The day spent in the sun yesterday was amazing. I had the best time. It felt good to take a break from life and enjoy the luxury of the yacht. The only downside? I’m burnt.
I hardly slept. I was feverish from the sunburn, but it wasn’t the only thing keeping my body hot. Thoughts of Matias diving into the water to rescue me play over and over again in my mind. The way he took me effortlessly, holding me up against the wall as if I weighed nothing.
He makes me feel beautiful and confident.
But whatever is happening between us has to stop. We had sex again without a condom and I need to think about the consequences. Last night, I checked the app on my phone that tracks my cycle. I’m in the window where the chance of getting pregnant is very low, but I don’t want to risk it. I need to consider taking Plan B. This job is everything I’ve ever wanted. Matias is everything I’ve ever wanted. Whatever is happening between us is explosive, but I’m not a fool.
It’s temporary.
I can’t lose this job over something that won’t last.
That’s a dream. Besides, I know what will happen. It happens with every guy I’m with.
They find someone better, prettier, and get tired of me. I’m a regular girl. I’m not a model or whoever you see on social media. I’m just… me.
And that’s hardly ever enough for anyone.
I stare in the mirror, analyzing myself. Besides how red my entire body is from the sun, I don’t think I’m so bad. This silk robe makes me feel elegant and sexy. It feels so good against my skin. I lift the end of the robe, quietly hissing when my fingers brush against the red skin.
Well, I did feel sexy.
Now, I feel like a lobster.
“That looks painful.”
I startle, dropping the hem of the robe, and meet Matias’s gaze in the mirror. He has his arms crossed as he leans against the doorway.
“It’s not so bad,” I reply, my entire body aware of Matias’s presence. There’s always a shift in my nerves, in my blood, and in the way my heart beats when Matias is near me.
“Don’t lie to me, Sweet Sophie. I should have put more sunscreen on you. This is my fault.” He steps into the room, taking all the air in the room. Matias stops behind me, our eyes still locked in our reflections. His fingers drift over the back of my neck. “You’re burnt here.” Then he glides them up my throat and over my face until the rough callouses brush against my cheeks. “And here.”
I try not to lean into his touch, but it’s impossible.
His hand glides down the silken fabric of the robe, grabbing the hem to show my thigh.
“And here.”
“I’m okay. Nothing aloe and lotion can’t fix. I’ll peel it in a few days. I’m fine, Matias. I had a great time yesterday. It was worth it.”
“Mmm, nothing is worth ruining your beautiful skin and risking skin cancer. I won’t allow that.”
“You can’t stop skin cancer, Matias. If that happens, it happens.”
“It won’t happen. I won’t allow it,” he states firmly, guiding me to the edge of the bed. “I’ll be right back.” He leans down to kiss my cheek before going into the bathroom and rummaging around in the cabinet. “There it is.” He flips on the lamp next to the bed. “I knew I had aloe.”
He kneels on the ground at my feet, and even on his knees, he exudes power and control. There’s still a part of me that fears him, but the notion is quickly being replaced by wanton need. He reaches up and tugs the belt holding my robe together. It parts, revealing the crop top shirt I’m wearing with blue cheeky panties.
I rush to close the robe so he can’t see me wearing this outfit. He snags my hand to stop me.
“You don’t ever have to hide yourself from me. You’re fucking breathtaking.” His eyes roam my body, and he sucks his bottom lip into his mouth before biting it. “And I love what you’re wearing. You can’t wear this out in public. This is for my eyes only, Sophie.”
“Are you… embarrassed or something? If I wore a cropped top out?”
“Embarrassed?” I chuckle as he squirts the aloe into his palm. He eases his hands on my scorching thighs.
The aloe is cold and takes my breath away, but then I groan from how good it feels.
“You could never embarrass me. You look too fucking sexy in a crop top, showing your curves and your tits just begging to be let free. I’d be a jealous, angry bastard all day as men tried to take your attention away from me. I’m not the sharing type, Sophie. What’s mine is mine; not even your beauty being admired by another is allowed. It’s mine. It’s all mine.”
His hands work down my legs, coating them in aloe.
