'Dios, you taste even better than I imagined.' He only gave her a chance to snatch a quick breath before he pounced again.
One hand caught her waist, his fingers digging into her flesh to hold her still as he angled his head to go even deeper. Her moan felt ripped from her very soul.
He started to lean her back on the sofa, then he stilled suddenly. Between their lips, the sound of his pained hiss was smothered but Raven recognised it all the same.
Reality came crashing down on her, her dulled brain clamouring to make sense of what she'd let happen. Slowly, painfully, he straightened until he was upright again.
Raven wanted to reach across and help but she was too weak with thwarted lust, too stunned from the realisation that she was still as hopelessly attracted to Rafael as she'd been the first time she was introduced to him as his physiotherapist.
'Shut up,' he ground out hoarsely.
'I didn't say anything.'
'No, but I can hear you thinking. Loudly, noisily. I've never had to compete with a woman mentally working out the Fibonacci Sequence while I was trying to get her naked. And you know what? It's not sexy. It's quite deafeningly unsexy, actually.'
She slid agitated hands into her hair. 'You're being offensive.'
'And you're ruining this electric buzz with all that over-thinking. I would much prefer it if you'd shut up and strip for me.'
Her mouth dropped open. Actually dropped opened in a gob-smacked, un-pretty mess that she couldn't stop. 'I really don't know how you managed to snag girlfriend after girlfriend with that insufferable attitude.'
'It's the same way I've snagged you, piqueña. It's why you're leaning towards me right now, unable to look away from me as you imagine what it would be like to have me inside you, buried deep, riding us both to ecstasy.'
She jumped back, and her breath whooshed out of her lungs.
'And now you're going to blush.'
As if on cue, heat rose and engulfed her face. 'Crap.'
He laughed, actually laughed at her. Raven had never felt so humiliated. Or so...so hot as he grasped the bottom of his T-shirt.
'Here, I'll go first, shall I? One item of clothing each until we're in flagrante. Deal?'
She wanted to walk out, wanted to tell him what to do with his tight, muscle-packed body and sheer masculine perfection. She wanted to have enough willpower to turn her back on all the things his glinting blue eyes promised. This wasn't her. She wasn't the type of girl who fell casually into sex as if she were choosing the latest hair accessory from a supermarket shelf. So why couldn't she move? Why did every single instinct she had scream at her to move closer to Rafael, to touch, experience the seductive pleasure he promised, instead of running as far as her marathon-trained legs could carry her?
A long-suffering sigh filled with extreme impatience shattered her thoughts. Her gaze sharpened in time to see his hands drop.
'Fine, I get the message. You're about to fall on your puritanical sword, deny yourself pleasure just so you can crawl back into your cold bed and pat yourself on the back. Aren't you?'
'I wasn't...' But she had been thinking that, hadn't she? 'Maybe,' she admitted. 'Besides being totally unprofessional, I can't very well advocate no sex for you and then be the one who...who makes you suffer a setback.'
He shook his head, a genuine baffled look on his face. Reaching over carefully, he took her face in his hand. 'Sí, I get it. More restraint. More suffering for both of us. You're twenty-four so I'm sure you're not a virgin, but are you sure you weren't an inquisitor in a past life?'
Since there was no way she wanted to confirm her virginity, she focused on the second part of his statement. 'I know you don't believe it, but I'm only looking out for you.'
'By torturing me to death? Or is there something else at play here?'
'By making sure you heal as quickly and efficiently as possible.'
He dropped his hand. 'Where's the fun in that?'
Raven kicked herself for immediately missing his touch. 'God, you're unbearable! And what do you mean, "there's something else at play"?'
'Ah. Finally, some fire. Do you have any idea how incredibly hot you look when you're riled?'
Desire dragged low through her abdomen at his heated, husky words. 'You're getting off topic. And that compliment is so clichéd, even a three-year-old wouldn't believe you.'
'Cliché doesn't make it any less true. But yes, I'll get to the point. You like to hide behind a prickly exterior, holding the world at bay because you're afraid.'
