Page 113 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

Rafe

She can’t be serious.That possessive, animalistic lust rears its head, howls inside me at the thought of what I think she’s suggesting.

“What?”

“If we lay down next to each other and—”

“I’m aware of the mechanics.” A disbelieving smile slowly spreads across my face. “I’m just wondering how you do.”

“One, I read. Two, Katie is not exactly discreet when it comes to her and Nathan’s love life.”

“It’s a very intimate position.”

The minx closes her mouth over the tip of me, gives one long suck that has me struggling to not roll her on her back and slide inside her.

“So is this.”

“All right.” I lean down, tilt her chin up and kiss her hard. “You lead.”

She whisks her top off, revealing a lacy bralette the color of violets. She shimmies out of her shorts. The glimpse of the matching scrap of lace barely covering her most intimate skin leaves my chest so tight I can barely suck in a breath.

“Lay back.”

Her whisper is a command, one edged with an innocent shyness that rocks me. Slips beneath my skin, past my walls and straight into my heart. I lay back, wait for her to lie down next to me. I lay my palm against her hip as I feel her fingers wrap around me again. I pull the strip of lace aside and lower my mouth to her core.

Everything fades. Everything but her, me and the heat blazing between us. I can feel her getting close to the edge, her body tightening as her hips press against my mouth. She’s dragging me closer to the edge, so fast I’m not sure if I’ll be able to hold myself back as the wet heat of her mouth closes over me.

She comes apart beneath my mouth, moaning my name as she shudders. I release her for a fraction of a second as I sit up to grab a condom out of my pants, sheath myself before I cover her body with my own. She’s still trembling as I ease inside her. Her body clamps down on me as her eyes fly open, wide with wonder and pleasure.

“Rafe,” she gasps as I begin to move. “Don’t let go.”

Through the haze of pleasure and desire, I hear something. Something deeper in her words. A request I can’t honor, a promise I can’t keep. I bite back the words I want to say in the moment. Words brought on by the moment, not anything tangible that could last.

But I can give her pleasure.

I kiss her as I move, thrusting in and out of her body, driving us both to the peak. We break together as she cries out. I groan her name and barely resist from collapsing on top of her. Slowly, I lower myself next to her, then reach over and pull her into my arms. Her body is hot, her limbs limp as she chuckles. The simple happiness of it rolls through me.

Until I think about what I have tucked belowdecks. The reason why I invited Tessa out onto the yacht. After diving with her today, accepting that she had invited me to be a part of something intimate and watching as she did something less than 1 percent of people in the world got certified to do, I knew the time had come. I was falling for my wife. I needed to let her go while I still could, when both of us might be able to walk away with as little pain as possible.

Tessa curls into my body, one hand resting over my heart. It gives a hard thump, as if protesting what I’m about to do.

Tomorrow, I tell myself as I close my eyes and pull my wife closer.Just one more night.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Tessa

IWAKE UPto the gentle rocking of the boat and the heat of Rafe’s arms wrapped around me. I blink, my eyes adjusting to the dim sunlight filling the room he carried me to at some point during the night.

Last night seems like a faraway dream. One where I transcended all expectations of what having a satisfying sexual relationship could be. One where I went to the edge of my boundaries and then flung myself over the edge, trusting Rafe with my body.

And my heart. I know as I lie there listening to his quiet, even breathing, that I am in love with him. I never stopped. That first bloom of love was innocent, with no context or depth. But that didn’t make it any less meaningful. Over time it did what love was supposed to do; change, grow, persist.

Perhaps a part of me will always love him. Even when I leave Greece, and Rafe, behind and move on with my life.

Rafe stirs at my side. I feel him growing hard against my hip. I turn my head. Pale blue eyes look into mine. This morning there is no mask, no walls. There’s only pain. Regret. A want I wish he would submit to so we didn’t have to say goodbye.

Desperation fills me. I roll on top of him and wrap my hands around him. His hands move to my hips, supporting me as I lower myself onto him. I moan as he fills me, a delicious tenderness from last night’s lovemaking heightening every sensation.

---