“Matias—”
“—Don’t say anything. Let me take care of you. You can go back to denying whatever you want when I leave this room, even though you and I know the truth.” He squirts more aloe in his hands. “Take off your robe.”
I shake my head, anxiety twisting its ugly tendrils around my chest. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I didn’t want him to see my scars.
“Do as you are told, Sophie. There isn’t a part of you I wouldn’t love to see.” He kicks off his shoes and my eyes land on his cock. He’s hard and his erection is tenting his pants. “Eyes up here, Sweet Sophie. We won’t be doing any of that, even if the thought of exploring your body keeps me awake at night.” He crawls onto the bed until he is settled behind me.
My eyes flutter closed when the warmth of his body seeps into my back.
“I just—I want to explain.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself.” He starts rubbing my shoulders, rubbing in the aloe. “I just need to prove you’re worth the effort.”
My heart chips off a piece for him again. I’m falling in love with this man, and that’s not good. How can I get all my pieces back when this is over?
“It’s about you and this life. You’re used to different women. I’m new. I’m scratching an itch. You’ll be tired of me and then I can’t work here. That would be horrible. I like it here. I love Ella.”
“You aren’t going anywhere, Sophie. And you won’t ever have to be without Ella or me.”
I open my mouth to argue but he interrupts me.
“—Like I said. I’ll have to prove it to you. There are no other women.”
“Yet,” I whisper, knowing he’s wrong. He’ll go to his fancy fundraiser and see the models in skin-tight dresses. He’ll forget all about me.
He sighs heavily, kissing the back of my neck. “You’ll see, Sophie. Maybe not now or tomorrow, but you will.” He runs his hands down my arms, his palms touching my scars.
I try to pull my arms away from him, but he holds them tight, rubbing his thumb back and forth over the burns. “Please, let go,” I whisper, emotion clogging my throat. I hate being touched on my scars. I keep them covered for a reason.
“Tell me about them,” he says, placing his chin on the nook of my neck.
I swallow thickly, remembering the heat of the fire. “It’s nothing. My house caught fire when I was a little girl. My parents died. I was caught in the flames. I survived. They didn’t. There isn’t much else to it than that. I was lucky. I only have these scars.”
“You shouldn’t cover them up.” He brings my right arm up and kisses the ugly marks.
“They are atrocious. People see them and they get disgusted, or they look at me like I’m broken. I don’t want the attention.”
“Mmm,” he hums, kissing my arm again. “You deserve all the attention. You are beautiful. These scars are nothing to be ashamed of. You should wear them proudly.”
“Why would I do that when these scars are a reminder that my parents died, and I didn’t? Someone set my house on fire.”
“And I’m going to figure out who it was. I promise. I just need some time.”
To hide the evidence that he did it?
That is a horrible thought to think, but Milazzo is the most feared family in the city. They had to be behind it. Matias would have been old enough to set the house on fire, but even thinking that leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
There’s no way he would allow me in his home.
But still, there’s the inkling in the back of my mind, a wicked negative voice, that won’t relent.
“Hey, I swear. I meant what I said before. I’ll find the person that burnt down your home and changed your life forever.” He wraps his arms around me, leaning me into his chest.
God, he is so hard to deny, even if the voice in the back of my head has painted him a villain. My heart screams something else, screams to throw the questions and unknowns out the window. He is too hard to fight. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to deny him.
He turns my head by pressing his fingers against my cheek. “I vow to you, Sophie. I’ll put your heart to rest, and I will carry all your burdens.”
His eyes pierce into mine with a seriousness I’ve only ever seen when someone loves someone else, but that can’t be. It’s too soon.
His lips meet mine, taking them in a soft yet possessive and controlling way. He’s kissing me as if he’s never going to kiss me again—that’s how he always takes me—as if he’ll never have me again.
His hand on my jaw grabs me harder, deepening our kiss and connection until I can’t breathe.
“I promise, Sophie. You’ll see.”
I turn around, straddling his waist, wrap my arms around his neck, and without saying a word, kiss him again.
He groans, gripping my hips and rolling me over his hard cock.
