Giving her the answer, the reassurance she needed.
“I want to be with you.” She reached for him, ran her fingers down his front, tripping over the button placket of his shirt. “But…I hope you really want to be with me too.”
Chuckling, he trailed his index finger lightly across her collarbone, slipping it beneath the sequined strap of her dress. “I don’t think you understand just how bad I want to be with you. Do you, Cat?”
Slowly she shook her head, needing to hear him say it. His words would give her strength, knowing he really did want her. That this wasn’t just a passing whim.
Was it?
“How bad do you want me, Rafe?”
A smile appeared, slow and easy as it stretched across his face. “Quite the seductress, aren’t you, my darling Catalina?” He held up his hands in between them, turning them this way and that. “Look at me. My hands are shaking.” Unbelievably enough, they were. Such a vulnerable revelation on his part, one that she loved seeing. “Feel my chest.” He grabbed her hand and pressed it against him. She could feel his firm, warm skin, the accelerated thump-thump beat of his heart. It raced as fast as hers.
Maybe even faster.
She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know if this was normal or not. He always appeared calm and composed. Did she have the power to rile him up? Turn him on, turn him inside out as much as he affected her?
“I want you so bad it’s killing me not to just throw you over my shoulder and carry you off to my room. So I can lay you out on my bed and slowly strip you out of that sinful-as-hell dress. I want to kiss you all over your body, lick you between your legs until you’re begging me to stop, until you’re coming against my tongue, crying out my name as I bring you pleasure over and over again. Tell me. Would you like that, Cat?”
Struck completely mute, she nodded her answer, unable to form words at the images his confession brought forth. His dark head between her legs, his magical tongue licking her straight into pure oblivion…
She shivered at the thought.
“Say yes, love. Agree to spend the night with me and I promise to show you pleasure like you’ve never experienced before,” he went on, his voice thick with desire, his eyes glowing.
He already had, he just didn’t know it.
“May I ask you question?” Her voice was small and trembling with want.
“Anything,” Rafe said immediately.
“What’s going to happen after this night? What will happen to us after this weekend? Will we go our separate ways?”
Carefully he watched her, but she saw the hint of worry flicker in his gaze. Seeing that chink in his armor, that tiny imperfection made her feel better. Made Rafe seem more real. “Is that what you want?” he asked.
She took a deep breath. “Before I spent the last twenty-four hours with you, yes. It’s what I thought I wanted. I didn’t believe you could ever care about me. But now…now I think you could.”
“I do care about you,” he agreed. “I never wanted this to end in the first place, Cat. You have to know this.”
“I didn’t know. I still don’t really know what’s going to happen…” Her voice trailed off and they watched each other, standing in the foyer of his apartment, ready to make a major life decision all in a few quick minutes, all with a few short words.
He took her hand and pressed a kiss to it, clutching her fingers tight. “Let me prove it to you, Cat. Let me show you just how much I want you in my life.” He pulled her to him, delivering the sweetest, softest kiss to her lips. “Forever,” he murmured against her mouth.