Page 17 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

8

Isa

The sunshine shone in through the windows of Rafe's private jet, nearly blinding in intensity. I'd only ever been on a plane when traveling to Ibiza in the first place, and the difference between first class and the sleek luxury around me was shocking. I couldn't imagine what the differences would have been from coach to this.

"You'll let me see my family while we're there, right?" I asked, making Rafe look up from his phone finally. He had the innate ability to constantly be busy, but never make me feel ignored either. All it took was a word from me, and he'd shift his undivided attention my way.

Having that probing stare and his intense fixation settled on me was just as disarming as it had been my first night in Ibiza. I took a sip from my bottled water to distract myself as he quirked a brow at me. "Of course we will see your family while we're in Chicago. I have no interest in keeping you from them unnecessarily."

I spluttered, even though it shouldn't have come as a shock. Not with the way that Rafael was determined to infiltrate every facet of my life, but the thought of him sitting in my parent’s living room was...laughable. He’d kidnapped their daughter, and he would waltz right into their home without shame. "We?"

"Yes, we,mi reina. Am I not your husband? That makes them my family by extension. Don't you think it is time that I met them?"

I paused, considering my words carefully. A conversation with Rafael was treacherous under the best circumstances, anything involving the wordhusbandwas even more so.

My head shouted alarms as I forced my lips into an appeasing smile. "I just thought it might be better to ease them into it. Let me go see them alone first, and I can inform them that I'm married before I shove my husband in their face when they aren't even expecting me to come visit. If we want them to like you, then there's a certain nuance to how we should handle the introduction," I explained.

Without taking his eyes off mine, he set his phone down on the table between us, standing in a slow unfolding of limbs that caught the breath in my lungs. He prowled around the table and toward me, stretching past my torso to touch the intercom button on the side of the plane.

"Yes, Señor Ibarra?" the female attendant asked over the speaker.

"The back cabin is off limits until further notice," Rafael barked. Removing his finger from the button, he released the locking mechanism on my seat and spun it to face the center aisle of the plane where he stood. Locking it into place once more with his foot, he cupped my face in his hand and dragged his thumb over my lip. "You're incorrect to assume that I care if they like me,mi reina," he murmured.

"Why wouldn't you care? If they're your family now like you say?" I asked, tilting my head. His thumb stroked my cheek under my eye, his fixated stare on the brown part marring the green, taking on an entirely new meaning now that I knew the truth of his father's obsession with children who had heterochromia.

His intense stare shifted to my face as a whole as he shook off whatever moment he'd been lost to. "All that matters to me is the fact that you're mine. They can love me. They can hate me. It matters little to me, because at the end of the day it will be my bed you fall asleep in. My arms that you seek in your sleep when your nightmares come for you. Though I do hope they tolerate me for your sake."

"My sister will tolerate you alright," I snarked, rolling my eyes to the ceiling as I thought about the various reactions my family might have to him. My grandmother would give him a glare so intense any normal man would quiver in fear. My parents would hate that he corrupted their innocent baby, and my sister would be so busy trying to manipulate him into her bed that there would be very little chance of me not ripping her hair out.

Rafael smirked, those wicked lips tipping up in the face of my jealousy. He'd always loved it when I acted territorial over him, though he hadn't given me much reason to have any real concern.

Odina was another story, and I wouldn't tolerate even the slightest encouragement of her advances. "I hope you know that if you touch her, I will cut off your favorite appendage while you're sleeping," I warned.

"My favorite appendage? Or yours?" Rafe grinned.

I tipped my head to the side, biting my bottom lip as I fought back the slight smile that tried to escape. It was so rare that the playful Rafe I'd known in Ibiza showed himself after I’d learned the truth. I had to admit that I probably had something to do with that, as the push and pull of our relationship as we learned to love each other as we were had been stifling at times.

I'd wanted to stab him just as often as I wanted to fuck him.

"Both," I admitted, watching as his eyes gleamed with dark heat and satisfaction.

"Maybe you need to remind me why you're my favorite twin," he teased, and only the wry smile that twisted his lips eased what should have been a sting. The statement should have played on my old insecurities, but somehow with Rafe it didn't.

If he'd wanted Odina, he would have had her. It really was that simple for him.

I slapped his thigh, watching as his cock twitched in his slacks in response to the sting from my palm. "Should I hide the forks?" he asked, reaching down to unbutton his pants.

I glared at him. There were no forks on the table sadly. It might have come in handy. "What are you doing?" I laughed, leaning back in my chair.

His free hand went to the head of my seat, supporting his weight as he leaned in and freed his cock. Pumping it with his massive hand, he stroked it from root to tip. Precum gathered at the tip, as if he was truly ready and waiting for me at any moment.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm waiting for my wife to wrap her pretty fucking mouth around my cock," he said, releasing his length to glide his hand beneath the curtain of my hair. He tugged me forward, all traces of amusement fading from his face.

I shoved back with my hands on his thighs, fighting the grip around my nape. "I am not going to prove to you that I'm your favorite twin," I said, narrowing my eyes on him in a glare. Even if the words hadn't stung in the way they would have from someone else, I still wouldn't reward that kind of statement with sucking him off.

"You're right. You never need to prove that to me," he said, his features softening for a moment as he willed me to understand that the statement had been meant in jest. I knew it as well as if he'd told me, but still couldn't willingly bring myself to part my lips for him. "But it seems I do need to remind you of something,mi reina."

"And what's that?" I asked, wincing when his hand at my neck gathered my hair in his grip and tugged until pain exploded across my scalp.

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