“This is a bad idea,” I whisper, losing all sense of rationale I had told myself minutes ago.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to lose myself in you and you’re going to break my heart, Matias. I know you will. I won’t be able to survive it. You have to let me go, now, please,” I beg of him as he unzips his pants to free his cock.
His fingers gather the material of my panties, pushing them aside. “I can’t do that. I can’t. I won’t. Fuck, I want you so bad.”
I glide my pussy along his bare cock, moaning as his thick head presses against my clit. “We can’t. This has to be the last time. I need to think.”
“No, you don’t.” He picks me up and sinks me down on his cock.
We moan together, the desperate need to be closer possessing us.
“Does this feel wrong? Does this feel like something that could ever end?” He lies back, gripping my hips, letting me ride him. He watches where we are connected, the tendons in his neck tense as he holds himself back from taking control. “This is more than a few fucks, Sophie. This is more than just sex and you know it.” He sits up, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me harder against him. “You fucking know it, Sophie. You think this is the last time?” He yanks my head back by my hair and bites the middle of my throat. “There will never be a last time. You’ll see.”
“Matias.” I rock against him faster, holding onto his shoulders while I ride his cock. “Oh, god. I’m so close.”
He grunts, squeezing my right butt-cheek. “This little fucking outfit is too much. You’re going to make me come.” He shakes his head, gripping my ass harder. “Fuck. Come for me, Sophie. I can’t hold back. I can’t.”
“I’m so close. Just a little longer.” I roll my hips faster, grinding my clit against his pelvis.
He shuts his eyes, sweat beading on his forehead. “Fuck! Oh, fuck!” He jerks, slamming his hips up and driving his cock into me with every spurt of come that leaves him. “That’s it. Ride my cock, Sophie. Drink every fucking drop. Don’t you dare stop until you come.”
The space between us becomes wetter from his orgasm. He remains hard while I fuck him. Matias lifts my crop top and watches my tits bounce, a feral glint darkening his eyes.
“Matias,” I whisper his name as my orgasm explodes through my body.
He groans as he feels me come as I try to pull him deeper. My orgasm goes on and on. It seems never-ending. I cup my breasts, tweaking my nipples as I ride the euphoric wave only he seems to give me.
When I’m done, I collapse against him, pressing my cheek against his shoulder while he drifts his hand up and down my spine. I won’t say it out loud, but I’m kicking myself for not telling him to put on a condom. I’m still in the low pregnancy window, so I should be fine, but I have to start protecting myself for when he decides he is tired of me.
I lose all control when he is near me. I can’t do this anymore, but I’m not sure if I have the strength to be the one to cut things off between us. It has to be him.
“This feels like the boat,” he says, kissing my chest. “A quick and intense moment, but a life-altering one.”
I close my eyes, doing my best not to get emotional.
“This isn’t the last time.” He kisses my forehead and lifts me from him, both of us making a sound of protest when his cock slides free. “But I can tell you need some space.” He tucks himself back in his pants and zips them up. He grips my chin, kissing me senseless again. “Make no mistake, Sophie. You are mine until death pulls me under. I have all the time in the world to wait for you to see what this is.” He stands, brushing his knuckles over my cheek.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I understand, okay? I’m not one of those men who will walk away because you need a breather. I’m here. Regardless.” He kisses my cheek. “You make it difficult to leave any room you’re in. Don’t forget, tomorrow we fly to the Gala in NYC. Be ready. Pack a formal dress and jewelry. I can’t wait to show you off.” He takes my hand and brings it to his mouth, kissing the top of my hand. “Okay. I’m going. I’m really leaving.” He presses another kiss to my knuckles before tucking my hair behind my ear, then leaving, softly closing the door on his way out.
I’m left alone, my skin hot for other reasons besides being burnt, and his come begins to leak from me. I panic and run to the bathroom. I do my business, wiping away his come with tears in my eyes as if I’m doing a horrible thing.
I want everything he offers, but I have too many doubts.
And what if those doubts are the reason this doesn’t work at all? What if I sabotage the best thing that’s ever happened to me?
It’s a life of regret I don’t want to think about.
