Dusk Until Dawn Page 8

  His grip tightened and something under his temple twitched. “Can we just leave the past in the past?”

  “I don’t know. I want to, but you hurt me. You hurt our friendship.” She took a deep breath that caught. “I want to forget everything, but nothing that you’ve done since I came here makes me believe, deep down, that you won’t hurt me again.”

  “How could I make you believe that?”

  “I don’t know if you can.”

  “But can we move forward?” As friends? Something else?

  “I don’t know.” She felt hope, but it was tempered by a knot of doubt sitting in your gut.

  “You know. You know how I made you feel.” He jerked her towards his body, and she went eagerly even though she shouldn’t.

  “I do. But what are we going to do?”

  His eyes softened, and he moved closer, ran his lips against her face, his stubble raising tingles against her skin. “We’re going to fuck.” Her stomach sank; a big part of her didn’t want this to be just sex. “We’re going to hang out like we used to. We’re going to do what we should have done at the beginning.”

  God, she wanted to say yes. Just close her eyes to the fact that this man could destroy her and say yes. “I want you.” She hadn’t meant to say that. “But I’m scared.”

  And there she went, revealing way too much. That’s why Javi was so dangerous; he knew her too well, too well for her to hide behind the tough girl face she showed the rest of the world.

  He cupped her face in his hands. “What are you scared of? I’m not going to hurt you. Not again. You’re way too important to me.”

  She would have said something sarcastic, but he kissed her before she could get the words out. He didn’t overtake her like he had the night before. He licked at the seam of her lips, sucked on the bottom one, and then bit down. It took everything not to wrap her arms around his neck and take him in whole. To kiss him until he lost control and fucked her against a palm tree.

  But he pulled back before they could get there. The breeze cooled her skin, but did nothing to lessen her desire. Just one kiss and her panties were wet. She still felt him from last night, but she wanted more. From a few brushes of his mouth. She hated that he affected her so much, but she loved that she could still feel this way.

  “What do you need to say yes?” He held her by the shoulders, his fingers anchoring her to him. She didn’t know. She opened her mouth and tears threatened. It was mortifying. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll give you whatever you need.”

  “I don’t know if you can give me what I need, Javi. I want you, but I can’t let myself fall in love with you again. It would kill me.”

  Javi let out a bark of a laugh. “You are going to break me if I can’t get back inside you. Nothing has ever been as sweet as the taste of you between those legs.” He put his hand underneath her skirt and squeezed her mound over her panties. “So wet for me. Tell me you don’t want this as much as I do.”

  “You want to bone and hang out like we’re boys?” Her words were choked, and she undermined the sentiment by rubbing against his hand.

  Javi rubbed her clit through the wet fabric. “I don’t want to fuck any of my boys.”

  She leaned in and whispered in his ear. “How do you know if you’ve never tried it?” She smiled.

  Javi must not have thought the joke was funny because he slipped his finger underneath her panties and speared her pussy with his middle finger. “No. I want this wet pussy. I don’t want anything else. I had a hard time thinking about anything else. I can’t have that happen.” He found her g-spot and her whole body dropped so her clit ground against his knuckles. “I need to focus, and I need you for that. I’ll be your lover, your best friend who fucks you when you want it, or I’ll sit at the bar while you work so I can make sure no one bothers you. I’m not going to promise that I won’t jack off thinking about you if you don’t let me touch you, though.”

  She’d imagined him saying words like that since she’d met him. The reality was so much better than anything she’d made up in her head. The desperation and pleading combined with the pressure and speed of his hand had her thighs twitching and spasming. She was ready to come when he took his fingers out of her. She grabbed his wrist, trying to force him back to work. She made a frustrated sound. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m convincing you that you want to come bad enough that you’ll see me again.” Bold move, but a smart one. He had her by the ovaries, and she didn’t have the strength the fight it anymore.

  “You only want me because you can’t focus at work if I won’t fuck you?” She wanted him, needed to see him again. But not if he was just using her. Not if he wouldn’t have any use for her once the sex wore off.

  “No, I want you because I do.” He pulled her close and put his face in the crook of her neck. “I’m done denying it. Not having you is bad for me. I can’t take it anymore.” He rubbed the tip of his nose against the side of her neck. She shivered. “Say yes.”

  “If I say yes, are you going to make me come?”

  “You want me to make you come here?” He ran his teeth over the bones at the back of her neck, and her knees nearly gave out. This was different than the night before. Right now, he was handling her. She belonged to him.

  Frustration welled up inside her. Frustration and lust. “Y-yes.”

  He turned her around against a palm tree and paused. “Anyone could see us here. You could get me arrested. You’re a bad influence.” She stiffened until he put his hand at the center of her spine. “Shhh. No one’s around. I’ll take care of you.”

  She kind of hated that he was making this into some sort of game. It made her feel as though they were having fun. While his hand between her legs was the epitome of fun, she wanted more. She wanted him for keeps. The fact that he’d turned this into a game told her that he wasn’t serious about her. They were really just friends with benefits.

  Did she want to come, or did she want to assert her boundaries and retain his respect?

