Page 71

“You have to know that you’re fucking brilliant, right? That your drive and determination are incredible. You work at the most prestigious agency in Miami — probably anywhere outside of New York and LA — and you didn’t get that job because of any connections.”

Lola cringed like she regretted every time she’d accused Carmen of being a nepo-baby, but what Carmen was saying wasn’t about herself. It was about Lola. About getting her to understand.

“Who our families are, is not whoweare,” Carmen insisted. “They don’t define us and definitely have nothing to do with our worth—”

“No one’s ever fed me just because I was hungry,” Lola confessed in a tone that cleaved Carmen’s heart in two. “I don’t know what to do with that. I don’t know if I can match that. If I can give that back to you.”

Carmen smiled, fingertips running along the nape of Lola’s neck, heart racing and full and sure. “You mean like how you took the risk of driving a rental car when you weren’t on the agreement because I felt sick…” She tipped her head to the side. “Or do you mean more like when you found me medicine when I was in pain?”

“That’s different.”

“Why?”

Lola didn’t have an immediate response.

“I’m not asking you to marry me, Lola.” Carmen tipped her chin up, offering herself in all the ways she could. “I’m just asking you to go out with me. See if we can put the past behind us and start over,” she whispered, Lola’s lips nearing and making her regret the heater. The room was suddenly sweltering.

Lola moistened her full lips and leaned in, stopping inches from her mouth. “And if we can’t leave it behind?”

Carmen tangled her fingers in Lola’s hair, confident that there was nothing the two of them couldn’t do together. “Then you can remind me I was wrong every time you see me in the elevator.”

The corner of Lola’s lip twitched. She was still wearing the tiny smile when she kissed her. When she promised to try without uttering a word.

For a heartbeat, Lola moved slowly, carefully, her lips uncertain, like she didn’t know how much pressure to use. Like she’d forgotten how to kiss her. Like she was in her head instead of her heart.

Using her tongue, Carmen found Lola’s bottom lip. Running the tip along it, Carmen aimed to remind Lola that they weren’t strangers. That they knew exactly what made each other tick. She followed the move by biting down on Lola’s bottom lip and pulling hard.

With a rumbling growl in her chest, Lola remembered who the fuck she was, and tangled her fingers in Carmen’s hair. Making a fist, she gripped her hard and pulled her head back.

Carmen cursed before biting her own bottom lip when the most delightful pain rushed down her spine and ignited her desire with a throbbing, hot rush.

“God, I’ve fucking missed you,” was all Carmen managed before Lola claimed her mouth more than she kissed her.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t move. She was reduced to Lola’s kiss. Deep and complete and everything she could ever want.

When she regained control over her own body, Carmen pulled at Lola’s tank top, wanting to get it off. To erase the remaining barriers between them.

But Lola caught her wrist and pulled it behind Carmen’s back. With her free hand, Lola hooked her finger in Carmen’s towel. Kissing her harder, Lola yanked the towel away, leaving Carmen naked and exposed and starving for more.

“No fair,” Carmen groaned, lips already feeling bruised but unwilling to pull back or slow down.

Lola grazed Carmen’s bottom lip with her teeth. “You never asked for fair,” she replied, voice silk and leather.

When she slipped her tongue into Carmen’s mouth this time, it was followed by her open palm sliding up her side.

“Take it off,” Carmen gasped when Lola’s lips roamed toward her jaw. “Please,” she added breathlessly. “I want to feel you against me.”

Instead of tormenting her, Lola leaned back, only far enough to pull her tank top over her head. While she did, Carmen fumbled with the clasp on her bra.

With lips and teeth, she greeted Lola’s bare chest while working her way down her torso. Beneath her touch, Lola trembled instead of fighting her for dominance.

Hand in Carmen’s hair, Lola sighed when Carmen found her nipple with her mouth. Gasped when she swirled her tongue around the stiff peak. Moaned when she took it between her teeth.

Dropping to her knees, Carmen kissed a line down Lola’s torso before grabbing the waistband of her shorts. As slowly as she could make herself move, Carmen kissed her way from Lola’s left hipbone to her right before dropping lower. Every inch of skin she revealed was more exhilarating than the last as she tugged the fabric lower and lower.

By the time she revealed Lola’s waxed, bare skin, she was ravenous and aching to taste her again. Yanking down Lola’s shorts and underwear and leaving them in a pool at her feet, Carmen looked up at Lola.

Lit by the golden sunrise, Lola was perfect. Looking down at her with the anguish of complete desire, it didn’t matter that Carmen was the one on her knees. Lola was completely hers.