His Ultimate Prize Page 14

  ‘And did things get better?’

  She shrugged but Rafael knew the gesture was anything but uncaring. ‘For a time, he reverted to his old, cold indifference. I was hoping he’d take his partying out of the house but they continued...’

  Her lids descended and he saw her lips tremble. Spearing his fingers in her hair, he tilted her face until she was forced to look at him. Haunting memory lurked in the green depths. ‘Raven, what happened?’

  ‘His...his male friends began to take notice of me.’

  ‘Que diablos!’ He could no longer stem the tide of anger. Right that moment, he wanted nothing more than to track down her bastard of a father and drive his fist into the man’s face. ‘They didn’t take it further than just noticing, did they?’

  The longer she stayed silent, the harder his breathing got.

  Ignoring the pain throbbing in his groin and hip, he hauled himself against the headboard and dragged her up. Tilting her jaw, he forced her to look into his eyes. ‘Did they?’

  Her lower lip trembled. ‘One of them did. One day after a party, I thought everyone had left. He...he came into my room and tried to force himself on me. I’d started training at the gym so I knew a few moves. I managed to struggle free and kicked him where it hurt most.’

  He passed his thumb over her lips until they stopped trembling. ‘Bueno. Good girl.’

  ‘I ran out of my room. My father was waiting in the hallway. I thought he was coming to help me because he’d heard me scream. But he wasn’t...’

  Rafael’s blood ran cold. ‘What was he doing?’

  ‘He knew exactly why his friend had come to my room. In fact, I don’t think his friend could’ve found my room without help.’ She shuddered and goose bumps raced over her arms. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her.

  ‘Did you report it to the authorities?’ he asked.

  She shook her head. ‘I’d reported him a few times in the past and been ignored. I knew once again it would be his word against mine. I bought a baseball bat and slept with it under my pillow instead and I moved out on my eighteenth birthday.’

  ‘Where is he now?’ He entertained thoughts of tracking down the bastard, wielding his own baseball bat.

  ‘I hadn’t spoken to him until I called him last year to help my mother but, the last I heard, he’d lost all his money in some Ponzi scheme and is living with his mistress somewhere in Scotland.’

  Rafael filed that piece of information away. When she gave another shudder, he kissed her again, a little deeper this time. He made sure when she shuddered again minutes later it was with a different reaction, one that set his blood singing again.

  On impulse, he got out of bed and tugged her upright.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

  He went into his dressing room and came out with a dark blue T-shirt. ‘Put that on.’

  ‘Why? Where are we going?’

  ‘You’ll find out in a minute.’ He pulled on his shorts and grabbed her hand.

  Five minutes later, she pulled at his grip. ‘No, I’m not going on there.’ She dug her feet into the sand when he would’ve tumbled her onto the wide beach bed.

  ‘Of course you are. You’ve been dying to try it since we got here.’ He set down the vintage champagne and flutes he’d grabbed from the kitchen.

  ‘Rafael, it’s the middle of the night,’ she protested, although her glance slid to the white-canopied bed that gleamed under the moon and starlit night.

  ‘Where’s your sense of adventure?’

  ‘Back upstairs, where it doesn’t run the risk of being eaten by sharks.’

  He let go of her hand and started uncorking the champagne. ‘Unless sharks have developed a way of walking on sand, you’ll have to come up with a better excuse.’

  ‘I’m not wearing any knickers. I don’t want to catch cold.’

  His grin was utterly shameless. ‘That’s a very good reason.’ He popped the cork, poured out a glass of golden liquid and handed it to her. Setting the bottle down, he shucked off his shorts and got onto the bed. Casting her a hot glance, he patted the space beside him. ‘I’ll be your body blanket. If I fail completely in my task you’ll be free to return to the safety of my bed.’

  He saw her battle for a response. But his insistent patting finally won through. The mixture of hunger, innocence and vulnerability on her face touched a part of him he’d long thought dead. When she set her glass down and slid into his arms, Rafael swore to make her forget everything about her bastard of a father. If only for a few hours.

  Why taking on that task meant so much to him, he refused to consider.

  He made love to her with a slow, leisurely tempo even though everything inside him clamoured for quick, fiery satisfaction.

  When she came apart in his arms, he let himself be swept away into his own release. Sleep wasn’t far behind and, gathering her close, he kissed her temple and pulled the cashmere blanket over them.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE INTRUSION OF light behind her eyelids came with firm, warm lips brushing her jaw.

  ‘Wake up, querida...’

  ‘Hmm, no...don’t want to...’

  A soft deep laugh. ‘Come on, wake up or you’ll miss the sunrise.’

  ‘Sun...no...’ She wanted to stay just as she was, suspended between dream and reality, entranced by the sultry air on her face and hard, firm...aroused male curved around her.

  ‘Open your eyes. I promise you, it’s spectacular.’

  She opened her eyes, simply because she couldn’t resist him, and found herself gazing into deep blue eyes. Eyes she’d looked into many times. But still her heart caught as if it’d been tugged by a powerful string.

