Breaking Through (The Breaking Series Book 3) (41 page)

“Why? Why choose that as your theme for this project?”

“Because … it has a story
and
history, which was the requirement for this project, but most importantly, because it has a meaning. These dances, the clothing, these songs, the food, the drink … they all mean so much to
gaúchos
. To your family. To you.” I looked at him pointedly. “Because it means a lot to you.”

I gasped as Gui let go of my hand and pushed me back, pressing me against a wall. Without warning, his mouth fell on mine, and his hands slid around my waist. He kissed me with fervor and I felt myself heating, burning. Thank goodness classes hadn’t started back and the hallways were still empty.

Gui brushed his lips down my jaw and whispered in my ear, “You’re something else, did you know that?”

I wound my arms around his neck. “If you’re going to kiss me like that every time you tell me that, then no, I didn’t know. You can try saying that again.”

He chuckled and returned his mouth to mine. He brushed his lips on mine delicately before pulling back and staring into my eyes. “You’re something else, Hilary.” Then his mouth crashed on mine again.

Six Months Later

Gui

If this weren’t an emergency, I would kill Leo.

I was leaving the building, getting into my car to go surprise Hilary in L.A., when Leo called, saying there was an emergency at Hannah’s ranch and I had to go right now. Damn, didn’t he know it was Valentine’s Day? My first one with an actual girlfriend? And that she had classes until late this evening and couldn’t come to Santa Barbara so I was going down there to see her?

I cursed some more as I sped down the road, hoping that the extra acceleration would help get me to the ranch fast, so I could help with whatever emergency it was, and then go to L.A. equally fast.

I turned my Jeep onto the ranch’s entry road and almost hit the brakes.

“What the …?”

Leo’s SUV wasn’t here, nor was Hannah’s car. But Hilary’s car was here, parked right in front of the stables. What was she doing here?

I slowed down and parked my car beside hers. As I exited the Jeep, I called for her, but nobody answered. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and called her number, but she didn’t answer.

Wary, I walked into the stables.

“Hilary?” I called once more and got no response.

A red piece of paper taped to a closed stall door caught my attention. Approaching it, I saw the red paper was cut in the shape of a heart. A smile tugged in my lips when I saw Hilary’s delicate handwriting.

Gui,

Take your horse and follow the red path.

Love, Hil

My horse? The red path? What the hell?

Shaking my head, I opened the top part of the stall and saw my horse was right there—tacked and ready to go.

“What are you doing here, Pampa?”

He neighed as I opened the lower part of the door. I grabbed his reins and guided him from the stables. Instantly, I saw a red ribbon tied to one of the gates on the arena. Chuckling, I hopped on my horse and followed the trail.

There were ribbons tied to trees and sometimes roses on the grass—and I followed it all for about twenty minutes, until I saw her down in a small vale, a few yards from the lake.

Man …

A heavy picnic blanket was spread on the grass, a large picnic basket in one corner, and a round outdoor fireplace in another—the fire high and bright. Belle was tied to a tree a few yards back, and Hilary had her back to me. She was wearing the dark green cowboy boots I had given her for Christmas and jeans. A heavy blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and her beautiful, blond hair moved with the soft breeze.

Pampa neighed and Hilary turned. Her eyes found mine and she smiled. And I smiled too, my heart squeezing in my chest. She was so fucking beautiful it hurt.

Never in my life had I thought I could feel about a woman the way I felt about her. Never ever. I was always happy when Leo, Ri, and Pedro found their matches, but I wasn’t sure how they could tie themselves to someone like that. Until now. Until feeling as I did at this moment.

There were so many plans in my mind for her and me, plans I had never thought of before I had met her, before she had bewitched me.

My first plan had been to surprise her in L.A. tonight, and give her something that meant a lot to me, but she had beaten me to it and surprised me instead.

