CHAPTER TWELVE
THEY DROVE BACK TO HER apartment in silence, the echo of her last words on the dance floor all around them. Her hand was in Rafael’s, her thigh pressed against his.
Each bump of the road pressed her more firmly against him, had her excitement ratcheting up another notch until being with him was all she could think about.
She was taking a huge step, putting a lot of trust in him, but after tonight she couldn’t do anything else. He’d let her see him with his family, let her see his vulnerabilities, when he prided himself on being strong.
How could she do any less?
By the time they got to her apartment, her blood was pounding through her veins and hunger—raw, out of control, insatiable—was whipping through her. She had no idea what the future, or even the next few days, would bring, but she was determined to have this time with him.
The slam of the door behind them sounded like a gunshot, and it galvanized Rafael to action. With a groan, he lowered his head and captured her mouth with his own.
The moment his warm lips touched hers, her tenuous grip on control vanished. Her hands tangled in the cool silk of his hair as his tongue gently parted her lips. But she didn’t want gentleness now, didn’t want him to hold back anything out of concern for her. She wanted Rafael, with his black moods and violent quests, with his analytical mind and furious passions. And she would have him. Tonight. Now. This instant.
“Rafael.” She whispered his name, clung to him. He was her sanity in a world turned suddenly upside down, the only thing standing between her and her bland, boring past. But she wouldn’t think of her reticence now—refused to think of it. Not when Rafael was in her arms and as hungry and needy for her as she was for him.
He kissed her again and it was hot. Electric. All-consuming and terribly addicting.
Self-preservation reared its ugly head, warned her to stop this before it was too late, before she lost everything. But it had been too late the moment he’d first rescued her. Too late from the second he’d kissed her palm and dragged her across his truck and into his lap. Now all she could do was ride the wave and let the collateral damage take care of itself.
Trembling with the pain and pleasure of her desire for him, Vivian parted her lips and let him in.
And he took her. Again and again and again he used his tongue and teeth and lips on her, in her. Sucked her lower lip between his teeth and bit. Ran his tongue soothingly over the little hurt before thrusting it inside of her again.
She moaned low in her throat as their tongues met, dueled, then surrendered. Desire was a burning pain in every part of her, sweeping from her mouth to her breasts to her very core.
“Rafael,” she gasped against his lips, her body straining against his.
He laughed then pushed against her with his chest, his legs, his iron-hard thighs. She whimpered, liquid heat rushing through the very heart of her until the only thing keeping her upright was him.
Still he pushed, backing her across the room. Lifting her. Pressing against her until she was trapped between the wall and his rigid body. He settled between her legs, his hardness cradled by her sex, and she moaned in helpless pleasure.
“Take me.” She arched against him, her body an open invitation as she circled his waist with her legs. “Take me now.”
He laughed again, then thrust himself against her.
She nearly came despite the layers of clothes separating them from the ultimate union.
“There’s no reason to rush, sweetheart. We’ve got all night.” He ran his tongue down her throat, following a bead of sweat as it ran into the valley between her breasts. “I want to savor you.”
“There’s every reason to rush,” she answered, clawing at the fine silk of his shirt with her fingers. The material tore beneath her attack and then there was nothing stopping her from exploring the broad expanse of chiseled muscles. “I’m going to die if you don’t come inside me. Now.” She dug her nails into his skin and relished his instantaneous response.
In that moment, Rafael lost the control he’d been so valiantly struggling to hold on to. Before he could think better of it, before he could even attempt to calm himself down, he tangled his hands in her hair. Her head hit the wall hard, but neither of them noticed as he ground his mouth to hers and plundered.
She tasted bittersweet, like pain and pleasure and every craving he’d ever had. Breaking away from her lips, he ran his tongue down her throat. Tore at her clothes with his hands and teeth until her dress slipped to the floor.
He was desperate, completely enthralled by the heat pouring off her in waves. He had to taste her, touch her, push himself inside of her until—
“Rafael!” He kissed his way down her breasts, then pulled back a little so that he could see her gorgeous nipples. They were the sweetest shade of pink he’d ever seen—the same color as her glorious, topsy-turvy mouth.
Closing his teeth over one sweet bud, he bit her softly and nearly imploded with his first taste. Her screams of pleasure echoed in his ears.
He switched to the other nipple, drew it into his mouth and rolled it between his teeth. Vivian was crying, moaning, her soft, seductive body bucking against him with each pull of his mouth on her breast.
“Now, now, now.” she repeated the word like a litany, her back bowed. He raised his head and looked at her, then stood transfixed for a moment by her incredible beauty.
She was too far gone to appreciate his restraint, and he felt his last hold on sanity abandon him as she moved against him. “Rafael, please! Please,” she chanted, sobs racking her chest until her entire body shuddered against him.
