What They Don't Know (Won't Hurt Them Trilogy #1) (16 page)

“I’ll go plate it.
I was told that you don’t like foam or something like that.”

“No, I don’t like
to eat from Styrofoam.”

“Ah, that’s it.”

He nudges my leg with
his knee; my breathing picks up.

“Relax, honey,” he
says to me softly as he rubs the side of my face. He bends over and
kisses me on the cheek.

“Cruz, I—”

“Shhh, honey. It’s
okay. I’m not him.”

“Cruz, I just can’t
do this.”

“I know, Bria. You’re
not.” He pushes me gently down on the bed. I’m gripping my towel
so tightly my palms are on fire. He yanks the towel away and I’m
caught off guard as I reach for the new bedspread. It doesn’t
budge.
Who in the hell made the
bed?

Cruz grabs my hands and
flattens them on the bed as he runs his open palms over them, over my
wrists, and down my arms. His touch is so sensual I can’t believe
this is actually him. I’m in shock, but my body… I think it’s
humming. Cruz rubs my neck and stops at my chest. My eyes are shut so
tight, I’m afraid if I see what he’s doing to me, I’ll lose
control over my body. That’s when I feel it,
it
being his tongue. He circles my nipple and sucks it into his mouth.
He’s talented with his tongue; he’s massaging my nipple with it.
Never felt anything like it.

“Cruz, please.”

“Shhh, Bria,” he
whispers again. He releases my nipple and blows on it, barely
touching my other nipple with the tip of his index finger. He makes
his way over to my other breast and my body has shifted from nervous
to on fire. Cruz puts his hand behind me to pull me closer. He has a
firm hold on my nipple like he’s sucking a peach, and oh my god, I
can feel how wet I am.

“Cruz, please.”

“Please what, Bria?
What do you want? Do you want me to stop?”

I’m silent.

“Do you want me to
stop, Bria?” His tone is forceful, almost as if he’s angry.

“No,” I whisper. He
grabs me and pushes my body to the center of the bed. In one swift
motion, he pulls his shirt off with one hand. Oh, and my little lady
is tinkling as if she’s wearing bells. He’s looking at my naked
body like he’s never seen a naked body. He shakes his head in
disbelief.

“Gorgeous you are.”

Cruz pulls me to him as
he licks up the middle of my stomach all the way to my neck. “You
taste so sweet, Bria,” he says while kissing and nipping my neck.
He takes one of my hands and lifts it above my head. I've become
dizzy with lust.

“Please, Cruz,” I
moan.

Cruz’s hand palms my
back; it's so hot, my skin is on fire. I arch my body to accommodate
his mouth. He’s licking my skin in the center of my body until he's
at my pelvic bone. He bites me, not hard but enough to…

“Ahhh, Cruz.”

My thighs are not quite
open to him, and he nudges his shoulder for me to open them. His
hands are cupping my ass cheeks and he looks up at me. His eyes have
gone dark, like he's a different person. They are lidded as if he's
drugged, and it makes me a little nervous.

“Open, Bria, let me
in.” His voice is low and throaty. He parts my thighs and kisses
the inside area leading to my opening. I moan and my body begins to
shake.

“No!” he says
loudly, and I jump. “Not yet,” he says in a quieter tone. He
lowers his face and I feel the most erotic feeling I've ever
experienced.

“Oh, my God, Cruz,”
I call out to him. He's sucking on my clit in a massaging way that I
can't comprehend what's happening. I'm panting so hard I can feel my
body convulsing against his mouth. It feels like a thousand little
fingers hitting my G spot I have. I can't help but to scream. “Cruz!”
He hasn't let up at all. He's sucking as though he likes it. I look
down at him and his eyes are closed but his facial expression tells
all. It's pure enjoyment and that sends me over.

“Ahhh, Cruz! Cruz,
please stop; oh my God!” I try to crawl away backwards, but his
grip on my ass tells me that's not happening. He grinds down on my
sex with his mouth. “Cruz, I'm coming, please.” He still hasn’t
let up, and my body is convulsing harder than normal.

“Give me it, Bria;
let me taste your juices,” Cruz growls before he plunges his tongue
into my opening. That does it. My mind is blown as I give him what he
wants.

