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Rafael exhaled raggedly. “Yeah. I don’t know a lot of them anymore. It’s been a long time since I ran with that bunch. But a few of them know me from back then.”
I knit my brow. “But why were they so angry with you? Why did they think your brother would be?”
He paused, tipping his head back into the pillow. “They see me moving on to a bigger organization like your mom’s as a betrayal. Like I was saying they weren’t good enough. And—Edmundo was killed a while back, not that long before I came on board with the Deadly Rose, and they expected me to take his place. They were pissed that I jumped at a different opportunity.”
Rafael turned his head toward me and kissed my forehead. “Not that I’ve ever once regretted the decision myself.”
The affection in his voice sent a tingle of heat through me, but something about his story was still gnawing at me. “It seems like an awfully long time for them to hold a grudge. That all must have happened, like, ten years ago!”
“I guess they haven’t had anything else offend them to take their minds off it,” Rafael said dryly.
Before I could ask anything else, his tone dipped lower with a pained edge. “But I never meant to let it affect my ability to look after you. I wasuselesstoday because of the injuries those assholes gave me. I couldn’t do anything to protect you or the other guys.”
I bristled. “You’ve got nothing to apologize for. The assholes are the ones who screwed us over—they’re the only ones I’m angry at. We all protect each other. It doesn’t just go one way.”
Rafael grunted. “I’m the one who knows this city. I’m the one who’s seen what your mom is like. You need me to be at my best while we’re here, and I—”
“Hey.” I tipped closer to him and set my fingers on his lips to quiet him. His self-recriminations over his supposed weakness sent an ache through my gut.
Did he really think I saw him as less of a protector just because he’d been temporarily laid up? That I believed he’d let me down somehow?
Maybe it’d help if I proved to him just how much of a man I still saw him as—how much the strength I knew he still possessed turned me on.
“You’re everything I’ve ever wanted you to be,” I murmured, letting my hand trail down his neck and over his chest. “You always will be. And when you get knocked down for a bit, that just means I’ve got to work a little harder to show how true that is.”
I rolled right onto him, careful of the cast around his leg, and leaned down to seek out his mouth. Rafael’s lips parted beneath mine, his tongue sweeping in to claim my own, refusing to totally give up his usual role as the aggressor.
He tasted so damn good and felt even better under my body. His good hand rose to twine through my hair with the firm grip that could make me swoon. He might not have been all that mobile at the moment, but that didn’t stop him from shifting his hips to press his erection against my pussy through our clothes.
I smothered a moan against his mouth. If we were doing what I hoped we were going to do, we’d have to stay quiet. No need to disturb the others’ sleep while we got our rocks off.
Rafael wrenched my head back and branded my neck with another searing kiss. I swayed against him, grinding into his erection until both our breaths stuttered. When he briefly loosened his grip, I bowed my head over his again.
“You don’t have to prove anything to me. I already know just how much of a man you are.”
Rafael gave a muted growl. “Oh, I can show you that even more. I’m not too bashed up to satisfy you.”
I swallowed a gasp as he rubbed his rigid cock against my pussy again. My panties were already soaked, and there was no ignoring how badly he wanted me too.
I’d always wanted him. Every single day from the moment I’d been old enough to know what this kind of wanting was.
With a slide of my hand, I palmed him through the boxers he’d worn to bed. He mumbled a curse as his cock twitched against my palm.
It only took a slight raise of my hips and some deft maneuvering to free him from the fabric without displacing myself. I pumped my hand up and down his thick shaft, humming in appreciation.
Rafael’s eyes flashed in the darkness. He pulled me down over him, capturing my mouth as I claimed his cock.
“I hope you’re not going to stop at just teasing me, brat,” he muttered against my lips.
A breathy giggle tumbled out of me. If he’d had any idea how much I was aching for him, he couldn’t have suggested that.
Deciding I could make a little show of it, I lifted myself up over him until I was standing and then shimmied slowly out of my plaid leggings. Rafael’s gaze traced my curves, avid enough that I felt its heat coursing over my skin.
I wriggled out of my panties too and then hesitated. But he could guess my concern.
“Top drawer,” he rasped, pointing at the crate-like nightstand. “I figured I should have a few on hand… just in case.”
I snatched out a foil wrapper. Before I could open it, Rafael grabbed it from my fingers and tore it with his teeth. He managed to roll the condom over his cock at lightning speed even one-handed.
