Momentum (7 page)

“Please, Marco.”

“What do you want,
cara
? Tell me.”

“Make me come.”

He plunged a finger inside her pussy and groaned. She was tight. Really tight. Marco reared back to look at her, removing his hand from her shorts as a thought occurred to him.

“Have you been with a man?”

Her eyebrows drew down and he was afraid he’d offended her, but he didn’t want to hurt her. There were bigger men than him, but if she’d never been with a man before it would be uncomfortable. “Are you asking me if I’m a virgin?”

“Well, yes. You’re very tight.”

“And I suppose you have all kinds of experience with women so you’d know, right?”

“I just don’t want to hurt you.” He leaned down and kissed her before sitting up again. “You can tell me if you are. You can trust me.”

Natalie let out a huff. “I’m not a virgin. I just haven’t slept with hundreds of guys like you’ve no doubt screwed hundreds of women.”

“No,
cara
. I won’t say I haven’t been sexually active, but I am pretty picky. I don’t sleep with women just to get off.”

“So I should feel special?”

He chuckled. “I don’t have sex with someone unless I feel a connection.” Licking up her neck to her jaw, he bit down gently. “I feel a connection with you.”

Natalie’s face softened. “I don’t know why, but I feel one with you too.” She wriggled and he groaned. “Get off me for a minute.”

Marco wasn’t sure if she was rejecting him, but climbed off and waited to see what she would do next. He didn’t expect her to reach down and pull off her shorts and panties, but she did. “Oh
tesora
, you are so beautiful.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Now you. It’s only fair.”

“It’s only fair,” he echoed with a laugh as he disposed of the sweat shorts. His cock was so hard it nearly touched his navel and he watched as her tongue quickly darted out to wet her lips. “The things you do to me…”

Natalie grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back on top of her. “That’s better. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves. Both of us knew this was coming, it was just a matter of when. I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

“Speaking of coming, I want to make you come for me,
cara
.” Easing off a little, he fit his hand in between her spread thighs and pushed one and then two fingers inside her channel. After moving his fingers in and out a few times, he moved down and licked her. Natalie arched and let out a litany of swear words that impressed even him. He looked up at her from his vantage point and she bit her lip.

“Sorry.”

“No, please. I like it that you get so excited you speak from the heart.”

“The heart, the trash can…”

He pushed one leg up with his free hand and took another lick. “You taste good.”

“I do?” She sounded incredulous and he wondered what these other men she’d slept with had said to her. Then he dispelled those thoughts. He didn’t want to concentrate on anything but making Natalie scream for him.

“Oh yes. Now lie back and let me make you feel good.” She plopped back onto the bed with what sounded like a snort of disbelief and he smiled. That was his
cara
. “Hold on to your leg so I can have some fun.” With his now free hand, he pushed through her swollen folds and found her clit. At first he used a gentle touch, but when that didn’t elicit much response he lightly pinched it between his thumb and index finger.

A gurgling sound emerged from her and Marco had to fight not to chuckle. This woman’s honest reactions to him charmed him more than he cared to admit. Leaning back in, he began to lick her clit with short, fast strokes and a feeling of warmth washed over him as Natalie began to writhe on the bed. “Faster! Don’t stop.”

“No chance,” he murmured before putting all his energy into making his woman come. His cock was trapped between his body and the sheets and throbbing, but he held back his own desire. “Come for me.”

He sucked her clit into his mouth and took a long, hard suck and she exploded, clamping down on his head with her thighs as she came. Marco swore he’d never heard anything so beautiful. After a couple of minutes she must’ve realized what she was doing because she loosened her grip on his head. “Oh my God, Marco! I’m sorry. Did I hurt you? Suffocate you?”

Marco scoffed. “There are few places I’d rather be than between your thighs.”

“I want you to get off too. Can I, um, help you with that?”

He smiled. Marco wasn’t sure exactly what she was offering, but wanted to prove to her he didn’t expect her to reciprocate for every orgasm he gave her. One of his greatest pleasures in life was discovering what made a woman wild and wanton and then giving it to her again and again. “All in good time,
amante
.” Scooting up, he pushed her long hair away from her face. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

Natalie slapped at his hand. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

She rolled her eyes. “You already have me in bed. You can cut the outrageous compliments.”

“That is who I am, and I will never stop complimenting my lover, in and out of bed. I really love your hair. Italian women mostly have dark hair and dark eyes. Some of my
amicos
back home would fall all over themselves if they met you.”

“Okay,” she answered, her face wary, and he wondered what it would take to wipe that expression from her face forever. Probably more than he could give her in one night, but since he had absolutely no intention of this thing between them only lasting one night, he was confident he could help her see what a gorgeous girl she was.

“I want to make love to you.”

“Make love?” Her nose wrinkled and he grinned.

