They were just outside her apartment when she got a text from Valerie.

Was that an overnight bag you were carrying?

Isabel smiled and texted back. She still couldn’t believe she was doing this.

Maybe

The next text came when she was in the car.

Isabel you whore!

Isabel laughed then covered her mouth when she realized Romero was staring at her.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” she said, as she texted back with a big smile.

Friends with benefits =)

Romero was still staring at her. He hadn’t even started the car.

“Just a silly text,” she said, not about to tell him what it said.

He lifted an eyebrow and started the car.

CHAPTER 7

Just Friends

The studio apartment Romero rented was small but it was good enough for him. It beat living with his uncles. Sure, he missed the noise sometimes, and he still spent more time over there than he did at his own place, but he loved having his own space, especially at times like this. Even though his uncles had told him long ago he could bring girls home, some of the freaky things he did with them would’ve been too much, even behind his closed bedroom door.

He’d had plenty of girls over since he’d moved out years ago, but only a handful of them had ever spent the night. Those had only been because he’d been too wasted to drive them home. The awkward, sober morning after was always the pits, so he avoided it at all costs. When it did happen, he couldn’t get them out of there fast enough the next morning.

They walked in and he watched as her eyes pored over everything. Everything included a bed, his one nightstand, a sofa, the plasma T.V. on the wall and a few boxes on the floor. “Did you just move in?”

Romero laughed. “No, I’ve been here two years.” As usual, her eyes said it all. “I don’t need much. Besides, I’m hardly ever home.”

He walked to the kitchen, still holding her hand. He frowned when he opened the fridge. There wasn’t a whole lot to choose from. “I can order a pizza if you’re hungry.”

“I’m not.” She still held her bag in her hand.

“Did you bring enough stuff for the whole weekend?” He took the bag out of her hand and placed it on the floor.

“No.” Her face flushed. Damn, that would never get old. “Just something to change into in the morning.”

He leaned in, kissing her softly as he caressed her face with his hands. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

He’d told girls they were hot plenty of times, but he couldn’t remember ever using the word beautiful. There was no other word to describe Isabel, except maybe adorable with all her different expressions. Right now, right here, so close to making her his, she was blushing in his hands, utterly beautiful.

She brought her hand around his neck and kissed him back with the same eagerness as she always had. He’d been blown away by her willingness from the very beginning. He was so sure she’d be more hesitant. Instead, here she was practically swallowing his tongue. He moaned, picking her up and setting her on his kitchen counter. She never once unwrapped her arms from around his neck and continued kissing him even as he nudged her legs open and pulled her to the edge of the counter.

With her neck at eye level now, he dove in, kissing the soft skin just under her earlobe. He sucked the small gold stud on her ear, feeling her tremble just like she had at the theatre, just like she had every time in the past three weeks when he kissed her neck and wanted so f**king bad to do more. He could hardly contain himself now, and he didn’t even have to.

“Izzy,” he whispered in her ear.

“Umm?”

“I want you, baby.”

“I want you too,” she said immediately.

That was all he needed to hear. He lifted her off the counter and walked the few steps to his bed in his front room. He set her down then lifted her knit blouse over her head. Her black lacy bra barely held in her soft, pale br**sts. She scooted back and unzipped her jeans. There’d been many women in his bed and he’d watched them do the very thing she was doing now, yet he didn’t remember ever feeling like this. His heart hammered away. Sex had never been emotional to him. The only feelings he ever had during sex, was insatiable hunger—if that even counted as a feeling.

All he did now was watch, and he could barely catch his breath. He worked the buttons on his own jeans and slipped them off. As he watched her slide her pants down his body went through the usual emotion he felt just before he was getting ready to satisfy his hunger, but something new accompanied it. Normally, he didn’t think past the act itself.

Like the anger that seared through his veins when he flew into a rage and he was helpless to stop it, he now felt something new. An emotion almost like a slow growing alarm, overtaking him by the second. Something in his heart was trying to warn him this was an experience he may not be ready for. A place from which he might never return. But deep inside he knew the truth. He was already too far gone. Still the alarm grew as he slowly crawled on his knees, his heart racing. From day one, he’d thought of having her beneath him like this.. Owning her, even it was only for a few hours. Now, he wanted more.

Kissing her belly as he passed it on his way up her body, he took the intoxicating scent, and taste of her warm skin. She’d removed her bra, and she lay there naked except for her black lace panties. She quivered as he traced gentle kisses up her torso then took her breast in his mouth, slowly sucking her nipple, feeling her shudder and her breathing hitch.