I love you with a devotion that absorbs all else.
Ever yours,
Saphronia
Ari couldn’t stop a tear from falling as she read a letter so fraught with suffering. The terror Saphronia was feeling — the pain and anguish of not knowing whether William was alive or dead. It would be too much for anyone to bear. If she were Saphronia, she too would have crossed enemy lines to find out.
“Are you enjoying the journal?”
Ari jumped as Rafe sat down on the table next to the journal. She quickly spirited it over, not wanting the delicate tome to get harmed.
“Oh, yes, Rafe. You really should read this. It’s very beautiful,” she said, although knowing he just couldn’t appreciate it the way she did.
“I already told you that I would like for you to tell me all about it,” he said, lifting his hand and stroking her cheek.
Ari lost all concentration on the book as she looked into Rafe’s eyes. That was the point when she noticed the quiet. Of course, it was a library, but she heard nothing, not the turning of pages, or the rustle of books being removed from shelves.
She tore her gaze from Rafe and looked around, noticing how dim the library lighting was.
“Are they closing?” she asked, thinking it was probably a wise idea for the two of them to leave.
“They closed an hour ago. It’s just you and me,” he said.
Ari’s head whipped back around to Rafe and saw the ardor in his eyes.
Oh, no.
She wasn’t strong enough for this. It’s why she’d chosen to meet him in public.
“How are we able to be here all alone?”
“I funded this library. They are more than accommodating when I have a special request.”
She should have known he would somehow take a level playing field and “un-level” it to make it work completely to his advantage. She was dealing with Rafe, after all.
“I think it’s time to go,” she said as she stood.
“Not yet.” He stood, too, and drew her into his arms. “I’ve been dying to do this all day.”
With that, he pulled her against him and didn’t hesitate to press his lips to hers. Ari resisted for all of two seconds before she gave in to him.
What would the harm be to feel pleasure for just a few moments? Would it really break her heart to be with him one more time? Maybe it would be good for her. Maybe she would finally get over him for good. It seemed the tender love story of William and Saphronia had weakened the walls of protection around her heart.
She didn’t know whether she was just trying to convince herself or not, but she knew that she wanted this — wanted him so much, it was burning her entire body alive. She didn’t have the will to resist anymore. She just wanted to be taken to another world.
And Rafe could certainly do that.
“I want you, Ari. Tell me no, and I’ll stop.” He leaned back to look into her eyes.
She didn’t want to tell him no. She didn’t want to stop.
“I should…” She hesitated as his hands made their way down her back and gripped her hips, tugging her against his hardness.
“No, you shouldn’t. What you should do is enjoy every second of this, accept what only I can give you and cry out in pleasure,” he said, nibbling her neck.
Oh, yes, that was the right place.
“I need…” She didn’t know how to complete that sentence. She needed so much.
“You need me,” he said. He lifted her up and sat her on a high table, spreading her legs apart, wedging himself between her thighs, pressing his concealed hardness against her heat.
At that moment she was grateful that she was wearing a skirt, that she could feel the hardness of his arousal through the thin silk of her panties.
Though turmoil boiled inside her, she did want him, she did want the pleasure he could give. Her desire outweighed her guilt at betraying herself and her principles.
“Yes, I want you,” she admitted.
Rafe stopped moving against her; he looked into her eyes, his body pressed tightly against hers. He’d been pushing and pushing, and now he hesitated. But she didn’t want to give herself time to back out of this. She wanted him.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“Yes.” As he gazed at her, she was more than sure.
“Once we start, we won’t stop,” he warned her.
“Then don’t stop, Rafe. Take me,” she said. She wrapped her hands around his neck and tugged him to her.
His head descended and he claimed her mouth hungrily, his hand reaching up to undo her blouse. He finished with the buttons in record time, and then tossed the garment somewhere behind her. Next, her bra came off and then his warm hands were cupping her flesh, holding up the weight as he leaned back and looked at her.
“Damn! You are even more spectacular than I remembered,” Rafe said with whispered reverence.
He massaged her br**sts, his thumbs tracing the edges of her puckered flesh. She wanted his mouth on them, but he didn’t give her that; he just kneaded the flesh, then pinched her ni**les between his fingers as he elongated them, sending heat straight to her core.
Finally, when she was about to scream in frustration, he bent his head and the feel of his tongue lapping against her skin had her crying out. Yes, it had been too long. She needed this.
He moved back and forth between her br**sts, his hands kneading the flesh as his mouth ravished her peaked ni**les. Somehow she’d ended up lying back on the table with him above her. She didn’t know how. All her concentration had been on not exploding from just the attention he was giving her br**sts.
Within moments, he had them both stripped free of clothing, and she was lying bare before him, feeling a sense of euphoria at the unrestrained lust in his eyes.
“I want to make this last all night, Ari, but I don’t think I can,” he said in apology as his finger drifted down her stomach and caressed the outside of her core.
“How about we just do it more than once?” she suggested, wanting him inside her more than anything else, but also wanting it to last forever. She didn’t know whether it would happen again after tonight. She didn’t know how she would feel tomorrow.
Rafe’s eyes rounded, and he couldn’t even speak for a moment. He quickly sheathed himself before poising his body above hers. “You’re coming back to my house when this is done.”
There was the Rafe she knew, demanding, insistent, trying to get his own way, even when he was nearly delirious with passion.