His Ultimate Prize

* * *

They were halfway through their breakfast when the delivery arrived.

‘What is it?’

‘I’ve got something for you.’ The gleam in his eyes was pure wickedness. Her heartbeat escalated as she eyed the large gold-ribboned package sitting on the floor beside their breakfast table.

‘Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy it,’ he promised with a smile so sexy, and so deliciously decadent, her toes curled.

Even though the subject quickly changed to their plans for the rest of the day, Raven’s gaze strayed time and again to the package. But Rafael, as she’d discovered in the past two nights, was skilled in delayed gratification. He was also skilled in being the perfect host. She was stunned when she discovered how many details he’d picked up through their conversation. When he shepherded her towards the SUV mid-morning, she gaped in surprise when she found out he’d organised the hang-gliding trip she’d casually mentioned was on her list of things to do.

She’d barely descended from that high when he whisked her by helicopter to the Mayan encampment she’d been dying to explore.

‘You’re seriously scaring me now by how utterly close I am to adoring you for this,’ she said in hushed tones as they were ushered into the hallowed grounds of the ancient burial site.

His breath hissed out. When she glanced at him, he’d paled a little.

‘Rafael? Are you in pain?’ He’d left his walking stick back at the villa and nothing from his gait told her he’d suffered a mishap. All the same...

He shook his head. A second later the look had disappeared. ‘It’s nothing.’

She stopped as the full import of her words struck her. Wide-eyed, she turned to him. ‘No, I didn’t mean...I was only joking...’

‘Were you?’ The intensity of his gaze pinned her where she stood.

‘Yes! Ignore me, I’m babbling because you’ve made two dreams come true today.’

‘So you don’t adore me?’

She opened her mouth to refute the comment and found she couldn’t speak. Because she realised she did adore him, and more than a little. The Rafael she’d come to know in the past few weeks had a depth she’d never got the chance to explore last year. She felt a connection to this Rafael, and not just because he’d been her first lover.

The depth of the feeling rampaging through her made her shake her head.

One corner of his mouth lifted in a mirthless smile. Then he nodded to the tour guide looking their way.

‘Now that we’ve established that you don’t adore me, I think you need to go see your artefacts.’

She felt a stab of disappointment. ‘Aren’t you coming?’

‘Been there, done that.’ He pulled the phone from his pocket. ‘The drivers and cars arrive this afternoon. I need to return a few calls.’ He walked away before she could reply.

Disappointment morphed into something else. Something she couldn’t put her finger on but which confused the hell out of her. The more she tried to grasp it, the further away it slithered from her.

He was waiting when she finally emerged. Back in the helicopter, he pulled her close and sealed his lips over hers, his mouth hungry and demanding.

She was breathless when he finally pulled away. ‘What was that for?’ she asked huskily.

His lids swept down over his eyes. ‘Maybe I want you to adore me, just a little.’

* * *

Rafael watched her breath catch all over again and wondered just what the hell he was doing. Why he was letting the angst riding underneath his skin get to him.

So she didn’t adore him. Big deal. There were thousands of women out there who were more than willing to fall into his bed should he wish them to.

But none like the woman in his arms. None like the woman who refused to mould into a being he understood, could predict. Most women would be halfway to falling in love with him by now; would be secretly or not so secretly making plans on how to prolong their presence in his life.

When he wasn’t kissing her breathless—a diversionary tactic he’d grown to enjoy immensely—Raven seemed to be counting the days, hell, the minutes until she could walk away from him.

The notion unsettled him enough to make him want to probe, to find an answer.

Had she glimpsed the darkness in his soul? Had opening up to her in Monaco and again in Monza made him into a man she could sleep with but not a man she wanted in her life for the long-term?

The long-term? Santa María. Had he finally lost all common sense? Certainly, reality had slid back these past two days. Being with her had been like living some sort of dream. A dream where he could look at himself in the mirror without being revolted by what stared back at him.