“You said we had to be truthful about all things if this thing between us was going to work, but you won’t tell me where you’ve been and what you’ve done. I know your job requires you to do…things you can’t tell me about, but I can’t see why you won’t give me the truth, even if it's a shorter version and omitting certain details.”
I drop my gaze to his chest and watch it expand with a deep breath. His bronze skin is sleek, made even more so by the water, and I’d love to press my cheek to it and rest. Not only because I’m weary from lack of sleep but also due to the depletion of the energy I spent worrying about him. Eventually I give in to the impulse and let my head fall forward, laying my forehead on his sternum and closing my eyes. If he won’t let me go, I’ll sleep right here.
“I killed someone tonight,” Rafael finally says.
Scared that if I move it’ll cause him to stop talking, I simply mutter, “Tell me something I don’t know.”
He huffs out a small laugh and presses a kiss to my hair. “This wasn’t a ‘hit’ on someone for business, it was personal.”
I’m not sure if my filter swirled down the shower drain, but I can’t stop my thoughts from flowing out of my mouth. “Ohhh, boy.”
“Precisely.” He pauses, his body tensing against me, and I mentally prepare myself for whatever he says next. “The target hurt someone I care about.”
“He’s so fucking dead.”
“Viziata, stop making me laugh.”
I give a half-hearted shrug. Then a thought occurs to me and I almost shout, yet manage to keep my voice at a decent volume. “It wasn’t one of your brothers or Emilia, right?”
“No.”
He lapses into silence and I join him, very relieved his loved ones are safe. I don’t know all the people in his life, the ones he considers a friend or someone worth caring for, but pain is pain. If this person inflicted that agony on Rafael, then I’m more than glad he’s dead.
Rafael clears his throat and the hesitation has my heart rate increasing in tempo. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked so many questions.
“I tortured him extensively and I didn’t kill him until he begged for forgiveness. It wasn’t going to save him, but I wanted him to know why that was happening to him.”
After sweeping my lips across his skin in a show of understanding and support, I go back to leaning on Rafael. “Do you feel better?”
“No,” he snorts. “Maybe if I could’ve done it a thousand times, but knowing he suffered mollifies me somewhat.”
“I’m so sorry all of that happened to you and if I could’ve spared you that I would’ve.”
He stiffens at my whispered confession and then releases my wrists to grab my face. Our gazes lock, my warm hazel colliding with his intense dark. This man is taking not only my heart but my very soul. This connection between us pierces it, leaving the essence of me pouring in great waves onto him. Can he feel it? Feel how much he’s impacted my life in such a short time?
“There’s just something about you…” he rasps, placing light kisses along my jaw. “You make me want to do the impossible.”
I twine my hands around his neck and twist my fingers in his hair until my grip is secure. Then I tug with an assertiveness I’m not used to displaying around him. It has his head snapping up and his eyes are blazing. With both ire and lust.
“I’m the only one who sees past what you present to the world,” I say. I bring my hand to his jaw and take hold of it like he’s done to me so many times. It’s a show of dominance. But also possession.
Something I didn’t realize until now.
And in my heart, Rafael is mine.
“Iseeyou,” I whisper. “The real you. And if you want to do the impossible? Then fucking do it.”
His brow furrows as he looks at me, his gaze boring into mine and searching for the truth I’ve laid bare for him. If Rafael digs deep enough, he might discover how much he’s come to mean to me.
He tucks a stray tendril of hair behind my ear. “I see you too,viziata. And I wouldn’t change a single thing about you because you’re perfect as is.” The side of his mouth quirks up. “A little bit of a brat on occasion, but nothing I can’t handle.”
I’m in the middle of rolling my eyes when he claims my mouth again and any thought I had disappears at the feel of his tongue sweeping between my lips. I mimic him and grow bolder the longer the kiss goes on. He growls and bites my bottom lip, which has me opening my eyes and gasping at the mild pain.
His dark eyes glitter with intense desire. They mesmerize me and like someone hypnotized, I stare only at him, letting reality fade to nothing. He has complete control over me and I’ve never felt more secure in my life. The ability to trust him is the greatest gift he could’ve ever given me.
Now I want to give him something in return.
“Tie me up,” I say quietly. His gaze flares with heat but quickly lowers to a simmer. “However you want, wherever you want.”