I guided Pampa to the tree, hopped off, and tied him with Belle. My chest hurting, I ran to Hilary and only stopped running when she was in my arms. I bumped into her, wound my arms around me, pressed my mouth to hers, and took her to the ground, being careful so we wouldn’t fall too hard. Never breaking the kiss, I deposited her on the blanket on the ground and lay over her, fitting my body to hers. She moaned when I pressed my hips on hers, which only made my chest hurt more. I had missed her. I had seen her a few days ago, but I had missed her. I always missed her, even after only an hour being away.

She wrapped her legs around my waist and shifted under me, pressing her pelvis on my hard on. Damn, this girl drove me crazy. I slid my lips down her jaw and down her neck.

She inhaled sharply. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I whispered, never taking my mouth from her delicious skin.

She snaked one hand under my shirt, tracing the plains in my abdomen. I groaned, pressing my face into her neck.

“Surprise,” she half-whispered, half-giggled.

I lifted my upper body and supported my weight on my elbows, so I could look into her beautiful eyes. “I was going to L.A. to surprise you.”

She shrugged. “Sorry?”

“No need to be sorry. This looks pretty good.” It looked perfect. Much better than me showing up at her dorm room and inviting her to dinner at a crowded restaurant. I had to work on my romanticizing skills.

She looked to the fireplace. “I think I overdid it a little.”

“No, you didn’t. This is perfect,” I confessed. I ran a finger down her neck, into the cleavage of her thin, white sweater. “You’re perfect.” I contoured the curve of her breast and her breath hitched. I loved hearing these little sounds she made.

Since we admitted our feelings and outed our relationship to everyone at Leo’s and Hannah’s wedding, we hadn’t done much more than kissing. Okay, that was a fucking lie. Even though it killed me not to go all the way with her, we took it slow. Hilary had never gone to third base before and I didn’t want to rush her, not after everything she had gone through. We advanced, very little, very patiently. In the past six months, we started with heavy make out, then some heavy touching. Three months ago, I explored a good part of her body, having her naked, except for thin panties, and I happily put my mouth everywhere she’d let me. Two months ago, I had made her come just by touching her through her panties. And a month ago, she had slipped her hand under my pants and jacked me off. Her moves were a little clumsy and unsure but the feeling of her hand on me was enough to have me bursting with desire, with need. It had been torture—pure, fucking torture—not to take her right then. But I knew, I just knew she hadn’t been ready. And I liked her too much, way too much, to push her.

Besides all the physical stuff, I got to know the real Hilary, the one that had been hidden behind a wall for over three years. She smiled more, she laughed more, and she even told jokes. She loved horses and we went riding together often. She came to all of my matches—except one or two when it was right during a final exam or something serious—and she learned all the game rules and supported me like no one else ever had. We went out with our family and friends, and I learned the girl could freaking dance and drive me crazy with a shift of her hips. She was a free, wild spirit with a kind heart and a beautiful soul. And she was all mine.

Hilary arched her back to my touch, giving me more access to her cleavage.

I withdrew my hand. “Hil?”

Pushing me back until I was sitting on my heels, Hilary sat up. Looking into my eyes, she pulled her sweater over her head and threw it somewhere behind us. Next, she reached around her back and unclasped her bra.

My throat went dry. “Hil?”

She didn’t pull her bra off. “I’m ready,” she whispered. I could see her shoulders shaking slightly, but the resolve in her eyes was unmistakable. “I’m ready,” she repeated.

“I …” I ran a hand through my hair. “Don’t shit with me.”

She reached for my T-shirt. “I’m not shitting with you.”

“Hil …”

“What?”

“I … I can’t … I don’t want you to think you’re ready and regret it five seconds later.”

She cupped my face and looked into my eyes. “Gui, I won’t regret it. You know why?” Holding my breath, I shook my head. “Because I love you.”

