20
Isa
Rafael spent the next day away from me, leaving me to ponder my choice and stress over the outcome relentlessly as Regina tried to get me to focus on anything but the void inside my head.
Freedom had been within my grasp. My family had nearly gotten the peace they deserved and me home with them where I belonged.
I stepped out onto the private terrace, my bare feet soaking in the warmth from the tiles even though the sun had set long ago. Rafael’s business had required him to work through dinner, and I hadn’t quite been able to convince myself that I would be welcome in his office. He might have thought my place in his life was clearly defined by the unrealistic expectations he had of what we would be, but I was less than convinced.
I couldn’t kill him, but that didn’t mean I should have stayed. That didn’t mean that I could let myself enjoy my life with him.
The sky faded into deep purples as the sun disappeared behind me, leaving me to consider the impossible choices I’d need to make. What the fuck would I tell my family?
Would he let me tell them at all?
The fact that he hadn’t been able to follow through with branding me meant there was something there, and I might not speak much Spanish, but I knew whatamormeant. In some way, Rafael had admitted he loved me.
I hadn’t given him the words back, and I didn’t know that I would ever be able to.
His arms wrapped around my waist as he stepped up behind me suddenly, moving through the bedroom with the kind of stealth that would never cease to amaze me. Like he was one with the darkness and it was his to claim.
His mouth touched the mark on my shoulder where he’d drawn blood, the wound pulsing to new life under the gentle pressure. His tongue ran over the healing flesh, somehow erotic when it should have been nothing short of gross.
When he pulled away, he unbuttoned his dress shirt and held my eyes as he revealed the inches of his flawless skin. The moment my eyes landed on the red marks where he’d carved my name into his chest, I couldn’t help the surge of possessiveness that came over me. The satisfaction in knowing that it wasmyname on his skin.
He was a beautiful enigma, a devil that no one could control. And yet he’d willingly carved my name into his flesh for all to see, unconcerned with the fact that other women might see it.
Because he was mine. Just as I was his.
His hands went to his pants, unfastening them with an arrogant smirk as I watched. “Take off your dress,” he ordered.
I swallowed back my nerves, instinctively knowing that Rafael planned to take me into the pool. Even if I knew how to swim, I would never be free of the panic I felt at just the thought.
At the reminder of what the water could do.
“Will you be faithful?” I asked, slipping my dress off over my head as Rafael shoved his pants down his legs and stepped out of them and his socks and shoes. He stood naked, without care for the fact that we were outside. Entirely confident in the privacy of his little haven within his home.
He smiled as he stepped up to me, reaching behind my back to unclasp my bra and help me pull it down my arms. He was meticulous about the way he touched me, carefully controlled and making sure to only trail his fingers over my arms lightly enough that goosebumps rose on the flesh in his wake.
His body stayed a hair away from mine, the warmth from his body kissing my flesh as he raised my hand to touch my name. “I always have been,” he murmured, his dark smile hinting at the truth to what Joaquin and Regina had told me.
Rafael hadn’t been with anyone else since the first time he saw me. It was fucked up. It was baffling. It was far sweeter than I would have thought him capable of being. “I’ll put your name on me permanently if it will help convince you,” he said, dropping to his knees in front of me. He drew my panties down my thighs as he stared up at me, tossing them to the side and then standing so he could take my hand and guide me into the water.
I hesitated slightly before walking down the steps, enjoying the cool water against my skin even if it made me feel a moment of panic at the first touch. But somehow, some way, the moment he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest, it all faded back into my memories.
“I love you,mi reina,” he murmured softly, touching his lips to the top of my head as he moved us through the water beneath the stars. “All I could think of today was the fact that I never said it in English, and you might not have understood. There will be no other women for me. All that I am is yours, for better or worse.”
I looked up into his eyes, gliding my hands over his chest and the wound I half hoped would scar. “How do you know you won’t get tired of me?”
“Never, Isa. I’m yours,” he said sternly, lifting a hand to cup my cheek. “Until forever ends.”