Infiltrating Your Heart (17 page)

“What the—?” I say. Just then,
Mercedes’s lips crash down on mine. My eyes widen, but then I close them. I
instinctively put my arms around Mercedes. The kiss is intense, full of
passion.

I’ll be damned if I said I don’t like
it.

Mercedes breaks the kiss and looks at
me. I don’t know what to make of her seductive expression.

“First to get here gets to keep their
clothes on.”

I catch her full meaning.

“Wait, that was a joke! Besides,
there are people out there nearby.”

“Where?” Mercedes asks, looking
around us. “We’re hidden from view by these rocks.”

I’m lost for words. Just then,
Mercedes runs her hands down her body. My eyes fixate on her chest. She puts
her hands on her breasts and softly squeezes them.

“I like you, Gabriel.”

“What? Mercedes—”

“Don’t you want this?” she cuts
across me. I already have a hard-on just from watching her. Mercedes is
dangerously sexy.

Mercedes moves her hands underneath
her bikini, touching the skin of her boobs. Even though I can’t see, I know
when she pinches her nipples.

Gosh. My desire for her is spiking.

I don’t know at which point I’ve
forgotten to breathe. This feels like one of those wildest dreams.

“Do you like me?”

I scoff at the absurdity of the
question.

“You’re enchanting, Mercedes. Of
course I like you.”

She flashes me a smile. Mercedes is
so close that I can hardly keep from reaching out and touching her.

“Here it goes,” Mercedes tells me. I
look at her in confusion as she turns around. Looking at me over her shoulder,
she undoes her bikini top and drops it.

With a seductive grin, Mercedes gets
in the water again. She goes full under, swimming below. I don’t know how she’s
got a sense of direction down there. The water’s too salty to open your eyes.

Seconds later, Mercedes breaks the
surface. She wipes water out of her eyes and then turns to face me.

“Aren’t you joining me?” she asks. I
sigh. The only thing between my eyes and her breasts is the water.

“Perhaps we should go back? Our
friends must think we got lost.”

Mercedes laughs.

“I bet they can guess what we’re up
to.”

I smile back at her.

“Maybe. Just maybe.”

Mercedes shakes her head in
amusement. She swims toward me and grabs her bikini top. Then she turns and
swims to her Jet Ski. Mercedes climbs up on it. I catch a glimpse of the side
of her right breast before she puts on the bikini top again.

“First one back to the shore gets to
name a prize.”

I blink.

“What?”

I take too long to react before
Mercedes starts up her Jet Ski. She’s a good fifty feet away from me when I
start chasing after her.

Mercedes

We spend almost another hour at the
beach after I beat Gabriel to it. I felt giddy the whole way there. Never had I
been so brazen with a man I liked. Right then, I felt like a schoolgirl
flirting with her crush.

Gabriel had looked like he was working
hard to resist me. No man has been able to do that before. I guess Gabriel was
remembering that he has a fiancée. I like him for it. If he won’t cheat on
Evelyn now, he won’t cheat on any other woman he might end up with later. A
faithful man is worth more than his weight in gold.

Nadine gives me a knowing look when
she spots me. I think she guesses something happened. I try to appear
nonchalant. We can talk later.

Patrick invites Nadine to a race
after Gabriel and I come back. She declines the offer.

“Listen, girls. Gabriel and I need to
leave now. It was great spending time with you both.”

“Thanks,” Nadine says to him.

“We’ve got to leave, too,” I say. “I
have to get ready for work.”

Gabriel looks at me in confusion.

“You work on Sundays?”

I whistle.

“Busiest day of the week where I
work.”

“Bartender, right?” Patrick asks.

“Waitress!” I tell him. He nods.

“Where do you work? I guess I could
stop by,” Gabriel says. I panic at the suggestion.

“Um, I—”

“No time, brother,” Patrick
interjects. “You’ve got to work out the negotiations with Luke, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. That might take the whole
day.”

“No problem,” I say. “Another time, I
guess.”

Gabriel nods.

“See you
soon,” he tells me. Patrick winks. The two of them turn. I see them load their
Jet Skis on the backs of their pickup trucks. With one last glance at me,
Gabriel steps into his truck. I watch as he leaves.

Since we’re starving, Nadine and I
decide to have lunch at a local restaurant. On the way, she calls Albert and he
agrees to meet with us. He’s our close friend, and is in the same grade level
as Nadine.

As we’re sitting on the table, Nadine
gives me a pointed look. I stare at her, dumbfounded.

“What?”

“Something happened, right?”

I feign innocence. Nothing happened,
really. At least, not what I’m sure she’s thinking.

“Define ‘something’.”

“Don’t be coy, Mercedes. What
happened while you and Gabriel took off on those water bikes? You two sure took
your time. Did you go all the way to LA?”

I laugh.

“No. We went to the Seal Rocks.”

Nadine shoots me a quizzical look.

“It’s this rock formation northwest
of the city.”

“Ooh, so you two went somewhere
private. Did you…do it?”

I look at Nadine in indignation.

“Not where everyone can see!”

“Come on! It’s not like you aren’t
into kinky stuff.”