  ‘Buenos días,’ Rafael murmured. ‘Look.’ He nodded beyond the canopy to the east. She followed his gaze and froze at the sheer beauty of the gathering sunrise. Orange, yellow and blue where the light faded, it was nature at its most spectacular and she lay there, enfolded in Rafael’s arms, silent and in complete awe as the sun spread its stunning rays across the sky.

  ‘Wow,’ she whispered.

  ‘Indeed. Does that win me Brownie points?’ he whispered hotly into her ear.

  Turning from the sight, she looked again into mesmerising eyes. And once again she felt her heart stutter in awe.

  ‘It depends what you intend to use the points for.’

  ‘To get you to come yachting with me today. My yacht is moored at the Marina. We can take her out for the day.’

  More alone time with Rafael. Too much...too much...

  She should’ve heeded the screeching voice of caution. But Raven had a feeling she was already too far gone. ‘I’d love to. On one condition.’

  He mock frowned. ‘Condition...my second least favourite word.’

  ‘What’s your least favourite?’

  ‘No.’

  She laughed. ‘That figures. Well, I need to exercise. Then you need to have your session. Then we’ll go yachting.’

  With a quick, hard kiss, he released her and sat back. ‘You can do your exercise right here on the beach.’

  She felt heat rise. ‘While you watch?’

  ‘I’m a harmless audience. Besides, I want to see if this Krav Maga is worth all the hype.’

  She bit her lip and hesitated.

  ‘What?’ he demanded.

  ‘I...I’m not wearing any knickers, remember?’

  His laugh was shameless and filled with predatory anticipation. ‘Kinky Krav Maga...sounds even better.’ He lounged back against the plump pillows, folded golden muscled arms and waited.

  It was the hottest, most erotic exercise routine Raven had ever performed.

  * * *

  The rest of the day went like a dream. Rafael’s yacht was the l
ast word in luxury. With a crew of four, they sailed around the Los Cabos islands, stopped at a seafront restaurant for a lunch of cerviche and sweet potato fries, then sunbathed on the twenty-foot deck until it got too hot. Then he encouraged her to join him in the shower below deck.

  She clung to him in the aftermath of another pulse-destroying orgasm.

  ‘Hmm...I have a feeling you won’t be needing my services for much longer.’

  He raised his head from where he’d been kissing her damp shoulder and stared deep into her eyes. ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘You haven’t used your cane all day, and your...um...stamina seems to be endless.’

  His frown was immediate, edged with tension that seeped into the atmosphere. ‘You’re signed on for another three months. Don’t make any plans to break the contract just yet.’ He moved away and grabbed two towels. He handed her one and wrapped the other around her waist, his movements jerky.

  ‘I wasn’t making plans. I was just commenting that your movements are a little more fluid. And you haven’t used the cane all day today. I think it’s a great sign. You should be pleased.’

  ‘Should I?’

  His icy tone made alarm skitter over her. ‘What’s the matter?’

  He smoothed a hand over the steamed up mirror and met her gaze over his shoulder. ‘Why should anything be wrong?’

  ‘I’ve just given you the equivalent of an almost clean bill of health. You’re reacting as if I’ve just told you your puppy has died.’

  He whirled to face her. ‘This clean bill of health, will it pass the X1 training board and see me reinstated as a race driver?’

  Her breath caught. ‘You’re thinking of going back to racing?’

  ‘You sound surprised.’

  She licked her lips. ‘Well, I am. I thought since Marco had sold the team, and Sasha had quit—’

  ‘What are you saying, that I should follow the family tradition and quit while I’m ahead?’

  ‘No...but—’

  ‘You don’t think I can hack it?’

  ‘Stop putting words in my mouth, Rafael. You’re almost done with phase three of the physio regime. I’m just trying to find out what your plans are so I can work with you to achieve them.’

  He stalked to where she stood and gripped her nape in a firm hold. His kiss was hot, ravaging and rage-tinged. ‘Right now, my only plan is to be inside you again.’

  She barely stopped herself from dissolving into a puddle of need. ‘And afterwards? We can’t stay here indefinitely, indulging in wall-to-wall shagging.’

  His eyes narrowed, his grip tightening. ‘Are you trying to set a time limit on what’s happening between us? Is that what all this is about?’

  The shard of steel that lodged in her chest made her breath catch. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘Don’t you? From the start you’ve tried to manage what was happening between us, tried to define it into something you can deal with. Now you want to set a time limit on it so you can walk away once the time comes, sí?’

  ‘Are you saying you’re not? Am I not just one more challenge to you? Can we please not delude ourselves into thinking this is anything more than sex?’

  He sucked in a breath as if he’d been punched. Stepping back, he dropped his hand and left the bathroom.

  Raven trailed after him into the large, exquisite gold and cream cabin. He was pulling on a pair of boxers, which he followed with cargo shorts and a white T-shirt.

  Feeling exposed, she slipped on her underwear and the lilac flowered slip dress she’d worn to go sailing. ‘I’m not sure what’s going on here, Rafael. Or why you’re annoyed with me. I may not know the rules of this sleeping together thing but even I know there is a time limit when it comes to your affairs—’

  ‘Affairs? Is that what we’re doing, having an affair?’ he asked with a cocked eyebrow. ‘How quaint.’

