'It's not cheating; it's taking the initiative. Anyway, you can't be with Axel.'
She stopped, head tilted to the side, before she tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. 'Okay, I'll play. Why can't I be with him?'
He gave a pained grimace. 'He has a ridiculous name, for a start. Think how ridiculous your future kids would find you. Raven and Axel Jung. Doesn't rhyme.'
'And I have to have a man whose name rhymes with mine, why?'
'Synergy in all things. Take you and me.'
'You and me?' she parroted.
'Sí. Rafa and Raven rolls right off the tongue. It was meant to be.'
She passed him a towel. 'I'd suspect you were on some sort of high, but you didn't touch a drop of alcohol at the mixer and you've refused any pain medication.'
'I'm completely rational. And completely right.'
'It must be hunger making you delirious then.' She handed him the walking stick and walked beside him to the living room. 'Room service?'
With a sigh, he sank into the nearest wide velvet sofa, nodded and put his head back on the chair.
'What would you like?' she asked.
'You choose.'
'Would you like me to spoon-feed you when it arrives, too?'
His grin was a study in mind-melting hotness and unashamed sexual arrogance. 'You're not the first to offer, querida. But I may just make you the first to succeed in that task.'
Rolling her eyes, she ordered two steaks with a green salad for them. Then, on impulse, she ordered a Côte du Rhone.
The wine wouldn't exactly lay him flat but it might let him relax enough to get a good night's sleep, especially since he refused to take any medication.
After she'd placed the order, she set the phone down and approached the seating area.
Rafael patted the space beside him.
Very deliberately, and sensibly, she thought, she chose the seat furthest from him and ignored his low mocking laugh.
'So, care to tell me what happened today?'
He stilled, then his eyes grew hooded. 'First day back on the job. Everyone was clamouring for the boss.'
Raven got the feeling it was a little bit more than that but she wisely kept it to herself. 'What are the races in aid of this year?' she asked, changing the subject.
He tensed further, wrong-footing her assumption that this was a safe subject.
For the longest time, she thought he wouldn't answer. 'XPM started a foundation five years ago for the victims of road accidents and their families. But we soon realised that giving away money doesn't really help. Educating about safety was a better route to go. So we've extended the programme to testing road and vehicle safety, with special concentration on young drivers.'
'Was...was it because of what happened with your father?'
His eyes darkened. 'Surprisingly, no. It was because a boy racer wiped out a family of six because he wasn't aware of how powerful the machine underneath him really was. I knew exactly how powerful the car I drove was so my transgression didn't come from ignorance.'
'Where did it come from?'
'Arrogance. Pride. I owned the world and could do as I pleased, including ignoring signs of danger.' His face remained impassive, this slightly self-loathing playboy who wore his faults freely on his chest and dared the world to judge him. His phone rang just then. He checked the screen, tensed and pressed the off button. 'Speak of the devil and he appears,' he murmured. His voice was low and pensive with an unmistakable thread of pain.
Raven frowned. 'That was your father?'
'Sí,' he replied simply.
'And you didn't answer.'
The eyes he raised to her were dark and stormy. 'I didn't want to interrupt our stimulating conversation. You were saying...?'
She searched her memory banks and tried to pull together the threads of what they'd been talking about. 'You used the past tense when you said you owned the world? You no longer think that?'
'World domination is overrated. Mo' power mo' problems.' Although he smiled, the tortured pain remained.
'Is that why you won't forgive yourself? Because you think you should've known better.'
'My, my, is it Psychology 101?'
She pressed her lips together. 'It is, isn't it?'
'If I said yes, would you make it all better?'
'If you said yes you would feel better all on your own.' The doorbell rang and she looked towards the door. 'Think about that while I serve our feast.'
The emotions raging within him didn't disappear from his eyes as she went to the door to let the waiter in.
By unspoken agreement they stuck to safer subjects as they ate-once again, Rafael taking her refusal to feed him with equanimity.
When she refused a second glass of wine, he set the bottle down and twirled his glass, his gaze focused on the contents.
