Page 18 of Love Off Course

Camilo

T his woman.

Goddamn, she drives me crazy.

Crazy with need. She’s such a far cry from the woman who insulted me the day I met her.

Now she’s carefree and smiling. I want to keep her.

Seems like such a simple notion. But it’s not that simple.

I’m not sure how to make our stories align so that they weave together.

It feels impossible without sacrifice. I’m not sure either of us has it in us to make that sacrifice.

Not on a chance. A maybe. A feeling. That’s all this is, right?

My gut tells me otherwise.

My brain tells me to pump the brakes.

My heart’s already a goner.

Fuck.

After two giant margaritas for her and the one beer I’ve been nursing, we eat our food and then pay.

I take her out on the dance floor, no longer able to simply watch her.

I need her in my arms. “La Bamba” by Son Jarocho plays loudly on the speakers and Sheridan starts dancing like this is her song.

I’m amused as she wriggles her ass, her hooded eyes on me.

I clutch her hips, twist her around so that her back is flush with my chest, and then I start moving my hips.

She pushes her ass against me, very much aware of what she does to me based on the Texas-sized boner I have.

I caress her hips through her thin dress, playfully teasing the fabric up.

She lifts her arms up in the air. I can’t help but run my palms down her arms, along her ribs, and back to her hips. The dance quickly turns erotic. My thoughts are pure sex. I want her so fucking badly.

For one more night.

The clench in my stomach is painful. One night left with a girl who makes me question everything doesn’t feel like enough. I want to spend every night with her, coaxing out her smiles, riling her up, and kissing her pouty lips.

She turns around and then slides her palms up my chest to my neck.

Our mouths meet for a needy kiss. I grab her ass in a possessive way that lets every male in here know who she belongs to.

We kiss with a desperation that cannot be squelched.

Every lash of our tongues only makes us needier and greedier.

“You in love yet?” I tease against her lips.

“Not yet, but there’s still time. I want to spend that time alone with you.”

My dick hears her sexy purr loud and clear. I kiss her once more because she’s too pretty and sweet not to before grabbing her hand. We bail, both of us eager to do more. I help her into the Jeep and then peel out of the parking lot.

“I had a fun time today,” she says, reaching over.

Her small offering of her hand makes my heart stutter in my chest. Days ago, this girl was as frigid as they come, and now she’s giving parts of her to me that I’m sure she’s never given anyone. It makes me crazy possessive. Like I could keep her forever.

After threading my fingers with hers, I relax for the drive back. “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” by The Police comes on the radio. She sings along as she kicks her dirty feet up on the dash. I love how relaxed she is. Living in the moment.

I told her she was going to fall in love with me.

I’d been partially joking.

Joke was on me, though.

I’m the one completely losing all sense of reality over this girl.

Rather than driving straight back, I take a detour to one of my favorite haunts.

When I was a teenager, I used to terrorize my hometown.

I’d drive my Jeep all over and get into whatever trouble I could drum up with my cousins and some of my friends.

We were daredevils, always jumping off cliffs, racing dirt bikes, and swimming as deep as we could go in the ocean without drowning.

When I wanted a job away from my mom and the hotel, I got one helping Alejandro.

Since he was a good buddy of Dad’s, he took me under his proverbial wings while giving me my own.

I’d gone from adrenaline junkie, to desperately wanting to fly airplanes. I didn’t stop from there.

I flew.

Right through life.

Right out of Tahueca.

This is the first time I’ve wanted to land. To pause time and not go. To relax my crazy beating heart and enjoy the moment.

I pull up to one of the cliffside campsites people often come to when traveling through.

Luckily, no one is here tonight. Once I park, I scoop Sheridan out of the front seat, loving when she giggles.

I carry her to a bench and sit with her still in my arms. She snuggles against me, her hot breath tickling my neck.

“Another sight?”

“You wanted to see them all,” I remind her. “Miss World Traveler. What do you think?”

She turns to look out at the ocean. The waves are still pissed, churning violently. The moon, however, is calm and bright and huge. It casts an illuminating glow across the water and her milky white thighs. I rub my palm up and down, unable to keep from touching her.

“It’s so pretty here. How could you ever want to leave?”

Her words sting, just like the little bee she is.

“I always craved more out of life. I felt like I didn’t have enough of what I was looking for here. Out there…” I trail off and shrug. “Out there, the more is endless.”

“What happens when you find it all? Headed to the moon next, bird boy?”

I chuckle. “I never thought that far ahead.”

“What if you never find what you’re looking for?”

“What if I already found it?”

We grow silent, neither of us brave enough to venture further into that conversation. I refuse to consider the more with Sheridan. Not because I don’t want to—because I really fucking do—but because it’s not fair to either of us.

I fly and have my dad in Florida.

She runs a massive corporation in California.

We’re busy and committed to our careers.

Her sigh is heavy and sad. One I feel all the way down to my toes. Kind of fucked up. Meeting a girl who could be the one knowing it’s just a taste or a tease of something you can’t have. Sure, I could have her, but at what cost? Am I ready to root myself to be with one girl?

Right now, hell yes.

The answer is a thousand yesses.

Tomorrow?

Maybe.

The next day? The month after? Next year?

At some point, the roots would begin to feel like quicksand, pulling me deep into the earth until I can’t breathe. The thought of being stuck anywhere—even with the prettiest girl I’ve ever known—is suffocating.

“Ready to go back?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“If you’re going to stay the night with me or not.”

“I should take you back to your villa so you can get some rest,” I murmur.

“Then no. I’ll stay right here in your lap for the rest of the night.”

