Page 52 of Forbidden Deception

Rafael chuckles, shaking his head.

“Of course, even my own brothers are constantly trying to pull information out of me. Some things are best kept hidden, and most people don’t realise that my silence is my biggest weapon. I don’t speak about my feelings because acknowledging them will conflict with who and what people perceive I am.”

“And what are you? What are you hiding, Mr Gustav?” I bump my shoulder against his arm playfully.

“Powerful secrets.” The way he is looking at me tells me everything.

I don’t think he realises that I know exactly what he is hiding, and it makes everything all the more complicated. All the more heartbreaking.

“Secrets? You know, you can’t just tell me you have secrets and not reveal at least one of them.”

“You want a secret?” Rafael stops in his tracks, and so do I.

“Yes.”

He looks at me, his eyes conflicted, a small frown between his brows like he can’t admit something but he wants to. The chocolate eyes roam over my face, a tinge of something very close to adoration on his face, but it’s gone before I can confirm it.

He takes a step closer to me.

My heart stops.

He takes another.

Rafael raises his hand and slides it up my neck until it’s buried in my hair. My breath hitches when he leans closer to me, his face a breath away. The wind picks up, and the waves crash harder, as if they know exactly how erratic my heart is beating.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you all day long, Venezia, and it’s fucking killing me. Why are you doing this?” His hold on me tightens, and the tingle of pain in my scalp is drowned out by the rush of blood in my ears.

I lift a shaky hand to his chest in an attempt to push him away, but instead, I grab his shirt.

His face scrunches up in pain but then his brows drop and his eyes soften. His eyes dip to my lips, his breath coming in short pants, matching my own. His other hand drops to my hip, pulling me against him, and yet he still makes no move to kiss me.

“Why?” he hoarsely whispers.

“I don’t know,” I whisper back, my mind barely making any sense. “I don’t know why you want me. You shouldn’t, Rafael. You should keep me away. We are worlds apart,” I stress, but he shakes his head, softly brushing his nose against mine.

“No, you don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot feel. You haven’t left my mind for a single second, to the point where I can’t sleep, eat, or work without thinking of your presence missing. How could you do that?”

He pulls me even closer, his lips brushing against mine in pure torture with every word. “End this. End this torment for me.”

I go to shake my head, but he tightens his hold on me. A hiss falls from my lips.

“Wrong answer,” he grits out and crashes his lips against mine.

My world explodes.

20

First kisses are either fleeting and messy or the most magical, and currently, for me, it’s neither.

Rafael’s lips on mine feel right, his hands on my body make me feel complete, and it makes my heart race like never before. This sizzling tension between us, the burning skin and tongues clashing, has my mind dizzy.

Rafael’s body pushes into mine, every hard muscle keeping me caged while he owns me, dominates my mouth like we’ve done this many times before. I barely take a breath when he pulls away, but he dives right back in, a deep moan falling from his lips that makes desire pool between my legs.

I moan, frustrated, my hands clenched in his hair. The very hair that made me fall for his looks.

“Rafael,” I breathe, my chest heaving but Rafael barely takes a breath, as if desperate to stay in the moment, to share this secret between us, while he completes and takes a part of my life I have never given to anyone.

I follow his lead. His lips feather kisses at the corner of my mouth, the back of my ear, and down my neck.

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