'Dios mío, what are you trying to do?'
'Teach you a lesson.'
He got off the bed, almost a little too eager for his punishment. 'Turn around,' he instructed.
She did, and heard him hiss out a breath as he pulled the delicate laces and tied it.
'Once again, I have no knickers.'
His moan was a heartfelt balm to her soul.
Turning, she placed her hands on her hips, feminine power fuelling her desire as she saw her effect on him.
When he stumbled back and sank onto the side of the bed, she laughed. 'Hoisted by your own petard, Rafael?'
She took a step towards him and gloried in the slide of the silk on her skin. She would never don anything like this again. Naughty lingerie wasn't really her style but, just for tonight, she would allow herself this experience.
His face was strained like the steely erection that jutted from between his legs. Heat oozed between her thighs, made her movements slow as the magnetic force between them pulled her inexorably into his orbit.
When she reached him, she raked her fingers down his chest. 'You won't see me like this again, Rafael, so look your fill.'
His features altered, a look of regret passing through his eyes that made her stomach hollow out. 'You're breathtaking without it, Raven. How can I make this up to you?'
Her heart thundered at the sincerity in his voice. 'You don't need to. Just see me as I am.'
He inhaled, long and deep, and dropped his head between her breasts. For a long moment, Raven held him close. Then his breathing altered. Hers followed as lust sizzled, rose to the fore once more.
She pushed him back on the bed and climbed on top of him. By the time he donned the condom, they were both nearly insane with need. She'd barely positioned her thighs on either side of him when he thrust hard and deep inside her. Raven lost all coherent thought.
In the sizzling, excruciatingly heady aftermath, she curled into him but found she couldn't breathe, even after his deft fingers pulled the basque from her body and flung it away. She'd always known that Rafael's dominance was larger than life. But she'd trusted herself not to get pulled into his devastating, fast-spinning orbit. Her emotions were fast skittering out of control. How long had she watched her mother experience the same devastation over and over? Now she was running the same risk-
'What is it?' he demanded, his intuitiveness almost scary.
'Nothing...' she started to say, then stopped. 'How many times have you done this?' she blurted.
'I think I definitely need a definition of this, otherwise I'll have to plead the fifth.'
'Bought risqué underwear for a woman?'
His lids dropped for a second before rising to spear her with that intense blue. 'Never.'
Her snort was borne of disbelief and a sharp pang she didn't want to touch with a dozen bargepoles. She shook her head and started to move away.
He caught her back easily. A shiver ran through her when his finger slid under her chin and tilted her head up. Almost afraid, she looked into his eyes.
'I've never lied to you, Raven. I'm skilled in evading subjects I don't wish to discuss, but I have never and will never lie to you. Understood?'
She was stunned by how much she wanted to believe him, how much she wanted to be the first at something in his life. 'Why haven't you done this before?'
Surprise flared in his eyes. 'You're asking me why I haven't bought lingerie for a woman before?'
She pursed her lips. 'It seems the kind of thing ruthless playboys specialise in.'
His own lips flattened at the label, then he shrugged and relaxed onto the pillows. 'Not specialise. I have knowledge of it because I'm always the recipient. The assumption has always been that I would prefer the bedroom unveiling to be a knock-my-brains-out surprise, not a joint enterprise. I haven't felt the inclination to alter that assumption.'
A small fizz of pleasure started in her belly. Which was really foolish because she knew this particular experiment had been a means to an end for him.
Unwilling to face up to what all this meant, she buried her face in his neck. 'I'm glad.'
'Enough to forgive my grievous error?'
'That depends.'
'On?'
'On whether you'll give me what I expected to find in the box when I opened it.' She told him.
Another peculiar look crossed his face. 'The story has reached a crossroads.'
'Are you saying I did all of that for nothing?'
He pushed her firmly onto her back and leaned his powerful, endlessly intoxicating body over hers. Unable to resist, she let her hands wander at will over smooth muscle.
'For nothing? No, bonita, it was most definitely not for nothing. I think you could be the key to unlocking everything.'
Although she went into his arms at his urging, Raven sensed he wasn't as in control as he made out. She'd heard a different note in his voice-part vulnerability, part bravado. She slid her hand up and down his back in a strong need to comfort him. The persistent voice that had cautioned against getting too deep was receding-almost as if it knew the path she'd chosen. She would live in this fantasy now.
This magic, this overwhelming sense that she was exactly where she wanted to be, was too great to deny. Reality would encroach soon enough.
So where was the harm in experiencing it for a little while longer?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT TURNED OUT a little while was all she would get.
Things started to go wrong the moment the helicopter touched down at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City the next morning. The replacement driver Angelo had lined up didn't turn up. As the day went on with no immediate solution, Raven felt the pressure mount as everyone turned to Rafael for a solution.
Even though this was primarily a charity event, high profile sponsors had channelled millions of euros into it in the hope of gaining maximum exposure, courtesy of the sold-out events. Racing five cars instead of the usual six would make the headlines and throw negative publicity on the event-something X1 Premier Management and Rafael in particular couldn't afford to let happen.
Already the paparazzi, sensing blood in the water, were sniffing around, cameras and microphones poised to capture any salacious gossip.
She recalled how they'd decimated Sasha de Cervantes and her gut churned at the thought of what that type of publicity could do to Rafael.
As if she'd conjured him up, Rafael walked past the window, his pace carrying him from one end of the air-conditioned VIP lounge to the other, his gait remarkably improved despite the physical stress she'd put on his body in the last three days.
Feeling a blush creep up her face, she glanced away before he or any of the other management team hastily assembled for the meeting could guess at her thoughts.
Angelo, Rafael's assistant, approached him, a phone in his hand. Rafael listened for several seconds, his tension increasing with each breath he took.
'Tell him if he threatens me with a lawsuit one more time, I'll personally see to it that his brand of vodka never leaves the icy wilderness of Siberia...bueno, I'm pleased you're finally seeing things my way. We will find a driver, and your logo will be emblazoned on the side pod just as we agreed.'
He hung up, glanced around the room and caught a few nervous gazes. 'They want to play dirty; I'm more than happy to oblige.'
A three-time world champion, now in his early sixties, cleared his throat. 'The race starts in three hours. I don't see that we have much of a choice here. You all but agreed to step in two days ago when we were a driver short. I'm not sure what changed your mind but perhaps you'd revisit the idea of racing?'
Raven half rose out of her seat, the scrape of her chair on the tiled floor drawing attention from the rest of the room.
She collapsed back into her seat when Rafael's fierce gaze settled on her. When the quick shake of her head didn't seem to register, she cleared her throat.
His eyes narrowed. Then he turned, slowly, deliberately away from her.
A block of ice wedged in her chest and her stomach hollowed out. From very far away, she heard him address the race coordinator and chief engineer of the driverless team.
'I have a couple of spare seats around here somewhere. Angelo will arrange to supply you with one to fit into the car. I'll be along in ten minutes to go over race strategy with you.' He looked around the room, the devil's own grin spreading over his face. 'Gentlemen, let's go racing.'
The explosion of excitement that burst through the room drowned out her horrified gasp. Manly slaps of his shoulder and offers of congratulations echoed through her numb senses.
When someone suggested a quick press conference, Raven finally found the strength to stand and approach him as the room emptied.
'R...Rafael, can I talk to you?'
'Now is not a good time, bonita.' His voice was brusque to the point of rudeness.
The endearment she was beginning to adore suddenly grated. But she refused to be dismissed. 'I think this is a bad idea.'
'Sí, I knew you would think so. But I can't help what you think. Needs must and I stand to become embroiled in all sorts of legal wrangling if this isn't sorted out.'