  When he palmed her ass with one hand and bunched her panties in his other one, coming tipped the scales. Then, he pulled the fabric back and forth over her clit so hard that she saw stars, and she said, “Fuck, yes. More of that.”

  He slapped the ass cheek he’d been squeezing, and covered her mouth when she yelped. “Can’t make noise, mi cielo.”

  He pressed the front of his body to her back; he rubbed his cock against her hip, covering her body with his so that anyone who passed by would see his light-colored jacket and think he was peeing against the tree. It wouldn’t help them if a cop passed by, but she could find any fucks to give anymore.

  When he burrowed back under her underwear, she bit the fingers covering her mouth to find that they tasted like her. And she couldn’t not scream.

  “You like how you taste? I do. The sooner you come, the sooner I can get you home and fuck you properly. Even though you’re crazy hot and flooding my hand, I want that taste in mouth.” He pressed inside her with a different angle and pressed her clit with his ring finger. Sensation gathered below her belly button, the pressure almost painful. Every time he pressed into her she cried out. “Damn, baby, I need to feel you come all over me. Please, give it to me.”

  When he begged like that, she broke. The orgasm wouldn’t stop, and she rode his hand to draw it out. It made her desperate when she could feel the end of it. She sagged against the tree and kissed his hand. She felt hollowed out, every inch of her body was sparking with her faded orgasm.

  He turned her around and kissed her. It flooded her with desire again. But when he pulled back, he still looked unsure. “Can I take you home now?”

  Chapter 9

  “Fuck. Fuckity. Fuck.”

  Javi chuckled under his breath at Maya’s curses. He edged into the garage where she worked, hoping she’d be happy to see him.

  He tapped on the door jam. “Bad time?”

  “What are you
doing here?” She wore loose jeans, probably ones that had belonged to her older brother at one time, before they were faded, ripped, and paint-splattered. She had them held up with rope. She wore a cropped black tank that gave him a glance of her taut stomach and hugged her tits. Her skin had a sheen of sweat on it, and a few splashes of orange paint on her arms.

  She blew a strand of hair that had drifted in front of her eyes and waited for his answer.

  “I came by to see you.” He put his hands in his pockets in an attempt to hide his growing hard on. Her attitude aroused him as much as the way she looked. “We’re friends now, right?”

  She smirked, and he braced himself for a fight. “I don’t have time to sit on your dick right now.” She turned back to the canvas she had up and gestured at it with her brush. “You should try calling first next time.”

  He went from rock hard to straight-up titanium in two seconds flat. If she actually kicked him out, he’d probably die from blue balls. “Can I stay and watch you paint?”

  “I’m almost done.”

  “But you don’t have time to hang out?”

  She shrugged. “I have other stuff going on after I’m done with this.”

  “Just let me hang out here for a bit.” He was actually begging to spend more time with her, and she couldn’t look more unaffected. It drove him fucking nuts.

  “Fine.” She pointed to chair in the corner. “Sit over there and don’t talk to me.” She pulled some earbuds in and grabbed her iPod off the dock. When she had them in, she effectively shut him out.

  He sat down where she’d indicated, straddling the back of the chair. She loaded her brush, but let the paint drip on the drop cloth while she thought about where to put it. Tension grew the longer she waited, and he’d been holding his breath when she finally put it on the canvas.

  Watching her work was like watching her dance, and he felt caught up in the rhythm of the way she moved. Sitting here, seeing her work, did nothing for his hard on, but he couldn’t do anything about it. She put him in a trance.

  The muscles in her arms strained to reach, and he wanted to help her, but he knew that she’d shrug him off and make him leave. So he sat and waited until her rhythm slowed and then stopped.

  Finally, she turned to him and pulled out her earbuds, getting paint on the cords. She cursed again. “You’re still here? You honestly don’t have anything better to do then sit and jerk off to me painting?”

  He stood up, hands held out at his sides. “No jerking off. I promise.” He gestured at the canvas. “This is beautiful.”

  She looked down, and her skin flushed. She’d always hated compliments, deflected them ruthlessly. He wasn’t about to let her do that now; he needed to make sure that she knew how talented she was. It was more important than anything in that moment.

  She looked him in the eye, and, for the first time since he saw her at the club, he wasn’t the one who looked away first. He wasn’t going to back down or let her crap all over her talent. That wasn’t an option.

  And she must have seen that because she said, “Thank you.” She went over to the sink and started washing brushes. He joined her, and grabbed her hand. “Your suit.”

  He didn’t move away, though; he was transfixed by the heat of her skin against his, the cool water rushing over both of their skin, the paint swirling in the bottom of the sink. “Won’t be the first suit you’ve ruined.”

  “I’m sorry about that. I saw you with two other women, and I just reacted. I didn’t even stop to check if you were wearing a ring anymore. I assumed that you were cheating on Karrie, and I couldn’t stop myself.”

  Javi intertwined their hands together, and kissed the now clean flesh at the back of her wrist. The idea that she would put herself out to defend the honor of a woman she despised made something in his chest stir. Shit like that made her special. And she didn’t see it.

  “I don’t care about the suit. There’s plenty more where that came from.” He paused and took one of the brushes at the bottom of the sink. He put cleanser on it and he put it into the stream of water. “I like that you were going to light me on fire if you found out I was cheating on Karrie.”

