But I’m rooted to the spot, breathing in the sight of him, his eyes dancing with the happiness of the afternoon, his smile teasing and seductive. Gone is the quiet, aloof Rafael from the tour. This is the man who danced in grapes with his family.
This is the man I’ve come to know, and now his family have witnessed it too. There’s a shift underway in him, in his relationship with his family, his mother especially. It is a shift I know everyone can sense and it warms my heart. It reminds me of just how much I care. Of just how deeply I am falling, and I’m helpless to prevent it. My stomach twists with a spark of fear, knowing there can be no future and hoping for it all the same.
But if he can change with his family...is there a chance for us?
‘Do you want your shoes, or am I keeping them?’ His grin sees off my fear and I’m already closing the distance between us.
‘I don’t think they’ll suit you.’
And then my hands are in his hair, our lips melding in perfect time as he lifts me, sandals and all, and swings me back into the garden, tucking us away, just him and me. It’s heated and crazed after a day of abstinence and it’s all coming out in the desperation of our kiss.
‘I’ve wanted to do this all day,’ he rasps against my lips, his breath as ragged as my own. ‘Wishing my family away so I can have you to myself.’
I whimper over his fierce declaration, wishing it meant more, wishing things were different. ‘And now you can.’
He lifts his head, his eyes burning into mine. ‘Not for long enough.’
I still, my fingers frozen in his hair, my lungs unable to draw breath. Time passes. Long enough for...what? For sex? For here and now? Or for a future?
And then he shakes his head, his groan trapped in his throat as his lips crush mine.
‘I need you, Faye.’
My sandals hit the deck and his palms smooth up my thighs, beneath my dress, and the heat in my lower belly swells. The carnal ache, acute, incessant.
‘I need you too.’
And I do. More than I need my next breath.
I fumble over his belt, his tro
users, and I shove them down his thighs to free him for my eager grasp as he palms my heat, seeking out my wetness, my clit. I clamp down on my bottom lip as I try to keep my cries contained. I stare up unto his hooded eyes that burn and glaze with the thrill of the climax building between us.
‘You’re so beautiful, so fucking beautiful, Faye.’
It’s the first time I’ve heard him swear in English and it shouldn’t tip me over the edge like it is. But it’s so raw, so impassioned, and I... I can’t... I can’t think any more.
‘Raf, Raf, I’m going to, I’m going to...’
His pre-cum slips inside my fist, his cock swelling thick and fast, and I realise I’m not alone; I’m tipping him over the edge too, and it’s so fucking sexy.
‘Faye...fuck, Faye.’ He grinds inside my grasp, pulses, and I feel the hot spurts of his release in my hands, on my dress, on him. And I’m gone, crying out into the fresh air, unable to trap it inside as I fall against him, shuddering with it all. The truth of what I feel. The truth that just sex, no matter how great, will never be enough, that I’ll still want more.
He clutches me to him, his heartbeat wild against my ear, his breathing unsteady as he presses a kiss to my hair.
A kiss that is so tender, I could believe it meant more.
I want it to mean more...
CHAPTER TEN
Danielle and Tyler’s Wedding Week
Tuesday: Dine to Offset the Wine.
Terrace, eight-thirty p.m.
I DON’T JUST need the food to offset the wine, I need it to distract from the chaos within. I can’t get a handle on anything. The afternoon with my family, the dancing, the laughter, the fun. The joy with Faye. The insane passion. The heat that never ebbs.