The Guardian
Chapter 18

Garza knew this was reckless. He should take Delia back to her car and let her go home to her warm, safe apartment. He should keep all his dark, dirty urges to himself—Christ, the things he wanted to do to her—and walk the f**k away.

Instead, he put the car in Drive and pulled out of the gas station parking lot like his hair was on fire.

They were only fifteen minutes from his condo, although he covered the distance in ten. Neither he nor Delia spoke, but the air between them practically hummed with energy, pulsing through his veins and making his c0ck ache in anticipation. Pulling into his designated spot outside of the building, Garza finally broke the silence.

“You need to be sure,” he said, every ounce of him screaming to touch her.

She nearly broke him with her laugh. “Do you think I’d be here if I wasn’t sure?”

His heart pounded faster. “What I think is that you need to understand my intentions. If you say you’re sure about this, I’m going to take you upstairs. I’m going to make you come faster and harder than you’ve ever come in your life, but it won’t be because I want it over and done. It’ll be because I’m just beginning. I’m going to f**k you in ways you’ve only dreamed about. So, yes, Delia. I need you to be very goddamned sure.”

The energy between them was nearly a living thing, Garza’s need to take her sweet, sinful mouth in a crushing k!ss burning through him.

She k!ssed him first, a fast, hot press of her lips that was all promise. “I hope you have a lot of c0ndoms, because I’ve been sure for the last seven years. That’s a whole lot of dreaming about how you’d f**k me.”

Shock sizzled through him at the revelation he’d bet she didn’t even realize she’d just let fly. But he’d have to unravel that later, because right now, there was nothing but Delia and his need to have her.

“Out,” Garza said, unable to get anything else past the uncut want racing through him. Delia didn’t seem to mind his bossiness, though, jumping out of the car as quickly as he did. Although it took a little adjusting—walking in public with a substantial hard-on was a bit of a feat—and a whole lot of composure he wasn’t sure he had, he led Delia from the parking area through the building. He had to tighten his hands to fists in the elevator to keep from touching her, because if he started, even with an innocent brush of her hand, he wouldn’t stop until she was n*ked and screaming his name.

They made it to his floor a hundred years later, and as soon as the distance between the elevator and his front door had been covered and he’d done the whole key + lock = hurry the f**k up thing, they crossed the threshold.

“Nice place,” Delia said, but nope. Not a single chance was Garza going to waste so much as a nanosecond on pleasantries when he could be getting closer to being inside of her.

“Come here.”

Her green eyes darkened with unmistakable want as she closed the space between them. She wore her emotions like a billboard—ar0usal and honesty and sweet, undiluted need—every single one of them right there on display. But rather than making her vulnerable, it made her so brazenly s3xy that Garza ached. Leaning in so his mouth hovered over the spot where her neck met her collarbone, he reached around the back of her rib cage, holding her loosely as he found the zipper on her jumpsuit and tugged.

A sound came out of the back of her throat, and it went directly to his c0ck. “Did you mean what you said? Just now, in the car, about”—she m0aned as he skated his lips over her neck—“faster and harder?”

“Do you think that’s something I’d lie about?” Garza slid the fabric of her top off her shoulders, letting the silky material pool around his fingers. “God dammit, Delia.” The lacy pink br*a he’d just uncovered cradled her br3asts like it was made for them, allowing just enough peek-a-boo for him to see the darker pink of her n!pples beneath. “You are fuvking gorgeous.”

He cupped her with both hands, letting his thumbs go to work on those perfect n!pples. She arched into the contact, more sounds coming out of her that threatened his composure. “That’s…oh, God.”

Garza could linger on her tits for hours—Christ, she was so honest like this, pressing up against his fingers. Letting him tease her. Feeling. Wanting.

But he’d promised more.

Lowering his hands, he shoved her outfit the rest of the way down. He nearly faltered at the sight of Delia’s matching pink panties, but no. He was on a mission. Right now, that meant one thing.

His mouth. Her pvssy. No stopping until she came on his tongue.

Delia kicked her way out of the soft green fabric at her feet, losing her shoes along with her clothes. Garza yanked his T-shirt over his head before the urge to k!ss her again was too strong to fight, and he took her mouth in as rough a k!ss as he dared.

In hindsight, he shouldn’t have worried. Delia gave as good as she got, her tongue sweeping out to tangle with his. He maneuvered them to the nearest flat surface, which happened to be the far wall of his foyer. With her shoulders and back pressed firmly to the wall, he broke from her mouth, trailing down over the swell of her cleavage, then her belly, until he was on his knees in front of her.

His heart slammed against his ribs. So much want. He slid a finger down the seam between her th!ghs, both of them m0aning at the wetness he could feel through the lace.

No waiting. Hooking her panties aside with one finger, Garza slanted his mouth against her soft, bare skin. Under other circumstances, he’d take his time. Explore a little. Maybe experiment with different touches of his lips and tongue. But a m0an tore out of Delia’s throat, both needy and demanding, and oh, yeah.

Hard. Fast. Now.

Moving his tongue in a purposeful slide, he found Delia’s cl!t with ease. Her hands dropped to his shoulders, slipping up into his hair, and she didn’t hesitate to move against him.

“Oh, my God,” she said, part whisper, all f*****g s3xy. Garza kept at it, meeting each rock of her h!ps with the flat of his tongue. The slight sting of her grip on his hair only encouraged him, her wide-open m0ans turning his c0ck painfully hard against his jeans.

