I smile. ‘I’m sure they were very proud of their young hellion.’
He goes quiet and I lean into him, my head resting against his shoulder offering comfort that he hasn’t even asked for.
‘They would have been, Rafael. Just as your mother is proud of you now, your father would have been proud too.’
‘Dani would have made Papà proud. Today...this morning...’ His voice cracks and, God, it kills me. I turn into him and reach for his cheek. I can’t stop it; I need to touch him, to feel him, to reassure him.
‘Yes, he would have been, but he would have been proud of you too. So proud that you could do what he wasn’t able to in giving her away.’
His gaze glistens and I feel my own tears well.
‘You are someone to be proud of, Rafael.’
My eyes waver into his and I want to kiss him. I want to so much it hurts...
‘You are,’ I insist softly, my lips parting, pleading, and then he’s kissing me, his arm drawing around me, pulling me closer.
We kiss and kiss, tongues tasting, bodies melding together, but it’s not enough. Tonight is my last night. Tomorrow I leave, but I want more, so much more from him, before I go. And then I remember where we are and I fall back, scanning the ground below, making sure we haven’t been seen.
‘Stay with me tonight, cara mia.’ He isn’t hurried or panicked. His fingers are soft in my hair as he brushes it back from my face and I look at him, his eyes imploring. ‘Please, our last night.’
I’m nodding before I think better of it. He’s not offering me a future; he’s telling me this is it.
We return to the guests, do our duty and wait for the last to fall. I’m bone-tired, weary from a long day; even my cheeks ache from all the smiles. But the second we cross the threshold of his room I’m alert. A hive of thrumming activity, of anticipation.
Rafael comes up behind me, his fingers soft on the straps of my dress as he bows his head to my neck, sweeps kisses along the exposed skin.
‘It feels weird that it’s over,’ I murmur, taking a steadying breath as I try to fight off the sadness. ‘I wonder how Dani will fill her time now she has no wedding to plan.’
‘I think Tyler has many ways to occupy her.’ He takes hold of the zip at my back and eases it down. ‘None too different to what I’m wanting to do right now.’
‘Is it all you men think about?’
My dress falls from my shoulders and he smooths it down my hips, my thighs... I’m wearing no bra, just a thong, and in the free-standing mirror ahead I can see his eyes taking me in. Their burn. The emotion...
He takes hold of my hands and lifts them, entwining my fingers behind his neck so that I arch into his warm, unyielding body.
‘You truly are exquisite.’ His hands smooth around to my front, cupping my breasts. He rolls their puckered hearts, his lips soft on my neck as he sweeps kisses to my ear. He catches my lobe in his teeth, all the while his eyes fixed on the mirror and what he’s doing to me.
‘You are a masterpiece.’
My laugh catches as he pinches my nipples.
‘You are, cara mia. Don’t ever doubt it.’
His eyes are on fire, their darkened depths glinting with gold in the soft light of the room. I want to ask, if I’m such a masterpiece, why doesn’t he want to keep me, treasure me? I bite into my lip. I don’t want to ruin tonight with that. He keeps massaging my breasts, pinching and caressing my nipples until I’m writhing against him, until the colour of desire is as high in his own cheeks, his cock like granite as it grinds against my back.
‘Please, Raf!’
‘What, cara?’ His voice is husky in my ear, his breath coming in pants, and I swear I could come from this alone.
‘I need you to touch me.’
He lowers one hand to my thong, slips his fingers inside and groans. ‘You are so wet.’
He coats himself in my need, rolling over my clit, his pace matching my hurried breaths, my grinding hips. I want him to take me to the bed, I want him inside me. I want it all. But I can’t speak, can’t demand it. My toes curl, the delicious tension spreading through my tightening limbs. I turn my head to his, seeking out his mouth, his tongue. I see his eyes still feasting on our form in the mirror, determined, carnal, and I’m gone. He swallows my cry with his groan, his hands pressing me tight against him as he absorbs shock after shock.
He spins me into him, scoops me up in his arms and carries me to the bed. There’s a strange tension to him, a desperation. I see it in the lines that bracket his mouth, his eyes that blaze and strain.