Author's Note: Guess I didn't do as well with the teen version as I thought, but it was my first attempt. I'm so glad a few of you liked it. I want to get over that chapter and this one so I can like the story again, cause right now it's giving me an ulcer. If you have specific cues to what didn't flow properly or what was too much, please let me know (cause yes, there's a little more later).
This chapter contains sensual situations. They're talking in bed, and Diego is a guy, so it is not G rated. All three ratings are once again different.
Zzz
Victoria blinked as she looked around her empty room. She'd gone against the church today. She waited for the guilt and regret, but it didn't come. They'd been kept apart for so long, she'd wanted to give him this. Her legs ached, but her skin still tingled from his massage. She'd never be able to look at Diego's hands again without blushing. She'd never be able to be around Diego again without blushing.
She jumped when Diego rushed back through the door so quickly. Had he gone all the way to the kitchen and back so fast? He dropped a pile of black by the door, and once again Victoria blushed. There was nothing marring the front of his chest, except for a few scratches she knew weren't from the cart.
"What is it with apple pie?" she asked as she watched him set one down on the table beside her pillow. He grinned at her and turned back to her dresser to pour the water.
"I never got to eat any," Diego complained. He brought the bowl of water and towels to the other side of the bed and her hands unconsciously tightened on the blanket. Diego saw the movement and he bent to kiss her forehead. He set the wet cloth down and lay behind her, wrapping her tight in his arms.
"You don't need the blanket anymore." Diego reached up to her neck and gently pulled at the quilt she still held tightly. He pressed a kiss below her ear and trailed his lips up to her mouth. He kissed her, his tongue licking over her lips slowly to coax a response. She sighed and her grip loosened on the quilt and he pulled it off her shoulder. His lips trailed back down her neck and she finally relaxed and turned to him.
Diego's hands smoothed down her body until his fingers ran over the scar from the bullet she took for Zorro. He pulled away to get a closer look, and Victoria's hands threaded into his hair as he bent to examine her stomach.
"Dios, you scared me so much that day. Then you made Zorro sound so…." He rested his head against her stomach and looked up at her face, enjoying the feel of her fingers stroking his hair. "You do love me? Diego? I like books. I like science. It's not all an act, Victoria. I'm sorry for what I said this morning, but I—"
Victoria's fingers covered his mouth. "Let's not talk about this morning." Victoria's fingers traced over his features, amazed again at how blind she'd been. "I did have a crush on you, but you never looked at me. And you're probably the richest man in California. Who am I? Everyone wants you to marry their daughter. You never wanted to get married."
Diego pushed up on his hands and kissed her long and deep, taking possession of her whole body with only his mouth. "Because I only wanted to marry one woman, from the day I came home from Madrid."
"You want to marry me?"
"Victoria, we're getting married in the morning. In case you didn't notice, I just destroyed your reputation." Diego grinned wickedly. "Shall I do it again to remind you?" Diego moved back down her body, and her hands tightened in his hair again. He relented and paused at her stomach, lightly pressing kisses to her skin.
"We might have created a baby," he whispered into her skin. Both of his hands joined his lips to caress her stomach, as if wishing for it would ensure conception.
Her body tensed beneath him, and Diego looked back up at her. "I thought you wanted children. This morning…" But her flush was gone, her face ashen, one arm covering her breasts as her hand fell away from his hair and she stared at the ceiling. "Victoria?" Diego lifted back up on his hands to look at her, and he felt his insides turn to ice as she turned away from him. He lifted his body away from her, watching numbly as she curled up on her side again. His legs dropped to the floor as he sat by her feet.
"You said you loved me," Diego whispered, as if his voice didn't have the strength to speak louder. "You said my name."
When she said nothing, he bent to pick up his shirt. His skin was too tight over the scrapes on his back, but he felt nothing as he slipped it over his head. He thought back over the events of the day and tried to think where it went wrong. His eyes fell to the cloth on the floor he'd brought from the kitchen to clean and soothe them both. Victoria's blood…evidence of the innocence he'd taken from her, of the gift she'd given him. Now she wanted to take it back?
He stood and paced to the shuttered window, and didn't turn when he heard her move. He didn't know if anger or heartbreak was winning the battle right now.
"Diego…"
Diego turned and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his eyes staring somewhere around her feet.
"I'm sorry," Victoria said when he didn't say anything. She'd pulled the quilt up to her chin again, sitting up against the headboard.
Confused and hurt eyes met hers. "You're sorry?"
"Come back to bed." He didn't move from his spot guarding the window. "Getting married…having children…doing…what we did, it's been a long night."
"So you just wanted comfort tonight? Sabrina's dead but you're alive? Don't want to think about the ordinary man you unmasked?" She flinched and he ground his teeth to keep from saying anything else in anger. He wasn't going to walk away like this morning, but lashing out wasn't going to solve anything.
