Worth the Drive (39 page)

He thought he heard something, a gasp, a soft “Oh” from her, but when she answered him all she said was, “Never?”

“Never. I go over to her.”

The door opened wide. “Well, okay, then.”

Darío
’s breath caught in his throat. Maybe lower. Katie had shed her prim nightgown and was wearing his green jacket from his Master’s victory.

And nothing else.

She walked to the bed. “Is it okay that I wear this? It’s not sacrilege or anything, is it?”

Her blond
hair hung in front of her, falling across the lapels of the jacket. The deep vee of the front exposed her tan chest, then the whiteness of her breasts, and belly, mostly concealed by the button in front. The roundness of her breasts and cleavage were visible, but her nipples were hidden behind the jacket. The emblem of the United States wavered over the curve of her left breast. The flag that represented Augusta rippled and waved as she moved.

No flag had ever claimed a more valuable territory.

“
Sî
,” was all he could answer, and that came out rough and short.

She smiled
knowing
ly
, her confidence building a
as
she looked down and saw his sheet tenting at his arousal.

She climbed on at the foot of the bed.
Darío
started to sit up, to come to her, but she put her hand up. He stayed where he was. Waiting. Dying.

She was on her hands and knees, crawling up the length of him. “
Gata
,” he said. She had never embodied her nickname more. He pressed his legs together so she could easily straddle him as she padded her way up to him.

“Meow,” she purred.

Dios Mio
.

She wrapped her fingers in the bed sheet at his knees and slowly pulled down. The cotton, so smooth normally, seemed rough and jagged against his skin. It prickled against the hair of his chest, across his stomach, along the line of hair snaking downward. Just an inch or two further and she’d be able to see what her feline antics were doing to him. Though the bulge in the sheet was evidence
enough.

She stopped.

She bent her head down with the grace of a panther, still on her hands and knees, most of her torso even with his legs. She purred – growled, really – from the back of her throat and ran her tongue along his skin, following the line of hair up. She got to his belly button, which she ran her tongue around twice. She continued on to his stomach, which shuddered when her hot tongue lapped his sensitive skin. She seemed to like that, nuzzling her whole face into him, breathing deep, as if taking in the scent of him, savoring it, making sure to remember it.

Darío
could think of nothing better than to be tracked by Katie.

He placed his hands on her calves, ran them up to behind her knees, slid his fingers in the juncture created as she crawled. Pressure as the back of her thigh came down, then release as she moved forward. Pressure. Release.

Feeling the pressure, and definitely needing release,
Darío
moved his hands up the back o
f her thighs to her round, firm
butt to confirm what he already knew. Absolutely nothing on under
the green jacket.

He slid his fingers into the soft cleft, his big palms kneading the taut cheeks of her bottom. She raised up on her hands, her soft hair skimming across his chest. Her blue eyes staring down into his. He moved his fingers. Her eyes grew huge. He swung one hand down, around the front, finding her drenched. Her tongue peeked out from her mouth, wetting her bottom lip. One hand held her open from behind while the other
played
over her. Stroking her, finding the spots she liked. Staying away from the one that sent her over.

She began to rock against his hand, her arms moving her forward and back, her dangling breasts caught and held tight by the jacket. Her eyes closed and she began to nod. “Yes. Yes,” she panted.

Her head dropped, a blond
curtain falling in front of her face. As she moved, and the curtain parted, he would catch glances of her eyelashes, her nose, her lips. Her breathing grew shorter, louder, pained. Soon would come the three short breaths that she took right before she came.

He heard them as well as felt them. Then she came, her muscles clenching around his fingers, her wetness seeping over him, her arms quivering as if she couldn’t hold her weight any longer. Her moan sounding more feline than human.

Her head knocking into his chin, eliciting a grunt from him.

She didn’t notice, just kept spasming, spiraling. As she came down, her toes dug into the sheet and dragged it backward, as if kicking her little paws over some dirt, baring
Darío
. She came up on her haunches and
Darío
led himself to her. She came down on him hard, gasps coming from them both.

His hands moved to her thighs, skimmed them up and down, watching as his hands disappeared under the tails of the green jacket. He had a sudden flash of having the jacket put on his shoulders the first time he’d won golf’s most coveted prize. He’d run his hands along the sleeves, just as he
now did
along Katie’s arms. He’d smoothed down the lapels, the buttons, treated it with reverence. He did the same to Katie, his fingers tracing where her skin met lapel. His hand not quite able to run flat along the buttons because of her bulge.

The baby. She was showing enough now that the jacket pulled across her tummy, the button nearly popping.

Emotions roiled through him as he looked up at the woman he loved, carrying a child he already loved, wrapped in the ultimate symbol of his success.

The jacket became a blur and all he could see was the woman he would spend the rest of his life with. He rose up to meet her, to kiss her, taste her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back, playing with his tongue, her hips finding a new, faster rythym. He buried his face in her neck, his hands sliding under the jacket to play with her breasts.

He began mumbling in Spanish as he often did when buried deep inside Katie. What she meant to him. How good she felt. That she was precious, cherished. He knew she didn’t understand him but he was so mindless when he was this close that there was no way he could translate. She seemed to like when he spoke to her that way. Even now, her hips ground deeply into his, her legs spread more widely, allowing him to go deeper.

