His Ultimate Prize(31)

'Of course there was. He damaged his front wing when he went too close  to the pit wall on his exit but you stayed behind him when you could've  passed. And many times you came close to passing him but you pulled back  every time. Your race engineer tried to talk to you but you didn't  respond.'

He froze, scrambled around to supply the adequate information to refute  her words and came up blank. Panic cloaked his skin, sank its claws  deeper into him.

'Are you saying you don't remember?' she almost whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

Rafael couldn't breathe. 'I...no, I don't remember.'

The black haze crowded his mind, encroaching rapidly with each  excruciating second. He knew he was in deep trouble when he didn't stop  her from touching him, from pulling him down to sit on the king-sized  bed.

'Rafael, you're freezing. And you're shaking!'

His laugh was hollow. 'Sí. In case you haven't guessed yet, querida, I'm a hot mess right now.'

'Oh God!' She threw her arms around him, her warm hands pressing into his skin.

Another series of shudders raked through him, setting his teeth  chattering. Her fingers speared through his hair, pulling him down into  the crook of her neck. He wanted to move, needed to move. But he stayed  right where he was, selfishly absorbing her warmth, her heady scent,  inhaling her very essence as if that would save him. But nothing could  save him. He was beyond redemption in more ways than he could count.

Blanking out behind the wheel had cemented the realisation.

And still he found himself leaning into her, his lips finding that soft,  sweet spot below her ear lobe where he knew she loved to be kissed. He  kissed it, felt her try to shift away, and trapped her in his arms.

'Rafael...'

He trailed his mouth down her neck, to the pulse that jumped when he flicked his tongue against it.

The shaking receded a little, the numbness fading under the pulse of  seductive heat that was all Raven. Greedily, he tried to grab onto it,  to delay the encroaching darkness beneath the bliss of her touch. With a  deep groan, he moved to cup her breasts.

Only to fall into a deeper hell when she pulled away and rushed to her feet.

'Sex isn't going to make this problem go away.'

Darkness prowled closer. 'I know, but a guy can still dream, can't he?'

'No, it's time for reality. We need to discuss what happened. When I saw  you throwing up, I thought it was a panic attack. But I think it's more  than that,' she said.

Ice snapped through him, freezing him once more to the soul. 'Leave it, Raven.'

'No, you need help, Rafael.'

He couldn't hold her gaze-she saw far too much-so he concentrated on his  clenched fists. 'And you think you're the one to offer that help?'

He knew his tone was unduly harsh but he had gone beyond remorse. He was in his special frozen place.

'What happened?' Her voice pleaded for understanding.

Since he was at a loss himself, he contemplated silence. Then he  contemplated seduction. When bile threatened, he contemplated pleading  for mercy.

Through frozen lips, he found himself speaking. 'I remembered everything about the race in Hungary.'

He looked up to see her hands fly to her lips. He gave a grim smile and  stared back down at his hands. Hands that shook uncontrollably.

'You know what I remember most about it?'

She shook her head.

'As I went to the wall, I knew, no matter what happened, no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't going to die.'

'You mean you...wanted to die?' Horror coated her words.

He shrugged. 'It doesn't matter what I wanted. I knew it wasn't going to  happen. My expertise lies in many other areas. Killing myself isn't one  of them.'

'I don't... Explain, please.'

He raised his head, took in her tall, proud figure and felt a moment of  regret that he'd messed this up too. She was one thing he'd have fought  to hang on to, if it hadn't been too late for him.

'I've been dicing with death since I was old enough to walk. If a  situation has an element of danger, I'm there. Being born with racing  imprinted into my DNA was just a bonus.'                       
       
           



       

'Even if it ends up consuming you so thoroughly it kills you?'

The look that came over his face was so gut-wrenchingly stark she felt  pain resonate inside her. 'Sorry, I didn't mean it like that-'

He shook his head. 'I won't die from racing.'

'Are you retiring?'

He dashed the hope in her question. 'No. Regardless of everything that's  happened, I still crave it. I've been spared death so far. It seems I'm  destined for other things.'

A frown formed. 'What do you mean?'