And still he continued, taking her further than she’d ever gone before. Taking her outside of herself and into him until she ceased to exist as an entity separate from him. There was no more Vivian, no more court case, no more danger. There was only Rafael and the incredible, terrifying control he exerted over every part of her.
Rafael laughed as he slid a finger inside of her and found her most sensitive spot. He rubbed against her—once, twice—and just that easily hurtled her into the most intense orgasm of her life.
As she stood there, afraid to move because she knew her shaky legs wouldn’t support her, he pulled her against his chest with one fluid movement, then carried her through her apartment.
“Where’s your bedroom?” he murmured, his voice so low that it might have been a growl. His eyes glowed like obsidian in the dim hallway light.
“To the right.” It was all she could do to get the words out, her body thrumming with need despite the release she had just had. Her feelings for him had welled up inside of her until the ache was as much emotional as physical.
She needed him. Craved him. Was dying to feel him inside of her. She tried to tell him so, but the connections between her brain and the rest of her body seemed to have short-circuited, and all she could do was moan. So she simply relaxed as he found her bedroom and laid her on the lavender satin comforter she’d bought a few months before.
He pulled away and she whimpered, tried to reach for him, but he merely laughed, and she could hear the rustle of clothes in the darkness. Determined to see him, she rolled to her side and extended a lazy, languorous hand toward the base of the lamp on her dresser. A dim light appeared, one that was soft and rosy and oh so inviting.
Then she settled back on the bed and enjoyed the show as Rafael unbuttoned his pants and slowly stripped them off his long, heavily muscled thighs.
He was beautiful, so strong, so tender he made her ache. Captivated by him, desperate to feel his hardness between her hands, she managed to get her brain to issue one more intelligible order to the rest of her body. Reaching for him, she murmured, “My turn.”
He grinned, then settled himself next to her on her big soft bed. “Eventually.”
“I don’t want to wait that long.” She sighed and began to stroke.
The breath slammed out of him as every muscle in Rafael’s body tightened to the point of pain. He fought to relax, but that was impossible as her hands and mouth skimmed over his shoulders and chest and stomach. As she moved lower, sparks exploded behind his eyes—clean and bright and almost as beautiful as Vivian’s eyes.
“Vivian.” Her name was all he could manage to say, a guttural groan, when what he really wanted to do was praise her. To tell her how beautiful she was. How much he wanted and needed her. How he’d do anything for her.
But she was killing him softly, slowly and without a shred of mercy as her mouth skimmed over his thighs.
She was as pale as the ocean in the moonlight, as wild as the waves breaking against the sand, and he couldn’t get enough of her. Her long, silky, glorious hair was wrapped around her, wrapped around him, as he brought his hands to her slender, breakable body. It was hard to imagine such strength existed in something so fragile.
“Tell me you want me,” he whispered as he pulled her back up his body. He licked his way over every inch of her—down her breasts to the nipples, over the flat plane of her stomach, down the silky sweetness of her thighs to her calves and back up again.
She moaned yet again. “I want you,” she breathed, her entire body taught with desire. “I need you. Rafael, oh God, I need you so much.”
“I’m here,” he answered, lifting his face to look her in her eyes.
“Please,” she said, and barely recognized herself. When had she ever begged for anything? Never. But he had a power over her that couldn’t be denied.
He snagged his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans and grabbed a condom. Quickly rolling it over himself, he reached between them and flicked a finger over her once, twice.
Her fingers clutched at his shoulders, her body wildly arching against his. He plunged into her, moving hard and fast against her, intensifying her release, building toward his own.
Leaning down, he drew her nipple into his mouth. Sucked hard as he continued moving inside of her. He was close, so close he thought he’d explode any second. But he wanted to make this last, needed to be inside her forever.
She was sobbing, her hands tangled in his as her body shuddered. “Please, please.”
“That’s it, baby. Let me feel you.” His words were strangled as he moved faster and faster, loving the warm, wet feel of her muscles clenching around him. He lowered his mouth to her breast again, sucked hard even as he reached between them and stroked her.
Vivian cried out, her body bucking against him as another release—more intense and out of control than the first—ripped through her. He rode her through it, took her higher until nothing existed but the rolling pleasure that went on and on. Grabbing her hips, he tilted them until she was open fully to him.
He was going to lose it, couldn’t hold back any longer, had to—With a groan he came. The world went dim and he was lost totally to the insane pleasure overloading his senses. Immersed in the waves of sensation sweeping through him. he was dimly conscious of Vivian’s body convulsing again, milking him as he emptied himself inside of her.
When it was over he collapsed on top of her, breathing in harsh, ragged gasps. He knew he was too heavy, but at the moment couldn’t summon the will to care. Or to move. Her arms wrapped around him so sweetly that for a moment, just a moment, he found surcease from the doubts that chased his every waking hour.