Chapter 10
Raphael
Evangeline sits across the aisle from me, staring blankly at the clouds as we pass them by. Her pretty eyes are dead, lifeless. She looks like she’s a million miles away. Her head shifts in my direction and she blinks at me, snapping back into the moment.
“What?” she asks quietly, so soft, so innocent. For once she looks her age. So new to the world and its cruel ways.
She’s watching me, waiting for my response. “You look lost…” I say.
Her gaze moves back to the pillowy clouds. “Lost…That’s a very accurate description of my life right now.” A heavy exhale bursts out of her mouth.
I want to reach out to her – hold her hand, pull her close – but her touch does way too much to me. The events of the last 24 hours have shown that I can’t remain neutral and level-headed when her skin is nestled against mine.
“I hope you aren’t still beating yourself up about that money you owe.” With my attention still on her, I reach distractedly for my tumbler of whiskey, swirling its contents and letting the ice clink softly against the sides. “I told you I’d take care of that Simon guy. You’ll have to lay low for a while, but I’ll make sure that he doesn’t hurt you.”
She tsks, rolling her eyes. “Great – you’ll take care of Simon. Unfortunately, my problems don’t end there…What the hell am I supposed to do with my life?” I don’t quite understand what she’s getting at. She seems to read that in my blank expression. “My modeling career is over. There’s no way to salvage that. It’s done…I’m 22 and I’m pretty much past my prime as far as the modeling industry is concerned. So what next? What do I do next?”
I try to reassure her. “You’ll figure it out. You’re young. You’re smart. You’re beautiful.”
She gives me a hard stare. “Y’see that’s the problem. In that industry, I’m old. Ancient. I’m done.” She closes her eyes briefly. “And I was never the smart one. My mother’s a college professor. My father’s the Chair of the entire Mathematics Department at Reyfield Community. My brother’s a lawyer. They’re the smart ones. So, ‘beautiful’ – that was supposed to be my thing. I was supposed to be the beautiful one. But I messed up even that. And now, I have nothing.”
Her eyelashes grow heavy but she doesn’t let those tears fall. My girl is strong. She’s tough. She’s got fight. But right now, she just doesn’t know what to fight for.
She is lost.
“Eva…” I say softly as I reach across the narrow aisle and tilt her chin so that she’s looking straight at me. I do my best to ignore the charge that skitters down my fingers and the way her plump lips part, expelling the softest whimper. “You can be whatever you want to be. The whole world is your playground.”
She looks away and laughs bitterly. “Easy for you to say. I bet you’ve never failed at anything, Raphael Silver."
I lean back in my seat and cross my ankles as a million unpleasant memories filter through my mind – the half-dozen innocent civilians who died because of that one fateful error I made as a young hot-head in the Marines, a venture that fizzled out because of a business partner with sticky fingers, a failed marriage that drained my pockets and crippled me emotionally. This life hasn’t been an easy ride.
"Of course I’ve had failure. Everyone fails sometimes. It's what you do with the failure that determines whether you're a winner or a loser."
I’m lucky that I had a support system to hold my head above water on each of those occasions. If it hadn’t been for Bob and Laurie Brooks I may not have come back from those defeats. They’re not perfect people – Bob fits every mathematician stereotype you could possibly dream up and Laurie tends to wear her libido on her sleeve which can be a bit unnerving – but they’ve scraped me up from the pits of hell a handful of times. That’s why I’m so loyal to them.
I’m just confused as to why they’re so hard on Eva. Why they’ve destroyed her trust to the point that she’d rather stand naked on an auction block in front of a room full of debauched strangers than ask for their help.
Evangeline is silent for a while, staring quietly into the distance, not really seeing anything, not even the things so clearly within her grasp. She may not realize it but she is smart, resourceful, strong. I just wish she would give herself a chance.
“People see me in magazines and they think that I have it together.” Her voice cracks but she keeps those tears in check. “But no one really sees me.”
Hearing her say these things is breaking me down. Hearing a beautiful, competent woman like her unsure of herself is demoralizing. Knowing that she doubts herself makes me want to be her backbone, prop her up until she’s strong enough to stand on her own two feet again with her head held high.
“I see you, Eva,” I lean forward and brush a tuft of golden hair from her eyes, “You just need someone to believe in you…I believe in you.”
I was too hard on her this morning. I pushed her away. But she’s fragile right now. She didn’t need my lecture. She’s been through the wringer and she just needs someone to hold the flashlight so that she can see all her perfect, glimmering pieces.
I wish I had been kinder to her.
Her eyes slowly connect with mine. I hold her gaze. And slowly, slowly, I see the clouds part. In those gorgeous blue-green irises, I see hope, determination and unspoken dreams. I feel like a miracle worker. Like I just brought her back to life.
My name falls from those soft lips. “Raph…”
The back of my neck tingles. When she calls me that, I’m putty in her hands. “Tell me what you want to do with your life, Eva.”
She hesitates. A shy uncertainty covers her features as she considers the subject.
I don’t want to pressure her. I trust that she’ll tell me when she’s ready. “It’s okay. Take your time…Just know that no matter what it is, I’ll help you.”
She nods wordlessly but I see the gratitude in her expression. Her gaze goes to my lips and stays there for a long moment. My mouth tingles because I know what she’s thinking. She wants me to kiss her again. I feel my body straining toward hers. My stomach goes taut. I want to feel her lips, too.
But right then, the captain’s voice comes from the cockpit, the staticy sound pouring in through the PA system. He lets us know that we’ve commenced our descent into the small, privately-owned island resort of Crystal Whale Island. He asks us to remain seated with our belts fastened until the plane is at our gate.
We’re silent during the landing, each lost in our own thoughts. I feel like such an asshole. This girl is obviously struggling with some real life decisions and all I can think about is pinning her to my mattress and touching her, licking her, fucking her until she comes.
Sex is the last thing that needs to happen between us. That would just further complicate her life (and mine). She needs time to find herself, to make that journey of self-discovery. Becoming entangled with a man nearly twice her age is definitely not a part of that journey.
When our airhostess unlatches the cabin door and the balmy tropical atmosphere blasts inside, Eva looks across at me and she grins. It’s pure unadulterated joy and excitement on her face.
I’m here for business, but maybe this little detour might be good for Eva’s quest to figure her life out. Maybe she’ll learn things about herself that will help her make wise life choices when she gets back home to Reyfield. That’s what I’m thinking as I follow her down the private jet’s narrow staircase, onto the asphalt.
Evangeline walks ahead of me, her luscious hips swinging with each step. A gusty breeze sweeps across the tarmac causing her floaty skirt to flutter up, exposing her gorgeous thighs.
I try to talk my cock out of his decision to grow as hard as a tree trunk at the first sight of her creamy skin. It’s no use, really. There’s no way to temper the way my body responds to her.
I’m in such deep shit…
But regardless of my body’s innate reactions to her, I have to be an adult and do the responsible thing – keep my cock to myself. But I know that she won’t make this easy.
Seeming to read my thoughts, she glances back at me over her shoulder. Her glossy blonde hair billows in the wind and she flashes me a smile that makes my steps falter. All signs of distress are gone from her face, leaving behind only that raw, effortless beauty.
Does she know what she does to me? Does she do this deliberately? Making my heart race like a damned teenager, making my palms sweat and my thoughts spin out of control. I pride myself on being a stone-cold businessman but this girl has my mind turning to mush.
My attention rips away from her backside when I hear a rich, deep voice calling my name in that distinct jovial Caribbean accent. “Mr. Silver!”
“Mr. Fenty!” I shove my inappropriate lust aside and pull on my game face.
It’s time to do business.