“Please, Rafe. I’ve done what you asked. Please don’t leave me like this,” she begged.
Rafe pulled her forward and took her lips. This wasn’t a slow, sensual meeting of mouths. It was hunger — possession — greed. He reached down and shifted his clothes, freeing his solid length before rapidly sheathing it, and then quickly ripping away the last barrier of her panties. He surged up inside her as his breath exploded from his lungs.
“Ride me, Ari,” he called as his hands gripped her hips.
Ari grabbed hold of his shoulders and her body took over as she began moving up and down on his thick shaft, in and out. She was so close to leaping over the edge. It wouldn’t take much at all. She didn’t want this to end, but she didn’t know how to prolong it.
“Yes, Ari. Faster. You feel so good — a perfect fit.” Rafe’s voice was strained with need and he lowered his head taking one of her peaked ni**les into his mouth, sucking it hard.
“Rafe…” she screamed as the pleasure built higher and higher.
“Let go, Ari,” he demanded as he pulled her tightly against his chest, while grabbing her h*ps and taking over the movement. He thrust hard inside her, pounding her wet heat as he groaned in pleasure.
His moans filled the large room and mixed with hers as they both neared their release.
“Let go, Ari. Come with me,” Rafe shouted as he surged upward, his body tightening as she felt his manhood begin to pulse. His cry of pleasure was all it took to send her the final few inches over the cliff, and she gladly fell with him.
After a moment of gasping silence, Rafe gripped her head while looking into her half-closed eyes.
“Thank you for trusting me. That was…beautiful.” Rafe’s words made Ari’s heart skip a few beats.
He doesn’t believe in love. It’s just sex. Ari rested her head against Rafe’s shoulder as she repeated those sentences over and over. She couldn’t take his words for more than what they were or she’d get her heart broken.
As he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the suite’s bedroom, then carefully laid her down, she knew she could be in trouble. She had to find a way to make it through all this with her heart still intact.
When he returned from the bathroom and lay down beside her, then pulled her into his arms, she felt a stinging in her eyes. She thought he didn’t sleep with his mistresses. As if he could read her thoughts, his next words were like cold water, washing away her stupid fantasies.
“The connecting room wasn’t available. We normally won’t sleep together, but I don’t want you in a separate suite, so this will have to do this weekend.”
Ari prayed for sleep to come as she fought her tears. After she finally heard the slow and steady breathing testifying that Rafe was no longer awake, she allowed a few tiny teardrops to escape. Tomorrow she’d work on hardening her heart.
Chapter Six
“Bless you,” a woman said as Ari sneezed. Ari looked up in surprise and managed to say a quick thank-you before the stranger disappeared among the sea of people passing by.
As she looked out at the children running through the crowd, and at teenagers throwing Frisbees, frustration filled her. This was Central Park in New York City and she was tired of doing nothing but sitting in the grass.
There were so many people out there who said the people of New York were a nation unto themselves, but with the kind words of a stranger she felt welcomed to the city. Wearing a comfortable blouse and capris accompanied by a large hat and oversized sunglasses to protect her eyes, she was ready to explore.
Bless you might only be two simple words, but they were enough to make her feel less intimidated, and ready to take on New York. She wanted to see all she could before it was too late and they had to return home.
*****
“I think I’ve figured out why you are so freaking moody.”
Rafe looked up in surprise, eyebrows raised. No one insulted him — well, apparently nobody except his new mistress, who was supposed to be more obedient than the rest of the people in his life.
“I’m working, Ari. I agreed to accompany you to the park, but that doesn’t mean my workday just stops.”
With those few clipped words, Rafe looked back down at his iPad and finished the e-mail he’d been composing. He figured Ari would soon grow bored and their little adventure to Central Park would be over.
Rafe had stayed in the same hotel year after year, but not once had he come down and sat on the grass in this world-famous park. Really, what was the point? He found it almost humorous that Ari and her nonstop pestering had managed to make him do it.
He would have sent any other woman on her way and finished his work in peace, but not Ari, it seemed. He could hardly leave her by herself in the park, where she could so easily be taken advantage of. She’d already proved several times that she was a bit too naive even in her own hometown. He shuddered to think what trouble she could get herself into in a city such as New York. Yes, it was the middle of the day and plenty of law enforcement officers were around, but that didn’t help ease his mind.
Back in their hotel suite, before Rafe knew what he was saying, he had offered to take Ari down to the park. When her eyes lit up with excitement and she danced in a circle, he’d pulled back. Had he made the wrong choice? Ari’s attractions increased, for some odd reason, when she let down her guard.
“There is no way we’re going to just sit in this spot, especially with your nose buried in that stupid computer. If you want to work, I understand that, but I want to play. Why don’t you go back to the room and do whatever it is you do so well? I’m going to meet people and have a little fun.”
“You’re working, too, Ari, or have you so quickly forgotten?”
“Nope. There’s no way I’m allowing you to be an arrogant prig and ruin my day. It’s sunny, there are people everywhere, and I’m in the Big Fat Apple for the first time in my life. You can try being master and commander all you want, but I’m on break right now.”
With that, Ari stood up and sashayed away with confidence. Rafe was so stunned by her words and her outright defiance that she made it a good twenty yards before he closed his mouth and climbed to his feet. A smile overtook his features as he watched his prey. He couldn’t believe he’d ever imagined breaking her.
Putting his iPad away, Rafe dialed his assistant. “Cancel my meetings for the rest of the day.” Without giving Mario time to respond, Rafe hung up, and then took off after Ari, who was now a good hundred yards from him. She was well within his sights, and his true predatory nature came out as he stalked her from behind.