as I lay awake at night worrying about the future. Then there’d been a beautiful sense of peace and warmth, a knowing that I’d made the right decision, no matter how difficult it had been.
Or how horrible it would be.
Rafael had been protective and nurturing, loving and kind. The passion had been unequaled, but I’d felt a part of him missing that I could never replace. He’d barely talked. We’d discussed everything from movies to music, yet his words had been stilted. I’d realized that I wasn’t his heart even though I knew he loved me, at least in his own way. Possessive. Even obsessive. Maybe I was looking for the fairytale. Maybe I was hoping for the white picket fence with the perfect little house where no evils could find us.
That wasn’t reality.
Death would always be in the background.
Danger would always raise its nasty head.
Swallowing hard, I refused to think about the inevitable. I wanted to enjoy the here and now, the time we could spend together.
How I longed to hear the sounds of Rafael’s guitar. A simple life.
I took a deep breath and tipped my head toward the sun. The day was unusually warm, the few clouds forming the most incredible shapes in the sky. As I walked out into the water, I twirled in a full circle, laughing like a stupid little kid as I kept my eyes closed. Perhaps I was being ridiculous given the tumultuous week that had just passed, but I needed a moment of laughter. The tide was rolling in, the water just cold enough that I yelped when the wave splashed over my feet.
Everything was almost magical on this day, allowing me to twirl like a carefree girl, my dress floating in the air. I wanted happiness. I craved love. I hungered for normalcy.
Karma had other things in mind.
The sound of feet heading toward me quickly forced a slight quiver in my stomach.
But it wasn’t about fear, worry that some bad man was coming to take me away or even about the possibility of being killed just because of who I was. The butterflies swimming in my tummy were all about one dark, dangerous, and delicious man.
The one with the sexy smile.
The one with the body carved out of stone.
The one who managed to take my breath away every time he walked into the room.
And the one who owned me—body, heart, and soul.
Rafael.
I felt his strong arms wrapping around me, lifting me into the air as he swung me around in several circles, almost tripping on the wet sand.
As he slid me down the length of his body, the feel of his rock-hard cock pressing into my belly was far too tempting. “Looks like someone missed me,” I breathed as I placed my arms over his shoulders.
“And looks like someone was a very bad girl, leaving without telling me where she was going,” he countered as he rubbed his hands down the length of my back, cupping my buttocks.
“Where could I go?” I couldn’t resist grinding my hips against him provocatively, just as desperately hungry for him as I always was.
“That’s not the point, my sweet yet very mischievous woman.”
“Yours, huh?” I asked demurely as I rose onto my tiptoes.
“Contract signed with no out clauses.” The grin on his face was the first I’d seen since finding out about his brother’s wretched betrayal. “That means that you follow my rules. What happens when you don’t?”
“Then my master gives me a spanking?” I couldn’t resist faking a pout, using just a single finger to slide down his jagged scar to his neck, flicking the tip back and forth across the base of his ear.
Nodding, he issued a series of growls before sliding his hands under my dress, delivering four hard smacks in a row on my buttocks.
“Ouch!”
He laughed in a husky manner as he dragged me even closer, crushing his body against mine. “Spankings will always hurt. I think you need to keep that in mind before you go off halfcocked.”
I inched my head closer, drinking in his musky cologne. I could never get enough of the scent of him, or the way he held me tightly in his arms. He’d become more possessive since the nightmare, although he’d accepted the fact that I needed some level of freedom, allowing me to continue working in the galleria until my aunt’s return. I’d seen the security detail he’d assigned, the men in dark cars watching my every move. I couldn’t blame him. What had