His Ultimate Prize

With a sigh, he sank into the nearest wide velvet sofa, nodded and put his head back on the chair.

‘What would you like?’ she asked.

‘You choose.’

‘Would you like me to spoon-feed you when it arrives, too?’

His grin was a study in mind-melting hotness and unashamed sexual arrogance. ‘You’re not the first to offer, querida. But I may just make you the first to succeed in that task.’

Rolling her eyes, she ordered two steaks with a green salad for them. Then, on impulse, she ordered a Côte du Rhone.

The wine wouldn’t exactly lay him flat but it might let him relax enough to get a good night’s sleep, especially since he refused to take any medication.

After she’d placed the order, she set the phone down and approached the seating area.

Rafael patted the space beside him.

Very deliberately, and sensibly, she thought, she chose the seat furthest from him and ignored his low mocking laugh.

‘So, care to tell me what happened today?’

He stilled, then his eyes grew hooded. ‘First day back on the job. Everyone was clamouring for the boss.’

Raven got the feeling it was a little bit more than that but she wisely kept it to herself. ‘What are the races in aid of this year?’ she asked, changing the subject.

He tensed further, wrong-footing her assumption that this was a safe subject.

For the longest time, she thought he wouldn’t answer. ‘XPM started a foundation five years ago for the victims of road accidents and their families. But we soon realised that giving away money doesn’t really help. Educating about safety was a better route to go. So we’ve extended the programme to testing road and vehicle safety, with special concentration on young drivers.’

‘Was...was it because of what happened with your father?’

His eyes darkened. ‘Surprisingly, no. It was because a boy racer wiped out a family of six because he wasn’t aware of how powerful the machine underneath him really was. I knew exactly how powerful the car I drove was so my transgression didn’t come from ignorance.’

‘Where did it come from?’

‘Arrogance. Pride. I owned the world and could do as I pleased, including ignoring signs of danger.’ His face remained impassive, this slightly self-loathing playboy who wore his faults freely on his chest and dared the world to judge him. His phone rang just then. He checked the screen, tensed and pressed the off button. ‘Speak of the devil and he appears,’ he murmured. His voice was low and pensive with an unmistakable thread of pain.

Raven frowned. ‘That was your father?’

‘Sí,’ he replied simply.

‘And you didn’t answer.’

The eyes he raised to her were dark and stormy. ‘I didn’t want to interrupt our stimulating conversation. You were saying...?’

She searched her memory banks and tried to pull together the threads of what they’d been talking about. ‘You used the past tense when you said you owned the world? You no longer think that?’

‘World domination is overrated. Mo’ power mo’ problems.’ Although he smiled, the tortured pain remained.

‘Is that why you won’t forgive yourself? Because you think you should’ve known better.’

‘My, my, is it Psychology 101?’

She pressed her lips together. ‘It is, isn’t it?’

‘If I said yes, would you make it all better?’

‘If you said yes you would feel better all on your own.’ The doorbell rang and she looked towards the door. ‘Think about that while I serve our feast.’

The emotions raging within him didn’t disappear from his eyes as she went to the door to let the waiter in.

By unspoken agreement they stuck to safer subjects as they ate—once again, Rafael taking her refusal to feed him with equanimity.

When she refused a second glass of wine, he set the bottle down and twirled his glass, his gaze focused on the contents.

‘So where is this island of yours that Marco and Sasha have gone to?’

‘There are a string of islands near Great Exuma. We own one of them.’

‘Wow, what does it feel like to own your own island?’

‘Much like it feels to own a car, or a handbag, or a pen. They’re all just possessions.’

‘Possessions most people spend their lives dreaming about.’

‘Are you one of those people? Do you dream of finding a man to take you from your everyday drudgery to a life filled with luxury?’

‘First of all, I don’t consider what I do drudgery. Secondly, while I think dreams are worth having, I set more store by the hard work that propels the achievement of that dream.’

‘So I can’t sway you with the promise of a private island of your very own?’