“Yes. Make love.” He smoothed over the wrinkles and said, “Didn’t we go over this?”

“Well, yeah. But, I mean, we’re not in love.”

Marco laughed. “No, but to me it’s still making love. I told you that.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Can I make love to you,
tesora
? I want you so much.”

“I want you too. God help me, I really want this.”

He reached out to the nightstand for a condom. “Are you ready for me?”

“As much as I’ll ever be.”

Marco smiled and rolled on the condom. “Turn on your side.”

“Why?”

He gave her thigh a light slap. “Just do it,
cara
.”

She rolled so she was facing away from him and he molded himself to her body. They didn’t have a great height difference, which made things easier, and he marveled at how well they fit together. Lifting her top leg, he pushed it forward and then used one hand on his cock to guide it through her pussy folds a couple of times.

Natalie moaned. “Feels so good. I need you, Marco.”

“And you have me,” he murmured as he slowly slid inside her tight, hot wetness. His eyes closed of their own volition as nerve endings fired out of control. “Ah,
tesora
,
amante
…”

“What are you saying? You mentioned
tesora
means treasure, what does
amante
mean?”

“Lover,” he whispered in her ear before taking the delicate shell between his teeth and gently tugging. He pulled back to say, “That is what you are to me. My lover.”

She giggled. “I’m sorry. You just—you talk so much more than most men in bed.”

“I don’t want to speak about other men who have been in your bed when I am inside you.”

“Oh, sorry.” Natalie bit her lip.

“It’s all right,” he told her, dragging open-mouthed kisses down the slim column of her neck. “Right now there is you and there is me. That’s it.”

“Okay.” She reached back and grabbed his hair as he sped up the pace and force of his thrusts gradually. “How do you do that?” she asked with a gasp.

“Do what,
cara
?”

“Make me feel so good.”

“I pay attention. I listen to your sounds and watch your movements.”

“Is that all there is to it?” She sounded disbelieving and he buried his face in her neck. He was already addicted to her and the beguiling way she responded to him.

“Yes, love, that’s all there is to it.”

“Wow. All those other guys—”

He slapped her ass. “What did I say about other men?”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. Concentrate on what you feel. I want you to come again.”

“But I—”

“You can come again,” Marco answered, reading her thoughts.

“I can try.”

“That’s my girl.” Unable to hold back any longer, he moved between her legs again and pulled her knees up and over his elbows. She moaned and he took that as assent to keep going, now setting up a harder, faster tempo.

“Oh my God, I can feel it!”

“Let it out,
amante
.”

“Oh my God!” She began to tense around him and he was a goner. With a grunt that morphed into a long, drawn-out groan, his orgasm took him over. He saw stars behind his closed lids as the sensations racked his entire body. Natalie continued to contract around him and his release went on and on until he was afraid his balls would turn inside out. Finally the waves of feeling slowed and he collapsed onto his forearms, not wanting Natalie to bear the full weight of his body.

“Oh,
cara
, you are amazing,” he told her, leaning down to lightly brush his lips over hers before withdrawing to take care of the condom. Coming back to bed, he tucked both of them under the covers. “Sleep now.”

She stretched like a cat and snuggled into the pillow. “Okay.”

With a smile he kissed her forehead and then gathered her body to his, surrendering to sleep not long after.

Chapter Four

What is that noise?
Her brain was sluggish in getting with the program, so she forced herself to sit up. She saw instantly Marco was not in bed. His side was still warm so he couldn’t have left long ago. She heard the noise again. It was Marco’s voice, pitched low but obviously furious. Who was he talking to? Whoever it was, there was no doubt he was angry about the conversation.

Natalie needed to relieve herself, so she snuck out of bed, and on her way to the attached bathroom she saw Marco, completely naked and with his back turned to her, on his cell phone. He kept repeating one word,
non
, punctuating it with slashes through the air with his free hand. As she stood rooted to her spot, she heard him say
padre
and surmised he was on the phone with his father. What were they arguing about?

After using the bathroom, she crept back to bed and pulled the covers up. Now Marco was pacing, going in and out of her sightline as he continued to argue with the person Natalie assumed was his father. She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but really, she couldn’t understand the conversation anyway, so what difference did it make?

She knew she was trying to justify unacceptable behavior, but she was fascinated by Marco and his family. Never before had she been around anyone to whom money was no object. Marco did well on the rodeo circuit, but not enough to afford the lavish lifestyle he and his brother kept up.

Marco came back into her sightline and glanced into the bedroom. Then he turned away again and spoke with more rapid-fire Italian, his words short and clipped. In theory, she’d known that Italians talked with their hands, but until this conversation she’d never seen how true that statement was. Marco was shrugging, pointing at himself, and a bunch of other things. It looked exhausting and she was glad she wasn’t within striking distance of his wild gesturing.