Never once have I
experienced anything of this magnitude with Bryant. I've had mild
orgasms, but this is more than that. I got off just from Cruz’s
enjoyment of me. I came on his face, and something happened to blow
my mind further. Cruz must have come too. His body jerked while he
rose to his feet and as he walked to the bathroom. It's silent for a
second.

“FUUUUCK” is all I
hear. I can't get up to see if everything's okay. I'm sated from
probably the best orgasm I've ever experienced.

As my breathing slows,
I can hear what sounds like my shower going. I slowly get out of bed
and limp to the bathroom to find out what's going on. I pick his
pants up from the floor and place them on a shelf. He's in the shower
with his hand on the wall, as his other hand is stroking his cock.
It's how I remember it in the steam room, thick and long. Yeah, it
definitely will do damage. I back away through the door and lay back
in bed to wait on Cruz to come out. He never does. I hope he is not
embarrassed; that would be awkward. I’ve dozed off when he comes
back through the hall.

“Honey, get up. Eat.”

“Hmm?”

“You have to eat and
take your pain medication.”

“I thought we agreed
we hate taking medicine?” I remind him.

“We did, honey, but
you still have to take it; doctor’s orders.”

“Okay,” I say in a
gentle tone as I look at him with soft eyes.

His eyes are still
dark, but he’s smiling. “Sit up,” he demands.

I sit up against the
headboard of the bed. He’s staring into my eyes.

“You are so fucking
gorgeous.”

I look down, slightly
embarrassed by his compliment. “Thank you,” I respond.

“Are you working
tomorrow?”

“I don’t know,” I
tell him, reaching for the plate.

“You can work from
home. We purchased another laptop for you. I took it to the tech guy
at your job. He’ll have it ready first thing in the morning.”

“Okay… Cruz?”

“What’s up?” He
coaxes me to speak.

I pause before I ask
the question in the back of my mind.

“Bria… It’s
okay.”

“Okay,” I reply,
not quite sure if he and I just had the same conversation, but I was
referring to his orgasm or lack thereof.

* * *

We eat there in
silence; and for the first time since I’ve been in the presence of
Cruz, I hear his phone ring. I wonder if he has any women calling
him. It’s odd because it’s never occurred to me if he does. He
looks at it then hands it to me. I read what looks to be a text
message. It says B. Morgan at the top of the screen.

I shake my head.

Cruz says, “Okay,”
and puts his phone down.

It’s getting late and
my curiosity gets the best of me. I would like to know about Cruz’s
little display after giving me an out-of-body experience. I’m
sitting at one end of the couch and Cruz is at the other. It’s
amazing how comfortable men get in someone else’s home. He’s
sitting there with his shirt off with one leg up as his lounge pants
show his very sculpted waist. Very lickable… God, I don’t need to
think about him that way. I am affected every time; I clench my thigh
muscles to ease the tension. I try not to stare at him directly, but
he’s too freaking sexy. It hurts me not to glance at him every once
in a while. I turn and glance at him then back at the television.

“Honey?”

“Yeah?”

“DON’T!”

“Excuse me?” I ask
him.

“Don’t worry about
it.” Cruz turns and looks at me. His hand is resting on his face
with his index finger on his temple, while that thumb of his is
brushing across his lips… those lips.

“It’s not your
concern.” He breaks me from my trance.

“I’m not following
you, Cruz. What’s not my concern?”

He glares at me
intently. I’m trying to be serious and not laugh, but his eyes are
squinted in that “you know what I’m talking about” way.

“Bria, you know damn
well what I am talking about, and I’m not about to sit here and
play that game with you. I told you not to concern yourself with it.
So
don’t
!” He
gets louder as he ends his statement. We’re looking at each other,
saying nothing but I feel more open than normal. Are we really
speaking of the same thing? I have to know.

“You don’t even
know me, Cruz.” I make the statement to get a reaction from him. My
logic is to put myself in the equation so he’ll explain what
happened in the bedroom. If he’s telling me not to concern myself
with his display of not having an orgasm, he doesn’t know that it’s
not that easy with me. I can’t just let a thing like that go. He
doesn’t know I’m obsessive over things that can’t be explained.
However, I underestimated my logic.

Cruz looks away, then
back at me. “I don’t know you, Bria?” he says accusingly.

“No, you don’t.”

He stands and in two
strides is standing in front of me. He lowers himself to face me.

