An admiring hum of approval left her lips while she waited for him to come inside her.
Then, he was over top of her, all around her. His hands hit the bed on either side of the pillow, his knees pushing her thighs apart before he positioned himself right where she wanted him most. She stilled herself for all of two seconds before she wrapped her arms around him, sealing her body to his, breast to chest. He had to alter his hold on her to angle her hips where he wanted them.
And oh. My.
The heat of him stretching her was like no sensation she’d ever known. Javier drew out the sweet shock of his entry, teasing her until she nipped his shoulders and twisted beneath him, then giving her all she could take and more.
Heat roared in her veins and in her womb. The beat of her heart reverberated hard, a grounding force as her nerves wound tight, poised to catapult her into pure pleasure. She grasped his shoulders to steady her, savoring every delicious inch of him as he claimed her. Seduced her body and soul.
Sensation built to impossible heights then spilled over in a climax that shook her very core. She clutched him to her, needing the anchor of his body as wave after wave of bliss undulated through her. For a fleeting moment, she realized he had her right where he’d wanted her all along—breathless and clinging beneath him. But then, he was right there with her, losing control in a climax that followed hers by mere moments.
She kissed his cheek and his neck mindlessly, her face beaded with sweat. His or hers, she didn’t know. She only knew she never wanted the night to end.
Because tonight, they were everything to each other. Friends and lovers. Adrenaline junkies who shared a passion for adventure and each other. But tomorrow she’d still be an athletic trainer who worked at a local college back in Chicago and he’d still be an international sports hero committed to his fans 162 games a year during the regular season.
And Lisa was all too aware this was one thrill that might end when the sun rose.
4
FOR A MAN WHO TOOK A LOT of chances with his career and his physical health, Javier recognized he hadn’t ever risked much in his relationships.
But now, as he lay beside Lisa in the still hours before dawn, he sensed an unfamiliar certainty in his feelings for the new woman in his life. Their time together hadn’t been some casual hookup. Things had gotten intense fast and there could be no going back to simple friendship afterward. He wanted more than that from her.
Perhaps because he wanted to know everything about her, he realized he hadn’t shared all that much of himself. He at least owed her some explanation for the other day when he’d run for the hills after kite boarding. He stroked her hair, feeling the soft warmth of her breath against his neck while she shifted beside him.
“So I guess you knew I was freaked out that day at the beach,” he began, figuring this counted as a small risk in itself. He hadn’t shared the story with anyone else.
“I didn’t know if you were more upset because of the scare I gave you or because I suggested—” she hesitated “—that maybe you’d freaked out a few people in your day, too.”
“It was a one-two punch, actually. I’d credit both with equal weight. But you couldn’t have known why.” He shook his head when she tried to apologize. “I was reeling at first because I thought that jump you did was so dangerous and then I saw myself taking the same risks for reasons that once seemed so clear, but now—”
He fell silent, realizing he hadn’t started the story in the right place. His chest squeezed tight as he understood that this was going to require more confession. More honesty.
Lisa remained quiet, but she hugged him, her arm pulling tight across his chest as they lay together. He liked the way she seemed to know when to push him and when not to. There was some connection between them he couldn’t ever deny.
“My dad was a bit of a deadbeat,” he started, remembering all the times Manny had kept Javier on the straight and narrow while their father would drink away any problems for the bargain price of six bucks a bottle. “So my brother stepped up to the plate and raised the rest of us, working when he should have been having fun himself.”
He’d never asked for charity. In fact, Javier had busted his hump to bring in money, but just keeping up with living expenses had been tough and Manny wasn’t the kind of brother you argued with. He’d had the kind of steely will and work ethic Javier had always admired and Manuel always said his turn would come when Javier made it big in the majors.
“He sounds like a great guy,” Lisa observed, her fingers scratching a light rhythm over his skin in the dark.
“He was.” It had been seven years since Manny died and the hole inside Javier still hadn’t closed. Although, he realized, the cavernous depth didn’t yawn quite so wide with Lisa tucked against him. “But he never had his turn to play since a heart attack took him from us before his thirtieth birthday.”
Javier felt Lisa wince beside him and she buried her forehead on his shoulder.
“How awful.” The simple words summed it up well. “You must have been devastated to lose him.”
“I was never much of a risk taker before he died.” He’d been a straight arrow, comfortable with Manny’s vision of the future and never thinking it might not happen that way. “But afterward, it felt wrong to take any moment for granted, you know? I kept thinking that Manny wouldn’t want me to put off any happiness or any pleasure because he’d put off his dreams and got robbed before he could see them through.”
“So you’ve lived the dreams for him?”
“It seemed like the right thing to do.” He shrugged, wondering if a shrink would think he was off his rocker. “I never overthought it, I guess. I just felt like all that force and will of his shouldn’t die with him. It deserved to be remembered.”
A soft kiss landed on his cheek.
“I bet he would be so proud of all you’ve accomplished.”
The words squeezed his heart like a vise—in a good way. Hell, they squeezed so tight he felt the sting of tears. Good thing he was Latin enough not to give a rip that his emotions lived close to the surface.
“Thank you.” He swiped a hand across his eyes to chase the burn away. “I was feeling pretty good about it until the other day when we went kite surfing.”
She tried to interrupt, but he wouldn’t let her, knowing if he didn’t finish spitting this out now it could go unsaid for another seven years.
“Isn’t it enough that I’m playing in the majors? What the hell would it prove if I break my neck before I’m thirty, too?”
“I didn’t know your brother, but I’m willing to guess he wouldn’t want you to screw up your career.” She rested her chin on his chest, peering up into his eyes.
He could see her clearly now that dawn had broken, the flimsy hotel curtains not nearly heavy enough to keep out the coming day.
She appealed to him in so many ways. From her unflappable, easy acceptance of who he was to her clear-eyed ability to call a spade a spade. He didn’t know if he could trust his instincts on a night that had packed such an emotional punch, but he knew he was falling hard and fast for her.
“You’re probably right.” Framing her face with his hands, he kissed her, rolling her underneath him to claim her all over again.
The peal of his cell phone ring tone shattered the mood.
Although tempted to ignore it, he didn’t protest when she thrust the phone in his hand and slipped out from under him.
“I’ll go shower,” she insisted, picking up her purse and a handful of clothes on her way.