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Later that night, I blinked in the dim light, disoriented. I hated waking in the middle of the night. Especially in a new environment. It was always so difficult to go back to sleep.
Rafe had taken a bedroom next to mine at the penthouse. We had a lot to work out, and he said he couldn’t do that in my bed.
I clutched the pillow in my arms closer, wishing it were him. It shouldn’t be so hard to sleep alone. It was what I was used to after all. But I’d quickly grown accustomed to being sheltered and cherished in his strong arms. Now I felt so isolated sleeping by myself. Maybe he’d finally washed his hands of me.
After everything, I wouldn’t blame him.
Then I turned and he was there.
“Rafe?” I sat up, shocked that he was just standing in the darkness, watching me. If it had been anyone else, it would have been totally creepy, but I knew this was his way of protecting me. He’d keep watch without taking any rest for himself. But I didn’t want to be just protected by him. I wanted to be loved by him.
“Please don’t hate me.”
It shocked me how vulnerable I sounded. But it was how I felt. Every moment without him only drove home how shattered I’d be if he left me. Every moment was a painful reminder of how much he was risking because of my past.
Rafe moved quickly, his legs eating up the distance between where he stood next to the window and the bed. He crawled over the covers, landing on his arms, hovering over me.
“I could never hate you.” His nose brushed my cheek, and I heard his quick inhale, like he was taking in my scent.
It was so unbearably erotic, the idea that he wanted my scent in his lungs, that I moaned and moved against him. Rafe growled softly under his breath, the raw sound traveling through my system and settling right in my core. Heat spread out from there, radiating out through my limbs and washing over my skin. Goose bumps rose, and his breath on my skin, his fingers on my arm, and the weight of him pressing me into the mattress were suddenly all I could think of.
“Rafe, please. I need you.”
I clawed at him, unable to articulate the sudden, all-encompassing need I felt. It was like a living, breathing thing, this need to be surrounded by him. Maybe a part of me thought if I could merge our souls together I’d have a piece of him that no one could take away.
“I need you too. Diana. My sweet Diana. You have no idea how much.”
For someone like Rafe, a man of such few words, it meant everything to hear that he was just as lost in this as I was. Did he feel the same urgency to have, to take, to taste as I did? I gave in to the desire to touch and ran my hands over his thick, glossy hair and down the broad shoulders that sheltered me so wonderfully. Rafe smiled softly at the touch, clearly enjoying the tactile sensation of having my hands all over him. He pulled back slightly and then tugged his shirt over his head.
I had gone to bed wearing nothing but a T-shirt, so I yanked it over my head and dropped it over the side of the bed. Rafe stood and shed the rest of his clothes. I watched as that beautifully cut body emerged, looking like an avenging angel in the darkness. He was so very beautiful and all mine.For now.
I held out my arms to him, welcoming him to me in every way. Rafe took my lips in a brutal kiss, pinning me to the bed with his iron grip on my waist. I gasped and moaned into his mouth, my skin heating with every lash of his tongue and every sinuous press of his thick cock between my thighs. He slipped and rubbed through my wetness, using my own lubrication to ease the way as he teased me. I turned my head and bit his arm, thrilled with the dark appreciation that lit in his eyes.
“Take what you need from me. I don’t trust myself to be gentle when I want you this much.” Rafe lay on the bed and gestured for me to climb on top of him.
Just when I was about to climb astride him, Rafe cursed and pointed at his nightstand. “Condoms. They’re in the top drawer. The whole penthouse is well stocked.”
The reminder made me think of my vomiting that prior day. I put a hand to my belly. What would Rafe think if he knew that he might have already tied himself forever to the girl who’d lied to him and brought danger to his family?
“Diana? Are you okay?”
I nodded and retrieved the condoms from the drawer. When I didn’t appear to be moving fast enough, Rafe got up and took the box from my hand.
“We don’t have to do anything. I would never want you to feel pressured.”
I put my fingers over his mouth. “I’m not feeling pressured. I’m just thinking how lucky I am to have you. To be here right now. The FBI was a wake-up call for me. My brothers would have killed me. I guess it’s just hitting me now that I’m all alone in the world.”
Rafe pulled me close and leaned down until our lips met. “You’re not alone, Diana. You’ll never be alone.”
Suddenly desperate again, I grabbed him and tunneled my hands in his hair. Our kiss quickly turned deep and hot. Rafe shifted me back and rolled a condom down his impressive erection and then rolled me over.
There was no preamble. Instead, with gritted teeth he slid home. The first thrust almost took me over, it felt so good. Rafe must have felt it too because his mouth fell open. Curious, I rolled my hips and reveled in his reaction as he cursed viciously and thrust harder. Moaning softly with every swing of his hips, I strained against him, trying to open myself as fully as possible. I wanted him as deep as he could get. I wanted everything he had to give.
“You’re mine now, Diana. Do you understand? I protect what’s mine.”
I nodded as the first wave of my orgasm threatened, the pleasure just hovering at the edge, waiting to crash over me. Like always, Rafe sensed that I was right on the edge. His thumb snuck between us to where we were joined and started circling my clit in time with his thrusts. The added stimulation ratcheted up the sensation until I felt the first coil of that incredible tension unwind.
“Rafe, oh my God.”