'Haven't you guessed it yet? My skill lies in killing everything I come  into contact with. If you haven't woken to the fact that all I'll bring  to your doorstep is utter chaos then you're not as bright as I thought.'

'That sounds like...are you trying to warn me off you?'

He laughed. 'Sí, I am. Which in itself is strange. Normally, I just take what I want and leave the husk behind.'

Pain darkened her eyes. 'Why are you doing this?'

'Doing what, querida?'

'Trying to belittle what we have, and don't use that endearment any  more. It's a beautiful word you've made tacky because you don't really  mean it. You're trying to paint yourself in a vile light, trying to put  me off you so I'll walk away.'

'I'm not trying. I'm telling you I'm not a great bet for you. I always  escape unscathed but everyone I come into contact with sooner or later  suffers for it.'

'You make yourself sound as if you've got a contagious disease. Stop it.  And no one suffered today. You still need to address exactly what  happened during the race but no one had an accident.'

'That's where you're wrong. At the start, when I realised I was getting  squeezed out, I contemplated a move that would've taken Matteo out. For a  moment, I forgot that I was supposed to be his teacher. I forgot the  reason I'm staging the All-Star event in the first place. In that  cockpit, I was just a racer, programmed to win.'

'But isn't that what racers do?'

'He's only nineteen, Raven! And I came within a whisker of taking him  out. Do you know his mother is here today? Can you imagine how  devastated she'd have been if I'd crossed that line?'

'But you didn't cross it. You pulled back before you did any damage.'

'Yeah, and you know how I felt? Nothing. No remorse, no victory, no sympathy. I felt nothing.'

'Because there was something else going on. You say you remembered your  crash in Hungary but then you blanked out the rest of the race. That  could be a form of PTSD.'

He raked a hand through his hair. 'Santo cielo! Stop trying to make  excuses for me. Stop trying to make me the sort of man you'll fall for.  There is nothing beneath this shell.'

Raven's heart lurched, then thundered so hard she was surprised it  didn't burst out of her chest. Surprised she managed to keep breathing,  to keep standing upright despite the knee-weakening realisation that it  was too late.

She had fallen hard. So very, very hard for Rafael.

'And if I don't fall in with your plan to drive me away? You know me well enough by now to know I'm no pushover.'

He speared her with a vicious look meant to flay the skin from her  flesh, and maybe a few weeks ago she'd have heeded the warning, but  she'd found, when it came to Rafael, she was made of sterner stuff than  that.

'No, but I'm a complete bastard when I'm pushed to the edge, chiquita. Are you prepared for that?' he parried.

'You'll have to do more than throw words at me. I know you, Rafael. I  see beyond your so-called shell. And I know, despite what you say, you  love your family and would do anything for them. I also know that you're  pissed off right now because you're terrified of what's happening with  you. But I'm not walking away, no matter how much you try to push me. I  won't let you.'

Anger hissed through his teeth. Rising from the bed, he stalked, albeit  with a barely visible limp, to the drawer that held his clothes and  pulled it open. 'A few days ago, you were counting the days until this  thing between us ended. Now I'm trying to end it and you've suddenly  gone ostrich on me?' He returned with a handful of clothes.

'I'm not burying my head in the sand-far from it. I'm trying to  understand. What have you done that's so viciously cruel that you think  I'll walk away from you?'

He froze before her, his whole body stiffening into marble stillness. Only his lips moved, but even then no words emerged.

A chord of fear struck her. 'Rafael?'

'What does your mother mean to you?' he rasped.

Although she wondered at the change of subject, her answer was  immediate. 'Everything. She's the only family I have. She may think I'm  her enemy half the time because she doesn't want to be where she is, and  she may blame me some of the time, imagining I'm the reason my father  doesn't want her, but the times she's lucid, she's a wonderful human  being and I love her unconditionally, regardless of what persona she is  on any given day. The thought of her, safe and a phone call away, makes  me happy. I'll do anything for her...' Her words drifted to nothing when  she saw the look on his face. He'd grown paler with each word she'd  uttered, the jeans he'd pulled from the drawer crushed in his vice-like  grip. His face, hewn from a mask of pain so visceral, made her step  towards him.