Dusk Until Dawn Page 4

  Javi tilted his head to one side. “You eat bread?”

  In between giant bites. “I’m hungry.” She shrugged and slathered on more butter. “I have a high metabolism.”

  “I’m not used to girls who eat bread. I mean, it makes me feel weird eating bread in front of a chick that doesn’t eat bread. So, I haven’t had bread in a really long time.”

  She motioned with her butter knife. “Eat some fucking bread, Javier.”

  After that, the server came over and they ordered drinks—Javi picked some wine that she was pretty sure equaled her paycheck from LIV. It tasted that good, too. That’s what Javier tasted like—expensive man. She found herself wanting more.

  “This is better than the cheap beer we used to drink.” This was better than the wine she currently drank.

  “I still like a Bud Light every now and then.” He shrugged. “It reminds me of you.” His words heated her insides from top to toe. Was that why he’d wanted to have dinner with her? To scratch a nostalgic itch? If so, she needed to get out of there immediately. Already, she had feelings she wasn’t sure she could control. Falling in love with him when he was playing at recapturing his youth could be catastrophic.

  “Is that why you want me here, eating dinner and talking about the ‘good old days’?” At the anger in her words, he sat up straighter. “I don’t—please don’t toy with me, Javi. The good old days were not so good for me. Our friendship was the best thing in my life, and also the worst. You got what you needed from me—a sounding board, a shoulder to cry on, whatever. And I got very little of what I wanted from you.”

  She stuffed another piece of bread in her mouth, and he grabbed her hand. Her body heated, and she had to concentrate to tamp the feeling of emptiness between her legs down. “I don’t want to relive the past. And I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m not about to let you walk away without making amends.”

  “It hurts to think about this.” He ran his thumb over her knuckles, which made her shiver.

  “I know, Maya.” He kissed the back of her hand. “If this hurts you, we can leave now, and I’ll never contact you again. I deserve it for how I treated you. I don’t want you to do that, but I’ll let this go if that’s what you need. If that’s how you need me to apologize.”

  “I want things to be the same as they were before I said anything.” She wanted to wish the words back into her heart. Nothing would have changed if she had kept her mouth shut. She’d known that he had wanted to marry Karrie—not her—yet, she couldn’t have managed to keep the words on lockdown. Because her love—nay, her stupid crush on him—had consumed her.

  The same overwhelming feelings were lurking now, but she was older and wiser. His rejection had forced her to grow up, and she could control her emotions now. She could get to know him again without expecting him to magically want to be her happily ever after.

  “Let’s just have dinner,” she said. “And talk. And be friends.”

  He dropped her hand, and her body felt cold at the loss. “I’d like that.” His smile didn’t have the carnal nature it’d had in the gallery office, and, despite herself, she didn’t like it.

  Once they’d ordered dinner, things started to feel normal. She should have known it wouldn’t last.

  A woman who looked a lot like Karrie—same height, same hair, same air of superiority—approached the table looking like someone had kicked her puppy.

  “Really, Javi? It’s bad enough that you take them out to the clubs, but this is a nice place.”

  Maya looked at Javi, curious to see what he was going to say and worried that it wouldn’t be anything she wanted to hear.

  “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Graciela.”

  This pissed off the other woman even more. “Everybody knows that you’ve been sleeping with models in two’s and three’s. That shit ends up on Instagram. Enough is enough. Karrie has been ready to take you back for months. Bringing one of your lowlife whores to her favorite restaurant is really over the top, don’t you think?”

  Ah, fuck! She’d been right not to want to do this with him. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be a tool to piss off Karrie. And she wasn’t interested in letting this girl humiliate Javi.

  “I don’t know who you’re calling a lowlife slut, lady. Javi’s a friend, from school. We’re just having dinner, and he was telling me how badly he’d fucked up his life. I didn’t believe him, but if he has women like you verbally assaulting him in public, then I guess he was telling the truth.”

  Javi gave Maya a cold look, and Graciela seemed satisfied that she had ruined their dinner until Javi turned that look on her. “Karrie and I are divorced, and she left town. I can go to any restaurant I want.” He didn’t deny anything else that Graciela had said, and Maya thought it was a weak defense.

  Graciela had a self-satisfied look on her face that raised all of Maya’s alarm bells. She didn’t know what bomb the other woman had to drop, but she knew she wouldn’t like it. “Karrie’s moving back to town. New York didn’t work out.”

  “You mean my money didn’t go as far as she needed it to?” Javi’s words were blunted by rage—something Maya had never seen from him and it scared her. He wasn’t about to hit anyone, but it made her think that his situation with Karrie wasn’t nearly as resolved as he would want her to believe.

  Graciela pointed at Maya. “She loved you. When she finds out that you are shacked up with trash, she’s not going to want you back. You only want to hurt her, don’t you? You’re disgusting, Javi.”

  Javi’s hands flexed against the tablecloth. He was barely holding it together, and Maya only knew one way not to turn this whole mess into gossip blog fodder.

