The thought of her being so worried that she passed out riddled Rafe with guilt. The whole reason he’d encouraged her to go to the authorities was to take this worry away from her. Now she had to fear the very people he’d asked her to trust. The irony in that wasn’t lost on him. Nor did it escape his notice that it was almost a perfect mirror of their relationship. When they’d met, she’d thought he was the enemy and then discovered that everything she thought she’d known was a lie.
He had to wonder if she’d hit her limit on trust. He wouldn’t blame her for being confused after being raised with the Vandergraffs as her only family.
“I’m not going overprotective on you,” he lied. “I just want to make sure that you have what you need. You and this little one.” He leaned down and kissed her belly gently. She probably couldn’t even feel it through the layers of sheets and clothing, but he knew the symbolism wasn’t lost on her.
Diana smiled gently, and the warmth of it was like sunlight. “You really are happy about the baby, aren’t you?”
“Of course. Did you think I wouldn’t be?”
“I wasn’t sure. I didn’t dare to hope.”
He couldn’t take anymore. Rafe climbed gently into the bed with her, hovering right on the edge so he wouldn’t crowd her. But he had to be close to her.
“This baby will be the best of both of us. How could I not be happy about that?”
Rafe tilted her chin up gently and brushed his lips across hers. With a soft moan, Diana opened to him. The tip of her tongue touching his set off a powerful hunger. He was trying to be gentle, holding her like spun glass until she tugged on his shirt with far more strength than he would have thought possible. Following her urging, Rafe settled directly over her until he was resting right between her thighs. When his full weight connected with her, his cock pressing against her, she moaned into his mouth.
“Jesus, Diana, you’re trying to kill me here. I’m trying to be gentle with you, baby. You’re supposed to be resting.”
Her arms tightened around him when he tried to pull back. Then she lifted one of her legs and wrapped it around his waist, using it as a lever to prevent him from moving.
“Rest isn’t what I need right now,” she said in a low, throaty purr.
The husky sound of her voice stabbed him right through the heart. Did she know what she did to him when she talked like that? She had this way of moaning words that made it sound like she was on the verge of coming right then and there. It never failed to jack him up.
“I’m going to give you everything you need, baby. Believe that.”
There was no denying it at this point. Rafe tucked his hands under her plump bottom and held her still as he ground against her. She rolled and arched, trying to force him in the exact spot where she needed friction. But Rafe wasn’t going to allow her to direct things this time. He was in control now, and there were so many ways he wanted to torment her before he allowed either of them to come.
“Do you know what it does to me, knowing that a piece of me is inside you right now?” He growled at just the thought, stunned to realize just how arousing it was to think that they’d made a baby together.
After losing his parents, there had been a part of him that was scared to love anymore. If he hadn’t already had Lucia and Nonna in his life, it was possible that he would have been lost to the darkness. But after meeting Diana, he’d felt his heart open for the first time since. Knowing that she carried his child inside her broke it open the rest of the way, just cracked it right down the middle.
Rafe growled as she shuddered beneath him, and he inched his way down her torso, kissing and biting as he went. Every few inches, he pushed her shirt up higher until she eventually sat up slightly and yanked it over her head. The black bra she wore wasn’t the sexy kind, but her cleavage spilled over the top, already looking fuller than before.
If that wasn’t a turn-on…
Rafe continued downward, tucking his fingers in the edges of her jeans to pull them off along with her panties. He had a destination, and nothing was going to derail him. He needed her thighs clamped around his head and his tongue deep in her pussy while she cried out his name. Nothing else would calm this raging storm inside.
“Rafe? We shouldn’t do this here. What if someone comes to check on me?” Diana panted against his shoulder.
“They’ll get an eyeful of something they don’t want to see because I’m not stopping. I can’t stop. Not now.”
She framed his face with her hands, and her eyes softened. Somehow she always seemed to understand what he needed. In that moment, what Rafe needed was to not let go. To hold her and feel that she was his and was not going anywhere.
“I love you, Rafe.”
> He shuddered as the truth of her words stormed through him. “I love you too. So much.”
His fingers clenched under her bottom, and when she gasped, he took the opportunity to kiss her again. She melted under him like hot butter, and Rafe growled at the possessive satisfaction he got from the reaction.
She sat up lightly and tugged at his shirt until he threw it off. Clothes went everywhere as he raced to get naked too. He wasn’t sure if she felt the same urgency he did to be with her. But this was what he needed. Skin to skin and nothing between them.
“Oh God, yes.” Diana’s voice failed her when Rafe’s tongue trailed down her neck.
He took one plump nipple in his mouth and sucked hard. His dick was so hard, but he wasn’t getting anywhere near her until she’d come at least once.
Her hips bucked as he kissed her stomach, and he put one hand gently on the swell of her stomach to keep her still, marveling at the hard curve of her belly. Diana looked down at him and then cried out when his mouth closed over her core.