Chapter 15 #3
She tightened her muscles again, and his fingers dug into her hips as he moaned again. But a wave of pleasure crashed through her too. She curled her hands into fists, digging her fingernails into her palms, and kept the orgasm at bay.
“No, no, no… mierda! ” Raul growled before he began to move faster, thrusting and withdrawing, grinding his hips against her with each stroke.
She panted as the delicious tension coiled tighter and tighter low in her belly. The brush of the sea breeze on her sensitized nipples, the soft lap of the water on her skin, the feel of Raul’s hands gripping her hips all combined to turn her entire body into a mass of pure sensation.
“Joder!” Raul shouted as he pushed her thighs wide apart, plunged deep, and began to pulse inside her.
He had her so open that she couldn’t use her muscles to stop her climax, but she held it off just long enough to make sure he had come first. Then she surrendered control.
The explosion sent her body into an arch of frenzied delight that had her head hanging over the lip of the pool, water combing through her hair.
Her muscles clenched around Raul’s cock like a vise, the ecstasy of release radiating to the tips of her fingers and toes.
“ Hala , Raul!” Another wave of intensity surged through her as he shifted his hips. “Carajo!”
Her muscles contracted and released again…and again. She was going to die of too much pleasure. But Raul kept finding ways to prolong the orgasm.
“I can’t…” She gasped. “Please…no…more.”
He slid out of her and lifted her up from the pool’s side, cradling her against his chest. More ripples of bliss shimmered through her, but their intensity lessened. And he was moving through the water.
“Climb on this,” he said as he stopped.
She opened her eyes to see a teal-green raft floating beside them. “Can you get on it with me?” she asked, looping her arms around his neck and staring into his blue eyes.
“ Por supuesto , it’s for two. I have no plans to let go of you.” He boosted her up so she could slip over the cushioned side. “Now slide over, and I’ll join you.”
He rolled onto the raft, making it bob on the waves he kicked up. She snuggled up against him, tangling her legs with his. Her insides were still humming with satiation, and she could feel the post-climax flush in her cheeks.
“You lost,” she said, her cheek settled on the warm, wet skin of his chest.
“I believe that was a win-win situation.” He stroked her hip and thigh. “But you are correct that I came first. And then I had the exquisite pleasure of feeling you come around me. Not exactly losing.”
She painted the outlines of his tattoo with pool water. “Still, I won. I’m very competitive.”
“Anytime you want a rematch, say the word.” His voice rumbled in his chest, a low, seductive baritone.
She huffed out a laugh. “I pulled about a dozen muscles, so I’m going to rest on my laurels for now.”
“Thank God, because I’m spent.” He tucked her closer into his side. “We’ll take a siesta, sí? ”
“Sí,” she murmured, letting her eyelids close and her body melt into Raul’s. The sun and his heat warmed her enough to counterbalance the breeze that blew the sweet scent of vaho hibiscus across the pool. She sighed happily when she felt him press a kiss on the top of her head.
“Mi amor,” he said with that same velvet timbre, making her heart flutter against her will. It was just a casual endearment in tribute to great sex. She must not read anything more into it.
She drowsed in his arms, the raft occasionally bumping against the side of the pool until Raul pushed it away to sail to the other side. The low roar of waves breaking on the beach beyond them and the twitter of birds were the only sounds other than the steady beat of his heart against her ear.
The sound of a motorboat tore through their quiet cocoon, and she lifted her head.
“It’s just the patrol boat making sure no one approaches the beach,” Raul said. “Go back to sleep.”
She couldn’t. For an hour, she had forgotten who he was. What he was. For that enchanted hour, he had been just a man. A sexy, gorgeous, amazing man. Her man. Now the spell was broken.
She was naked on a raft within sight of who knew how many staff members and bodyguards. Even worse, she’d had noisy sex within their hearing.
Mierda.
She scrambled to sit up, making the raft rock and tip.
“What is it, mi corazón? ” Raul asked, steadying her.
“Just looking for my undies,” she said.
“You don’t have to worry about anyone seeing us. That’s what the patrol boat makes sure of,” he said.
