Page 27

HEAVEN OR HELL

VANESSA

T his time when Santino cupped her pussy through her panties, she didn’t stop him, couldn’t pretend she didn’t want any of this.

She didn’t stop him when he hooked his fingers in the waistband and pulled them off, nor when he pushed off the robe and the bonnet and her pajama set, leaving her utterly naked and exposed to him.

Santino stopped kissing her long enough to run his gaze down her nude body, his eyes absorbing her.

Not much had changed in those three years since he’d seen her, but his stare was like the first time, greedy and tender at the same time.

That stare made her feel good, made her feel deliciously desired.

He ran his hand from the pulse point in the hollow of her throat to the swell of her breasts, then skimmed her belly.

Watching her reactions, he next brushed in between her legs and up the softness of her inner thigh till he rediscovered her cleft.

She couldn’t help the arching of her back or the moan that shuddered out of her as he found and rubbed her clit in slow, lazy circles with a hot thumb, each revolution sending fresh waves of pleasure through her with his eyes locked on hers.

She’d sworn to herself she wouldn’t allow this. It shouldn’t be happening…but it was. And she was suddenly desperate for more.

His breath hot against the skin of her cheek, he slid two fingers inside her entrance, finding and pressing her spot gently while still leisurely working her clit.

Fuck, that was so good. She willed her thighs to close.

They only opened wider. And her hips…damn them, they tipped forward, giving into him, taking more, more.

“What do you want? More of this?”

“Fuck…yeah.” Her brain was short-circuiting. She couldn’t think of a quick comeback or a disparaging remark fast enough, only the unvarnished truth. He grinned when her hips rotated of their own accord, responding to him, not her. “ Santino ,” she whispered shakily.

“Shh…” he whispered back.

Then he leaned in and pressed his hot, open mouth against that fucking spot under her ear.

That spot . Damn him . That did it.

She squeezed her eyes shut as the hardest orgasm she’d had in three years hit her all at once. It didn’t just hit her, it bombarded her, setting off a tsunami of throbbing heat throughout her body that liquefied her.

Santino shuddered as her juices flooded his hand. “Oh, sweetheart. You liked that, huh?” he said with a husky laugh.

He pulled his fingers away, closing his eyes and licking each one with a hoarse murmur of satisfaction.

He squeezed his cock with his other hand as he did.

But as he slid down the slopes and plains of her body, pausing to suck on each nipple until they were thick and throbbing, she was anxious for him to latch his lips onto her already spasming clit.

When he did, she shuddered with a jolt at the pure joy he delivered with his tongue.

The cry that let loose from her throat was inarticulate as fresh waves of shattering joy crested over and over again.

He licked at her entrance to make sure he didn’t miss any of it.

Groaning, his laughter dark and thick, he kissed her clit again.

He was suddenly rising, gathering his thick rigid cock in his fist and rubbing the head in her entrance with a hiss.

She wanted it badly, so very fucking badly.

Santino was pushing inside, slowly, his face twisting with the gathering pleasure, but somehow, some way, common sense suddenly returned.

This magnificent cock was her Kryptonite in its purest form.

She needed a barrier from it, a physical one.

She already had the emotional one covered. Or so she hoped.

She pushed his hips and made him withdraw. And her pussy hated her for it.

“What?” he asked breathlessly.

“Condoms. I’ll just go get one and be right back,” she said.

Santino’s forehead wrinkled. “The fuck you bring condoms for? We don’t use them. Were they for Malone?”

Uh-uh. Nope. She did not like that tone or that question. It was nuts how minutes ago, all she could think about was him inside her. Now annoyance was suddenly creeping in, at least, on her end.

“I have them because I’m a grown-up. Maybe you don’t use them with your hoes but I’m not out here pretending no one ever needs one.”

“I told you I don’t fuck anyone else, and you won’t be fucking anyone else.

” The red flush on his face was still passion, but now blending with anger.

But he surprised her when, instead of getting off the bed, he pushed her knees wider apart and settled between them.

When he pressed the full ridge of his cock against her pussy, from her clit to her entrance, she held in a moan, momentarily taken over by pure bliss.