“
Te quiero
,” he gasped as he spilled himself inside her. “
Te quiero
.”

He felt her tense. Expected her to follow but she didn’t. He tried to hold back, but he was already coming. Nothing could stop him now. He tried to hold on, make it last, get her there again, but she collapsed against him, her face turned away.

When he could finally catch his breath, he reluctantly pulled out of her. He turned them
over, laying her down next to him. He undid the button of the jacket, surprised it had held. He spread the sides of the jacket wide, Katie’s body limp, allowing him full access. He gently laid his head on her hip, his hand coming up to stroke her belly.

It seemed to have grown in the one night they’d been apart. He ran his hand across her heated skin, following the rise that protected his child.

He looked up at her, expecting to see her looking back with that soft smile she wore when he did this to her.

But she was not smiling back at him. Nor were her hands playing in his hair, smoothing his shoulders. Katie laid flat, hands at her sides, staring straight up at the ceiling, as if she were somewhere else. A million miles away.

Darío
thought he knew where she was. In the Copper Country. He hoped to hell she wasn’t thinking of Ron.

Several days passed. Days that
Darío
took Katie sight
seeing through the northern part of Spain. San Barria was a resort town that sat nestled between the Pyrenees, and the Bay of
Biscay
. The area was breathtaking, so rich in color. The people treated
Darío
as a long-l
ost war hero. It was obvious he was their favorite son. He was polite to all, even those whom he told Katie later had given his mother a hard time when she was raising him alone.

Katie didn’t sleep in the guestroom again. She moved her things into
Darío
’s room, figuring either Sofia wouldn’t know, or, if she did, so what.

Their lovemaking became frenzied as Katie tried to hold her emotions in check, to only respond to
Darío
physically. As if he sensed it, his claim on her took on a desperation, as if their time was limited. They would lay tangled in bed afterward, and then Katie would turn away, trying to keep her heart separate, knowing she was fighting a losing battle.

She was in love with him. She couldn’t deny it any longer.

He was attracted to her. Cared for her. Wanted to be a part of his child’s life. But that was it. It was
te quiero
, not
te amo
that he whispered to her, that he moaned in her ear while he came.
And it wasn’t just the words. Though they seemed to be beyond it now, Darío had not trusted her, and the bottom line was he only fought for them to be together to give their child his name.

The thought she had back in the airport – about a marr
iage where only one party loved–
mocked her now, as she realized that indeed would be the
case. Only
she would be the one
who
loved. Could she do that to herself? To her child? Make
Darío
give up his chance to possibly find someone he loved? Would he ever come to love her?

Darío
was out back on the small putting green area, practicing, while Katie and Sofia shared iced tea in Sofia’s living room. They had formed an alliance of sorts, since they’d arrived, based on the baby Katie was carrying
.

And their mutual affection for
Darío
.

“I love how you’ve decorated, Sofia. The house is so warm, it captures your culture so well, and yet is so comfortable.”

Sofia graciously nodded her thanks.

“And huge,” Katie added.

Sofia chuckled. “Yes, I know, it is too much house for just two people. One, most of the time. But it was important to
Darío
to have this house. To have it here.”

“I don’t understand.”

Sofia settled into her chair, placed her glass on the table beside her. “This is where he grew up. Where he endured life in poverty, being called a bastard. It was important that he show these people that he had…made it… is how I think you say it.”

Katie nodded, waited, hoping the woman would go on. Instead the woman rose, walked over to a beautiful antique desk and rummaged through a couple of drawers until she found what she was looking for. She brought a piece of paper over to Katie.

A letter, Katie realized. It was addressed to the San Barria Golf and Country Club. The club that
Darío
’s mother had been a cook at. The club you could see from the balcony of
Darío
’s suite.

“One of the maids at the club found this in the trash of the director’s office. We worked together many years, she and I.” Sofia’s eyes were soft, remembering. “She thought I might like to see it.” She handed the letter to Katie. “Apparently, a few years ago, the Club invited
Darío
to be a lifetime member, gratis. It is a very expensive and exclusive club.” She nodded at the paper as Katie took it out of the envelope. “Here is the best example of the kind of man my
Darío
is.”

Katie read the letter. It was polite and gracious
and
read just like
Darío
spoke. He thanked them for the invitation, but declined. Stating that the invitation would have been welcome when he was younger, when his mother was in their employ and they
’d
struggled and scrimped so that
Darío
could play the course from time to time. When they were in need. Now that he could well afford to become a member, he was no longer interested in becoming one.

Proud. Honorable. Making his point. So
Darío
.

Sofia’s voice was soft. “The course he designed is only a few miles away. A beautiful course, one to rival San Barria. He has made it public, with very inexpensive greens fees. So that the people who live here, not just those who can afford to come to the resort, but those who
work
at the resort, have a grand course to play.” She sat back in her chair once more. “And yet, he made sure that this house was the finest in the area, and that it sit high on a hill over the Club. So that all there would know where he lived.

“That is my
Darío
.”

That
was
Darío
, proud and honorable,
yet needing to prove that he’
d succeeded. He never flaunted, but he made sure people were aware of what he’d achieved. “You must be very proud of your son,” Katie said, proud of him herself.