"That's not true and you know it." She waited for him to look at her again. "Come back over here so we can talk."
"If I come back over there, I'm not going to want to talk." Diego sighed and tried to relax and think of things from her perspective. "I've wanted you for four years. It's not the same for you, though, is it?" He couldn't keep the desolation out of his voice.
Victoria leaned forward, hugging her knees to her chest. "I loved Diego as a friend. The romantic feelings I had for you dried up because I thought you didn't care about me. That you didn't care about anything outside of your books. None of that is true."
"No, it's not." Diego uncrossed his arms, ran his hands through his hair to relax. "I'm sorry I lied."
"You thought you had your reasons. I also thought I'd find out who Zorro was when you were out of danger. That's not true, either." She looked at the distance separating them and felt cold. "Will you please come back to bed?"
Diego's fists clenched in indecision. Victoria reached to the other side of the bed and grabbed the apple pie. "You said you wanted some apple pie. Come sit and eat." She saw his eyes drop to her shoulder where the quilt had slipped. She looked at the pie, looked at the quilt covering her naked body. She took a deep breath, and kept her eyes on the pie as she dropped the quilt to the other side of the bed, wrapping an arm back around her knees.
She bobbled the pie when she looked up to find him standing inches from the bed, and would have dropped it if he hadn't caught it. She never even heard him move. She hugged her knees with both arms as he set the pie on the table and looked down at her. He pushed her hair off one shoulder, then traced one finger from her neck to her wrist. She watched the goose bumps spread on her arm, and tried to calm her breathing. Then her eyes caught on his arm. His covered arm.
She let him pull her arm away, but then she pushed his hand back toward him. "Your shirt's been on the floor. Take it off." She didn't know how he managed to hear the words she barely managed to squeeze past the lump in her throat. She couldn't look at his eyes, couldn't tear her eyes away from him, didn't know where to look. She tried to take a deep breath, and it shook as she exhaled. Diego took a step back from her and she panicked, finally meeting his eyes to reassure herself he wasn't leaving.
When Diego's shirt was once again on the floor, she blinked in surprise when he bent to pull off a boot. He hadn't even taken off his boots? She grabbed the quilt again, covering herself as she lay back down with an impatient sigh she didn't quite feel. By the time she'd settled and turned to look at him, his second boot had dropped to the floor.
Diego turned in a circle when he finally undressed, and watched her eyes travel over his body. "Good enough to be the legendary fox?" Diego asked, and Victoria felt a stab of guilt at the pain and insecurity she heard under the flippant question. She backed away from the edge of the bed, and she lifted the quilt an inch off the bed in a hesitant invitation.
"What, I don't get to look?"
She pulled the quilt instinctively back to her neck, bit her lip. Then she threw her arm high and immediately back down again, the quilt baring her body for only the briefest second. "Satisfied?"
Diego shook his head, took hold of the quilt covering her feet and yanked. She squealed and reached for it, but Diego was already moving. Rather than take the space she'd made for him, he covered her body with his. "What about your pie?"
She gasped as he tasted her neck. "You taste better than pie."
Victoria was lost for a second, but pushed at his shoulders until he settled next to her. She rushed to grab the quilt and arrange it over them, wrapped an arm around his chest and tucked her head into his shoulder. "We're supposed to be talking."
"If you're going to tell me you don't want to marry me, I'd rather not hear it."
She looked at the lump in the quilt covering his hips. "Does that hurt? Is that why you're being so grouchy?"
"I'm not being grouchy," Diego protested, though he might have to admit he was lying. "Alright, I'm sorry. Talk."
She liked being tucked against him, but she couldn't look at him so she moved to lay her chest on top of his. She propped her chin on her folded hands and looked at him. "We never talked about marriage," Victoria whispered.
Diego watched her for a moment, reached up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "Maybe I'm afraid of what you'll say. You didn't seem too excited about the idea of carrying my child a few minutes ago."
"We skipped a few steps, Diego. You apologized for being impatient but now you're not even giving me time to think."
Diego's hands stroked up her back beneath the covers, and she squirmed. "I guess I've been thinking too much lately. You never looked at me the way you looked at Zorro. You relate to me like I'm your brother or a child… Why would that change if you found out I wore a mask and could fight?"
"Diego, it changes everything. You made Diego appear pretty ridiculous, you have to admit. And the books and experiments you're always so focused on obviously have a purpose. Everyone thinks you're wasting your time. That you can't ride a horse or …or do anything. But you're incredible."
"So you'll marry me?"
"Yes, but it's not as simple as let's go to the priest in the morning."
"Why not?"
"Diego, everyone thinks I love Zorro. What happens when people hear I married you?"
"They'll think I got lucky," Diego said and his hands began to wander again.
"Diego…" Victoria warned, and Diego returned his hands to the small of her back with a sigh.
"And what happens if you don't marry me and you find you're pregnant with my child?"
This time Victoria grinned. "Do you think so? From one time?"
