MasukEMILIA.His tongue is perfect. He works me with exactly the right pressure and rhythm like he's been studying what I need. He probably has been. He notices everything else so why not this.I'm already too close. Can feel it building embarrassingly fast. Try to pull away."Don't," he says against me. "Let go. I want to taste it when you come."I come hard with his mouth on me and my hands fisted in those black curls and it's so intense my vision goes white.He doesn't stop. Just works me through it and straight into oversensitivity that borders on too much but doesn't quite cross the line.When he finally pulls back his mouth is wet and his eyes are darker than I've ever seen them."You taste even better than I spent three months imagining you would," he says."You imagined this?""Every night in this bed. Thinking about how you'd taste. What sounds you'd make. How you'd look when you came for me." He stands and starts unbuttoning his shirt. "Now I don't have to imagine anymore."I wa
EMILIAI don’t know why I let the words leave my lips. But I do anyway, “That makes two of us."We're looking at each other and something is happening in the space between us. Something that's been building for months and finally has nowhere else to hide."Emilia." The way he says my name makes my skin feel too tight."What?""Stop looking at me like that."Heat floods my face despite the cold air. "Like what?""Like you want to close the distance between us and see what happens when you do."I should deny it. Should laugh it off. Should do literally anything except stand here confirming what he just said with my silence."What if I do want that?" I ask instead.His jaw clenches hard enough that I can see the muscle jump. "Then you need to think very carefully about what you're starting.""Why?""Because this complicates everything that's already complicated. Because you're here under circumstances that make this questionable at best. Because once we cross this line there's no going
EMILIASeven months later, and my father still hasn't paid.Not that I expected him to.The house is familiar now in ways my old apartment never was. The third floorboard in the east hallway creaks if you step on the left side. Miguel works mornings and Torres takes over at eight. Eduardo drinks his coffee black at six AM while standing at his office window staring at nothing in particular.He doesn't sleep much based on the hours his office light stays on.He notices everything based on the way his eyes track movement even when he's pretending not to pay attention.I started noticing him noticing around month three and haven't been able to stop since.Late afternoon and the courtyard doors are open because someone decided fresh air was acceptable today. Eduardo is at one of the iron tables buried in paperwork that probably details someone's life falling apart in spreadsheets and signatures.His sleeves are rolled to his elbows. His hair keeps falling forward and he keeps pushing it b
EDUARDOThe girl sitting across from me hasn't blinked in forty seconds.I know because I've been counting.Her father is on his knees begging and she's just sitting there in that chair staring at the wall behind my head like if she doesn't look at me directly none of this is real.Smart girl."Please, Don Eduardo. Por favor. I just need more time. Two weeks. One week even. I can get you the money I swear on my mother's grave—""Your mother is alive, Carlos." I lean back in my chair and watch him grovel. "She lives in that apartment on Meridian that you pay for with money you don't have. So swearing on her grave doesn't carry much weight."He opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again like a fish drowning in air."Two hundred thousand," I say. "That's what you owe. Not including interest which at this point has compounded to another sixty.""I know. I know the number—""Do you? Because you keep acting like this debt is going to disappear if you just avoid me long enough." I pick up th
TULA.He pulls me against him and the feeling of our bodies pressed together with almost nothing between us makes my breath catch.He walks me backward until my legs hit the bed. I sit and he settles between my thighs.His hands move to my bra and he unhooks it without fumbling. He removes it and his eyes go even darker.“Jesus, Tula.”“What?”“You’re perfect.”“I’m really not.”“From where I’m standing you absolutely are.” His hands cup my breasts and I arch into the touch without meaning to.His mouth follows and I’m making sounds I didn’t plan on making.His hand slides down my stomach to the waistband of my underwear. He looks up at me.“Yes,” I say.He slides them down and I’m completely naked while he’s still in his boxers.“You’re staring,” I say.“I’m allowed to stare. I’ve waited six years for this.”His hand slides up my inner thigh slowly. When his fingers reach where I need them I stop breathing.He touches me carefully and makes a sound when he feels how wet I am.“This a
TULA. Declan is scrolling through his phone when I get back to him. He looks up and puts it away.“Ready?” he asks.“Yeah.”We leave together and the night air outside is cooler than I expected. I didn’t bring a jacket because I’m an idiot who forgot that April in Boston still gets cold at night.Declan notices me wrapping my arms around myself.“Here,” he says, shrugging out of his jacket.“I’m fine.”“You’re shivering. Just take it.”He drapes it over my shoulders before I can argue. It’s warm from his body and smells like him and I’m trying very hard not to think about how much I like that.The bar is three blocks away. Small and dimly lit with booths in the back that are mostly empty.We slide into one and a server comes over to take our order. Declan gets a beer. I get a gin and tonic because I need something stronger than wine right now.“So,” he says once we have our drinks. “Six years.”“Six years.”“That’s a long time.”“It is.”He takes a drink and I watch his throat work
ISABELLA.The next week is a blur of sun and sex and reconnection.We fuck on every surface of the villa. The bed, the couch, the kitchen counter, the private beach. Against the windows, in the pool, on the boat.He can't keep his hands off me. Constantly touching, kissing, pulling me into his lap.
MAYA.The cabin looks like a goddamn Christmas fantasy when I pull up—all twinkle lights and snow piling up on the roof, smoke coming from the chimney. I should be excited. Christmas week with my best friend, her family, hot chocolate and movies and all that cozy shit.Except my phone buzzes before
ISABELLA.His hand slides between my thighs from behind and he makes this dark sound when he feels how wet I am."Fuck, you're soaked. Dripping." He rubs me through my panties. "All this just from fighting with me?""I told you—it's been too long—""I know." He yanks my panties down roughly. "And I
ISABELLA.He keeps his promise.We fuck three more times before dawn—slow and deep against the windows overlooking the city, hard and desperate in the shower, finally lazy and sweet back in bed as the sun comes up.Each time, he tells me how much he's missed me. How beautiful I am. How he's never n







