I came in a matter of seconds, bucking against him, begging him to stop, then to go on, in a voice that didn’t sound like my own. His thumbs spread me wide, his shoulders pinned me to the sheets, and I was utterly bound by him, riding those waves that became a tsunami, giving myself up to a pleasure I’d never, ever felt with anyone else.
“My God,” I said when he finally returned to lie beside me, his head on the pillow and his gaze on mine. “You...that was...you’re amazing.”
He linked his fingers through mine and kissed each knuckle. “I’m just getting started.”
And he was.
I couldn’t tellyou how many times he rose above me, slid beneath me, rocked the edge of one orgasm into the next. His hands and mouth were everywhere, coaxing me from one peak to the next, until finally he lost himself inside me. His skin was covered with a sheen of perspiration, and the scent of his cologne mixed with the raw scent of sex until it overwhelmed my senses and I grew lightheaded in his arms. I’d never felt so sated. So blissful. Honestly, I had no idea sex could be this damn good.
My ex-boyfriends had some explaining to do.
Finally he slipped to my side and curled one arm around me, pulling me against him. “You’re beautiful,” he said against my shoulder, and I closed my eyes at the tenderness of his words.
I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t. I watched the moon move across the sky, got up and fed Bruno at one point, then returned to bed. Rafe’s profile in starlight was even more striking than in the daytime. Strong jaw, aquiline nose, cheekbones to die for. I leaned on one elbow and ran my fingers over his arm. He was gorgeous. An amazing lover. Yet there was so much I didn’t know about him, and so much I wanted to. Vaguely I thought this might be a bad idea, crossing the line from a professional relationship to a personal one, but certainly I wasn’t the first person to fall for her bodyguard. Just look at the tabloids.
Rafe, however, didn’t take our escapade as casually. He sat straight up in bed when my seven o’clock alarm buzzed and looked at me in dismay. “Shit.”
I clutched the sheet around my chest. “That’s not exactly the first thing a girl likes to hear the morning after.”
He shook his head as he moved the hair from my face. His touch, at least, was kind. “Sorry. It’s just...my job is to protect you. Not take advantage of you.”
I ran one hand along his bare thigh. “Maybe I was the one who took advantage of you.”
He caught my hand and kissed it. “You know what I mean. I’ve never, ever done this before. I’ve been working as a bodyguard almost eight years.”
I sat up. “So why did you?” He’d surely had his pick of gorgeous clients in the past. I wasn’t a celebrity or a model, or anything but ordinary.
One corner of his mouth quirked. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
“And you’re terrible at pillow talk. Anyone ever tell you that?”
He gathered me into his arms, and I rested my head against his chest and listened to his heart. “You’re a pain in the ass because you do whatever you want. You don’t care what other people think.” He laughed, and I could feel the vibrations of its rumble against my cheek. “You sing and dance to eighties music. You’re forever tripping over your own feet and not giving two shits who sees you.”
“And that’s why you wanted to sleep with me?”
He didn’t answer right away. “You remind me of the people I grew up with. The girls I knew from school. Everyone around here is artificial. They’ve had plastic surgery and wear five pounds of makeup and every damn experience is a selfie that has to be posted online or it didn’t happen.” His hand stroked the back of my head. “You’re different. You’re real. I like that.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in the heat from his skin. “So what do we do now?”
His chest rose and fell in a wordless struggle. He was quiet for so long, I almost looked up to make sure he hadn’t fallen asleep. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “My contract with Grace is pretty clear. No sleeping with the clients. No physical contact of any sort with the clients, unless it’s in the line of duty.”
“Maybe we could argue your duty is to keep me happy. And satisfied.” I dared to let one hand slide under the sheets.
“Victoria.” He stopped my hand before it reached its destination. “I can’t.Wecan’t.”
I crossed my arms and pouted. “I don’t like that solution.”
“I don’t either, but I’m not sure we have much choice.”
I traced a scar on his side. “What’s this from?” I’d noticed it last night, but I’d been too caught up in what he was doing to me to wonder about it. Now I did.
“My stepfather did that with a steak knife when I was fifteen.”
“What thehell?” I spread my palms over his torso, as if somehow I could take away the ancient pain. “Why?”
He waited a long few seconds before answering. “You asked me once why I got into this field. Why I wanted to protect other people.” He glanced down at the scar. “That was why.Hewas why. He beat my mother on the regular. I finally stood up to him and he didn’t like it. He was an ugly drunk and took it out on almost everyone in the house.”
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.”