  Before the other woman could continue—or Javi’s anger could explode—Maya grabbed her purse and walked out of the restaurant. It was in a hotel, so she’d have to negotiate her way through the lobby before she could get some fresh air, but she needed to get out. And fast.

  Javi’s anger at the other woman made it clear that he’d wanted to take her out to get back at Karrie. No wonder he’d been pissed she wouldn’t let him pick her up. He’d wanted it to look like a date. And she was mad at herself for indulging in the idea that Javi would want to be with her when being seen with her was a very calculated way of digging in with his ex.

  Karrie had always hated her, with good reason. Maya had coveted her man. It was obvious to anyone with any emotional intelligence at all. Except for Javi. She’d always thought he was oblivious to how she felt about him. But maybe she’d been wrong all along. Maybe he’d liked it because it was an ego boost. He’d never been a nice guy at all. He didn’t care about anyone’s precious feelings but his own.

  She could feel the ocean breeze coming across Collins Avenue through to the hotel lobby when he caught up with her. She shook him off. Sort of like she’d been trying to do for years and years.

  But he grabbed on again, and she let him tug her off to the side of the lobby, into an alcove with couches and less of an opportunity to be seen.

  “What do you want?”

  Javi looked up at the ceiling as if he was praying for patience. “I wanted to have dinner. And then I was planning on seducing you, but you’re not making it easy.”

  “You expect me to fuck you after that scene back there?”

  He had the good graces to look sheepish. Too bad that made him look like a naughty boy who needed to be punished. And that gave her ideas, dangerous ideas about what would happen if she allowed him to seduce her.

  “No. I didn’t plan for that.”

  “Didn’t you? You took me to your ex-wife’s favorite restaurant, knowing she’d hear about it, probably know it was me, and come a’ calling. Hell, you probably knew that she was moving back to town. And you don’t call that a plan?”

  He put his hands on his hips, which accentuated how lean he was and highlighted the bulge under the zipper of his jeans. She’d speculated about the si
ze and shape of his cock for years and years. She’d thought about holding it in her hand, how it would taste if she sucked it, and about how it would feel if he fucked her. About a million times.

  The fact that he was standing here even after that scene with Graciela told her that she could probably have it. Even if he’d taken her out to hurt Karrie, that wasn’t the only reason he’d pressed so hard to have dinner with her. No, he didn’t give a shit about their friendship. He wanted her. And she could be okay with that.

  When she’d shown up that night, she’d wanted it to be about them, maybe starting something that should have started—and possibly ended—years ago. But, she could get on board with just sex. She could sate her curiosity and walk away. Move on with her life. Take another lover and forget about Javier Hernandez once and for all.

  “I wish I could go back and start tonight over,” he said. “Whatever Graciela said, I did not plan that. She exaggerated Karrie’s attachment to this restaurant. We ate here once and she berated the waiter for a spot on her water glass. And I didn’t know she was moving back to town. We haven’t talked since the divorce was final.”

  She wasn’t sure if she believed him. She wanted to, but that was her traitorous heart talking, the gooey center that she wanted to conceal at all costs.

  “Still, I think this is a sign that us trying to reconnect—even as friends—is a mistake. Too much shit has happened.”

  He grabbed her hand then, easing it away from where it was folded in her elbow. The contact jolted its way up her arm and stole the chill that had set despite the warm evening. She needed him to stop touching her so that she could think; she needed air.

  He rubbed his thumb against her palm, and she had to fight the urge to fold herself into his body. She’d fit right there under his chin, and he gave the best hugs. This time, she wouldn’t even have to feel like a perv for making the hug last a few seconds too long.

  But she needed to not be a stupid ho right now. She needed to be strong.

  “Give me another chance, Maya. I’ll take you home tonight, and we’ll try again.”

  “I think this is our sign that you did the right thing four years ago, Javi. Maybe not by marrying her, but by not following up on this.”

  She made a motion between the two of them as he jerked her toward him with the hand he still held. She flattened her other palm against his chest and felt his heart racing. It gave her a little thrill to have his pulse racing.

  They were too electric together to make everything lasting. Whenever they were together they struck off one another and made sparks. After his kisses yesterday and the way he touched her tonight, she had no doubt that they would be fire in bed. But she was afraid they’d make a wildfire capable of destroying her life if they tried to make their chemistry into something real.

  “Don’t say that. I’m realizing what a mistake it was to let you go. You caught me off guard, but as soon as I walked away from you that day, I knew it was a mistake.”

  Her heart did this weird thing where she could feel it stop and start again in time with his. And her mouth dried out completely when she opened it up to say—something.

  He dipped his head down so his mouth was lined up with hers. He didn’t kiss her, like he was waiting for permission. Little did he know that he’d said the magic words. In that moment, all the daydreams she’d ever had about him wanting her were more real than any relationship she’d ever had.

  “Give me a chance to be your friend again.” Disappointing. She wanted more than friendship with him. Much more. “And let’s see what this is between us. Give us a shot.”

