Her heart dipped as he moved away from her. She scrunched her eyes tight and felt his eyes on her back. The sheets slithered around her, and she heard his soft tread on the floor. A sharp ache—one that rivaled the one in her body—filled her heart.
Raphael wasn’t given to tenderness or sweet words, she told herself.
She didn’t know how long it was—it felt like an eternity—before she felt him tugging the duvet from her tight fingers.
“Raphael, what are you—”
“Shh, let me.”
When his hand reached her thighs with a cold washcloth, Pia flushed. “Raphael you don’t have to—”
“Si, I do.” His gaze held hers, a wealth of words that he wouldn’t say in it.
Looking away from him, heat crawling over her cheeks, Pia gave herself over. With a gentleness that brought tears to her eyes, he finished cleaning her up. And then he was back in the bed before she could arm herself against the onslaught of emotions crowding her.
A warm glow fanned out in the regions of her heart. She ran her fingertips over the back of his hand, absently stroking the veins. The scent of their intimacy was a warm blanket around them.
The sudden realization that she could spend eternity like this hit her like an electric charge to the heart. He didn’t want eternity. God, he didn’t even want a few months.
“Turn around and face me.”
When she stiffened, he pressed until she was on her back. The smallest movement made her aware of the soreness between her thighs.
With his hawk-like gaze, Raphael caught it. A furrow came on between his brows. “Do you still hurt?”
Pia blushed, and then shook her head. Then she saw the uncharacteristic hesitation in his eyes. From everything she’d learned about him, she knew Raphael didn’t do intimacy.
He tipped his head and took her mouth in a soft, tender kiss that made her chest ache. She would never tire of his kisses or that look he got that said he wanted to kiss her. He pulled her closer to his naked body and tucked his arm neatly under her bare breasts. Pia stiffened and tried to pull the duvet up.
A tussle resulted. She huffed. He growled. They made a compromise and pulled the duvet up over his arm while his hand cupped her breast.
“I like having you in my bed like this, knowing that whatever everyone else sees, I know the real, passionate you, exploding like a firework.” He said it softly as if to let her get used to it. “Only me, cara mia.” A long sigh left her and Pia settled into his embrace.
“Raphael, we need to talk—”
“No, what you and I need is sleep. Hours and hours of it. We’ll only wake up when you’re not sore and I can be inside you again. Until then, sleep, tesoro.”
And just like that, Pia fell asleep.
* * *
The loud peal of Raphael’s cell phone startled Pia awake. It took her a few seconds to orient herself but the soreness between her legs brought back awareness of the previous night.
She felt Raphael’s kiss against her shoulder, and then his groan as the phone started again. The sheet held tightly with her fingers, she turned around to face him. Sleep mussed, he was even more gorgeous in the morning sunlight.
With a gentleness that stole her breath, he pressed his thumb against her lower lip. “You are good?”
She nodded, unable to find words that could sum up the glorious feeling in her chest. And then, because she knew he couldn’t ignore whoever it was indefinitely, and because she didn’t know when she’d get a chance again, she pressed a kiss at the hollow of his throat and licked his skin.
He groaned, kissed her hard, and then picked up the phone.
Within seconds, the gentle lover disappeared.
With two rapid-fire sentences he finished the call, whipped out of the bed and padded, utterly naked, into the bathroom.
Hearing the shower run, she quickly pulled his T-shirt on and sneaked down the corridor into the other bedroom. She’d barely finished her shower and pulled on another of his shirts when he walked in, a scowl on his face.
His jet-black hair was wet and dripping. Undone shorts hung low on his hips. Pia swallowed the jolt of lust that hit her low in her pelvis.
Before she could blink, he picked her up in his arms and dropped her on the bed in his own room. “I told you we’re going to sleep around the clock.”
Pia laughed and pushed her wet hair out of her face. She didn’t know whether to be mad or glad about his possessiveness. “I just... I’ve never been in a relationship like this before and with you everything’s muddied.” She smiled when he joined her on the bed and sat up with her tucked between his legs. “I didn’t want to assume.”
“This is not an affair, si? What it is, we’ll figure out later.”
Turning in his arms, she kissed his mouth full on. It was a good minute before she let him go and by then they were both breathing hard.
“Raphael, who was that on the phone?”
“My lawyer. He’s heard from Allegra now that she’s out of the clinic.”
“Your ex is out? How is she?”
“Apparently, she worked through the entire program, is certified to be drug-free and has her addictions under control, no boyfriends in tow, and is desperate to see Alyssa.”
Pia wanted to ask for more information, dying to know about the woman who had once worn his ring. She rubbed her finger, and then dropped it when she realized what she was doing. “I heard your mother say she was extremely beautiful.”
She cringed the moment the words were out but Raphael barely seemed to note the wistful tone in her voice.
“She’s extremely beautiful, the life of every party,” he replied with a faraway gaze, “and every man she knew wanted to possess her. I had the biggest bank account among the fools who pursued her and so she chose me.”
“You can’t believe she chose you just for that,” she said, shocked by the depth of his cynicism. “You’re a very—” He arched his brow and she flushed. “You know your appeal, Raphael. Modesty doesn’t suit you.”
“It was my pocket and my power that attracted Allegra. Not that my looks didn’t help. Actions speak louder than words however much she professed to love me. All her behavior, that I was too besotted to see then, proved how much she cared for the status of being Raphael Mastrantino’s wife and not at all for me and our marriage.”
“So you have no culpability at all for its failure?”
“Not everyone wants to shoulder blame when it’s not theirs. Frank took advantage of you. It’s not your fault.”
“But you loved her, didn’t you? When they think I can’t hear them, or maybe because they want me to hear it, people dissect your marriage. They talk about how you pursued Allegra for three years. They call it the match of the decade.”
Trust Pia to drill down to the matter.
There was never judgment in Pia’s tone. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tighter against him. He knew himself and yet every time Pia delved deeper, he found something new.
Not always good things, but things he hadn’t known.
* * *
Jaw tight, Raphael pored over her question. Had he loved Allegra?
Not that he’d had eyes for anyone but his stunning ex. He had been thinking with something other than his head.
Drunk on his success with Vito