Chapter 27
RAFEAL
“This is so normal,” she teases as the waiter pours champagne. Her smile is beautiful, her eyes bright, her voice enthusiastic like she’s ready too. But I need to calm down. I need to remember, she doesn’t feel as… as insanely as I do.
Is it the mafia man in me? I come from a world of quick marriages and blood-oath commitments.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks, taking a small sip.
“The future,” I admit. “Me, you, Theo. How it all fits together. But I know you don’t want to think about that, or maybe just not in the same way I do.”
She pokes at her pasta, swallowing. She’s not dressed up, and yet she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
“It won’t be complicated forever,” she says, flashing me a small smile. “But I don’t want to rush, Rafe. Maybe that sounds insane. How can you rush with the father of your child?”
“For a year, you thought I abandoned you,” I groan. “You thought I let you down. We can do this your way, angel. I’ll just try not to turn into a madman in the meantime.”
Another wicked smile. “Turn into a madman?”
I smirk. “Why do I like it when you sass me?”
“Maybe because nobody else would dare to do it.”
I cut into my steak. “I wasn’t expecting a serious answer.”
I love her smile. I love how she can be so brave and in the moment, considering everything.
“What does my way look like?” she asks.
I chuckle. “Isn’t that for you to tell me?”
“You’re a businessman, right? Give me your plan.”
I consider it as I chew a piece of perfectly cooked steak. I hired a catering service who is idling nearby – but not too close – in their van. We’re still alone out here, just me and my woman and the stars, unless I text the head chef.
“I have to go home. In one world, you and Theo would come with me. We’d live together right away.
I’d pay for everything, and you’d never have to worry again.
” I look at her, smiling at the flush in her cheeks and her bright eyes.
“And sure, angel, maybe part of me wants that. But I want to support you more.”
She lets out a shaky breath.
“I’ll travel back and forth, multiple times a week if I have to. We’ll date… at your pace, Ava. And hopefully, you’ll find time to pursue your art while working at the gallery. I’ll see Theo as often as you let me. And hopefully, one day…”
She smiles beautifully, her eyes glistening. “Things will stop being complicated?”
“Hmm,” I say, nodding.
“I just want to take it one week at a time,” she says. “When you left – I know you had reasons, Rafe, I get that – but I had to learn for it to just be Theo and me. And in my head, even, just getting my mind around the fact we might have someone else…”
“Are you afraid I’ll leave again?”
She swallows, looking up at the stars. “I don’t think so,” she murmurs.
“But maybe your nervous system is, angel. You’re on edge because you’re expecting it. Let me do this, then…” I walk around the table, falling to one knee in front of her.
She gasps and covers her mouth. “Rafe!”
“I want to propose,” I tell her. “Propose to prove to you and your parents and our son, week by week, that I’m going to be here.
” I take her hand and kiss her knuckles gently.
“I want to propose that I’ll earn you… and protect you.
Because being with me, it has risks. But you need to know something.
I’ll never abandon you, not like my father did.
If they come for you, I’ll break them. For you. For our son.”
She bites down, laughing, her eyes glistening with tears. “Get up, Rafe.”
“Do you accept?”
She laughs. “Yes, I accept. But you know I still want to take it slow, right?”
“At our own pace,” I say, standing and pulling her into a hug. My body responds to her curvy form like I was made for her. I kiss her cheek, then find her lips. “We don’t have to rush anything. And whatever else happens, I’ll always be in Theo’s life.”
She wraps her arm around me, cuddling as close as she can get.
“What are you thinking?” I say softly.
“About that first night when we were waiting for the bouncer to let us into the other club. How you had your arm around me like this. And it just felt so natural. I remember thinking, Is this how it’s supposed to feel?”
I give her a squeeze. “Me too,” I say. “Everything has from the start.”
“Look at the city sparkling,” she murmurs, pointing into the dark.
“My apartment is just there.” I take her hand and guide it to a tower.
“You have an apartment here?”
“Hmm,” I say, moving behind her, letting me feel her curvy body pressed against me. I can feel her tight ass through her jeans. She even arches her back a little, looking at me over her shoulder.
Oh, fuck.
“You know what I’m thinking?” I growl. “There’s always one thing that’s never been complicated with us.”
She shifts against me, the juicy globes of her ass caressing my shaft through our clothes. “I was thinking you’d ask if I wanted to see your apartment,” she says, a hitch in her voice.
I guide my hands to her hips, shifting in time with her. My cock is already solid, but that’s no surprise. She makes me so fucking hard so fast. I can already feel precome at the tip, my balls throbbing.
“Do you?” I growl. “You need to be sure.”
“Don’t try to sound scary,” she teases.
I laugh, gripping her hips harder. “I don’t think you’re scared.”
She pouts her lips, turning even further, bending at the hip, and really grinding her ass into me. I groan in disbelief. I almost explode for a second, then let out a shuddering breath. That was close.
“Shall we?” she says, laughing, as she straightens, like she knows what just happened.
I slide my arm around her hip and drag her close, letting her feel my steel. “You know what you’re doing to me.”
She pecks me on the lips, letting her eyes go wide and innocent. “Maybe I just love making you wild.”
“I love how you do it.”
I kiss her hard. She moans in the sexiest way possible, grinding her body against me now. A squeal escapes her when I pick her up and put her over my shoulder. She holds on, laughing as I walk toward the car.
“What are you doing?” She giggles as I balance her and reach into my pocket.
“Texting the catering company. They can box up our food. I’m rich, angel, not wasteful.”
She laughs and playfully slaps my ass. I put her down at the car, and she raises her eyebrow in a wicked challenge.
“Do you know how beautiful you are?” I ask, brushing hair from her face.