  She didn’t know what held her back from giving him the whole shebang—her whole heart, her whole soul, everything. It was too risky. That wasn’t something she could serve up on a silver platter. Four years ago, this offer would have been everything. But she couldn’t give him that much. The words fell out of her mouth: “You get one night, Javi. One night with no promises. No limits. But after that, we’re done.”

  He growled and bit her bottom lip lightly; she could feel his frustration. He let go after a moment and said, “Just one night? You think this will be over after just one night?”

  She shrugged and he grabbed the back of her neck. His hand covered so much real estate and hit all the pressure points that made her body need to submit to his.

  He bit out the next words. “Ever since I saw you the other night, I’ve been thinking of ways I could take you. How you’d bite, scratch, and leave marks on me. How I’d make you scream and beg for my cock. More than that, I’ve been thinking of waking you up in the morning and doing it all over again, every room in my house. On every surface, so that your voice and the begging echoes off every single wall. And you’re going to give me one night?”

  She nodded her head, her brain too full of images of being on her knees, on all fours, riding him, making the marks he talked about.

  And seeing where he lived. Leaving her toothbrush next to his.

  He ran his hands down her sides; he would feel that she wasn’t wearing a bra or panties. “Fuck me, you’re not wearing anything under that dress, are you? No wonder I can smell you. You know one night’s not going to be enough?”

  She found her voice. “It will have to be, Javi. I can’t give you more than one night.” She couldn’t risk opening herself to being hurt by him again.

  He tugged her even tighter against him and sealed their deal with a kiss. She allowed herself to touch him then. If she was going to put limits on this, she was going to gorge while she still could.

  Chapter 4

  Javi needed to focus at work the next day. After all, he was on double-secret probation for being an asshole. But he couldn’t stop thinking about his plans for that night.

  He loved sex, and he was fucking great at it. He knew he would have to step up his game with Maya. He needed to obliterate the walls she’d tried to put up between them. Once he got her into bed, he’d never feel okay without her there again.

  This need for her was probably another prime example of why he was an idiot. He’d just gotten through a heavy, expensive divorce, and now he was trying to get with the one woman who made him so needy that it scared him. Looking at the pile of shit on his desk and the state of his inbox, he needed to be wooing a woman like he needed a sore on his dick.

  He should be focused on work. Now that both of his sisters were engaged, he could count on them to have babies. His parents would leave him the fuck alone. They’d probably be relieved if he never remarried. The last time was far too expensive.

  He shouldn’t even be thinking of marriage in the same breath as Maya. For one thing, he was barely divorced. For another, he hadn’t missed the disdain in Maya’s voice every time she mentioned the institution.

  Limiting sex between them to one night might be the smartest thing she’d ever done. Being around her again made him see double and act like an ass. He’d have to be careful with her.

  When she’d run out of the restaurant, he’d barely contained his anger at Graciela; he wanted to tell her she should mind her own business—she was hardly one to throw stones. Fortunately, he’d been far more concerned with catching up with Maya than setting Karrie’s friend straight about how things were between the two of them.

  Only his family knew that Karrie was the one who caused their divorce. Not even his divorce attorney knew that she’d been the one who’d cheated on him. He’d felt guilty because he’d married a woman who he didn’t really love—not in the way a man should love his wife. He’d let Karrie have her pride. And so, he’d kept his mouth shut when rumors that he’d been the one who’d cheated surfaced. He’d leaned in to his philandering image.

  Now he was sick of it. It was like Maya coming back into his life had snapped him out of the fugue state he’d been living in. And he’d come back into himself again.

  As smart as it was, he wasn’t about to let her get away with pushing him out with a time limit. He’d have to m
ake her come so hard, so many times that her only thoughts were more, please, and mine.

  The numbers on the spreadsheet in front of him blurred when he thought about how he’d go about claiming Maya, which wasn’t good. He had to run these numbers and get them to Alana so that he could leave, so that he could make plans. Private plans that wouldn’t be interrupted by nosy gossips.

  He honed his focus back on the job at hand. He’d almost finished the numbers for the client proposal when his baby sister Carla walked in his office and took a seat without being invited.

  “Sit down, make yourself comfortable.” He took a sip of his cafecito, sure he’d need it to deal with the youngest Hernandez and whatever she had planned for him.

  She smiled, sweet as pie, and said, “Oh, you’re in a good mood, so this will be easy.”

  Something in the pit of his stomach said he wouldn’t be in a good mood when his sister left. “What is it, and how much will it cost me?”

  “It won’t cost you anything.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Spit it out.”

  “You’re going to be auctioned off.”

  “So, Dad seriously wants to get rid of me? He’s going to sell me to another family now?”

  That got a big laugh—the kind that escalated and had both of them clutching their sides. It wasn’t that funny, but it felt good to be able to laugh about his recent difficult times. His delayed adolescence, as it was.

  When she’d composed herself, she said, “No. You wouldn’t be worth much to another family. Too much potential for embarrassment. I’m selling you in a bachelor auction for the Diana House.”

  “You realize I'm barely divorced?”

  “Close enough. You’re good-looking enough most of the women there won’t care. Most of them just want to be seen with you. And maybe try to grab your wang a little.”