The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba - Chanel Cleeton Page 0,117
American forces originally landed in Cuba, so we can beat the others with the scoop. The army is moving again, and Hearst planned for us to ride out from Siboney to meet them.
I can’t be late.
I rummage around the ground for my clothes from the night before.
Rafael tracks my every movement, a smile on his face and a gleam in his eyes. He looks every inch the satisfied male, and after how many times we came together last night, I can hardly fault him.
“I take it you’re leaving me, then,” he says.
“I am. I rather thought you had business as well. Don’t you have to return to the war?”
“I do, actually. Will was kind enough to give me a ride when I got separated from the rest of my men, but I should head back. Some of the other reporters are going to the front lines. I’ll head out with them.” He hesitates. “Tell me you’ll be safe. That you’ll stay out of harm’s way. Will means well, but he doesn’t always have the best head on his shoulders, and he isn’t always as prudent as he should be.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Rafael throws the covers back, rising from the bed entirely nude.
For a moment, I stop dressing to admire the masculine beauty before me.
“You can’t keep looking at me like that and expect me to do anything other than my damnedest to get you back in bed.”
My eyes widen slightly at the invitation there. Now that I’ve had him, known him in that way, I don’t think I’ll ever hear his voice and not be transported back to the intimacy of this moment, the two of us in his cabin, the sheets on the bed tangled from the night we spent together.
Even after we finally fell asleep, he didn’t let me go, holding me close to the curve of his body, his strong arms wrapped around my torso.
“I could get used to waking up to you,” he adds. “Though, perhaps, in a more relaxed fashion.”
I’m not sure what to say to that. As much as I enjoyed myself last evening, and even though I don’t regret it, things are so complicated right now.
“I’ll sneak out,” I say, once I’ve put my nightgown on, slipping on my robe and tying it tightly at the waist. “I need to go back to my cabin and get ready to ride out with everyone.”
Rafael takes my hand, linking our fingers. “I want you to know that last night meant something to me. Something important. Now isn’t the time to be making promises. I know that. I might not even come back from this battle. But I want you to know that I care for you. Deeply. If anything happens to me—”
I cut off his remaining words as I stand on my tiptoes, leaning up and pressing my lips to his. He groans against my mouth, tightening his grip around me, deepening the kiss.
“Whatever you have to say to me, save it until we both survive this. We have to go,” I whisper.
He leans into me, resting his forehead against mine. It’s the only private good-bye we’ll get before we revert to the roles we must play in the company of others.
Rafael sighs. “I know.”
He releases me, and I walk over to his cabin door and open it a sliver of the way, glancing out.
The hallway is empty.
I cast one last look at him before I step out into the hallway, closing the door firmly behind me.
* * *
—
Before the sun is up, we all race to Siboney, leaving the Wilson sisters and the Sylvia behind. Hearst’s enthusiasm to scoop everyone else is infectious even as the battle wears on all of us, the effects of the evening weighing us down. Hearst’s friend, Follansbee, has parted from the group, leading some soldiers to search for stray Spaniards from the battle.
Rafael joins us, set to rendezvous with the rest of his military unit when we reach Siboney.
Our headquarters in Siboney have been converted to a hospital to treat the soldiers coming back from the front lines. Clara Barton and the rest of the Red Cross workers are there when we arrive, the sounds of the wounded soldiers in pain a sobering reminder that despite last night’s respite, we are at war.
As soon as we arrive, Rafael leaves us to meet up with his men, and I am left once more staring at his retreating back, wondering if I will ever see him again.