I chuckle. “Little bee, I said I should. We both know I won’t rest until I’ve been inside you again. So I should take you back, and I will. I’m just coming with you.”

“Then yes. Let’s go, bird boy.”

Music plays loudly from Eddy’s, but we bypass it to head toward Sheridan’s villa. Estefania must be at the restaurant with everyone else, because she’s not there. Thank fuck. Not that I don’t like Sheridan’s new friend, it’s just I don’t want to share my girl right now. We’re on borrowed time.

After I lead her inside, I shut and lock the door.

I walk into the bathroom and start the shower.

She’s naked by the time I shed my clothes.

My eyes roam down her perfect body. She’s thin but has some muscle tone.

Her tits are a perfect handful with the rosiest, perkiest nipples I’ve ever seen.

It takes everything in me to tear my gaze from her to check the temperature of the water.

Once I deem it acceptable, I grab her hand and pull her under the spray with me.

It’s strange.

It’s our last night and I should be fucking her against the shower wall.

Instead, I hug her to me and pull the rubber band from her hair.

I run my fingers through the tangles, letting the water sluice through the strands.

She rests her cheek on my chest while I stroke her hair.

Anxiety coils in my gut. I hate this feeling.

Like loss is imminent. It’s jarring. Each second that ticks by feels louder and quicker.

We’re quiet as I wash her hair and then mine. She’s reverent as she soaps my body down, teasing me with firm caresses. I wait until we’re cleaned and rinsed off before kissing her. Because when I start, I won’t be able to stop.

The kiss goes from needy to desperate in seconds.

I barely manage to get the water off and us toweled off before I’m grabbing her ass and lifting her.

She holds on to my shoulders, attacking my lips with her teeth.

By the time we reach the bed, I’m hard as a rock.

I want to drive into her, but I need to taste her first.

“We never got dessert,” I say, nipping at her neck. “I’m craving something sweet.”

She growls when I toss her on the bed. Anger flashes in her eyes, but it’s chased away by desire when she sees me stroking my dick.

“Spread your legs, abejita . I want to taste you again.”

Her body trembles, but she obeys, opening the softest parts of her to me.

I kneel beside the bed and grip her hips, roughly yanking her to the edge.

She groans when I spread her knees apart as far as they can go.

With a wicked smirk on my face, I lean forward to inhale her.

Her scent is addictive. Clean but with a unique, aroused musk that makes my mouth water for a taste.

“Oh!” she cries out as my tongue licks up her slit. “Camilo!”

My trembled name on her tongue sounds really fucking good.

I tease her clit with my tongue to see if I can coax more strangled sounds out of her.

She doesn’t disappoint me as I eat her pussy.

Every sound and thrash of her body makes me crazy with need.

It doesn’t take long for her to orgasm. Her spine straightens and her limbs jerk when it overtakes her.

As she comes down from her high, I prowl over her.

Our mouths meet as I grip my dick, teasing at her opening. I push into her and we both hiss.

Pulling slightly away so I can see her face, I ease into her slick body, cataloging every expression she makes. Since she’s so expressive, I see hundreds of variants of emotion. I thrust hard, driving all the way into her. Her eyelids flutter and a moan spills past her lips.

Being with her doesn’t feel like some random fuck just to get off. It feels like I’m connected to someone for the first time in my life. I don’t want to sever that connection. I want to keep her pinned beneath me so I can stare at her lovely face for hours as I press deep inside her.

“Camilo…”

Her whispered word is frantic and needy.

She wants more. She wants everything. All I can give her is all I have in this moment.

I kiss her hard and fuck her harder. It isn’t until she’s crying out my name again, her cunt squeezing my dick, that I also come with a groan.

Hot cum jets inside of her. I feel as though I’m claiming her as mine.

We both take a moment to catch our breath. Our stares remain locked. Eventually, I slide my dick out of her and saunter off to grab something to clean us up with. After we’re clean, we turn off all but the lamplight. I wrap my naked body over hers and stare at her.

“Creeper,” she teases, but her voice cracks.

“Shh,” I murmur, brushing my thumb over her lip. “Don’t ruin it with your crazy talk.”

She snorts. “Crazy talk?”

“You’re the craziest woman I’ve ever known. And you know both my mother and Araceli, so how you beat them out is beyond me.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“I know. You tell me all the time. Literally every conversation with me. Pretty soon I’m going to forget my own name and instead go by Asshole.”

“Obnoxious too,” she adds, smirking.

“Don’t forget handsome.

“And arrogant.”

“And yours,” I whisper. Her eyes widen, so I amend my words. “For tonight.”

“Tonight’s almost over.”

“There’s always tomorrow,” I offer in a playful tone I’m not at all feeling.

“And if there’s not?”

“At least we had today.”

Neither of us sleeps. We just stare. Kiss. Make love a few more times. And when the early morning sun creeps its way into the bedroom, I make the difficult effort to pull away from her.

So fucking hard.

“I need to shower and pack,” I tell her.

“I know. Me too.”

“Maybe…” I trail off. I don’t know what I want to say. “Maybe we can do this again some time.”

Her brows dip. “Some time. Hmm.”

“I…”

“Some time isn’t enough.”

“You deserve better than him,” I murmur, stealing a quick kiss.

“Do I? It’s not like I can have better.”

My jaw clenches. “Sheridan…”

“Goodbye, Camilo.”

The last kiss we share feels just like that. A goodbye. It’s a great kiss, but it sucks. I hate the finality in it. I wish I had the answers. Unfortunately, I don’t.