She took it without hesitation. “What’s going on?”
“You’ve been locked in one form of a cage to another. I’m not going to be the kind of guy to constantly be the same as other men.” They walked into his room. He went into the closet and came back with a baseball cap. He tucked all of her hair into her shirt. He tugged on a sweater, followed by the cap.
She watched in amazement as he stripped down to his boxer briefs and changed clothes.
By the time he finished, he didn’t look like Raphael, but someone else. He took her hand, and they left his apartment. The guard he usually had at the door was long gone. He never lingered when Raphael returned home.
“We’ll go out the back way,” he said.
She didn’t even know the front way.
He didn’t let go of her hand as they escaped the building. They rushed past the parking lot and into the darkness.
Raphael was fast and she kept up with him, even if she was a little out of breath.
He slowed down eventually, tucking her against his side.
“I’ll take you to the park. It’s a small one. Come on.”
She had no idea where they were going or how far they had gone from his apartment. She was out in the open. The fresh air was on her face. Free. To a point.
She knew if Giavanni knew about them, he’d possibly hurt Raphael. She didn’t want Raphael to be hurt. She cared about him. He’d been kind to her, and she wanted to be his friend.
“How about that?” Raphael said, looking toward the park.
Elenore recognized the rides from the program she’d watched. “Can we go in?”
“Yes.” He opened the gate, letting go of her hand. She wasn’t even tempted to run away. She walked into the park and smiled as she approached the swing.
Holding on to the chain, she sat down on the seat.
“Hold on tight.”
She let out a squeal as Raphael pushed her back.
She jerked forward and Raphael laughed.
He held her back and leaned down, his lips brushing across her ear. “You have to let go and trust the seat to hold you.”
She let go of the chains.
“Not your hands. Your feet, hold them up. Here, I’ll show you.” He sat on the swing beside her and showed her what to do with her legs.
“Oh, right, of course.”
He came to a stop and moved behind her. His hand pressed on her back and this time, she soared up through the air. She gasped as she rocked her legs in time with the motion of the swing.
Back and forth.
It felt amazing.
The cap blew off her head, and she was flung out of the swing onto the ground, crying out as she felt pain explode in her thigh and shoulder.
Raphael cursed, coming to her side, putting the hat back on her head. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought you to the park.”
“I don’t mind. I enjoyed it,” she said, smiling up at him, even with tears in her eyes.
“This one would have been safer to do.”
She wasn’t expecting his lips against hers. At first, she froze up, not really sure what she should do or how she should react.
This was her first kiss.
Did the woman on the television have the same reaction? Did her heart race? Was the kiss nice? Did she enjoy it?
Her lips tingled from the pleasure of his lips.
Suddenly, Raphael pulled away and he looked down at her. “There, you got one first today.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I think it’s time we head home and I call the doctor to come and assess your wounds.”
Home?
Doctor?
Her life really had changed.
Chapter Four
“Do I need to write out a list of special instructions?” Timothy asked, finishing the last of the stitches.
The wound to her thigh had only been a graze but because she hadn’t been resting, it had torn open. The bullet to her shoulder had been lodged in there and Timothy had to take it out. Now she’d torn those stitches too.
There was no doubt in Raphael’s mind that Timothy was pissed. The doctor didn’t look happy.
“I expect my patients to be given the utmost care,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s my fault,” Elenore said. “I wanted to go to the park. I’ve never been and Raphael was just being nice. I promise.”
Timothy paused. “You’ve never been to a park?”
“No.”
The doctor’s gaze returned to his. Raphael shook his head.
“Every person in the world should get to go to the park once,” Timothy said. “Next time, please don’t throw yourself off the swing, and also, go when you’re healed up. You were doing a nice job, now it’s going to take longer.”
“I’m sorry,” Elenore said. “I’ll be good.”
He didn’t want her to be good. Raphael wanted her to fucking fly, to soar to freedom.
Timothy finished up. “I will let you get dressed while I talk to him.”