23. June #2
“I’m so sorry.” He stands and comes around the desk, sinking into the chair beside mine. He reaches across and takes my hands into his. “It’s hard, isn’t it?”
“Sometimes I forget she’s gone. That’s crazy, right? It’s been over five years. But some days I think to myself, wow, I haven’t talked to Grandma in a while, I should call her. And my heart breaks all over again knowing I never can.”
His thumb grazes over my knuckles. “That hurt doesn’t go away. It changes, or it did for me. I don’t think about playing with Leanna anymore. I don’t wonder what she’s doing. But I do imagine who she might have become if she had been allowed to grow up.”
“That’s how I feel too. I wonder what Grandma would’ve thought about Hattie.”
“She would’ve been proud. Our daughter’s a good girl. Clever. Strong. Imaginative.”
For the first time in a while, I don’t feel the urge to correct him. Instead, I tug him closer. “I’m sorry you lost your parents and your sister. How old was she?”
“Too young.” The pain in his voice is raw and sharp. “She was the youngest. I sometimes think if I had been faster… if I had been more engaged…”
“What do you mean?”
His eyes close and he sighs. “I wasn’t home when it happened.”
“Isn’t that why you were able to save your brothers?”
“Yes. Maybe. I wonder though, if I had been there, maybe—“ He lifts his chin toward the ceiling. “I wasn’t always the way I am now. Back then I had a wild streak. I rebelled against the strict structures of the family. I told my father I didn’t want to be a member of the Corvino family. Only a few days before the fire, I told him I wanted to find my own path, even knowing how that would break his heart. We had such a terrible fight and I was staying away from the house as much as I could. When it happened—“ He meets my gaze. “I’m ashamed of this, but I was with a girl. I was doing drugs, listening to music. I almost didn’t notice my phone going off, and I nearly didn’t pick it up.
Why would I when—“ He grimaces and stops, gazing at the floor.
“Rafe…” I reach out and touch his cheek. I pull him close and kiss his lips. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You were a kid.”
“I was twenty-two,” he whispers. “I should have known better.”
“But you saved them. All your brothers.”
He looks down at his hands. At the burns on his skin. “I couldn’t save my parents. I couldn’t get to Leanna.”
“It isn’t your fault.” I pull his face so he’s looking at me again. “I’m sorry you carry this, but you didn’t light that fire. You didn’t cause it.”
“You’re right, and I learned from what happened. That’s why I am who I am today. I take care of my brothers. I take care of my family. I don’t turn my back on the people I love, and I sure as hell don’t let myself get distracted by pretty girls.”
I smile slightly, my thumb brushing close to his lips. “Is that what happened the night we met?”
“Yes,” he says, his tone low and aching.
“Was I some horrible mistake?”
“God, yes.”
My stomach twists. “Rafe?—“
“You were the best kind of mistake.” He leans in, pulls me to him, and kisses me.
His mouth is warm and firm, his kiss hard and hungry.
“You were the kind of mistake that made me a better man. You were a mistake I’d make a thousand times.
We made Hattie, that brilliant girl, and it brought you into my life.
I was a fool that night, ruining you the way I did, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. ”
I kiss him, getting out of my chair to sit in his lap. I straddle him, knees on either side of his hips as I wrap my arms around his neck. I dive against his mouth, starving for him, his tongue soft and heavenly, thinking, not a mistake but a gift, what a gift, as his hands roam my body.
I groan, grinding down into him. He grunts in return as his palms slip up my top and cup my breasts. I shiver with delight as his hands move out to grab my ass, our tongues swirling and flitting, kiss getting deeper as my hunger and desire increase, my core pulsing and aching with need for him.
He stands. I gasp as he pushes me back against his desk. The tea cup tips and spills for a second time, splashing all over the floor. He doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t care, only lifts me onto his desk.
“Rafe,” I gasp, wrapping my legs around his hips.
He grips one of my wrists and pins it behind my back, possessive and controlling, and his only answer is his mouth on mine, biting my lower lip, nibbling and sucking as he kisses me.
I groan. His mouth moves lower, kissing my neck, and he releases my wrist only long enough to pull my top over my head, my hair spilling out and around my shoulders.
He groans as he removes my bra and drops his mouth to suck my nipples greedily.
“Perfect,” he moans, tugging at my hair. I lace my arms around his neck again, holding him as he licks me, bliss burning between my legs, the need growing like hungry flames. “God, June, my life was quiet before you entered it, and now it’s like I don’t want silence ever again.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“It’s more.” He looks into my eyes and slips one hand between my legs, gliding under my waistband, down over my pussy above my underwear. “It’s an admission that I can’t sleep without you anymore. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. Our mistake gave us Hattie, but it also gave me you.”
He teases my pussy, stroking me. I whimper and unbutton his dress shirt, breathing hard as he works me. I’m burning with how badly I want him, legs open, mind buzzing. This man is too much, he’s a monster, he’s a beast?—
And he’s everything.
His touch, his lips, his words.
He took care of me for years from afar. Those checks I always chalked up to good luck? The prizes we won? The scholarships?
It’s been him all this time.
And now seeing him with Hattie?—
Feeling him between my legs?—
I believe every word he says and more.
When his shirt is open, I kiss his chest. I moan as I bite his skin, his fingers sliding inside of me. “More,” I plead, head dizzy. “Please, more.”
“How much do you want, love?”
“All of it. Everything. I want you inside of me, Rafe.”
He lets out a low, wild moan, the edge of his control blurring. “Fuck, baby.”
“Now. I want it now.”
He pulls me from the desk. It’s a desperate flurry of hands, lips, touching, stroking, moaning. He gets my pants off and strips down to his boxer briefs. He’s so hard and big it shocks me when he flips himself free. I stroke his dick and bite his lower lip, head light and spinning.
He grips my hair and turns me, kicking my legs open, and bends me over his desk.
“That’s my wife,” he whispers, and there’s real reverence in his tone. “Fuck, look at you. Spread and wet.” His palm covers my pussy possessively. “I’ve been nice to you, baby, but not anymore.”
“Rafe, please. No more teasing.”