But ifs were nebulous creatures and changed nothing.
“You did know me, Rico.”
“No.” He shook his head and reached for her, dropping his hands onto her shoulders and pulling her up close. “I thought I did, but you weren’t real. You weren’t mine.”
“I was, though,” she argued, willing him to believe it.
“Not then,” he answered. “Your heart was torn, your loyalties tested too deeply for you to have been mine alone. But tonight, you are mine.”
He was right. In spite of her love for him, she had been torn between Rico and her family. Maybe she’d been too young to appreciate what she had found with him. She only knew that if faced with the same decision today, she would do it all differently. She would tell Rico everything and trust him to do the right thing.
God, she’d been an idiot.
She was in love with her husband and that was the one thing she could never tell him.
* * *
Rico had been waiting for her for hours. Convinced that she had an ulterior motive for offering her help when it was most needed, he’d worked it over and over again in his mind and still was no closer to discovering what her plan might be. She had to know that he hadn’t changed his mind. That no matter how much she integrated herself into life on the island, he would still watch her leave at the end of the month.
She’d become friends with his cousin and his wife. The hotel staff was in love with her and he couldn’t even walk into his own damned home without catching her scent. The memory of her laugh. The hush of her sighs.
When she left, it would tear a gaping hole in his life, but she would leave. That was their bargain and he would hold up his end. He would give her the divorce she had paid for five years ago and he would never again trust his heart to a woman.
Because even now she was keeping something from him. He didn’t know what, but it was easy to read in her golden-brown eyes that she was deliberately not telling him everything. What her secret might be this time, he had no idea. And it bothered him more than he wanted to admit that she was still hiding things from him.
But through the frustration and the irritation, one thing continuously rang true. He hungered for her. He wanted her now more than ever. And the whole time he’d been here, in the dark, waiting for her, his mind had devised all manner of things he wanted to do with her when she returned. Now that she was here, in front of him, smelling so good, he drew in breath after breath just to taste her scent…Rico didn’t want to wait even the length of time it would take to get to the bedroom.
“You’re driving me insane, Teresa.” His hand cupped her cheek, then slid around to the back of her head.
“You’re not alone in that,” she told him and went up on her toes.
He kissed her, hard, taking her mouth in a rush of desire and all-encompassing need. She tangled her tongue with his, leaning into him for support and wrapping one leg around his hips, pulling him closer. He ground his body against hers, letting her feel the hard, hot, demanding part of him, and she groaned into his mouth, feeding the frenzy.
The staff was gone for the night. The house was theirs. And in the dancing, firelit shadows, he shoved the hem of her T-shirt up so that he could cup her br**sts. Through the fragile lace of her bra, he stroked his thumbs across her ni**les, eliciting a moan of pleasure from Teresa’s throat.
That soft sound stoked the fires inside him into a blaze that quickly engulfed him. Rico could hardly breathe for the need crouched in his chest. He flicked her bra open and cupped both of her br**sts in his palms.
She held on to him, fingers grasping at his shoulders as she pushed herself into his touch. “Rico, more. I want more.”
So did he. But he wanted her naked.
“Clothes,” he murmured, letting her go briefly. “Off. Now.”
“Oh, yes.” Nodding, she pulled her T-shirt up and over her head, then tossed it aside. He watched her step out of her shorts, displaying the lacy, pale pink thong she wore beneath them.
His mouth went dry and his pulse skyrocketed. He kept his gaze locked with hers as he quickly tore off his own clothing and threw it to the floor. When he was naked, her gaze dropped to his erection and she sighed in anticipation.
She reached out one hand to curl her fingers around him and he hissed in a breath at the first touch of her hand. She smiled up into his eyes and stroked, rubbed and caressed him until his eyes were rolling back in his head and he had to fight for every breath.
Body taut, tension coiled, he was so close to exploding he couldn’t risk her fingers on him another minute. He caught her hand in his and shook his head. “Enough.”
“No,” she said breathlessly with a shake of her head. “It’s not nearly enough.”
He had to smile. His Teresa was a passionate one and he loved that about her. No simpering, coy females for him. Rico appreciated that his woman wanted as hungrily as he did.
His woman.
That thought echoed in his mind until he deliberately shut it down.
He pulled her up against him, enjoying the feel of her lush, curvy body pressed to his. Again, she hooked her leg around his waist and he felt the heat of her core against his hard length. He groaned tightly and backed her up until she bumped into the arm of the leather couch. When she went to fall back onto it, he caught her, turned her in his arms and eased her down until she was bent over, her luscious, beautiful behind displayed to him.
She propped herself up on her elbows and looked back at him over her shoulder. She wiggled her h*ps suggestively, licked her lips, took a breath and said, “Touch me, Rico.”
Her welcome, her passion undid him. He reached down and tugged that thong from her and rubbed her tender flesh with strong strokes. She moaned again and pushed her h*ps up, bracing her feet apart on the floor, giving him easy access to drive them both over the edge.
His brain splintered, thoughts dissolving under an onslaught of pure sensation that tore through him. Rico had never lost control of himself this way. Never allowed a woman to reach past his well-built defenses to glimpse the man he was beneath the sophisticated veneer. But Teresa did it without even trying.
Rico’s finely honed control simply snapped. He couldn’t wait another minute. Couldn’t be denied the ecstasy of being surrounded by her wet heat. He bent over her, letting her feel how badly he wanted her. She turned her face to him and their tongues met in a fast, delving exploration, then he straightened and positioned himself behind her.
Her breath came fast and hard. She threw her hair out of her face and turned her head to watch him. Her eyes gleamed and she licked her bottom lip with a long, slow swipe of her tongue.