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Well, if that didn't make me want to, I wasn't sure what would. “Are you going to stop me?” I tossed over my shoulder as I walked away with a purposeful sway to my hips. He caught up in two steps, catching me by the waist.
“I'll know if you touch yourself,” he whispered against my ear. “For every orgasm you take yourself, I'll deny you when I have you all night. You don't want that, do you?”
No, I absolutely did not. The three times I’d come by his hands and tongue were far, far better than any pleasure I'd brought myself. He kissed my neck, then my cheek. He turned my face to his. The kiss was chaste, yet I felt it all the way to my toes. Those feelings had intensified deep inside me to become more than I’d felt before.
“Your bath is getting cold.” Carlos nudged me toward my bedroom.
“Mama,” Gabriel shouted, and I immediately tensed, the kisses Carlos had given me forgotten. “I can't find my gloves.” My shoulders sagged with relief. It was so hard for me not to always think the worst.
“I'll search for them.” Carlos steered me by the shoulders to the bedroom door.
“Thank you.”
I stepped into the bathroom and gasped. The candles surrounding the tub provided the only light. The scent of lavender filled the air from bubbles in the bathtub. A glass of red wine was next to the bottle on the ledge by the taps, and sultry Latin music floated down from the built-in speakers I didn't know I had.
I reached for the wine and noticed he'd put a ponytail holder beside it. There was nothing he hadn't thought of. I still didn’t know anything about his past, but like Gabriel, I’d noticed the shadows behind his eyes. I was fairly certain his life had been hard and somber, and that this, providing so thoughtfully for a woman he barely knew, wasn’t something he’d done much of. Truthfully, it was hard to reconcile that soft, caring man with the alpha, take-no-prisoners domineering male. But I’d look beyond all that now and enjoy the next twenty minutes of bliss. I slipped out of my clothes and sank down into the bubbles until they hit my chin, inhaling the calming lavender as I leaned back. My eyes drifted closed, and all the tension in my body dissolved.
I was kidding myself if I thought I could keep my emotions from Carlos. He made it too difficult not to feelsomething. But how could I help it when the things he did made me feel spoiled? It wasn't just this bath. It was the way he treated my son, and how he picked me up from work, and how he held me while I was upset over my brother.
What I couldn't figure out was why a man like him would be interested in a woman like me. Gabriel was an angel, but he was still a complication most people would shy away from, especially ones who didn't have children of their own. If I were in Carlos's position, I'd think long and hard about being with someone who had a child. But he didn't seem daunted by the prospect of having Gabriel in his life, or that Gabriel would always be my first priority. It was completely different being responsible for another human twenty-four hours a day as opposed to spending a little time with them and handing them back. No one could ever prepare for what that was like, and I wasn't sure Carlos fully understood what that meant.
Hearing movement beside me, I opened my eyes to find Carlos sitting on the ledge of the tub. “Enjoying your bath?” he asked, and I stretched languidly. He fingered my necklace, holding the cross for a brief second before straightening.
“Very much. Thank you.”
“Next time, I'll join you,” he promised. I smiled, tempted to tug him in now.
“What's the music?” I asked instead.
“Buena Vista Social Club. 'Silencio.'” One word spoken in his language had me longing for more.
“I needed this,” I told him.
“I know. Gabriel's bathed and all tucked in. He fell asleep while I was reading to him,” Carlos said, almost apologetically.
“Soccer wore him out,” I deduced with a lazy smile.
“He's a natural athlete.” My smile faded. I knew where he’d gotten that, and it wasn't me. “That's not a bad thing, Beauty.” Carlos immediately picked up on my mood.
I hated any reminders of his father. “I know . . . it's not.”
“Would it be okay if I took him to the park sometime? Teach him how to play baseball and football?”
“You don't have to do that.” It was hard for me to distinguish being stubborn from being a burden.
He cupped my chin and tipped my head up. “I want to do it. You aren't the only one who likes being around Gabriel.”
“It's hard to know for sure when I'm so biased. He's mine, so naturally I'm inclined to see the best in him, but Gabriel is the most amazing person I've ever known.” Shit, I was going to cry.
“So you shouldn't be surprised I want to spend more time with both of you.” Carlos took a towel off the rack and held it out. “Unfortunately, that can't be right now.” He checked his watch and frowned. “I was going to tell you a bedtime story too, but it will have to wait.”
I wrapped my hand around the towel and pulled myself out of the tub. Carlos made a valiant effort to keep his eyes on mine, but in the end, my naked, wet body was too much for him. His gaze traveled down the length of me, leaving a scorching path in its wake as I stepped out of the tub.
He cleared his throat and dried me off. “I'm this close to saying fuck it, Beauty. You are testing my restraint.”
“What will you do when you don't have to have any?” I asked seductively, and he stilled, then licked a droplet of water off my shoulder, and I shivered.
“We'll need to be somewhere soundproof because youwillscream.”
