21. Raphael
Raphael
21
“Any news from Dominic?” Michael asks as we jog along the trail that weaves around the island.
I match his pace, my rapid breaths creating tiny white puffs in the morning air. “He checked in last night that his search was a dead end.”
Michael curses under his breath. “That was the last lead we had on Xiao.”
“I know.”
“Raphael, I hate to ask, but…” He trails off, and from the corner of my eye, I catch his hesitant glance my way.
I sigh, knowing exactly what he wants to say. “I’ll ask Lily if she knows anything more.”
“Maybe we should consider Dad’s suggestion?”
I come to an abrupt halt.
When Michael notices, he too stops and turns around to face me. He holds his hands up and pants out an apology when he sees my expression. “Sorry.”
“I am not using Lily and Mei as bait,” I tell him. My tone is hard, and my words are final. It was an option at first, but not anymore.
Michael wipes sweat from his brow and frowns. “I figured you would say that.”
“Then why even ask?” I demand, pushing past him to continue down the trail.
Michael catches up and puts his hand on my shoulder, forcing me to stop and face him. “I didn’t mean it like that, brother.”
I wait him out, and eventually, he sighs. “I’m only asking you to think about the idea.”
“No. Their presence here is more than enough. He thinks I kidnapped them, but when he sees that wasn’t the case, he’ll fuck up when he comes for them.” I know I’m being unreasonable, but he has to understand where I’m coming from. If I was asking him to do the same with Rose and Liam, he’d be saying no, too.
“How will he see that if you keep them hidden?” Michael argues, earning a glare from me. “We can brainstorm a way to ensure their safety but still draw the bastard out.”
I cross my arms over my chest and take a deep breath through my nostrils, then exhale hard.
“Raphael, please.”
My eyes shift to my brother, and the misery there on his identical face makes my heart sink and my resolve falter.
“I need him gone, and I know you need the same even more.”
“Rose is still having nightmares?” I assume.
Michael drops his eyes and kicks at a pebble. “Yeah.”
“Fine.” I cave.
My brother looks up with expectant hope. “Fine?”
“I’ll talk to Lily.” Michael’s mouth drops open, but I continue before he can say a single word. “But I’m not guaranteeing anything.”
“I’ll take it.” Michael smiles and reaches out to clap my shoulder before he turns away to continue back down the trail.
I catch up to him, and as we round the last corner, the main house comes into full view. I wonder if Lily’s awake yet. She spent all damn day yesterday with the other women in the house, and when dinner came around, Dad pulled Michael and me away for a meeting downtown. By the time I got back, she was fast asleep, curled up with Mei. I desperately wanted to wake her up, but I couldn’t imagine disturbing her sleep when she looked so peaceful. I hate the idea of bringing Xiao up even more when she’s working so hard to move on, but Michael’s right. This is bigger than her tortured past and my anger.
Speaking of. “Have you confirmed if Lily came from the same auction as Rose?”
“Nothing yet,” Michael answers with a hard sigh.
“What about Connor?”
Michael shakes his head. “He’s exhausted all of his contacts related to the auction Patrick sold Rose to. They’re dead, or they’ve disappeared, or they know nothing of worth.”
“I’ll ask Lily if she remembers anything else about the auction too.”
Michael clasps my shoulder as he passes by me into the house foyer. “Thank you, Raphael.”
I watch him jog up the stairs before heading toward the kitchen at the back of the house. This early in the morning, I expect to find the room empty, but it’s not. Instead, a pretty little flower sits on a barstool, reading the newspaper while sipping on a cup of tea from the smell of it.
Leaning against the doorframe, I cross my arms over my chest. “Good morning, Lily.”
As I expect, she jumps in her seat and nearly spills her tea with a startled gasp. Spinning around, Lily levels me with a glare I suppose is meant to be intimidating.
“You scared me, Raphael,” she snaps with little heat behind it.
My eyes drink the sight of her in the morning light. Pleasure skirts down my spine to gather in my groin when she does the same, her brilliant blue eyes snagging on every swell and dip of my muscles on display.
I run my tongue over my bottom lip when she meets my eyes. When her lips fall open and her tongue flicks out to lick them, I have to fight back the immediate urge to storm over and devour her mouth for breakfast.
Lily clears her throat and stammers, “Wha-what are you doing up…so early?”
“I was out for a run with Michael,” I answer. “What are you doing up so early?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“You couldn’t sleep? So your first thought is to come downstairs, make yourself a cup of tea, and read the newspaper?”
“No. My first thought was to come find you, but you weren’t in your room.”
“You went to my room?”
“Yes. I thought you could—” She stops midsentence, her cheeks exploding red before she jumps off the stool and hurries toward the first open door she sees, which leads to the pantry.
I follow her before she can turn back around.
When she realizes her mistake, Lily spins around and runs straight into me. She bounces off my chest and bumps into a shelf. Almost as if in slow motion, I watch the sack of flour teeter and then tip over, covering Lily from head to toe in white powder.