Of course he didn’t worry about all the people who worked for him. He had been surrounded by them his entire life. He had to live as if they weren’t watching, or he would go crazy. But she knew they were there.
“I’m not going to eat naked,” she said, rolling off the raft with a splash.
“I would have brought food to the raft,” Raul said, but he also dropped into the water.
She spotted her bra floating nearby and swam over to grab it. Raul breaststroked up to her with her panties in one hand and his briefs in the other. “We can grab towels from the lounges.”
Once she took her panties, he planted his hands on the side of the pool nearest their table and lifted himself up enough to get his good foot on the terrace before he vaulted out of the pool.
She stood frozen at the sight of all those flexing muscles and rivulets of water cascading over the beautiful expanse of bare skin. His butt alone was worth watching.
He slicked his hair away from his face before turning to offer her his hand.
Hypnotized, she walked over to take it, almost flying upward as he lifted enough so she could get her knee on the side.
He continued to pull her until she stood facing him.
His hot blue gaze skimmed down to her breasts, but he turned away to grab a rolled towel.
Shaking it out, he wrapped it around her and sighed.
“Such a shame to cover up that beautiful body.”
“Ditto,” she said when he tucked a towel around his waist. “May I request that you leave your shirt off while we eat? I like your tattoo.”
He grinned and flexed the pec that the dragon climbed. “Just my tattoo?”
She smacked him lightly on his arm. “You’re fishing, but I’m not biting…yet.”
They toweled off, pulled on their clothes—except for Raul’s shirt—and sat down to finish lunch.
As they talked and shared the delicious food, she tried to imprint moments in her memory.
The way his sun-streaked brown hair curled at the ends as it dried.
The contrast of his light eyes with his olive skin.
The sudden flash of his teeth when he smiled at her.
The dark, smooth timbre of his voice when he called her mi amor .
The ripple of his shoulder muscles when he offered her a bit of food.
And the easy flow of their conversation. They talked about anything and everything.
So she didn’t hesitate to ask him, “What is it like to suddenly have a half sister? I always wanted a sibling or two myself.” Maybe that would have taken some of her father’s pressure off of her.
Raul took a bite of tapas as he considered his feelings about his half sister.
“Grace is terrific,” he said easily. “She’s smart and articulate and is making amazing progress with the new veterinary school.” The school his father had fabricated out of thin air to persuade his newly discovered daughter to accept the title of princess.
“That’s the surface stuff. How do you feel about this new sibling who got thrust into your life? That had to change your family dynamic.”
Erica never let him get away with the simple answer. Her probing made it possible for him to admit some less-than-flattering truths.
“I like her tremendously. She also takes some of the more, er, ceremonial commitments off my plate, which I’m mostly grateful for.”
“Mostly?”
She always caught his unspoken admissions. The ones that made him feel selfish and petty.
“I’m going to sound like a total asshole, but sometimes I get pissed off that she’s taking over my duties, even though I don’t want to cut a ribbon or plant a tree ever again.
I enjoyed that once, but now…” He shrugged.
“I have meetings to attend where I actually get things accomplished. But she’s doing great as the princess. Never puts a foot wrong.”
“I understand. You want her to just once drop the scissors or get dirt on her dress,” Erica said. “To prove that it isn’t so easy to be the royal representative.”
That surprised a chuckle out of him. “I don’t really wish her a soiled dress, but I feel…” Like a dog in the manger.
“Displaced,” Erica filled in for him. “Someone else slid into your job without obvious effort. Although I imagine you helped her out the first few times.”
He had dismissed that in his memory, but on Grace’s earliest outings—and even his stepmother Eve’s—he had guided them through the unspoken protocols.
“In fact, I did accompany her.”
“Then take credit for being a great teacher,” Erica said. “You made her the successful ribbon cutter that she is.”
Now he laughed as a buoyant feeling rose in his chest. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” She looked at him with a question in her clear hazel eyes.
“Show me how to get my head out of my ass.” He took her hand and raised it to his lips.
She squeezed his hand while she searched his face with an odd intensity. “It’s understandable that you might resent Grace. You’re not an only child anymore.”
She was pushing him hard, but he held her gaze.