But he wouldn’t be deterred. Working her harder, he kept swirling and pressing in time with her movements. Wanting to see her caught up in passion, he chanced a quick look up.

And found her looking back at him. Watching as he pleasured her.

It was the hottest f*****g thing Garza had ever seen in his life.

He pressed her th!ghs wider with both palms, not breaking eye contact. Their stares locked together as she pumped faster against his mouth, her breath starting to arrive in shorter bursts.

“That’s it,” Garza said, his thumb sliding up to replace his tongue, circling her slick, sensitive cl!t. “You don’t have to wait anymore. Take what you want, Delia. Come for me.”

He put his mouth back on her just in time for her to shatter. He rode her through every gasp, the tremble of her th!ghs against his shoulders sending a bolt of pure satisfaction through him. Finally, her eyes slid closed, and just when he was sure she couldn’t be any more beautiful, she broke into a smile and started to laugh.

“I’m not sure if I should be pleased or worried about my skills, here,” Garza said, although Delia’s laughter was so pure and infectious that he didn’t even finish his sentence without laughing, too.

“Let’s just say your skills are exemplary, Detective. And, also, for the record, not all talk is overrated.”

He stood, dipping his head to the spot just above her ear. “Liked that, did you?”

She nodded, her breath catching just enough for him to hear it. “Yes.”

“Good. Because I could spend all night telling you how beautiful you are when you come.”

Something flashed in her eyes, a combination of s3xiness and wide-open honesty that could only belong to her. “It doesn’t seem fair that you’re one up on me, there,” she said, one hand slipping between them to palm his c0ck over his jeans.

Garza exhaled hard. “Delia.”

“You promised to f**k me in ways I’ve only dreamed about.” Her touch grew firmer, the friction so good and not enough at the same time. “I want that, Matteo. I want you.” Her mouth curved in a provocative smile as she stroked him faster. “All of you.”

He had her off her feet in the span of a single heartbeat.

If it waspossible to die of pleasure, Delia was certain she had one foot in the grave. Not only had Matteo just given her the most toe-curling 0rgasm of her life, but he’d told her she was beautiful, then scooped her up to cut a fast path to his bedroom, making it clear that he fully intended to f**k her senseless.

Except all she could do right now was feel.

Matteo lowered her to his bed, his body flush against hers as he settled his frame between her th!ghs. His k!ss wasn’t soft or sweet, but Delia didn’t want either. She’d meant it when she’d said she wanted him—all of him, exactly him, as rough and gruff and dirty as he needed to be.

Desperate for more contact, she tilted her h! ps until—oh, God, right there—his c0ck was notched over the damp triangle of lace still covering her pvssy. His jeans were in the way, too, but the pressure was hot enough to make her thrust again, then again.

“F**k,” Matteo grated against her lips, breaking off with a harsh breath. Shifting his weight, he undid his jeans, shoving them and everything else off his body in the fastest movements possible. He slowed only to grab a c0ndom from his bedside table drawer, then roll it into place. Enough setting sunlight edged past the blinds for Delia to marvel at him, the coiled strength in his muscles as they flexed with his movements, the dark intensity on his beautiful face, and by the time he returned to her, she was aching in anticipation.

Again, Matteo wasn’t gentle. He gripped her panties and yanked, sending another shot of want directly between her legs. She m0aned her approval, then doubled it when he dragged a finger over her s3x.

He m0aned back. “So wet.” Testing the way with one more glide, he pushed a finger deep inside, making every one of Delia’s inner muscles clench in pleasure and need.

“Please.” She realized she was begging. Didn’t give a damn. Said it again. “Please, Matteo. Give me all of you.”

One shift of his body had him filling her in a single, hard stroke. The sudden fullness, the blunt pressure where a second ago she’d ached so much in emptiness, the insane ar0usal rocketing through her, all rode out on a cry. He’d stilled, his muscles bowstring tight under her fingers. But then Matteo eased back, withdrawing barely an inch, only to push back inside of her with a gr0an.

“Christ, Delia. You’re…” He lost the rest as he repeated the movement and she rose up to meet his thrust. Bypassing a slow build entirely, they built a fast, hot rhythm. The harder Matteo fvcked her, the harder Delia wanted him to, her need becoming a dark demand.

“Should slow down,” he bit out, one hand anchoring over her shoulder, the other wrapping around her h!p to hold her in place as he fvcked her in fast, full strokes. The change in angle sent the base of his c0ck directly against her cl!t with every thrust, and oh, God, oh, God.

“Don’t you dare.” Arching up, Delia let her th!ghs go wide. Matteo answered in turn, keeping up with his thrusts as her 0rgasm rose like a tidal wave. Release smashed into her from every direction, and she hooked her th!ghs around his h!ps as her inner muscles trembled around his c0ck, buried deep. Her pleasured cries seemed to encourage him, his rhythm not slowing even as he coaxed her through her release.

“So f*****g hot when you show me everything,” Matteo grated. His body was both primal and beautiful, his expression wild and intense as he gripped her tight. His thrusts grew urgent and uneven, and Delia’s breath caught in her chest.

“Show me, too.” She said the words as soon as they arrived in her brain, uncensored. “Show me everything. Come for me, Matteo.”

One thrust, then one more, and his body locked into stillness. He arched his back as he eliminated any hint of space between their bodies, no guess as to where he ended and she began. Delia held him tight, taking all he had to give until he lowered himself over her.

“Delia,” he whispered, his forehead on hers. He didn’t say anything else, though, and neither did she.

Somehow, she heard him all the same.