Staring down into her face and beginning to rock against her again, he murmured, “We don’t need one. ”

It felt so fucking good, and the more he teased her entrance with that thick, weepy head, the harder it was to not let him in. But she had to stay the course on this one. She leaned away, pushing his hips away further, and drew her knees together. “I’m not doing it without one.”

He pushed up and rolled onto his side with a sigh and a smirk. “And I’m not doing it with one. Those days ended between us, and I’m not going backward.”

With a huff, she laughed and got out of bed, pulling the robe back on to cover her nakedness.

“Right. I suppose you’re about to tell me your pull-out game is strong.”

Looking at her with that tilted grin, he shook his head.

“I don’t have pull-out game. If we’re fuckin’, we’re fuckin’ till you’re full of my cum.

Now quit playin’ and come here.” He reached for her, but she slipped further away from the edge of the bed, her body absolutely blazing with lust at his words and the dead serious expression in his eyes.

“Then we’re not fucking. I’m not taking home any party favors from you, not the kind that requires antibiotics or the kind that cries at 3 a.m.”

It was more than a little gratifying to see his jaw drop. “ Tesoro . Seriously. I haven’t slept with anyone else but you, period. I’m good.”

He reached for his phone, pulled up something on the screen and handed it to her. It was an STI panel, dated as of a few days ago. All she saw were negatives, which was…positive. But she still flounced out of reach.

“Who gets tested if they know they haven’t done shit?” she taunted.

“I didn’t do this because I needed to be sure, but because you might need to be sure.” He took the phone back from her, put it in the drawer, and shut it firmly. “Now get back in the bed.”

The lust in her only heightened at his declarations, and yes, at the commanding tone.

All she wanted in that moment was to get back in bed with him like he’d told her, open herself to him, her pussy, every part of her body.

But her heart was yelling at her, loud and insistent, that this was dangerous.

If she gave him what he wanted, she’d lose herself to him for good, and when the day came for him to break her heart all over again, next time she’d never get over it, never recover.

“No.”

“Get back in the bed,” he repeated, a note of steel embedded in the silk of his voice.

“No glove, no love.” Firm on the outside, a trembling mess of gelatin inside. “I didn’t come up with that slogan, by the way. It was part of a 1980s safe sex campaign. You weren’t even born then.” More useless facts, as if that would distract him from what was apparently his new mission.

“Oh, marone . Neither were you!” Santino exclaimed with exasperation.

Exhaling long and slow, he rubbed his dirty blond hair and shook his head.

“Okay, Professor Donahue. But I’m making myself clear.

When we do it, we’re doing it raw or not at all.

That’s my slogan. Let’s see how long you last,” Santino finally said with a low chuckle.

“Anyway, let’s get the day started. I thought we’d have a picnic or something in Mont Royal Park. Want to shower together?”

“No.”

Santino grinned, and when he passed her, he shocked her by slapping her on the ass. He winked at her before disappearing through the double doors of the bath suite. He was getting a little too comfortable.

Comfortable? You just came in his mouth , she told herself with exasperation. A little slap on the ass was the least of it.

A grin forced its way to her lips. Still floating on those dangerous feel-good chemicals, she went to get her outfit ready for the day while she waited her turn for the shower. She was glad he’d put Mont Royal on the itinerary; she’d heard it was beautiful, the city’s version of Central Park.

There was a good chance they’d end up on their feet for most of the time.

The picnic would be on the grass, so she chose a cute pink cotton blouse that knotted at the waist, a pair of dark green khaki capris that wouldn’t show dirt, and brown sandals with decent tread.

Fingering the blouse as she put it in the vanity area for when it was her turn to dress, she realized she was still grinning.

It had been a pretty fucking great way to wake up, she had to admit.

She regretted how the evening before had ended.

Santino’s sketches of her as a superhero with a dark secret had been surprising, had shocked her by revealing two things.

One, the sheer number of them revealed he’d been working on them for some time, obviously not just since last week when he’d waylaid her during the settlement negotiation.

This was probably months of work or more.

He’d been drawing her, thinking about her, trying to pierce through her mysteries and all the things she hadn’t told him when they were together.