  “I can’t deal with cheaters. Liars and cheaters are the worst.”

  “I agree.” He looked down at her. She worked quietly next to him, no indication of emotion on her face. “Why were you swearing when I walked in?”

  She looked at him through the corner of her eyes then. “I had a model scheduled to come over for a commission piece I need to finish up, and he cancelled on me.”

  Javi didn’t like the idea of a guy getting naked in front of Maya. He knew it wasn’t like that between the two of them, but the thought over her with a naked man in here, sweaty and studying every inch of him, made an ugly feeling spread through his gut. “I thought you only painted abstracts?”

  Again with the disaffected shrug. “I do, but this commission is an abstract version of a figure painting. The client wants a Picasso, but has a Thomas Kincaid budget.”

  Javi laughed. “Will I work?”

  “What do you mean? You want to pose for me? You’re okay being naked on some socialite’s wall?”

  He hadn’t thought of it that way. The idea of someone recognizing him as a model squicked him out, but he’d do it if she needed him to. “Can’t you obscure my features, or something?”

  They finished with the brushes and she handed him a paper towel to dry off his hands. She leaned on the sink with one him and looked at him with a cool expression on her face. She shook her head. “I’m afraid that your features are unmistakable.”

  It was the first time since the club that she’d said anything that made him believe that she still thought he was special, important, remarkable. The way she said it, and the way she looked at him, as if she wanted to eat him whole made him determined to serve as his model.

  He loosened his tie, and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt.

  * * * *

  Maya’s mouth went dry. She usually painted models who she had no personal relationship with. When she was working, she liked to keep her emotional distance. It was better that way. Having to paint Javi and not touch him would be torture.

  This was why she didn’t like friends-with-benefits situations; the lines always got blurry, and Maya liked thick, bold lines.

  “This is a bad idea.”

  He smirked and pulled a hair tie out of his pocket. Putting up his hair should make him look less masculine, but it didn’t. His corded forearms and twitched and the veins were prominent. There was no mistaking his ponytail for a girl’s hair-do. He was all man.

  “I think this is a great idea.” He rolled down his shirtsleeves and watching his fingers move made her want to jump him right there. “You get a model, and I get to tempt you into ‘sitting on my dick.’”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. Her nipples were so hard, the cotton over them chafed and made her want to moan. She was not prepared for an onslaught of Javi Hernandez-brand sexiness today. She hadn’t had time to steel herself against her feelings for him. It took everything in her not to tell him to screw the painting and get his clothes off so she could sit on his cock right now.

  “We’re not having sex today.” She was definitely going to make herself into a liar unless he kept all his clothes on. “And you don’t need to model for me. I can reschedule the other guy.”

  It was his turn to shrug. “First night we’re together, you want me to take my pants off as soon as you walk through the door. Now, you’re looking scared that I’ll take my clothes off.” He pulled his tie over his head and walked over to the chair he’d been watching her from.

  When he wasn’t right in her face, she could breathe—until he started unbuttoning his shirt. The contrast between the white silk and his dark skin and hair was beautiful. Her fingers itched to draw him like this. And during the next step of getting undressed, and the next.

  “Let me help you o
ut.” He walked closer to her again, and her thighs rubbed together. She felt like she was wearing too many clothes. “There doesn’t have to be any dick sitting if you don’t want it.”

  The problem wasn’t that she was afraid of Javi doing something she didn’t want him to do. That was him. She was worried that she wouldn’t be able to control herself if she had to pay too much attention to his naked body.

  “I just need you to model.” We’ll discuss the sex later. He dropped his shirt in front of the tie, and all of her thoughts about this not being a good idea vanished. The itch to draw him and then fuck him was too strong to resist as she watched the play of his muscles under his hair and skin. He didn’t look like a suit. He looked like a warrior, like he spent all his time at the gym instead of behind the desk.

  Then, he toed off his shoes and unbuttoned his pants. Madre de Dios, this man. He pulled his pants down, and they pooled at his feet.

  Their first night together, she hadn’t taken time to enjoy him undressing. She’d been too keyed up and horny to pay attention to the way his hairy thighs turned her insides to goo.

  “Underwear, too?”

  She could probably draw him if he kept his boxer briefs on, but she didn’t want to. She needed to torture herself with the whole package, literally and figuratively. “Take them off. Keep them on. I don’t care.”

  He laughed again, and pulled his boxers off. His cock sprang free, and she wanted to get on her knees and have him for dinner. Fuck the painting.

  “Where do you want me?”

  Everywhere. Instead of saying that, she pointed to a stool. “You can sit there.” She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. “I just need to get my sketch pad.”

  Her hands shook as she pulled open the drawers of the old work cart she stored supplies in. Seeing him naked made her stupid. She finally found her sketch pad and a drawing pen in the third drawer she opened.

  She positioned a light so it would play off the shadows of his face and body. He squinted, and she was happy that she could at least make him a little uncomfortable. She might be the one in the room with all of her clothes on, but she felt totally naked and open to him. She’d never felt this way with another model, but she’d never cared this much about another model.