Page 20 of The Wrong Reciprocation

"Girl, stop it." Vanessa scolded as she held Rafael's hand for support as she climbed the short steps on side of the jacuzzi. "It's a beautiful evening and we are in a gorgeous place. We can all be adults and chill without the drama."

"That's easy for you to say," Twyla muttered, annoyed that her friend was trying to chastise her as if she wasn't experiencing a crisis.

"You're right," Vanessa chirped as she sank into the water next to Twyla. She sighed contentedly and then said, "I'm on the outside looking in so it is easy for me to say. We're gonna be here for ten days, y'all. Ten whole days in this amazing place; I just want y'all to call a truce during this trip."

Twyla frowned. Had Vanessa always been so damn selfish? Twyla invited her on this trip and Vanessa had the nerve to act like Twyla was ruining it six hours in just by being—rightly—upset about a situation out of her control? Wow.

Until then, Arturo had been quietly staring at Twyla from the seat he'd claimed just a few feet to her right. Finally, his eyes shifted from Twyla to Vanessa.

"You say call a truce as if Twyla and I were ever at odds with one another. As her friend, you know that's not true. It's unfair for you to try and make her feel bad for being dealt a bad hand."

Damn. Twyla was a mess. All Arturo had done was take up for her and it sent tingles down her spine.

"That's not what I was trying to do," Vanessa grumbled. She turned to Twyla, a full pout on her face. "You know that's not what I was trying to do, right?"

Twyla pursed her lips before answering. "I don't know what your intention was, but that is definitely what it sounded like."

Vanessa threw her arms around Twyla's neck and squeezed her in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, friend."

Twyla laughed. "Yeah, you are, but I love you anyway."

Gasping, Vanessa released Twyla and slapped the water between them to splash Twyla's face. "I got your sorry!"

With a shriek of laughter, Twyla tried to duck away from the spray and tripped on the slippery bottom of the hot tub. Certain that she was going to go underwater, Twyla held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut. When she fell into a pair of strong arms instead, she burst out laughing.

Her relieved laughter stopped abruptly when she opened her eyes and turned to her savior with gratitude on her lips. Her eyes collided with Arturo's and, instead of setting her on her feet, he sat down and settled her on his lap. The water came up to their chests and when one of his arms draped over her lap the breath froze in her lungs. She tried to scoot to the edge of his knees and place her feet on the floor of the jacuzzi, but his arm moved to her waist, halting her movements.

Curving her neck to give him an exasperated look, she said, "I don't have to sit in your lap. I can sit on the seat."

"Where at?" Arturo questioned directly into Twyla's ear in a low voice. "The jacuzzi is full. Everybody is lapped up."

"Arturo," she groaned. "Stop looking at me like that."

His expression didn't change, but his fingers tightened on her thigh. "How am I looking at you, Twyla?"

He was fucking her up two-fold. His hands on her brought her back to that day at the restaurant when he'd made her come in just a few minutes. The way he said her name always did something to her but now her reaction—a shiver of appreciation and tightened nipples—made her guilty. Instead of answering, she rose from his lap, pulling from his grasp to walk to the short steps and climb out of the hot tub. She'd had enough for the night.

Ignoring Vanessa's and Arturo's call, she yanked a towel out of the covered basket against the wall and hastily wrapped it around herself and stomped around the corner and down the patio until she reached one of the entrances into the house. This one led to the stairs that would take her to the bedroom that she and Vanessa were sharing. She reached the landing and started down the hallway when she heard her name called. Unlike down on the patio, she was unable to ignore him this time.

An exasperated sound fell loudly from her mouth as she turned. "What do you—"

The words were barely out of her mouth when suddenly Arturo grabbed her by the bicep and dragged her into the alcove up ahead, turning her to face him and crowding her up against the wall with a hand on either side of her head. In ten seconds flat she'd gone from walking away from him as quickly as her unsteady legs could carry her, to being caged by his arms in a dark corner of the cabin. More aroused than annoyed by his handling of her, she stared up at him with wide eyes.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She whisper-yelled, determined to keep her voice low in case anyone would walk by this area and hear them. It had been her intention to sound angry with him, but her heart was racing so quickly, and she was breathing too heavily to maintain it. She ended up sounding breathless and needy.

"I can't have you angry with me," he said in a low voice that shouldn't have had her as hot as it did.

"I'm not angry with you," she responded honestly. "I'm angry with the situation—I'm angry with my mama—but I'm not angry with you. I could never be angry with you." She hadn't meant to add that last part, but it was true and she didn't regret saying it. They might not be the same as they were before, but she never wanted him to think she blamed him or turned her anger on him.

He leaned in closer to her and she had to close her eyes against the want she saw in them. "If you're not angry with me," he murmured softly, "then be nice to me." His lips just barely brushed her own, and a shiver wracked her body from her head down to her toes.

"I can't." I can't she cried desperately. "I don't know how."

"Try," he commanded.

Then he slid a hand from the wall to palm the back of her neck. He closed the minute space between them, using his grip on her to tilt her head back so that she was angled for his lips to meet hers perfectly. He licked along the seam of her mouth, searching for entry and groaning his pleasure when she opened for him without hesitation. Her hands gripped his waist in desperation as he claimed her with his mouth. When his free hand clutched a handful of her ass, she whimpered into his mouth and wrapped both arms around his waist. A dozen thoughts were floating around her head, each more dangerous than the last, but the only thing she could focus on was how good he tasted and how horny he made her and how thick his dick felt pressed against her abdomen.

Arturo tapered the kiss with soft smacks and nips to her bottom lip and then he released her neck and gripped her chin. After a moment, her eyes fluttered open and she stared up into the molten lava that were his golden-brown orbs.