Boost by Vi Summers

 

Chapter 32

-Greer-

 

 

“Just as I thought; fucking immaculate,” Raf declared with a triumphant grin, strolling back into my bedroom after using the bathroom.

I laughed and tugged up a pair of denim shorts. I liked keeping my place tidy and organized; it helped extinguish the mental chaos I brought home from work.

“You really came here just to snoop, didn’t you?” I teased. Secretly, I loved that he’d stopped by for sex. I could get used to having that on tap.

His chuckle made me smile to myself. I then had a thought. “Actually, how did you get my condo number?”

“Walter told me.”

Walter, one of the building’s loyal security guards, had told him? “I don’t believe you.”

Raf’s head snapped up from buttoning his jeans. “I ain’t lying.”

“I didn’t say you were lying, I just meant that I’m surprised Walter would give out my personal information.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “Well, he has seen me drop you off and kiss you senseless, so I figured he realized that we’re, you know, together.”

My heart melted at the way he murmured the last word. I wrapped my arms around his neck and snuggled close.

“You’re still getting used to that term, aren’t you?”

Vibrations from his hum resonated against my chest. “A little. It’s foreign for me.”

I kissed the soft, smooth skin on his neck, and I lingered there to inhale the scent that was exclusively his.

“This is new for me, too. Trusting someone enough to let them in… It’s hard,” I admitted.

We were both adults. We both had our own lives and careers and were used to living independently. So, to find a gate in those walls, no matter how small, and allow someone to step foot on the other side was monumental. And while we didn’t know each other’s deepest, darkest secrets, we shared something more. A connection I couldn't ignore. Not now that my feelings for him were breathtakingly real.

“With you, it’s a little easier,” he confessed quietly, and kissed my temple.

“Stay for a bit?”

A smile lit his voice. “For as long as you’ll have me, baby girl.”

With my chest filled with warmth and my heart working overtime, I led Raf into the living space and offered coffee. My pulse kicked so damn hard while watching him work his way around my kitchen, opening cupboards until he found the mugs and the coffee machine pods.

He glanced back over his shoulder and froze. “What’s that look for?”

“Nothing.” I grinned. “Just enjoying the view.”

“Is that right? How is it?” He closed the cupboard by his head and leaned his ass against the counter.

“It’s sexy.”

A luminous grin broke through the serious line of his features, immediately transforming him from intimidating bad boy to the cutest man I’d ever laid eyes on. So bright, it upturned my heart and disrupted its natural cadence.

He stepped forward and lifted me onto the island countertop. “Best you get comfortable, then.”

A wicked glint entered his eyes. One that held promises of pleasure to come and recklessness in the way it would be delivered. When I snickered, he whipped off his shirt and tossed it at me.

I cast an approving eye over his tattooed chest. “Now this a woman could get used to.”

Raf chuckled and turned to load the coffee maker. “Keep on looking, mamacita. If it turns you on as much as it looks like it does, then I’ll benefit from it sooner or later.”

While he wasn’t looking, I quickly slid out of my floral tank and replaced it with his t-shirt. The lingering scent of his cologne enveloped me inside the warm fabric and made me sigh dreamily. Yeah, a woman could definitely get used to this.

“Here you g-” Raf paused mid-turn and cursed.

His lips got a nervous lick as he looked me over, now dressed in my little denim shorts and his black crew-neck.

“Fuck, Greer.” He visibly searched for more words, only to come up empty. A twitch worked his jaw for one, two, three beats before he set down the freshly brewed coffee.

My face was cupped in his heated palms within a blink. “You just took sexy to the next level.”

“But, I’m just wearing your shirt,” I replied, dropping my attention to his mouth.

“Exactly.”

His lips descended onto mine and swallowed my reply. The kiss wasn’t urgent or explosive this time. No. It was the tortuously slow. Luxurious. The toe-curling kind. The type of kiss felt throughout every cell in my body, and it still wasn’t enough. 

We broke away much too soon and exchanged an enamored smile. The tenderness of Raf’s touch sang to me and claimed another part of my heart. I gave myself permission to let him in a little more. He was, after all, standing topless in my kitchen making coffee after earth-shattering sex.