He said
non
a couple more times and clicked the phone off, throwing it across the room. Luckily, it landed on one of the couches. She had no idea if that was his intent or not but he was damn lucky the stupid thing hadn’t splintered into a million pieces like hers had when she’d dropped it a couple months ago.

Marco turned toward the bar area and she heard the sounds of bottles rattling and then coffee brewing. After waiting a few minutes, she came out, tying a robe around her as she walked.

“Marco?”

He was turned away from her, his head down and his shoulders slumped. “How much did you hear?”

“I’m not sure, but I didn’t understand any of it.”

“I apologize if I woke you. That was my father. He wants me to come home.”

“Is anything wrong?”

“Besides that he’s a stubborn
bastardo
that can’t understand why I won’t come home when he orders me to? No.” He picked up the whiskey he was drinking straight from the small bottle and took another drink.

As she watched him, she weighed how much she wanted to push him. “You guys were really going at it.”

Marco made a dismissive noise. “I’m tired of telling him I’m not coming home and him ordering me to.”

“Does he not approve of your bull riding?”

“He thinks it’s just a way to play until I accept my responsibility to my family and take over the business.” She guessed those were the exact words his father had just used on the phone. He ran a hand through his hair and it stood up even more haphazardly than it was. It was obvious he was still angry, but Natalie didn’t understand what would be so bad about being in control of a family business that was practically an empire unto itself.

“Why don’t you want to run the business? You said it’s been in your family for years.”

“Because it’s not mine! I want to be my own man. Have my own dreams. And he’s too much of a
pezza de merda
to understand.”

Natalie’s mouth fell open. “Did you just call your father a piece of shit?”

“He’s acting like one.”

She turned on her heel and went back into the bedroom, feeling an overwhelming need to get away from him as quickly as possible. “No, Marco, you are.” Slamming the door, she grabbed her suitcase and began to throw things in it.

Marco stormed in. “Where are you going?”

“I just lost my father because of my own selfishness, because I didn’t look beyond my own nose enough to see he wasn’t as quick as he used to be. I sent him out to look for a stray calf with just our seventy-year-old foreman and he died out there. Now I’m here watching you do the same thing. I loved,” her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, “I loved my father even during our times of disagreement. And now he’s gone and everything I knew and loved went with him.”

“Cara—”

She rounded on him. “Do you know how lucky you are to have so much family around you? So many people who care? I have no one, Marco,
no one
. No family at all, well, besides my drunk of a mother who hasn’t been a parent to me in years, no money, no job, no place to live. Nothing and no one. If you want to behave like a spoiled brat, that’s your problem, but I sure as hell won’t stay around to witness it.”

“
Cara
, I am sorry I have upset you—”

Natalie hastily wiped at the tears forming. “Forget about it. I shouldn’t be your biggest concern right now.” She tried to heave her suitcase off the bed and staggered a little under its weight. Marco reached out to steady her.

“Don’t go like this. We’ve still got the entire competition ahead of us, two more nights we have to be in the hotel. Where are you going to go?”

“Anywhere but here,” she practically spat at him, her anger getting the better of her as she thought back to how Marco had spoken of his father. Natalie barely contained the wail surfacing as all the pain and guilt from losing her own father bore down on her.

“
Cara
, you’re not even dressed. Come on, let’s sit down. We’ll have breakfast—”

“No. And stop calling me
cara
. I’m not your dear. I’m not anything to you.”

Marco’s face turned stormy. “You are my lover.”

“Not anymore. I can’t tolerate someone who doesn’t appreciate what’s been given to him, who turns his back on his family when they need him.”

She watched as he sighed, running his hands over his face. “Natalie, you don’t understand what it is like. But if you stay, I will try to explain it to you. Think about it,
ca
—” He was obviously about to call her
cara
again but stopped himself. His lips, those lips that had brought her to new heights last night, thinned into a line. “Please, just stay with me. All the hotels are booked.”

He had her there. This was a huge competition and there would be few to no rooms within any reasonable distance of the arena. She considered sleeping in her car, but the thought of doing that in Houston made her blood run cold. “Fine.” Natalie stalked out to the living room, poured herself a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. “Explain.”

Marco took a moment to get himself a cup, glanced at the remainder of the bottle of whiskey but then left it on the counter. He sat down at the opposite end, looking at her with trepidation and some leftover anger clear in his eyes. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to be in the family business at all…” He looked away as if trying to form the words, and she gave him time, knowing English wasn’t his first language. “But I want to be me. How do you say it…my own man. My father wants me to be a piece of him. I don’t know how to put it in English,
cara
. I want something that is mine.”

Natalie nodded. “I can understand that. But why the anger? Why the disrespect?”

