Today’s Wicked Wednesday is about taking it slow — something that Sylvia and Carlos have a problem with in SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN.
The two have been hot for each other for several weeks since first meeting in SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS, but now they are pulling back from one another. Realizing that they need to deal with what they’re feeling for each other which goes way beyond the physical.
Here’s a little exchange between Sylvia and Carlos when the frustration of taking it slow and battling that attraction has created enough friction and tension to make tempers run short.
“Can’t sleep?”
Carlos stood in the hallway leading to her room, light limning the silhouette of his lean-hipped body.
There was no sense denying it, so she sat up on the couch, creating another loud cacophony as she did so. “Thinking
about . . . work and things. How about you?”
He walked toward her, the limp in his gait less noticeable than it had been a few days earlier when he had moved in. He had improved a lot in a short time even though she had noticed after their walk that morning that he had taxed himself. He had been tired and in pain when they had returned, although her attempts to ease his discomfort had turned into a rather nice interlude — until her mother had arrived for her surprise visit. But even then Carlos had toughed it out for her during the afternoon and the early dinner they had shared.
Despite this morning’s seeming setback, she could already notice not just his increased mobility, but that he seemed to have more strength. Even his color was better. Afternoons spent lazing in Lummus Park and the morning walks they were able to occasionally take had added a nice healthy glow to his skin and replaced the hospital pallor.
“Can’t sleep. Too much noise coming from in here.” He sat on the couch beside her and it creaked loudly. He met her guilty gaze. “There’s no reason that we both can’t get some sleep if you come to bed.”
“Come to bed? I was worried I might disturb your rest.” Feeling decidedly exposed, although the Victoria’s Secret cotton pajamas she wore were rather tame, she pulled up the comforter to just below her neck.
Carlos dragged a hand through his hair and sank back against the couch, prompting another squeak. “SÃ. In bed. With me. This way I can finally rest because I won’t be awake listening to you toss and turn and maybe you’ll even be able to get some sleep.”
She hadn’t realized she was keeping him up. “I’m sorry. I thought you were comfortable.”
“I am. But I’d be better if you just stopped being . . .”
“Pigheaded?” she offered when he hesitated.
“Okay, if pigheaded is the way you’re feeling. And what does that mean anyway? Pigheaded? How stupid a way is that to describe your stubbornness.”
“Stubbornness? How about understanding that I’m trying to be considerate,” she shot back, anger flaring to life at his annoyance.
“Considerate? The bed’s big enough for an army. What’s so considerate about — ”
“Leaving you alone to sleep? Do you think we would get much rest if I got into bed with you?” she said because she wanted him more than she cared to admit, but was smart enough to know that she also possibly wanted . . . more than something physical.
He sighed harshly and faced her. He wore a white muscle shirt and dark-colored sweats. The shirt did nothing to hide the immense breadth of his shoulders or his well-defined muscles. The sight of them reawakened the desire to feel those strong arms around her and just confirmed to her that getting in bed with him might lead to nothing but trouble.
“Do you think you’re that irresistible?” he said, surprising her.
“Huh? Me? You think this is about me?” she nearly yelled.
“SÃ. Do you think I can’t resist you?”
Well, that was a big ouch in the ego column. “You’re right. You’re a big boy. No reason to think you can’t keep your hands off me,” she said as she regally rose from the couch and wrapped the comforter around herself.
“If that’s what you want, amorcito,” he said and even in the dark, she could see the twinkle in his blue-green eyes. She had been played.
“What I want? I don’t know what I want. Maybe that’s the reason I’ve tried to be sensible and grown up about this,” she finally admitted.
Carlos shook his head. “Sensible? Grown up?”
He stood slowly, a bit of a hitch in the action as his leg protested the rise from her low-slung sofa, but then he stood before her. Leaned impossibly close and in a low, sexy tone said, “I think I like you better when you’re less sensible. When you follow your heart.”
He didn’t wait for her reply and headed for her bedroom, leaving her to stand there and think about what her heart wanted. About her giving in to her itch and finally doing all those things she had only just thought about for months now. Thought about every minute for the five days he’d been in her home.
As she walked toward her bedroom, she reminded herself that scratching too hard wasn’t a good thing. That if she maybe waited a bit, the itch might just go away.
But as she saw him waiting for her, his gaze hot as he tracked her flight to the far edge of the bed, she realized just how hard it was going to be to resist him.
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