Kristo“It’s going to be all right,” I promised her as I helped strap her into the harnesses. Up front, Nathan was getting everything in hand for us to fly. I had called ahead with the details this morning, and I was looking forward to getting out of the city for a while, especially with Amaya on my arm.“You took my airplane virginity and my helicopter one.” She managed to tease me, even though I could still see the slight panic pulsing in her eyes.“I think that’s it for airborne vehicles,” I jibed with her, hoping it would distract her. “Unless you want me to fire you into space.”“We’ll see about that,” she replied, and she tensed as the safety checks were finished the rotors began spinning above us. “Oh my god, this is crazy.”I suddenly realized she’d reached over and was grasping my hand tightly, her knuckles so tensed, they looked as though they were going to pop out from under her skin. I squeezed her hand, letting her know it was going to be all right as the pilot pulled up
Kristo“They died a long time ago. I told you that,” she replied. “In an accident. I was just eighteen. I was so young, and Jolene was barely a few years old, and I had to step in and look after her. There was no one else in the family who could do it, so I …”She hesitated again, catching her breath.“They gave us a payout, the insurance people, for the accident, and I took it so I could go off to college and support my sister at the same time,” she explained. “But when I finished up, I realized I couldn’t hold down a job and look after her.”“Hey, you don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to,” I assured her swiftly. “Really.”“No, it’s okay.” She brushed a few tears away from her eyes, as though angry at herself. I fell silent and looked at the store assistant, who was lurking nearby awkwardly and watching us. I shot her a look that told her to back right the hell off, and she scurried away to the other end of the store and left us to it.“I wanted to be with her,” she wen
AmayaI didn’t like talking about Jolene. He must have sensed that because he let it go soon enough. The hurt in my voice must have been clear to even someone as unemotional as him, and he didn’t seem to know how to handle it beyond throwing money at the problem. And hey, if that worked for him, then I certainly wasn’t going to complain.I could feel it nagging at me in the back of my mind. I still felt so guilty so much of the time for not being with Jolene. Here I was, spending all this cash and traipsing around these fancy shops across the state line just because he could and he wanted to take me. It didn’t feel right, knowing she was all the way back in the home and waiting for me. She would have told me to stop being such a worrywart and to enjoy myself while I could, but I was her big sister, and it was my business to worry about her. Going over everything that had happened to us just stirred up those feelings all over again, the ones I had done such a damn good job ignoring ove
Amaya“What’s up?” I asked softly, and he turned to me and cocked his head.“I was just thinking,” he began, and for a split second, I had this crazy thought that he was going to suggest we make things serious, that today had convinced him as much as it had convinced me that things needed to be more secure between us once and for all. I shoved those thoughts to the back of my mind. Of course, he wasn’t going to say anything like that. He would have come out with that already if he was going to. He wasn’t going to start with that shit now, just because I wanted him too.“Oh, yeah?”“We should invite Jolene up here for a day out,” he continued, and my heart twisted in my chest.“You’re serious?” I raised my eyebrows at him.“No, I just came in here to tease you about it,” he shot back, grinning. I fell silent for a moment. This was a lot, even for him. Did he have any idea how big a deal this was to me? No guy I had ever dated had suggested involving Jolene more in our lives. In fact, m
KristoWhen my eyes opened the next morning, I could hear music playing somewhere, a voice singing along to it, soft and breathy like it was coming from the dream I’d woken from. I yawned, ran my fingers through my hair, and got to my feet to find the source of it.When I stepped out of the bedroom, I laid eyes at once on where it was coming from. Amaya was in the kitchen cooking up something that smelled good and swinging her hips back and forth to some song on the radio. She wasn’t dressed for work yet, wearing a silk nightgown we’d picked up the day before, one that showed off her generous thighs and her shapely waist. She glanced over her shoulder at me and flashed me a smile.“Good morning,” she greeted me, and I made my way tentatively over to join her.“What’s going on?” I asked. I felt as though I might still be dreaming or woken up in some alternate reality because there was no way I had come to and found this woman, scantily clad, dancing and cooking breakfast for me in my k
Kristo“What?”“I mean, so when our families come to visit, they don’t get suspicious about me sleeping in another room,” she pointed out calmly. “Maybe I could move some of my stuff in there when I get home from work tonight. Or you can move it into my room.”“I think I could live with that.” I nodded, trying to play it as cool as I could. I wanted to ask if this meant she would be sleeping there more often, too, or if this was all for appearances, but I held back.“I guess I should think about getting ready for work.” She got to her feet, taking a last bite of her breakfast and flashing me a smile. As she brushed by me, she let her hand trail over my back, and she planted another kiss on my cheek. She smelled so sweet, so good, and I closed my eyes for a moment to savor the feeling of her close to me.“I’ll make dinner tonight,” I called to her. She paused in the doorway of the kitchen and shot me a look over her shoulder, a slightly cheeky smile on her pretty face.“You better,” sh
AmayaMy eyes fluttered open, and I found myself buried in a wall of chest, pressed so close to my husband that I wasn’t sure if the two of us would ever unwind from each other.I inhaled deeply, filling myself with his scent, and tried to remember falling asleep in the first place. I recalled slipping into bed next to him, curling up close to him, and then dozing off, his arms wrapped tight around me. I glanced at the clock. It was just before six, and I didn’t have to get up for a couple of hours yet. I had to get Jolene soon for the day ahead with his nonna, but that wasn’t for a while.I squirmed against him, listening to the steady rise and fall of his breath, letting it calm me. I propped myself up on his chest and looked at him, eyeing him. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping, like all the stresses that weight down on him during the day had all but slipped away. But I didn’t want him sleeping. No, I wanted something else entirely.Maybe it was just waking up right next t
Amaya“You look good like that,” he murmured, and he sat up so he could loop an arm around my waist and thrust up into me, his mouth on my neck. I loved when he took control, moving fast and confident, letting me know that no matter how much I thought this was my idea, he was the one in charge. I hooked my arms around his shoulders and let my nails drag over his bare back. How could one man feel so good? Every part of him seemed as though it had been built to fit alongside mine, his body sweet and sure beneath me as he moved up into me in slow, deep movements.“You feel good like this,” I threw back, a little nervous. I had never been much one for dirty talk, but he just seemed to guide it out of me, making it come naturally. I felt him smile against my skin, his teeth baring and sending a shiver down my spine, and the pleasure that had been brewing and building inside of me took a sharp tick upward, my skin prickling from head to toe and my mouth dropping open. I could smell the swee