Faye held out the fabric for me to step into as Zuri held out a hand and helped me step over the pile of white. Faye dragged it up over my body, lining it up with my chest as Zuri grasped the zipper at the back and tugged.
The breath instantly left me as she sealed me in, the snug fit around my chest threatening to keep me from breathing all night. “It’s too small,” I rasped. “It probably would have been smart to try it on before we made it this far.”
“It’s not too tight,” Faye said with a grin, taking my hand and dragging me over to the full length mirror. My eyes caught on the dramatic lines of my body in the dress, on the way the snug top of it clung to me like a second skin and pinched in tight at my waist before veering out slightly and draping over my lower stomach and down to the asymmetrical hem.
The small bump at my stomach was accentuated by the draping, looking just slightly bigger than it did when I ran my hands over the bare skin. My hands touched the fabric gently, hesitating as if I might stain the pristine fabric. “You look exactly like what the world will expect ofmi reina,” Joaquin said, leaning his shoulder into the doorway and meeting my eyes in the reflection.
“I’ll go let him know you’re ready,” Zuri said, ducking out of the room as Faye worked to pack up their supplies. I moved into the living area, passing Joaquin in my need to pace while I waited. It was stupid to feel so much anxiety over seeing a man who had intimate knowledge of my entire body in depth, but the concern that he might not approve was there no less.
I fiddled with the clutch Faye handed me, smiling with something that felt tinged with sadness as she tucked the lip stick she’d applied to my mouth inside the open flap. Something moved behind her warm brown eyes, and it wasn’t until I really looked at her that I realized something was off about the color of them. She looked away as quickly as our eyes had connected, swallowing and lifting a hand through her hair. She patted it briefly, fluffing the ends and then moving to gather up the rest of her things.
“Faye?” I asked, taking a step closer to her and touching her arm as she worked to put brushes away diligently. She jerked back as if I’d struck her, cradling the arm to her chest. Her lungs heaved, far too sharply to be normal and not the consequence of a negative reaction. I pulled my hand back, giving her the distance she so clearly needed. “My husband is a very powerful man,” I murmured, glancing toward the living room where Joaquin lingered. He watched her intently, having seen everything I did in her apparent fear of being touched. “And I do not tolerate women being harmed in the games that men play. If you need help, all you need to do is tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”
She shook her head, her small downturned mouth tipping up into a smile as she brushed off the statement. “You mean to tell me he’s never harmed you?” she asked, tipping her gaze to stare pointedly at the carving of his name into my flesh. With my hair swept over to the opposite side, the not-quite scars stood out in the way I knew Rafael would want.
“I didn’t say that,” I said, grimacing as I turned my eyes away. “But that doesn’t mean that I can’t help other women who find themselves in similar situations.”
The door to the suite opened in the living room, and Faye gave me a sad smile before she rolled her cart toward the door between rooms. “Maybe in the future, you might consider saving yourself before you offer to help others. They might take you more seriously.” The sadness faded from her eyes, replaced by a steely determination. Her lips tensed with irritation, and then she was gone from the room.
Rafael swept inside, the warmth of his gaze landing on me and trailing up from my feet to caress every inch of my body slowly. The heady feeling of those remarkable eyes on me was enough to distract me from the concern I felt over Faye’s jumpiness, and I forced myself to shrug off the last of it that lingered.
I couldn’t help someone who wouldn’t let me.
“Estás divina,mi reina,” he said, stepping closer until his chest brushed against mine. He reached his hand up, cupping my face and running a thumb over my cheek. “If I didn’t know you any better, I would think you’d been sent to me from heaven itself.”
My heart pitched in my chest, the oddly sweet compliment filling me with warmth in the wake of my insecurity. “If you didn’t know any better?” I asked, furrowing my brow as I tipped my head back to meet his eyes.
He looked the same as he always did, and yet the tux that was perfectly fitted to his muscular form and broad shoulders somehow made him seem more normal than he did in his suits. Like the edge of danger that surrounded him all the time was replaced by an air of gentlemanly behavior. I knew better, but still Rafael Ibarra never ceased to surprise me.
“We both know you clawed your way out of the pits of hell, demon,” he teased, leaning forward to brush his lips against mine gently. The contact barely existed at all, his caution not to mess up my lipstick making me pout as his eyes glimmered down at me.
He stepped to my side, touching a hand to the small of my back and guiding me to the living area and into the hallway so we could make our way down to the ballroom where the first event of the weekend was being held.
Nerves made my stomach swim, anxiety like a rock in the center of the sloshing liquid. I wasn’t prepared to do this, to play the part of a society wife on Rafe’s arm. I didn’t know the first thing about holding a conversation with people who were more cultured and elegant than I could ever hope to be.
I’d consider myself fortunate if I didn’t trip over my own feet.
But his fingers brushed against my stomach when he grabbed hold of me on the landing halfway down the stairs, backing my body into the wall on the landing until my spine touched one of the massive paintings hanging behind me.
“Rafe,” I protested with a chuckle, turning my head when he moved to kiss me. The ferocity gleaming in his eyes was all the evidence I needed that this kiss wouldn’t be so gentle. That he would tarnish my lipstick and never care that I was the one who had to go into a room full of people and pretend he hadn’t mauled me on the stairs. “You’ll mess up my makeup, and I promise you I am not talented enough to fix it.”
He chuckled, pressing a hand to the artwork behind my head so harshly that the frame seemed to vibrate against my back. I had enough concern left in me to worry about the oils of his skin on the canvas, wondering if he would ruin something that might be worth more money than most people ever saw in their lives. He leaned in, those sinful lips tipped into a smile until his face disappeared from view. Warm breath kissed my ear, making goosebumps pebble the surface of my skin as he sank his teeth into the soft globe at the base of my ear. “And what if it's not your mouth that I intend to kiss?” he asked.
“Someone could see,” I protested, turning my head to the side when his lips touched my neck, running over the mark of his name on my skin. Deft hands bunched up the fabric of my dress on the tops of my thighs, lifting it slowly while I squirmed against the wall.
“They won’t,” he said, nipping at my skin until I trembled in his arms. It killed me that I couldn’t feel his mouth on mine, adding another element of something forbidden to the entire moment. “You wear my marks so beautifully. My name on your skin, my brand on your arm, my child in your belly, but your marks on me are all hidden.”
“It’s fine,” I said, laughing uneasily as he pulled away. He dropped to a knee in front of me, running his hands up my legs beneath my dress. The cool metal of his wedding ring brushed against me, a reminder of at least one mark on him that others could see.
“I’m not going downstairs until my face is covered in my pussy,” he growled, flipping the fabric of my dress up and holding it pinned to my stomach with one hand. The entire lower part of my body was revealed to the open air, sending a chill through me even as something twisted in my belly.
Something that felt a lot like arousal.
His bright eyes gleamed as he smirked up at me knowingly. “Do you trust me?” he asked, and despite everything that he’d done and all that had happened, I nodded without hesitation.
In this, I knew Rafe wouldn’t risk me. In this, I knew with absolute certainty that I could trust him. The fingers of his free hand grasped my underwear and tugged them to the side, and then the heat of his mouth touched me. His tongue dragged through me, setting my soul on fire from that first brush where he licked me from my entrance to my clit. He worked me quickly, and my body was beyond my control. I spread my legs wider, grasping the back of his head as my fingers curled into his hair.
My other hand smacked against the wall when he worked his tongue over my clit in circles, driving me higher and higher and shoving his face into my core as thoroughly as he could manage. He’d be covered in me by the time he was done, and everyone would know what he’d done. Even as my cheeks pinked with the thought, I found an unbelievable thrill in the knowledge that I held that power.