I didn’t waste one second. I jumped on her, took her mouth into mine, pressed my body into her, slipped my hands under her bra, and clasped her breasts. She moaned as I pinched her nipples before sliding down and closing my mouth over her right breast. She gasped as I lapped my tongue on her hard nipple and slid my hand down her stomach. Very, very slowly, I unbuttoned her jeans. I took minutes, giving every chance for her to back off, to say no, but she didn’t.

I stopped, breaking the kiss, and pulled away enough to look into her eyes. “You gotta tell me … if you give up, if you change your mind, it’s okay. I’m okay with that. Just say the word and I’ll stop.”

She lifted her head and brushed her lips on mine. “Don’t stop,” she whispered.

I swallowed hard. I was probably more fucking nervous than she was. But this was a big deal. It was her first time—after all she had been through—and she was sharing it with me. Damn, a mix of happiness and pride and concern filled my chest. I wanted her all for myself forever. I just hoped she wanted that too.

It was now or never.

I reached into the back pocket of my jeans and pulled out a slim, black velvet box and offered it to her.

Her face paled and her eyes went wide. “What …”

“Just opened it,” I said.

With trembling hands, she took the box from me and opened it. She let out a sigh of relief and I almost laughed. “Your apartment keys,” she said with a smile. “For a second there, I thought you were proposing.”

Well, she didn’t know that, but I thought about proposing a lot. I just knew she needed more time for that and we had all the time in the world.

“You’re coming back to Santa Barbara this summer for the internship with Fallon White again, so I thought, instead of renting an apartment, you could move in with me.” Ri was living with Lauren since they got married, and Pedro was more at Iris’s place than anywhere else. That apartment was practically all mine, and I wanted to share it with her.

“M-move in?”

“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “You come up here every weekend and officially stay at your parents, though you sleep at least one night at my apartment. I thought we could make that a permanent thing.” She stared at the key and I started getting anxious. Her parents were still a little wary of me. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe because another one of their daughters was dating a Fernandes and that was just weird. Well, at least they weren’t giving me too hard of a time about that. But they could be talking to her about it, trying to make up her mind about ditching me. “So?”

Hilary threw her arms around my neck and kissed me hard, long, and deep. She pulled me down until I was lying over her again.

“Yes,” she whispered between kisses. “I’ll move in with you.”

My turn to kiss her hard and long and deep. I continued where we left off minutes ago—my hand sliding under her unbuttoned jeans pants, and she squirming under my touch. I pushed past her panties and touched her right there. She gasped and went still when I slipped one finger inside her. Damn, she was so fucking wet! I groaned and kissed her even harder. Her lips molded to mine, and her tongue took as much as it gave. I moved my finger, sliding in and out and soon Hilary was panting, moving her hips to match my hand.

“Do you like this?” I asked against her mouth. She nodded and I slid a second finger inside her. She gasped again, but this time instead of freezing, she grabbed my shoulders and held on while she rode my hand. Her half-closed eyes, her parted mouth, and her erratic breathing were the sexiest thing I had ever seen in my life. I increased the speed and pressed my thumb on her clit. She moaned and dug her nails on my arms. She could draw blood if she wanted; right now, I didn’t care.

“Please,” she gasped.

“Please what?” I asked, loving this game.

“Please …”

Her sultry voice, it was torture. Without stopping moving my fingers, I leaned on my free arm, and then pulled her bra from her arms and threw it aside. Adjusting myself on top of her, I took one of her breasts in my mouth and sucked. Hard. She knotted her hands in my hair and cried. I lapped my tongue on her hard nipple and increased the pressure of my thumb on her clit. She cried again and then went still for two seconds before breaking out in little tremors. Slowly, I removed my hand from under her panties and slid my lips up her chest and neck until I was looking into her eyes.

Then I just had to take a minute to appreciate the view. She looked so gorgeous and wild and carefree lying under me, with her breasts bare and her blond hair fanned around her beautiful face. Her expression was pure bliss, but her green eyes sparkled, attentive. My heart squeezed. This … this perfection was mine. Just mine. It was too much.