“Well,” I say, thinking about how
much to tell Nadine. Knowing her, she’s going to want every detail. “I went
skinny-dipping.”

Nadine grins widely at me.

“I knew it! What was Gabriel’s
reaction?”

“He looked like he wanted to scoop me
up and take me to his bed ASAP.”

“Wow,” Nadine says with a laugh.
“And what next? I assume he pounced on you.”

I scoff.

“Please. Does Gabriel look savage to you?
He seemed itching to have his way with me, though.”

“With those tits, I'm impressed that nothing
else happened.”

“I didn’t show him my boobs.”

“What?”

I shrug.

“I want to add fuel to the fire
slowly, gently. Do you get my meaning?”

It takes Nadine a second to get me.

“Oh, you’re playing the tease! You’re
tempting Gabriel little by little, so you can get under his skin.”

“Exactly. And I kissed him, too. I would
have waited for him to make the first move, but I couldn't.”

“How was it?”

“I have no words, friend. Gabriel's kiss...it
got me as turned on as he must have been by my body.”

“You’re a pro seducer, girl.”

A voice behind us catches us off
guard.

“Did someone say ‘seducer’?”

I turn around and see Albert next to
me.

“Girl talk,” Nadine says. He sits
down.

“Okay. I won’t pry.”

Nadine
and I look at each other. We laugh.

~*~
Gabriel

Mercedes is driving me crazy. I
swear.

When she went skinny-dipping, I
totally forgot how to breathe. It’s not like I haven’t seen a naked woman
before. Mercedes is just…on a whole different level. So attractive it should be
illegal.

At least my hands got to touch her
back. And I couldn’t believe it when Mercedes let me grab her butt. I felt a
little guilty doing it where people could see.

This whole situation with Mercedes is
also making me guilty about other stuff. Particularly about my relationship
with Evelyn. We’ve been together for years. I can’t break up with her just when
the possibility of an engagement has surfaced, can I? It would be cruel.

I’m too distracted to notice that I
almost drive past my apartment. I brake in time and turn into the entrance. I
get out and open the gate before driving inside. I look in the rearview mirror
and see Patrick’s truck. He doesn’t have space in his place to store the Jet
Ski, so I keep his own. The spare one he mentioned belongs to Evelyn, and she
keeps it at her apartment.

When we get out of our trucks,
Patrick looks at me.

“You look pensive,” he remarks.

“That woman is making me go insane.”

Patrick chuckles.

“Not surprising. She’s fucking hot.”

I think for a few minutes as we walk
to my door.

“I think Mercedes wants me.”

“You’re darned lucky, then,” Patrick
says. “I saw that she let you rub sunscreen on her back.”

“Yeah. And she went topless in front
of me.”

“Damn!”

I give Patrick a knowing look.

“Didn’t you persuade her to go with
you to a hotel?”

“Patrick, I’m not a horny teenager.”

“You’re certainly acting like one. I
don’t blame you. Mercedes could make any man lose their head.”

“Yeah, but you see, that’s the
problem! I can’t lose my head with Mercedes. I’m getting engaged to Evelyn!”

Patrick sighs, his look
understanding.

“Are you sure about that?”

I think about it before answering.

“I’m not sure.”

“Let’s put it like this. Does Evelyn
make you feel the way Mercedes does?”

“Well, yeah. Evelyn’s beautiful.
Only…with Mercedes, there’s this sizzling chemistry so hot it feels it could
burn the damn sun.”

Patrick snickers.

“No shit! Are you seriously that
attracted to her? You’ve only known each other for a few weeks.”

“When it happens, it happens.”

“Huh. I’m not the romantic type, but
if I were, I’d tell you this. Love trumps sex. No matter how good a woman is in
bed. If you don’t love her, you can’t make yourself love her.”

I chuckle.

“That’s deep, coming from you.”

“It’s from my years of experience.
And I’m not going to repeat that.”

“Ha.”

“Okay, man. We’ll talk later.”

“Sure, bro. Take care.”

Patrick walks back the way we
arrived. I unlock my apartment door and enter.

I don’t have much time to think about
Mercedes by myself. Evelyn arrives soon after Patrick left. I open the door and
see her standing outside, smiling at me.

“Hi, love. Are you ready to see more
houses?”

“Yeah, baby,” I reply. I’m glad I
took the time to shower before Evelyn came. I go get my keys and then meet her
at the door again.

Evelyn isn’t a very perceptive
person, so it’s a surprise when she picks up on my uneasiness.

“Are you okay, Gabriel?”

I look at Evelyn. Mild concern is
etched on her face.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“How are negotiations with Luke
going?”

“I’m to meet with him today.”

“Oh.”

I’m glad
Evelyn doesn’t say anything else. It’s hard to look at her when the last woman
I saw was Mercedes in her birthday suit at the beach.

~*~
Mercedes

Gabriel easily wins our little water
race. I see him ride his Jet Ski in a circle until he’s facing me. He stops. It
takes me a few seconds to get to Gabriel.

“I win, so I get a prize,” he claims
proudly. I give him a wide smile.