“I don’t think I did,” she murmurs. “But I do now, Rafe.”
I open the door for her, then run to the driver’s seat. She has her hand resting on my leg as I drive toward the apartment. She slides higher, getting close to my crotch.
“You’re going to make me blow,” I groan.
“I thought that back at the theater,” she moans. “The way you were looking, the way you were moving…”
“If I blow now,” I snarl. “I’ll just keep going, Ava. You don’t know what you do to me. It’s like your… scent.”
“My scent,” she whispers, tone torn like she thinks she should laugh but doesn’t find it funny.
“I know,” I say. “Insane. But true.”
I reach across the car, racing through the city, and squeeze my hand down on her thick thigh. The noise she makes will never get old to me, a moan that tightens my balls and sets my shaft on fire.
She looks over, her eyes going saucer wide, her chest rising and falling, and making her tits heave for me.
“Are we almost there?” she asks.
I take a turn. At the same time, I slide my hand even higher up between her legs. She gasps when I press down on her core through her jeans. Her thighs clamp around my hand, keeping me there.
“Are you almost there?” I demand, rubbing hard in small circles. “The noises you’re making, I think you might be. Getting hot and heavy all during dinner. Knowing we’ll never, ever doubt this, here.”
She wraps her hands around my wrist, moving her hips, nodding, and moaning at the same time. I struggle to keep one eye on the road as I rub her faster and harder over her denim. She grinds her hips against me like she’s been waiting for this ever since we reunited.
I move faster, my voice turning savage. “You need to come on my fucking hand. And I need to feel it through these jeans.”
That gorgeous flush creeps over her cheeks and down her neck as I pump my arm. Her hips buck, chasing the friction in the sexiest way. My balls swell, tight and painful, with how full I am for her.
When she breaks, I feel a hot trail of precome dripping from my tip. She creams in her jeans, grinding her thick, beautiful hips.
“Fuck, I can feel you,” I groan. “I need to feel that wet pussy wrapped around my cock.”
“Yes, yes,” she pants.
“Luckily, we’re home.”
She moans in relief as I pull up outside the apartment building. I toss the keys to the valet and lead her up, my hand on the small of her back. She looks at me in the mirror of the elevator, her breath still coming fast, a needy glint in her eyes.
When the elevator doors open, I sweep her into my arms. She throws her arms around my neck, kissing me on the cheek, then moaning and pressing against my lips. I carry her down the hall, open the door one-handed, then kick the door shut behind me and walk into the apartment.
“Are you going to give me the tour?” she says breathily.
“Later,” I growl, striding toward the bedroom.
She laughs in delight when I shoulder the door open and drop her on the bed. I take a second to just look at her, admire her curves, her wild hair cascading down. Those wide, hungry eyes that make me hot and hard.
“I’m bewitched by you,” I groan. “I know you need us to move slow with everything else, angel, but this… you obsess me.”
She shuffles down the bed, never breaking eye contact, then nods as she grabs her jeans and wriggles out of them. “I feel the same,” she moans.
I grab my pants and tear them down, then yank my briefs down. I step out of my shoes and kick the bundle off, my dick springing free, a line of precome dripping off.
She takes off her shirt, unclips her bra, giving me the whole feast. My mouth waters and my cock twitches as she massages her breasts.
I tear off my shirt, stroking my cock at the same time. Her hole is pink and glistening, her folds swollen and ready. I climb onto the bed, holding myself up so I can lower my head and suck greedily on her nipples.
She twitches her hips, dragging her nails down my back.
“You need it now,” I groan.
“Hmm,” she mutters, writhing.
“I love how excited you are.”
She reaches between us and wraps her hand around the base of my cock. When she guides me to her entrance, her lips close around my tip, a boiling kiss that sends a shiver down my back.
“Go deep, Rafe,” she moans. “I want you all the way. I don’t want any space between us.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I lower myself down so I can feel her tits flatten against me, then arch my back and slowly drive all the way into her tight, hot slit.
She wraps her arms around me, cuddling me to her, as I pull out and then push back in again. Each stroke makes her moan directly into my ear, letting me feel her warmth, letting me hear how badly she wants this.
I can’t help it. I start moving faster, tilting my head so she can bite down on my neck.
Her pussy makes hot, wet noises as I fuck her like I need to. The mattress whines beneath us when I rise up, fists planted on both sides of her, letting me watch her tits as I make them bounce.
Minutes pass, maybe more. I could do this forever. My explosion is right at the tip of my cock, hovering there, but it’s like my body refuses to quit before she’s drenched my dick.
She opens her mouth wide, her hands slipping from her breasts to claw at the sheets beside her. She uses her grip to throw herself up and down on my dick as I pummel her with my swollen dick.
Each thrust deep inside her makes her moans more urgent. Soon, her tunnel is pulsing around me, caressing, drawing out a tangled moan as rope after rope of thick, hot come explodes inside of her.
She pulls me down, finds my lips as we come together. Our mouths fuse as our bodies rock in one motion, and just like that first night, time stands still.
“I feel it too,” she moans through the kissing. “Rafe, yes, yes, I feel it…”
I know she’s not just talking about our shared orgasm. As we rush toward the final moments together. I know she’s talking about that natural feeling, that sensation like time has stopped, just for us. It’s what made that first night so special, and the same magic touches us now.
I fall to the side, breathing heavily, pulling her into my arms. She perches on my chest and kisses me on the cheek.
“I’m so happy for us,” she murmurs. “Because, no matter what, we get to try, Rafe.”
I nod, gently caressing her cheek. “That’s more than I ever thought I’d have.”
And I know, deep down, that one day we’re going to be married, with more kids, in love. But I don’t say that, not yet. I just close my eyes and mutter a silent thanks that I get to hold her closer.