Kayla smiles. “It sounds like you really loved Marcella.”

I nod. “I did. She was great. My mother wasn’t really good with words or showing love and I think Marcella tried to make up for that, you know? She once told me that real love isn’t something you plan or earn, it’s something that just hits you—like a bolt of lightning—and changes you forever.” I smile to myself. “Marcella changed me forever, that’s for sure. She was never too busy or too impatient for me. Even when I made a mess in her kitchen, which I did a lot when I would experiment on different recipes, she would just sigh and shake her head and say, Mijo, you’re lucky I love you.” I pause because Kayla’s face keeps getting happier. “What?”

“That’s just…” She grins. “That’s really cute. And it’s great that you’re so passionate about cooking. I want to eat something you make.”

Happiness fills my chest and I suddenly want nothing more than to feed this girl. “Okay.” I grin. “Maybe if we find the money tomorrow I can whip up a hot meal for us in celebration.”

She smiles. “I’d like that.” Finishing with the last shirt, she puts her sewing supplies away and slowly yawns.

“I guess we should probably get to bed,” I say. “We have a long drive in the morning.” I look at my frameless bed and shame pricks under my skin. “Sorry we’re pretty much sleeping on the floor.”

“Are you kidding me? I’ll take crashing on the floor of a mansion over sleeping on a dirty motel bed any day.” She winks. “Even though your mattress has probably seen just as much action as the Quickie Stop one.”

I watch her carefully, wondering if the idea of me having sex with lots of women on my mattress—or just having lots of sex, in general—bothers her at all. But the teasing in her eyes looks genuine and unaffected.

Disappointment leaks through me and I try not to overthink why.

“Actually,” I say as we stand and I put my shirts away. “This particular mattress hasn’t seen any action at all.”

She scoffs. “Bullshit.”

I shake my head. “Swear to God. What I said yesterday, about women thinking my mattress was comfortable? That was bullshit. Although it is rather comfy. But since I’m not in the business of broadcasting my homelessness, I never bring women back here. So my mattress is a virgin.”

“Huh.” She looks at said mattress. “Well consider me honored.”

I smile.

We crawl onto my mattress and I turn the lights out, throwing us into darkness so complete I can’t even see my hand in front of my face as we try to get comfortable.

“Shit,” I mutter. “I forgot you like to sleep on your belly. Here, switch sides with me.”

I start to crawl over her just as she tries to sit up and we smash into each other, causing Kayla to tumble back. I lose my balance and fall on top of her, with our chests and hips locked together.

The smell of coconut wafts over me, sweet and hazy. As I sink against her soft, supple body, my dick starts to grow hard. I know I should get off of her, but the fit is so perfect I can’t seem to move.

She exhales and her hot breath feathers against my throat in the dark. Carefully balanced on my elbows, I silently command myself to climb off of her, but before I can move, she arches her back.

It’s a slight movement, barely palpable, but it tells me what she wants. I slowly brush my fingertips up her stomach, feeling her belly dip in as she sucks in a sharp breath, then trail them up to her face and cup her cheeks.

I’ve never been with a girl in complete darkness before and something about it is oddly intimate. I can’t see her. I can only feel her, which should make it less personal. But I can hear her breathing, and feel her heartbeat against my chest, and everything about it makes me want to be careful with her.

I lower my face until I can feel the heat of her exhales against my lips. She rolls her hips up so her body meets mine and I push against her even more, touching my lips to hers.

She kisses me back, softly. Just our lips brushing each other in the black. I pull back to breathe, surprised that my heart is beating so fast, and hear the faintest of protests. A tiny whimper sounds from the depths of her throat telling me she wants more, and that’s all the invitation I need.

25 Kayla

As Daren hungrily brings his mouth back to mine, I part my lips and moan as his tongue slides inside my mouth. I slip my hands under his shirt and press my fingertips into his back, pulling him closer to me as I open my legs, desperate to give in to the wild passion I’ve been denying these last few days. I kiss him back, exhaling heavily as our tongues meet and slip around each other. I move my hips against his, thrilled by the hard length of his erection rubbing against my center.

My heart beats wildly. I want to kiss him and feel him and please him all at once, moaning into his mouth as he trails his free hand along my rib cage while keeping our cuffed hands pinned beside my head. I slide my hand up his bare back, gripping the corded strength beneath my fingers as he shifts above me.

Tugging on his shirt, I lift it up and he helps me pull it off him and down to our connected wrists. Wishing I could see his naked chest just a breath away, I blindly reach my free hand out, roving it over his shoulders and down to his rippled stomach once I find him in the dark.

I love the way he breathes against me, warm and alive and filled with wanting. Where our bound wrists lie, he laces his fingers through mine and holds our hands there, a steady place where we connect.

He lightly sweeps his tongue up my throat, gently tipping my head back so he can kiss my collarbone and then lower. I run my hand into his hair and hold his head against my throat where his tongue is now licking a hot trail up to my ear.

Pulling back, he lifts my shirt off and pulls it down to where his is tangled in the handcuffs. The cool air of his room drifts over my already hard nipples, tightening them even more as Daren’s palm glides over my naked breasts and lights a current inside of me.

I exhale in pleasure as he lightly squeezes my breast with his big hand and rubs his thumb over my nipple. He squeezes my other breast, harder than the first and I moan.

“I like it when you moan,” he says and I can hear the smile in his voice.

Arching my back so my breast fills his palm again, I say, “I like it when you make me moan.”

He softly plucks at my left nipple then my right. I feel his mouth come down to my chest and he licks a hot, wet trail between my breasts as he takes them both in his hands and massages them under his palms before lightly pulling at their hardened tips.

I whimper and his hot, wet tongue is suddenly wrapped around my left nipple, tugging it into his mouth with a groan. With every hot suck, my core tightens and pulses, growing wetter as my thighs flex.

With my hand still in his hair, I hold him to my breast. He pulls his mouth back and my nipple tightens under the cool air breezing over the wetness left behind.

He pulls my other nipple into his mouth and I moan a little louder, loving the darkness and the freedom it gives me to enjoy this without reservation.

It’s pitch-black. Completely blinding. Without the light, all I have is Daren. The warmth of his body above mine, the feel of his heartbeat against my chest, the sound of our tangled breaths coming out in pants and searching for a place to land.

In the darkness, in this place where nothing is visible, I feel beautiful. The way I look does not exist. But who I am is very much real, coming out in soft gasps and unfamiliar emotions. Desperation. Eagerness. Desire. Affection.

I run my hand down his back and to the waistband of his shorts, slipping my hand inside to the hot length of his erection. I run my fingertips along the soft wet tip of his hardness then softly grasp him in my hand. He’s so thick and hot it makes my core ache in need. I slip my hand out with every intention of pulling his shorts off but the moment my hand is free he presses himself between my thighs. The rock-hard length of him rubs against my soft center again and I wiggle to add more friction, wanting more.