'I'm not prickly and I'm most definitely not afraid.'
'You over-think every single move you make.'
'It's called being sensible,' she retorted.
'You're living half a life. Every bone in your body wants to be on the bed with me, yet you're afraid to let yourself just be.'
'Just because I don't put myself about like you doesn't mean I'm not living.'
His lips twisted. 'I wouldn't be this frustrated if I'd been putting it about like you suggest. And don't forget, I was in a coma for several weeks. Have mercy on my poor, withered c-'
'If you finish that sentence I'm walking out of here right now!'
'The C-word offends you?'
'No, your blatant lies do. There's nothing withered or poor about you.'
'Gracias...I think.' He tilted his head. 'Now you're about to deflate my ego thoroughly, aren't you?'
'Your ego is Teflon-coated and self-inflating. It doesn't need any help from me.'
He let out an impatient sigh. 'Dios, Raven, are you going to talk me into another coma or are we going to have a conversation about what's really going on here?'
She shoved her hands onto her hips. 'There's nothing going on. You want to get on with making up for lost time and I happen to be the willing body you've chosen.'
His hands dropped. 'Would it make you feel better if I said yes? It would help you get through the morning-after hand-wringing if you feel righteous anger for being used?'
She gasped. 'I didn't say that.'
He moved further away. 'You didn't have to. Santa Maria! We haven't been to bed yet, and already you're seeking excuses to ease your guilt. How long are you going to let your father win?'
Her gasp was a hoarse sound that scraped her throat raw. 'That's low, Rafael.'
'No lower than the way you treat yourself. Have a little pride. You're a beautiful woman, with a powerfully sexual nature you choose to suppress underneath a staid exterior. But, underneath all that togetherness, your true nature is dying to leap out. To be set free.'
'And you're the man to do it? How convenient for you.'
His face remained sober. 'For both of us. I'm willing to rise to the task. I'm very good at it, too. Trust me.'
'Trust you. The self-proclaimed damaged man who is trouble with a capital T?'
'Think of all the experience I'd bring to the task. You couldn't find a better candidate to bed you if you tried.'
She shut her eyes. Despair wove through her because, deep down, she knew he was right. Her body hadn't reacted to anyone this strongly since...heavens, since never! But that was no excuse to throw well-served caution to the wind. 'No. It's not going to happen.'
He was silent for so long her nerves were stretched to the max by the time he spoke. 'What did your father do to you?'
'What makes you think this is about my father, not about an ex?'
'The first cut is the deepest, no?'
She looked around the too posh living room, at the priceless pieces of furniture that most people would give their eye teeth to own.
She didn't belong here. Her presence in Rafael's life was temporary, transient. Baring her soul to a man who didn't possess one was out of the question. Regardless of what she'd told herself she'd seen in his eyes last night, they were nothing more than ships passing in the night.
In a few weeks she would be gone and Rafael would return, healed, to his regular life. 'Yes, the first cut is the deepest, and yes, my father hurt me. Badly. But my scars don't dictate who I am. I am free to choose who to be with, who I have sex with. And I don't want to have it with you.'
CHAPTER SIX
RAFAEL TOOK HER rejection with more grace than she'd given him credit for, especially considering his reaction to her rejection the day of his last X1 race.
Later that day, after shrugging off her terse pronouncement, they strolled into an exclusive rooftop restaurant overlooking Casino Square. Although a whisper of tension flowed between them, Rafael was as charming as ever.
'So, what are your plans after you're done fixing me?' he asked after the first course had been served.
A strange twinge attacked her insides. Pushing it away, she speared her fork through a plump shrimp. 'I'll either get the agency that allocated me the X1 contract to find me another driver to work with, or I'll find one on my own. I could also try the army facility to see if they need a full-time physiotherapist. I have a few possibilities and I figure after you, every other patient would be a breeze to work with.'
Blue eyes gleamed at her across the table. 'Gracias, bonita.'
She eyed him suspiciously. 'What are you thanking me for, exactly?'