His Ultimate Prize

She tried for a shrug. ‘Some women go for that sort of thing, I hear.’

‘But not you, sí? You remind me of one of the girls I went to Sunday school with.’

Shock held her rigid. ‘You went to Sunday school?’

He nodded, the unholy gleam in his eyes lightening the blue depths. ‘Religiously. My mother was very keen I got into heaven.’

She laughed at the very idea. She knew no one more devilish in temperament and looks than Rafael de Cervantes.

His grin widened. ‘The idea of me in heaven is laughable?’

‘In the extreme. You’d corrupt all the other angels within seconds.’

‘And they’d love every minute of it.’

‘I bet.’

Laughter faded, slowly replaced by an incisive look that should’ve been her first warning. ‘You hide your pain underneath a veneer of blistering efficiency.’

‘While you hide yours under the cover of irreverent, sometimes callous charm.’

He reached out a hand for her, and Raven found herself moving towards him, his aura drawing her in like a moth to a flame.

When he patted the seat next to him, she sat down. ‘What a pair we are,’ he muttered.

She shrugged. ‘I guess we must do what we need to do to protect ourselves.’

‘From the outside world, yes. But we know what the other is. So there’s no need for pretence with us.’

His smile slowly faded to leave a serious, probing look that made her whole body tingle. Slowly he reached out and clasped his hand around her nape. Effortlessly, he drew her forward. She wet her lips before she could stop herself. His groan echoed the deep, dark one inside her.

‘What do you want from me, Rafael?’ she muttered, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth.

‘Nothing you aren’t prepared to give me.’

‘Don’t pretend you won’t take more than your fair share.’

His head dropped an inch closer. ‘What can I say, I’m a greedy, greedy bastard.’

‘What the hell am I doing?’

‘Letting go. Living a little. Just because you were hurt before doesn’t mean you have to stop living. Pleasure, in the right circumstances, with the right person, can be the most exhilarating experience in life.’

‘But you’re the exact opposite of the right person, I can’t even see how you can say that with a straight face.’

‘Sí, I’m the devil. You would never be satisfied with a Normal Norman. You’d be bored rigid in three seconds flat.’

He kissed her before she could countermand his assertion. As first kisses with the devil went, it was soul-stealing and Raven was eternally grateful she was sitting down.

Because Rafael devoured her as if she were his favourite fruit. No millimetre of her mouth went unkissed. When he was done ravaging her lips, he delved between to boldly slide his tongue into her mouth. The toe-curling sensation made her fingers bite hard into his bicep. She needed something solid to hold on to. Unfortunately, Rafael—unyielding, warm—no, hot—heady, sexily irreverent Rafael—was the last anchor she should’ve been seeking. And yet she couldn’t pull away, couldn’t summon even the smallest protest as she let him devour her lips.

‘Dios, you taste even better than I imagined.’ He only gave her a chance to snatch a quick breath before he pounced again.

One hand caught her waist, his fingers digging into her flesh to hold her still as he angled his head to go even deeper. Her moan felt ripped from her very soul.

He started to lean her back on the sofa, then he stilled suddenly. Between their lips, the sound of his pained hiss was smothered but Raven recognised it all the same.

Reality came crashing down on her, her dulled brain clamouring to make sense of what she’d let happen. Slowly, painfully, he straightened until he was upright again.

Raven wanted to reach across and help but she was too weak with thwarted lust, too stunned from the realisation that she was still as hopelessly attracted to Rafael as she’d been the first time she was introduced to him as his physiotherapist.

‘Shut up,’ he ground out hoarsely.

‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘No, but I can hear you thinking. Loudly, noisily. I’ve never had to compete with a woman mentally working out the Fibonacci Sequence while I was trying to get her naked. And you know what? It’s not sexy. It’s quite deafeningly unsexy, actually.’

She slid agitated hands into her hair. ‘You’re being offensive.’

‘And you’re ruining this electric buzz with all that over-thinking. I would much prefer it if you’d shut up and strip for me.’

Her mouth dropped open. Actually dropped opened in a gob-smacked, un-pretty mess that she couldn’t stop. ‘I really don’t know how you managed to snag girlfriend after girlfriend with that insufferable attitude.’