With a tiny little shriek, she freezes as the cloud settles over her. She’s a mess, but the most adorable one at that, and the sight makes me snort in humor.
“It’s not funny,” Lily snaps, her attempt to sound angry just as cute as her appearance right now.
“It’s a little funny.” I disagree, enjoying how she scowls up at me. “Now tell me, what did you think I could do for you?”
“Nothing,” she mumbles, averting her eyes as she tries to wipe flour from her shirt. “It’s not important now.”
“Try again,” I advise her. “Whatever it is made you run from me.”
My accusation makes her eyes snap up to me and narrow. “I didn’t run from you.”
“No?” I raise my brow while I bring my hand up to brush some flour from her hair.
“No.” She doesn’t pull away from my touch but seems to subconsciously lean into it.
“Funny, because it feels like you’ve been running from me ever since we kissed the other night.”
Lily pulls back and frowns up at me. “I haven’t. We’ve both just been so busy.”
It’s cute how flustered she’s growing over an assumption I don’t mean. But I care about how I’m no longer touching her. I can’t explain it, let alone define it, but I want…no, I need to touch her. Constantly. It’s like an addiction I have no desire to fight.
I just need to remain patient, which is a virtue I struggle with, to be honest, but I will do it for her. Because I think it’s safe to assume Lily feels the same for me. Only she’s struggling to bury years of abuse and pain before she can finally accept what’s here between us is real and worth fighting for.
“I know.”
Lily’s frown deepens before it dawns on her that I’m joking. “Then why would you say that?”
“Because you’re cute when you’re angry.”
The woman enjoys keeping me on my toes. I never know what she’s going to do next, so when she grabs some flour collected in a pile on the shelf and throws it at me, my mouth drops open in shock as the white powder cascades down my front.
“How’s that for cute?”
A light, teasing note in her voice calls to the dark in me, and I step closer.
Lily shivers from lust and not from fear by the way her blue eyes glaze over as she meets my gaze.
Raising my hand, I trace down her face before cupping her chin. She gasps and then sighs from the pleasure my touch brings her.
“How’s this?”
She knows what’s coming and doesn’t fight me when I descend and cover her lips with my own. She moans into my mouth as my tongue dives in to explore every inch of her mouth, claiming every torture space for my own.
Lily places her hands on my chest and slowly explores her way up to tangle in my hair, spreading flour among the dark strands. She giggles against my lips, telling me the devious vixen knows exactly what she’s doing. So I reach back and grab her tiny wrists with one hand and shove them above her head, all the while pushing more into her until she’s trapped between the shelves and me.
Her giggle dissolves into another moan when she feels how hard I am for her. She rolls her hips, pushing against my cock, and I growl into her mouth at the sensation gathering at the base of my spine.
“Tell me you want me,” I whisper.
Lily pulls to free her hands half-heartedly, but I refuse to let go. Not until I hear her say those magic little words.
“Tell me you want me to make you feel good.”
She bucks against me, practically dry humping my lap to seek relief from the ache between her legs.
“Please, Raphael,” she begs. “Erase their touch. Erase every memory of pain. Make me feel good again. Please.”
Like a key, her consent unlocks my hesitation and frees the beast in me.
Dropping her hands, I lower mine to skim over her thin shirt. Her taunt nipples strain against the fabric, and I purposely flick one as my hand moves farther down. She hisses from the shock of pleasure and buries her hands in my hair, pulling my face to hers. She nips at my bottom lip as if she means to pay me back for my behavior before crushing her lips to mine, her tongue diving in to trace every inch of my mouth.
The devil on my shoulder purrs in approval at the domineering move because it means she’s letting go of her darkness to play in mine, and I’m more than eager to show her exactly how well I play.
I wrap one hand around her back, securing it between her shoulder blades to hold her in place while my other dances along the hem of her loose pajama pants. Lily rolls against me again when my hand slips beneath the waistband and brushes against her center. My fingers explore, sliding between her slit, pleased when she instinctively opens more for me. She’s so wet and ready for me, I practically come in my pants from the mere thought of how she’ll feel wrapped around my cock. Her tight, slick heat envelops my finger as I sink one into her while I swipe my thumb over her pulsing and swollen clit.
“Holy fu—” she moans, unable to finish her sentence before I cover her mouth. The pantry door may be closed, but that doesn’t mean the house lacks listening ears.
“You need to be quiet, Lily pad,” I whisper when I finally let her up for air. “No one else will hear your pleasure but me.”
Her response is to grab my face and capture my lip between her teeth, nibbling and sucking on the flesh. I add another finger and increase the pressure on her clit. When she bites down harder, the taste of copper explodes in my mouth, and I know she has broken my skin. But before she can try to pull away, I push forward so she tastes my blood. I’ll happily bleed for her if it means she never has to.
I feel her tighten, her walls enveloping my fingers in a viselike grip I know is going to feel like heaven around my cock. She shudders, and I know she’s close. I move from her lips to spread open-mouthed, teeth-nibbling kisses down her jaw when the door suddenly opens, and a voice I forgot existed snaps out.
“What the hell is going on here?”