe.

He loops his fingers in my bikini panties and lowers them down my legs. “Pink.” He tosses them to the side. “Que rico.” He crawls the rest of the way up my body and buries his mouth in the curve of my neck.

I undo his jeans and slide them over his hips, using my feet to work them down his legs. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”

“Nope.”

I reach into the drawer and pull out a handful of condoms. Riel laughs as he takes one. “Expecting multiple, are you?”

“A girl can dream.”

Together we put the condom on him, more than ready.

He pushes my dress up over my hips, and I wrap my legs around his lower back as he caresses his fingers through my wetness. I draw in a breath. That feels so good.

Riel grips my hips and looks me so deep in the eyes I feel him in my soul. “Te quiero mucho, mi amor.”

I smile. “I love you, too.”

Then he enters me, slowly, and for a few seconds neither one of us moves. I close my eyes, and my heart bangs my chest as I tune into our connection. It feels so warm and full, and not at all raw like it did with Manny. It feels right. So very right.

I hear Riel swallow, and I pull back to look up at his face. “You okay?”

A smile quivers across his lips. “Yes. I’m taking a second to just feel. Doesn’t it feel amazing? Please tell me it feels amazing to you, too.”

I return his smile, wrapping my legs tighter around him and kissing him. “Yes, it does.”

Then we start to move, and like when he went down on me, it’s awkward at first, but it doesn’t take us long to find a rhythm that works.

Afterward, we lie limp, his body sprawled wonderfully heavy over mine with him still inside of me. He mumbles into my neck, “I’m glad I lasted longer this time.”

Smiling, I run my fingers up under his shirt and along his spine. “We haven’t even undressed.”

He leans up on his elbows. “It’s never too late.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “Be right back.”

He pulls out of me, and the loss of him inside of me brings a shiver. He walks to the bathroom, stripping the rest of his clothes as he goes. Lord he’s got a great ass. Great everything.

One day I hope you’ll be my wife. I smile at the thought.

The mattress gives under his weight as he crawls toward me. “What are you smiling at?” He pulls my sundress the rest of the way off.

“Oh, just some private thoughts.”

“Hm, very mysterious.” He tosses my dress over his head and stretches out on top of me. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

“Nope.”

“Not complaining.” He trails his gaze over my body. “Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are?”

He loves me the way I am, and just the thought has me stretching comfortably underneath him. “Thank you for saying that.”

“Hey.” He lifts his head. “You never responded.”

I push him onto his back and straddle him. “Respond?”

“One day I hope you’ll be my wife?”

I kiss his chest before shimmying down his body to nibble his abs, and when he gently tugs my hair, I look up at him.

“Does that scare you?” he asks.

Smiling, I come back up his body. I kiss his mouth, his chin, his nose, his ear. “Scares me a little. But a good scare. We’re so young.”

He grabs my face and gives me a long, thorough, passionate kiss. “For now, a promise for the future.”

I sit up and shake my hair back. “A promise for the future.”

Riel runs his hands over my breasts, down my stomach, and around to cup my butt. “Good thing we’ve got more condoms.”

“Good thing.” Laughing, we both reach for the foiled packages.