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Rafe followed her, wishing things were as simple as flirting. But nothing with her ever was.
He joined her family and went over the side of the boat after they’d put the diver down flag in the water. He noticed that everyone scattered in their own direction.
He followed close by Emily’s side and reached for her hand, linking them together. She looked at him for a moment, her face not very clear behind the glass of her scuba mask, and then led him through the underwater world. She pointed out different species of fish and coral, and caught up in the natural beauty of his surroundings, he forgot his troubles. There was something very peaceful about snorkeling. But when they surfaced, he knew that nothing had changed in their world.
But he felt strongly that he and Emily had crossed a bridge into new territory.
“That was nice,” she said, treading water next to him.
“Yes, it was. Exactly what I need after a day full of meetings and demands,” he said as they took off their tanks and put them in the boat.
“What is?”
Time with the woman he loved.
Shock held him in place as he realized that he did love her.
* * *
Versailles was the most famous Cuban restaurant in Miami. Hell, probably the world. Rafe had a night away from his family planned for himself and Emily. And grabbing Cuban sandwiches at his favorite restaurant was exactly the right sort of tone he wanted to set.
He needed Emily to accept his proposal, but pressuring her wasn’t the way to get the job done. So he’d been as smooth as he could be, trying not to pressure her into making a decision that he needed from her. And the sooner, the better.
Every day she waited just made his family more anxious. At first it was just the inner circle of his father, brother and cousin, but now his more distant relatives—even his ill Tia Isabella—were asking him when he was going to announce his engagement.
He suspected Tia Isabella was being egged on by his cousin Juan Carlos, the one who wanted the family’s return to the throne of Alma to be...triumphant. Not mired in scandal.
Rafe got that.
He’d even had a meeting with Montoro Enterprises’ board of directors today. They had been pretty threatening; the upshot was, if he screwed up things in Alma he might not be CEO for much longer.
But the more his family pushed, the less he responded. None of that mattered tonight. The dinner with Emily hadn’t gone well. And they’d called a “family” meeting to discuss the matter tomorrow.
Tonight he was going to seduce the hell out of Emily and secure her as his fiancée and then go into the meeting with his family he had scheduled for tomorrow and take control of the situation.
Waiting on Emily, waiting on his family—he felt shackled on all sides. He couldn’t take action the way he needed to so that he could move forward.
He and Emily were seated against the wall in the glass-and-mirrored main room of the restaurant. All around him he heard people talking in Spanish. The Cuban dialect was different from the Castilian Spanish that many of the people of Alma used. Cuban Spanish was much more familiar to him.
“So what’s on the agenda tonight?” Emily said after they had placed their order.
“Dinner, dancing and then I’ll show you the harbor from my rooftop patio. I think you will be impressed.”
“I’m never not impressed by you, Rafe.”
“Thank you. Perhaps I should ask you that question again?”
She shook her head and her face got a little pinched. “Please don’t. Can we have tonight and just be Emily and Rafe, not the future king and his errant pregnant lover?”
He realized that she was facing a different kind of pressure. She’d agreed to come to Miami for a few days after a group of paparazzi had staked out Shady Harry’s in Key West. It was either take the security offered by staying in his penthouse or go out on the boat with her mother.
He was pleased she’d chosen to come to him. He felt as if they had gotten so much closer over the last few weeks together.
“Yes, we can,” he said.
“Great. So tell me why you picked this restaurant. I know it’s famous and all that, but I wouldn’t expect you to be a regular here.”
He leaned back in the chair. “Well, the food is the best. You can’t find a better Cuban sandwich anywhere in the city. But when I was younger, about ten or so, our mom used to bring Gabe, Bella and me here for dinners on the nights when our dad was in one of his moods and ranting all over the place. And later it was the first place she took us when we got Gabe back.”
“Where’d he go?” Emily asked.
“In his early twenties, he was kidnapped while working for our South American division. He ultimately escaped. When we got him back, Mom packed us all up and brought us here. I always associate this place with happy times.”