Diego's hands wandered again and she gasped. "One time? You're too sore to do it again? The second time is more fun, I promise."
"We're talking," Victoria said, but her voice lacked conviction and her eyes had turned glassy.
"No, you're not talking. Why did you look spooked at the thought of having my child?"
Diego sighed up at the ceiling when she didn't respond, resting her head back against his chest. She never confused Zorro this much. "When is the next time you bleed?"
Victoria had relaxed against him but that question got her attention. "Diego!"
Diego chuckled. "Victoria!" His voice matching her horrified tone. "Querida, I'm going to know when it is for the rest of our lives when you're sleeping in my bed, and you are going to be in my bed." He smiled when he squeezed her butt and she squeaked. "You're not the only one who wants to know if you're pregnant."
"So if I'm pregnant it won't come." Diego shook his head. "I guess another two weeks. I don't really pay attention. I never had cause to worry before." Victoria rested her head on his chest, looking away from him again.
Diego grit his teeth. "Victoria, I love you. We'll get married. I don't understand what all the worry is about." Diego rubbed her back. He wanted her to be pregnant. "My father wants grandchildren. I'm an only child with a large estate and everyone keeps reminding me I need heirs. You got tired of waiting for Zorro. We're friends. Marry me for my money. I don't much care what people think."
Victoria chuckled and looked at him again, and Diego smiled. "Wait…your bed. At your hacienda?" Diego's hands paused mid-stroke on her back.
"You don't like my house? We can build another, I don't care. Tell me what you want." Diego pulled her chin around to face him again and his eyebrows rose at her sad face.
"What happens to my tavern?"
Diego threaded his fingers into her hair to massage her scalp and waited for her eyes to meet his. "I'm not going to make you sell your tavern."
Victoria rested her head on his chest again. Diego stamped down his frustration. "So what do you want? You say you love me, but you're making something simple into something difficult. I'm telling you that you can have anything you want. I'd move heaven and earth for you. You let me into your bed but you don't want to talk about marriage or babies?"
Victoria pulled the rest of her body on top of his. "I don't want to talk anymore." She kissed him and Diego groaned as she pushed her tongue in his mouth and was more aggressive than she'd ever been. He could feel her heat against his skin and knew it wouldn't take much to be inside her again.
He wrapped his arms around her and rolled her under him, pressing his hips against hers and taking her hands in his to hold her captive. "No," he waited for her to stop struggling. "What's bothering you so much? We can hire a manager, you can keep the tavern. I love you, wouldn't take something you love so much from you. You said you love me. We could be married in a few hours. Spend the day in bed. Go to the beach. Actually spend time together for a change and you just expect me to ignore what happened tonight?"
Victoria struggled a moment, but he had her pinned. Any movement she made only reminded her of how intimately he held her. "I figured out who you were today," Victoria said urgently, as if that answered everything.
"So what, I'm rushing you?" Diego's frustration bordered on anger again. His arms tensed as he concentrated on not squeezing her wrists, and he lowered himself to his elbows to be closer to her. He was on top of her, skin to skin, pressed intimately against her after she'd invited him into her bed the second time tonight. "You told me to stay. After four years you let me in to your bed," his hips pressed into hers, "into your body. Now I'm rushing you?"
Victoria fought to free her hands and she grabbed his face when he let her go. "I figured it out today. If all of a sudden we get married, someone else will, too. You made the alcalde angry this week. He arrested you!"
"Oh, so you noticed?" Diego grinned down at her.
"Of course I noticed! What kind of thing is that to say?" Victoria slapped at his shoulder but he only settled more firmly into her.
"I wondered. So you're worried I was too outspoken this week and someone will find out I'm Zorro if we get married in the morning?" Diego kissed her shoulder.
"Diego, this is serious."
Diego chuckled against her skin as he kissed lower. "Very serious."
She yanked at his hair and he considered putting the mask back on. She never pulled Zorro's hair. "What? No one has figured it out in four years." He pressed a kiss into her breast. "I'll be especially lazy this week. Matter of fact, I don't think I'll get out of bed at all." He pressed a kiss between her breasts and continued trailing lower.
Her nails dug into his shoulders when he got to her stomach, and he moved back up to kiss her lips. "Aren't we done talking yet? No one is going to arrest me. I'll be more careful."
"Promise?"
Diego promised, and then showed her how gentle and loving he could be.
Later, Victoria curled up to his chest again. "I love you," she whispered, placing a kiss over his heart.
Diego hugged her tight. "I love you." He kissed the top of her head. "You're my life. I won't let anything happen. I swear." He stroked her back as her breath evened out and she fell asleep, but he stayed wide awake.
Zzz
Author's Note 2: There. Now I can stop agonizing over this part and get on with the story. Feedback is greatly appreciated, so I can learn and improve and apply what you say to future chapters. Hope a few of you enjoyed this chapter.
