Prologue
The kiss was deep and passionate.
Maria Gomez hadn’t known kissing could be so succulent and full of longing, yet so true at the same time. For truth existed in this kiss—a truth she had never felt before.
Never had the juiciest Colorado beef or the richest chocolate tasted as divine as Jeff’s mouth on hers.
Truth. Pure truth laced up in craving and wonder.
Maria wasn’t all that experienced. She was still a virgin at eighteen, but she’d done her share of kissing. From a shy peck from Leo Martinez when she was fourteen to making out with Greg Black in his car and at myriad parties senior year of high school—yeah, she’d been around the block as far as kissing went.
All of those kisses seemed like the cover band to sit through before Styx finally took the stage.
Jeff Bay? He was definitely Styx.
Jeff was a rebel—a cowboy who wore black leather and rode a Harley Davidson Fat Boy. Tall and built, he could easily model for GQ. His walnut hair hung below his ears in lazy waves, and his brown eyes were smoky and smoldering. His full pink lips curved up in a slightly lopsided smile that melted Maria’s heart. His skin was the color of peach cream. Maria loved the contrast with her own olive complexion. And when he took off his shirt? Oh my. Those broad shoulders and sculpted arms pointed the way to a gorgeous chest and abs. His nipples were two brown coins nestled in just the right amount of dark hair sprinkled over his chest.
And his butt—covered in jeans that hugged those hips and glutes just right and then snugged around his muscular legs all the way down to his black cowboy boots.
Jeff’s full lips slid over hers with the perfect combination of caring softness and reckless abandon. When he probed his tongue between them and entered her mouth, she nearly swooned. He tasted of cinnamon and strawberries, with an accent of wild and savage. His groan vibrated, more than sounded, against her cheeks.
She kissed him back. Not like she’d kissed any other man…no, boy. For in this moment, she knew she’d never kissed a man before. The others had all been boys. And she kissed him back for the first time as a woman, not a girl.
Passion. Eagerness. And agony. Yes, the pure agony of knowing she would never experience another kiss like this.
So this one would have to last. She twirled her tongue with his, lapped up all she could of Jefferson Bay, because he’d never kiss her again. Not silly Maria Gomez. Jeff was twenty-one, a rebel and free spirit. Why he was bothering with her, she had no idea. But she’d question it later.
Right now, she’d enjoy it.
Every single second of it.
He kissed her harder, with raw animal power. She returned his kiss eagerly. Too eager maybe? She didn’t care. This might be the only time she’d ever be kissed like this.
When he ripped his lips from hers, her heart sank…but then soared when he smiled down at her with those sparkling brown eyes.
“Damn, Mia.”
No one had ever called her Mia before. She’d always been Maria to her mama or sweet pea to her daddy, when he was alive. The endearment from Jeff’s lips rang in her ears like joyful bells. She curled her lips upward in a shy smile.
“Nothing to say?”
“What do you want me to say?” she asked coyly.
“Tell me you enjoyed that as much as I did. That you want to kiss me forever. Because damn, honey, I could sure kiss those beautiful lips of yours for even longer than that.”
Her lips parted of their own accord.