His fingertips trailed across my forehead and he tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. My ink-free skin contrasted with the intricate designs etched onto his chest as I ran my hands over the smooth, defined muscles.

“I’ve now seen yet another side of you.”

A hum vibrated under my palms. “Is that so?”

“Mmhmm.”

Rafael’s eyes sharpened. “Which is?”

“The part I assume you don’t let many people see.” The part that’s blindingly beautiful.

Raf scoffed. “The pussy side of me, you mean?”

I shook my head adamantly. “The raw and pure, incredibly kind part of you.”

His expression closed, and he pulled away from my space. After handing me the coffee, he leaned against the opposite counter.

“I’m away Monday week for a day or two.”

Our previous conversation died with the new one. Although frustrated that he shut it down, his planned absence did pique my interest.

“Oh, yeah?”

The cocky smirk returned. “It’s not what you think, mamacita. I’m flying to Portland to inspect and purchase a car for a client.”

“What type of car?”

“‘59 Cadillac Coupe deVille.”

“That’s going to be a long trip home.”

Raf let out a humorous snort. “Cars like that ain’t built for speed, baby; it’s all about the experience.”

I hummed dismissively, having absolutely no experience in that area and, therefore, nothing to compare it to. “I’ll take your word for it.”

The wry look on his face was telling. “You’ve never been cruising in something old school, have you?”

“Never.”

He spoke around his rolling laughter. “Oh, Greer, I’ll take you out sometime in my Hemi Dart; you’re in for a treat.”

I smiled widely, feeling like a kid receiving a special promise. “I’ll hold you to that, slick.”

His mouth twitched and he shook his head at the nickname.

“So, you’re away for the press release?”

“Intentionally,” he replied, as one clipped word.

“I thought you’d be around?”

“Fuck no. I’d rather have Arlo suck me off than be within ten blocks of the media.”

“You hate them that much?”

Raf grunted. “Not hate. I just hate being thrust into the spotlight when I’d rather keep a low-profile.”

“Because of your double-life as a street racer?” His insistence still had me perplexed.

Dark eyes seared into mine, and while they spoke of untold stories, I couldn’t put my finger on the most important one.

“Yeah, something like that,” he mumbled gruffly.

“Colton and Arlo will be there.”

“Exactly. Which means I don’t need to be. Which is why I won’t be. Now, enough about that. I didn’t come here to talk shop.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Then why exactly did you come here?”

Again with the sexy lip-quirk. “I already showed you why.”

“So, just for sex?”

Raf’s cocky expression went from fluid to frozen within those four words. He tilted back, and he eyed me down his straight nose. I’d come to find that was his self-preservation reaction designed to intimidate and shut people out.

“No, not just for sex.”

“For my smile?” I gifted him with my best toothy smile and was rewarded with a deep chuckle.

He stepped forward and his hands found my hips. “Yes, baby girl, for your smile. And your laugh. Your taste. The way you look at me, and the way you light my blood on fire.”

Tugging me to the edge of the countertop, his hips aligned perfectly with mine. I welcomed the trail of open-mouthed kisses laid along the side of my neck.

“Mmm fuck, and the way you smell.”

I let out a shaky exhale against his ear as his lips sent coils of desire unfurling down my spine. My hands touched down on the warm, defined jut of his hips, thumbs coming to rest perfectly in the hollow gracing either side of the V that disappeared under his jeans. He shivered and grunted as I passed over those sensitive spots. 

“You make me forget why I came here, mamacita, and now you’re giving me too many reasons to stay.”

I absorbed his whispered confessions. They wove throughout the four chambers of my beating anatomy and became part of who I was.

Within that achingly raw moment, my world shifted and the attracting force around us amplified in ways that made me feel weightlessly bound to him.

I spoke around the tightness in my throat. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, Raf.”

A puffed exhale tickled across my earlobe before his cheek smoothed along mine. The murmur that followed sounded like fucking voodoo pussy, but it was so far under his breath, I may have imagined it.