“Your body reacts to
my voice,” he snarls.

Did he just snarl at
me?

“Your breathing is
erratic whenever I’m close. Your heart”—he laughs—“gallops
like a black stallion. I felt it in your back when I had my mouth
between your thighs.” He taps me on my temple. “I may not know
this.” He points at my brain. “But this”—he points,
indicating my body—“I know. It’s a tell when it comes to this,”
Cruz says, again pointing back at my temple. “I’ve told you,
honey, I. Will. Mind. Fuck. You.” He laughs as he stands. “I’ve
already begun to.”

I exhale when he steps
away because I do not want him to feel how sharp my breathing is. It
doesn’t work at all.

“And she exhales.”
He indicates.

“I think you should—”

“Leave?” He
finishes my sentence. “Too easy, Bria, too easy. We have work to
complete in the morning, so I’ll be staying. Besides, Mr. Lover
might need protecting if he shows his face.” He laughs. “Man, you
really cocked him a nice one across the cheek.”

I rise from the couch
and attempt to hobble down the hall. Cruz grabs my arm to throw it
around his shoulder. Before he can even help me to my room, I
forcefully pull my arm away from him. He freezes on the spot. I don’t
react to his action. I continue to my room. I shut and lock both my
bedroom door from the hall and the one connected to my bathroom. “Not
tonight, Mr. King,” I whisper to myself.

Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap. I
wake to this nerve-pinching sound. Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap. “Honey, are
you awake?”

He can’t be serious.

“Bria,” I hear him
whisper through my bedroom door.

“Cruz, go away. I’m
tired; please, just go.” I’m barely audible.

“Honey, open the
door,” he mumbles through the door. What’s this guy’s problem?
I throw my bedspread from my new, huge-ass bed to one side, but it
doesn’t make a difference. There’s still another entire side of
the bed. I manage to swing my feet to one side and slowly slide onto
the floor. Remembering my twisted ankle, I’m surprised when I put
pressure on it. It’s less tender than it was earlier. Speaking of
early…

“What time is it?”
I yank the door open. “The point of whispering is so that no one
hears you! What do you want?”

“Hey, I apologize for
waking you, but Bryant sort of needs you.”

“What? Cruz, fuck
Bryant. He’s very irrelevant to—”

“He’s in the
hospital,” Cruz reveals, interrupting my rant.

“WHAT? WHY?” I
yell. It seems funny how the mind can erase the anger a person has
when it’s replaced with fear and anguish.

Cruz shrugs.

“Well, how do you
know?” I frantically question him while trying to find clothes.

“Um, that Cass chick
called my phone. She said I was the last person he called last night.
She said she’s leaving the hospital, something about her not
planning on babysitting an adult who can’t hold his liquor.”

“WHAT? SHE LEFT HIM
THERE!”

“Apparently,” Cruz
says as he shrugs. “I thought I should wake you.” He stands there
quiet for a minute. “Look, if you want, I can take you. We can…”
he trails off. “I can drop you off or whatever you want, Bria.”

I’m nodding and
grabbing my house keys while putting on my jacket.

“Yes, yes. Please,
can we go now? Someone has to be there.”

“Yeah, of course.”
He walks ahead of me to grab his keys and jacket. I didn’t notice
his overnight bag. It must have been put in the hall closet because I
would have had a coronary if I had seen it earlier. Cruz takes hold
of my arm; he’s witnessed and well aware that I am walking with a
limp.

“You should grab your
crutches.”

“I’ll be fine,
Cruz… I will,” I say as I look up at him. He doesn’t respond;
and frankly, I think he’s being too quiet. “Are you okay?” I
question him.

“Yeah, I am.” We’re
at his car when he realizes there’s a note on the windshield. He
looks around before he takes it and reads it. His face is strong and
his jawline drops as he looks around again. He opens the passenger
side door and helps me in. His facial expression is blank as he snaps
the seatbelt on me.

“Give me your house
keys,” he demands. And I do. I don’t want to argue. I just hand
them over.

“Stay here,” Cruz
says and closes the door. He goes back to the house and comes out a
few minutes later.

As he gets back in the
car, I ask him if everything is okay.

“Oh yeah, just
fucking peachy.”

“Cruz?”

“Fine… everything
is fine, Bria!”