Her hot forehead falls against my neck.
“Harder,” she murmurs.
I tighten the arms I’ve wrapped around her, and she sighs against me, like that’s exactly what she needed. Like I can hold her together.
Despite the warm weather, faint shivers pass through her. I hear a few footsteps walking behind us on the dock. Heading to and from the boats.
I ignore them all.
Her hand has found its way around my neck, and she’s holding on. Slowly, her breathing calms, and her body turns soft in my arms. It’s been a very long time since I held someone like this. Since they sought comfort in me.
“He ambushed you?” I ask, when she’s calm again, when her breathing is slow and steady.
Her calmness has given way to an anger in me.
“I didn’t know he was here,” she says. “I didn’t know he’d find me.”
“What did he say?” I ask. She doesn’t answer, her forehead still pressed to my neck, and I turn my lips to her forehead. “Paige. What did he say?”
“He’s angry. I betrayed my family, he said. That you’re using me.” She takes a deep breath. “He’s saying he knows you’re not the love of my life… He could ruin so much, Rafe.”
“He can’t access your company anymore,” I say. “My lawyers are on it.”
She nods, but I’m not sure if she understands me. If she takes it all in.I betrayed my family.From the little I’ve heard, I’m not sure if she was ever treated all that well.
“Paige,” I say again. “You and I are in this together. We have a unified goal. He won’t get in the way of that.”
She takes a deep breath and leans back in my arms. Her chocolate eyes are liquid, long eyelashes wet from her tears. She looks at me for a long few seconds before she closes them again, shutting herself away from view.
“I’m so embarrassed,” she whispers. “I can’t believe you saw that.”
“Don’t be.” I lean forward, my lips against her cheek, her ear. This might not be the right thing to say. But she loves ourpoint game. “You helped me last night, when I was in a bind. You won that point.”
“So this is quid pro quo?” Her voice is stronger now, a hint of a smile to it.
“Not quite. I still owe you an orgasm, but it’s a start,” I say.
She takes another deep breath, and this time, it’s hitched with a tiny hint of a chuckle. “Good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah. I think… I think I’m better now.”
“You’re sure? You’re not going to jump off this dock if I let you go, are you? This isn’t a good place for a swim.”
She giggles. It’s a soft sound, tentative, and she shifts in my lap. “No. Not today.”
“Thank God.” I keep my arm wrapped around her waist. She might be ready to leave, but I’m not. “Does this happen often? The panic attacks.”
She looks out over the marina. Her long hair is tangled over her back, spilling like warm wheat, and I let it run over my hand. Just once.
“Sometimes. It started a few years ago, but… I thought I had it under control. Apparently not.”
I think of my nightmares. Of the clawing guilt, the turmoil under my skin, the only way I’ve learned to handle it. I thought I had that under control too. A system that no one else had to inspect or look too closely at.
A system no one else knew about.
“By distracting yourself,” I say.