“You do not know what it is like to be the oldest son in my family. My father and I, we are very different people. So we fight.” He shrugged. “And when I get mad, I swear.” One corner of his mouth crept up in a smile. “We have that in common, actually.”

“Have you tried telling him that? Telling him that you’ll come home in a few years?”

“Yes,
cara
. He does not listen. He hears what he wants to hear. Today he told me he was going to send my uncle to bring me home. As if I were a child!” He rose from the couch and slammed his cup down so hard on the granite surface of the bar that Natalie was shocked it didn’t shatter. “I am a grown man.”

Natalie also rose and walked to him. Carefully putting her hand on his arm, she said, “I know you are. But parents see things differently. My father didn’t tell me about the money problems we were having. He let me buy a new custom saddle for my horse, enter bronc competitions and a ton of other stuff, all the while going into more and more debt. Why didn’t he tell me?” The last sentence was barely a squeak.

Marco turned and folded her into his arms. “I’m sure he didn’t want to worry you.”

“But that’s just it. Don’t you see? He was doing the same thing your father is, not treating me like the adult I am.”

“Yes. Many parents do it, but it doesn’t mean it’s right.”

“Of course not. I didn’t say it was. In some ways my father ruined my life. When he died I had to sell everything. The ranch, our furniture, the tools, the livestock. Everything, just to get out of the huge mountain of debt he’d accumulated. Sometimes I hate him for everything he kept from me. But I still wish he were here and miss him with every breath I take.”

“Shhhh…” Marco crooned, leading her back to the couch. “Sit down. Would you like breakfast?”

Wiping away more unbidden tears, Natalie nodded. She had a feeling Marco would nag her until she ate. “That would be nice.”

Marco hopped up, returning shortly with the room service menu. “Tell me what you would prefer and I will order it. I will be back in one minute.” He disappeared into the bathroom and with apprehension Natalie opened the room service menu.

“Fifteen dollars for oatmeal and orange juice? Are they kidding?” She dropped the menu as if it were on fire.

“Did you find something?”

“I can’t let you pay these prices. It’s highway robbery!”

“If you would prefer we can go out, but it would have to be the hotel restaurant because I need to go to the arena.”

She doubted the hotel restaurant’s prices would be much more reasonable. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just eat something later once you’re gone.” The thought of another fast-food breakfast made her stomach turn, but she didn’t want to take advantage of him.

“I need to eat breakfast, so I’m going to order something. If you don’t tell me what you want I will order something for you.”

“Fine,” she huffed, knowing he’d said he didn’t eat breakfast yesterday and that he was probably only doing so today to force her to eat. “Um, an omelet would be great.” She refused to even look at the price, knowing it would either make her eat the entire thing because she felt guilty or make her appetite leave completely.

Marco picked up the menu. “Would you like cheese, vegetables? Ham?”

“Plain is fine.”

“Cara…”

“Western omelet, all right? Are you happy now?”

“Not as happy as I would be if I could make love to you in the shower.”

“What if the room service comes while we’re in there?”

“I will give him a specific time for delivery.” Marco waggled his eyebrows. “Now go get in the shower. I will join you in a moment.”

Natalie was astounded at how quickly her sex heated once Marco had mentioned making love in the shower. She left him to order the food and went into the bathroom. After hanging the robe on the hook on the back of the door she got into the shower and quickly washed her hair. She didn’t want to have shampoo all over the place when Marco got in. Biting her lip, she debated whether or not she should shave, and then decided to forego it for the same reason. Instead she wrung out her long hair with her hands as best she could.

Marco entered the shower and immediately pressed up behind her, nestling his erection between the cheeks of her ass. “Ah, a warm, wet woman. Perfect.”

Natalie chuckled. Men all seemed to love women in showers. Her chuckle died in her throat when Marco went to his knees, nudged her legs apart and dove into her pussy with a marauding tongue. Blindly she reached for the sides of the shower to hold herself up as waves of sensation crashed over her like a tsunami. What was this man doing to her? Sex had always been fun, but if she stayed with Marco much longer it was going to become as necessary as breath.

Marco continued to ply her with lips, tongue and teeth as the hot water rained down on both of them. Natalie heard a screech and realized it was her, the sound amplified by the shower, but she ceased to care what she sounded like as her release took over.

He took her down gradually, nibbling at her puffy outer lips and lapping up the cream flowing freely from her. Standing, he turned into the spray and then shook his head as if he were a dog. Natalie ducked instinctively as droplets flew in every direction. He turned and grinned at her.

“Good morning.”

A bark of a laugh burst out of her before she could stop it. “Good morning.” She eyed his sizable erection. “I’m not sure of the best way to help you with that, but if you want…” She bit her lip, considering.

He pulled her lip away from her teeth and licked over it. “I’m fine,
cara
.”