'So where is this island of yours that Marco and Sasha have gone to?'
'There are a string of islands near Great Exuma. We own one of them.'
'Wow, what does it feel like to own your own island?'
'Much like it feels to own a car, or a handbag, or a pen. They're all just possessions.'
'Possessions most people spend their lives dreaming about.'
'Are you one of those people? Do you dream of finding a man to take you from your everyday drudgery to a life filled with luxury?'
'First of all, I don't consider what I do drudgery. Secondly, while I think dreams are worth having, I set more store by the hard work that propels the achievement of that dream.'
'So I can't sway you with the promise of a private island of your very own?'
'Nah, I have a thing about private islands.'
His brow rose. 'A thing?'
She nodded. 'I saw a TV show once where a group of people crashed onto one and spent a hellishly long time trying to get off the damned rock.' Her mock shudder made him grin. 'A concrete jungle and the promise of a mocha latte every morning suits me just fine.'
He raised his glass. 'To concrete jungles and the euphoria of wall-to-wall coffee shops.'
'Indeed.' She clinked glasses with him. Then it dawned on her how easy the atmosphere had become between them; how much more she wanted to stay where she was, getting to know this compelling man who spelled trouble for her. The thought forced her to push her chair back. 'I think I'll head to bed now. Goodnight, Rafael.'
If he noticed the sudden chill in her voice, he didn't react to it. 'Before you go, I have something for you,' he said, pointing to the elegant console table that stood outside the suite's study.
Seeing the neat stack of papers, Raven felt a leap of pleasure. Going to the table, she picked up the papers and, sure enough, it was the continuation of Ana's story.
'Did you write all of this last night?' she asked him.
He shrugged. 'The muse struck when I was awake. No big deal.' But she could tell it was. His gaze was hooded and his smile a little tight. It was almost...almost as if he was nervous about her reading it.
'Thanks for trusting me with this, Rafael.'
He looked startled for a moment, then he nodded. 'De nada. Buenas noches, bonita,' he replied simply.
The distinct lack of naughty left her floundering for a moment. Then she forced herself to walk towards her suite.
'Raven?' His voice stopped her beside the wide, elegant double doors leading into the hallway. When she turned, his gaze had dropped to assess the contents of his wine glass.
'Yes?'
'Don't flirt with Jung.'
Her pulse raced. Later, when she was safely in her cool bed, she tried to convince herself it was the effects of the wine that made her say, 'Quid pro quo, my friend. If I'm not allowed to flirt, then no more numbers on your walking stick. Agreed?'
Blue eyes lifted, regarded her steadily, their brilliance and intensity as unnerving as they'd been the very first time she'd looked into them. After a full minute, he nodded. 'Agreed.'
CHAPTER EIGHT
SHE FOUND HIM in the penthouse pool the next morning. She stood, awestruck, as Rafael cleaved the water in rapid, powerful strokes, his sleek muscles moving in perfect symmetry. He turned his head just before he dived under and executed a turn and, for a split second, Raven became the focus of piercing blue eyes.
One length, two lengths...three.
After completing the fourth, he stopped at the far end, flipped onto this back and swam lazily towards her. 'Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to join in? We leave for the racetrack in half an hour.'
'I'm not coming in, thank you. We were supposed to have a full physio session this morning.'
'I was up and raring to go, bonita. You were not.'
It was the first time ever that Raven had overslept or been late for an appointment. She couldn't stem the heat that crawled up into her face as she recalled the reason why. When she'd found herself unable to sleep, she'd opened up Rafael's manuscript and delved back between the pages. If anything, the story had been even better the second time round, renewed fascination with Ana, the heroine, keeping her awake.
'I was only ten minutes late.'
He stopped on the step just beneath where she stood and sluiced a hand through his hair. 'Ten throwaway minutes to you is a lifetime to me.' He hauled himself out of the pool. Raven couldn't stop herself from ogling extremely well-toned biceps and a tight, streamlined body. Even the scars he'd sustained on his legs and especially his hip were filled with character that made her want to trace her fingers over it, test his skin's texture for herself.