Page 27 of Consequence of One Reckless Night

“Don’t cry, darling,” he whispered into her hair.

“I should have told my family... Leandro...” she confessed into his shirt, her tears soaking the cotton of his shirt, “but everything happened so fast. I... I came to you as soon as I found out about the baby... but I needed time to tell them... and now this newspaper article has ruined everything...”

Grabbing the back of her head with a hand suddenly unsteady, he pulled her head back to gaze into her eyes. “I promise to make things right, Raquel,” he assured her, his voice firm—determined, instilling in her a confidence she very much needed at that minute.

She nodded. Pulling out of his embrace, she stood up, brushing back the hair which fell over her face. “I need to return home.”

“I’ll take you myself, Raquel but we need to talk first.”

She didn’t know what Alexandre wanted to talk about. Hadn’t he spoken his mind yesterday? “Okay.” She nodded, deciding to hear him out. “May I make a call home, please?”

****

Raquel slowly becameaware that the yacht was moving—the swaying motion jolting her into a sitting position. The cabin was doused in a soft yellow light which spilled from a lamp on one wall. Looking out of the portholes, she frowned, noticing that it was dark outside. Had she fallen asleep?

She remembered her phone conversation with Tahlia—it had gone horribly. Her mother refused to speak with her, and when she informed Tahlia, who reluctantly attended the house phone, that she was with Alexandre, her sister had sputtered with disbelief.

“You’re with him? After everything that’s happened you went to see him?”

“We need to speak about the baby,” she told her sister, who had made a scoffing noise, something that bothered her more than she cared to admit.

Yes, her child was a result of a one-night stand, but it didn’t deserve to be scoffed at.

“I didn’t expect this from you,” Tahlia accused her, rubbing salt into the wound. “How could you shame our family this way? Now, everyone thinks you are just as morally flawed as that... man!”

Raquel saw red at Tahlia’s comment. “You have no right to judge me or Alexandre!”

“Do you even know this man?” Her sister’s quick rebuttal had silenced her. Wasn’t it true she knew next to nothing about Alexandre? “He may be rich, but he has the morals of an alley cat. He goes through women like people change socks. Do you think he’s going to marry you? If he does, will it last? How long do you think it will be before he gets tired of you?”

“That’s enough, Lia!” she cried into the phone. “He’s the father of my child, and he deserves to be respected!”

“You know what—do what you think is right. Just don’t expect me to support you.” Tahlia’s condemnation was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Only in her case, it filled Raquel with steely determination. She wasn’t going to give into tears, she decided. She would face life head on—with or without her family’s support.

Alexandre, who had stood listening to every word she uttered, had gently removed his phone from her hands before leading her to a small table where he fed her weak tea and some toast. Then she had asked him if she could take a shower.

He brought her to his cabin, where she took a hot shower before changing into a t-shirt that was laid out for her. She remembered lying down on the bed, thinking the mattress was the softest thing she’d ever laid upon, and then—nothing.

Running a hand through her hair which was still damp from the shower, she yanked up the sheet to her waist. Alexandre had offered to launder her clothes, but she told him to toss them. She couldn’t wear that dress again—not when it was reminiscent of the awful night she’d had at the Monteiro mansion.

The yacht jerked suddenly, and she cried out, caught by surprise, grabbing the bedpost as her stomach lurched. The ensuite bathroom door opened then, and Alexandre stepped out, his brow creasing when he found her clinging to the bedpost.

“What happened?” At once he was by her side, sitting down beside her before pulling her into his arms.

“Why are we moving?” she gasped as the yacht swayed.

“I thought it was better to move away from the shore.”

“Why?” Raquel looked up at him and all thoughts flew out of her mind as her eyes lingered on his handsome face.

His long hair was still wet from the shower and clung to his neck and shoulders. Moisture beaded above his upper lip, drawing her attention to his gorgeous mouth. How long had it been since she had kissed those lips? She still remembered what they’d felt like against her lips—soft and insistent, hungry and wicked as he wreaked havoc on her body.

Her eyes trailed down his thick neck, her lips parting hungrily, wanting to kiss his prominent Adam’s apple. He was naked, except for the towel which sat precariously on his hips, making her wish she was bold enough to reach out and tear it away so she could feast on his gorgeous body.

“People have a morbid fascination with other people’s lives.”

His reply roused her from the sensual musings which stoked a small flame inside her. A flame that spilled heat into her veins.

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