Page 73 of Tripped By Love

I swore her eyes darkened with heat. With lust. With the same desire that was flooding me and made the entire room, the music, the laughter, the barking of the damn dog, all fade away until it became nothing but a muted buzzing.

“I’ve yet to see your best moves,” she tossed back, flushing slightly at the brazen comeback.

My body burned. Ached to kiss her full on the mouth. To continue to lose the world around us and just focus on our bodies and hands. On our lips and tongues. On the need that was growing into a raging inferno inside us. I lowered my mouth to hers, merely a soft rub along the soft plumpness of hers, tasting the hints of chilithat were on her lips but also the hints of sweetness that always surrounded her.

She brushed back with hardly any pressure. A simple kiss.

And yet it wasn’t simple. It was loaded with feelings and unspoken promises.

A whistle near my ear drew my lips from hers, but I didn’t look away. I was still caught in the golden glow that was Cassidy.

“Get a room,mijo, before you burst into flames in my kitchen, and Álvaro has to put it out with his fire hose,” Maria Carmen teased, swatting me on the butt with a towel.

“We should get going,” I said, watching Cassidy’s face and not once glancing toward Maria Carmen. “We still have an hour’s drive, and you have to be at Earth Paradise first thing.”

She nodded, rubbing her thumb along my lips and only driving my desire to a level that could become embarrassing in the midst of the family surrounding us.

I reluctantly let her go. “I’ll go find Jonas.”

“Jonas is staying with us. You can pick him back up on the way to the airport when you leave,” Maria Carmen said, and it finally drew my gaze away from Cassidy. There was a twinkle in Maria Carmen’s eyes matching the one normally in Maliyah’s.

I frowned. “That’s really not a good idea,Tía.”

There was no way I wanted to leave Jonas long enough for him to get to Mel and the asshole who were surely the reason for all his anxiousness. Maria Carmen seemed to know more than I thought she did because she sobered slightly.

“He said Mel was coming here tomorrow. I promise we won’t let him out of our sight.”

I glanced toward Maliyah who was on the couch, laughing and joking at something Maria Carmen’s nephew had said.

“If he causes her to worry…” My throat closed up. “She might not survive another episode.”

Maria Carmen patted my arm. “We’ve got this,mijo. The family is here. That is what family is for. We’ll guard them both with our lives. You just go do…” She glanced at Cassidy with a smirk. “Do what you need to do.”

I wanted the time alone with Cassidy. Without her family or my responsibilities. My pulse pounded at the idea of it. She and I. A hotel far away from anything but the two of us. It was so wrong and right at the same time.

Plus, Jonas needed to see that Mel was okay. If she was coming to him, without the asshole in tow, that would be a good way for him to reassure himself that she was all right.

“Stop hesitating,” Maria Carmen said. “Be a good boy and listen to yourtía.”

Cassidy made a garbled noise somewhere between a laugh and a choke. When I glanced back at her, her eyes were full of the same humor that lit Maria Carmen’s.

I sighed, and both women knew I’d given in.

I made my way over to Maliyah, bent down, and kissed her on the cheek. “We’re taking off.Tíasays that Jonas is staying. You good with that?”

Maliyah patted my face. “I’ve missed him so much. It’ll be good to visit with him, even if it’s only for a few days.”

“Call me if you need me to come and get him,” I said.

She nodded and then turned toward Cassidy who was slowly making her way through the room, saying her own goodbyes. It unlocked some secret part in my soul to see her mingling with them…with Maliyah’s family…my family. I’d never really considered them mine before.

I found Jonas on the stairs, texting away again now that Maliyah had given him his phone back. I rubbed my knuckles on his head, and he ducked away with a grunt.

“Maria Carmen says you’re going to stay here while Cassidy and I go see Earth Paradise. I hear Mel is coming by tomorrow,” I said quietly.

He nodded, looking at me almost defiantly. As if I’d tell him he couldn’t stay. I didn’t want him to. I wanted him far away from whatever Mel would bring with her, but as Cassidy was so often saying to me, I couldn’t protect them all, and he’d be here with the family.

I repeated my words to Maria Carmen. “Maliyah can’t handle anything stressful right now, Jo?” I caught myself. “Jonas. If she has another episode, we might not get her back.”