  ‘Will you please stop mocking me and tell me what’s really bothering you?’

  He slammed the drawer he’d just opened none too gently. ‘I don’t like time limits. I don’t being head-shrunk. And I don’t like the woman I’m sleeping with hinting that she’ll be leaving me the day after we start sleeping together. There, does that sum things up for you?’

  ‘So you want to be the one to call the shots? To dictate when this aff...liaison starts and ends?’

  He dragged a hand through his damp hair and glared at her. ‘Santo cielo, why are we even having this argument?’ he shouted.

  ‘I have no idea but you started it!’ she yelled back.

  His eyes widened at her tone, then he sighed. ‘Forgive me, I’m used to having things my way, pequeña. You have every right to shout at me when I step out of line.’

  ‘Thanks, I will.’

  He laughed, and just like that the tension broke. Striding to her, he tugged her into his arms and proceeded to kiss the fight out of both of them. They sailed back to the villa shortly after and, once again, she let him coax her into spending part of the night on the beach bed.

  * * *

  They were halfway through their breakfast when the delivery arrived.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I’ve got something for you.’ The gleam in his eyes was pure wickedness. Her heartbeat escalated as she eyed the large gold-ribboned package sitting on the floor beside their breakfast table.

  ‘Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy it,’ he promised with a smile so sexy, and so deliciously decadent, her toes curled.

  Even though the subject quickly changed to their plans for the rest of the day, Raven’s gaze strayed time and again to the package. But Rafael, as she’d discovered in the past two nights, was skilled in delayed gratification. He was also skilled in being the perfect host. She was stunned when she discovered how many details he’d picked up through their conversation. When he shepherded her towards the SUV mid-morning, she gaped in surprise when she found out he’d organised the hang-gliding trip she’d casually mentioned was on her list of things to do.

  She’d barely descended from that high when he whisked her by helicopter to the Mayan encampment she’d been dying to explore.

  ‘You’re seriously scaring me now by how utterly close I am to adoring you for this,’ she said in hushed tones as they were ushered into the hallowed grounds of the ancient burial site.

  His breath hissed out. When she glanced at him, he’d paled a little.

  ‘Rafael? Are you in pain?’ He’d left his walking stick back at the villa and nothing from his gait told her he’d suffered a mishap. All the same...

  He shook his head. A second later the look had disappeared. ‘It’s nothing.’

  She stopped as the full import of her words struck her. Wide-eyed, she turned to him. ‘No, I didn’t mean...I was only joking...’

  ‘Were you?’ The intensity of his gaze pinned her where she stood.

  ‘Yes! Ignore me, I’m babbling because you’ve made two dreams come true today.’

  ‘So you don’t adore me?’

  She opened her mouth to refute the comment and found she couldn’t speak. Because she realised she did adore him, and more than a little. The Rafael she’d come to know in the past few weeks had a depth she’d never got the chance to explore last year. She felt a connection to this Rafael, and not just because he’d been her first lover.

  The depth of the feeling rampaging through her made her shake her head.

  One corner of his mouth lifted in a mirthless smile. Then he nodded to the tour guide looking their way.

  ‘Now that we’ve established that you don’t adore me, I think you need to go see your artefacts.’

  She felt a stab of disappointment. ‘Aren’t you coming?’

  ‘Been there, done that.’ He pulled the phone from his pocket. ‘The drivers and cars arr
ive this afternoon. I need to return a few calls.’ He walked away before she could reply.

  Disappointment morphed into something else. Something she couldn’t put her finger on but which confused the hell out of her. The more she tried to grasp it, the further away it slithered from her.

  He was waiting when she finally emerged. Back in the helicopter, he pulled her close and sealed his lips over hers, his mouth hungry and demanding.

  She was breathless when he finally pulled away. ‘What was that for?’ she asked huskily.

  His lids swept down over his eyes. ‘Maybe I want you to adore me, just a little.’

  * * *

  Rafael watched her breath catch all over again and wondered just what the hell he was doing. Why he was letting the angst riding underneath his skin get to him.

  So she didn’t adore him. Big deal. There were thousands of women out there who were more than willing to fall into his bed should he wish them to.

  But none like the woman in his arms. None like the woman who refused to mould into a being he understood, could predict. Most women would be halfway to falling in love with him by now; would be secretly or not so secretly making plans on how to prolong their presence in his life.

  When he wasn’t kissing her breathless—a diversionary tactic he’d grown to enjoy immensely—Raven seemed to be counting the days, hell, the minutes until she could walk away from him.

  The notion unsettled him enough to make him want to probe, to find an answer.

  Had she glimpsed the darkness in his soul? Had opening up to her in Monaco and again in Monza made him into a man she could sleep with but not a man she wanted in her life for the long-term?

  The long-term? Santa María. Had he finally lost all common sense? Certainly, reality had slid back these past two days. Being with her had been like living some sort of dream. A dream where he could look at himself in the mirror without being revolted by what stared back at him.

  A dream where he could continue the secret writing project he’d started before his accident without feeling as if he was tainting the very memory he wanted to preserve.