She jerked frontward when he tugged her forward by their clasped hands to follow behind him, and as he was explaining, whatever it was that he was explaining, she watched the emotions play on his face. His eyes lit up, his grin spread from ear to ear and his free hand waved around as he pointed behind them at what he called the aft, unchecked and like he had not a care in the world. When he was this animated, he looked… human. She could see now why he preferred the yacht over the hotel.Freedom.He was free to be himself, his true self without having to put on a front for anyone, always guarded, always watchful, always predatory, and, depending on the situation, ready to defend or attack. Talia wondered if he even realized that at that moment, he was doing none of that. Did he know he was acting differently than normal? Did he recognize that he had two completely opposite personas?It must be exhausting. How does he handle it?Considering

She looked up and caught his eyes, but the piercing look in them made her lean back, away from him. A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed hard to remove it as her breaths came a little faster. His hands pressed into the leather on each side of her, the throw still clumped in his fists as he leaned closer to her, unblinking, the intensity of his gaze reflected by the pulsing muscle in his neck.He was staring at her lips with such passion that it heated her up so much so she wasn’t cold anymore. It might as well have been summer already. In fact, she needed an iced drink at that very moment. This, this was… Talia swallowed again, this was so not going to end well. His eyes looked down and she breathed a little easier, grateful for the respite. She needed to get herself together and out of that situation before it became unbearable to resist any longer.“DeLu — mmh!”Caught off guard, Talia stayed frozen staring at his closed eyes as his lips closed around hers. He kissed her, h

Rafe stood, stretching from the chair he’d been glued to for over ten hours now, and turned to sit on the desk, his back to the closed door, as he watched the sky turn a burned orange through the floor to ceiling glass wall that had always been behind him. He always ignored it, but now it had his full attention. He never once looked out of this glass wall and at the beautiful view it provided since he arrived. He always had the shutters down and the lights and air conditioner turned on for light and air circulation.Why exactly was that? He wasn’t one to get distracted easily. He also wasn’t well known to pay attention to things he believed inconsequential or not worth his time. He snorted sadly at himself. He was too busy with important things to waste his attention. But now, with this deep hole in his chest, he wondered if it would have made some difference if he’d just paused once in a while.He sighed heavily, as he looked o

He slowly shook his head. “That’s the thing. Sex doesn’t fix it, otherwise you would have walked in on a whole lot more.” He exhaled heavily, taking a step back, “I tried that countless times before I came here.”Talia wasn’t quite sure what to say or do. This was a side of him she had never seen. In fact, she was sure he had never shown anyone this version of him. The mask was completely off and he looked lost, frustrated and tired. Was he at the edge of his rope? Why had he chosen to reach out to her?“How do you feel?” she asked concerned, her foot sliding forward, wanting to go to him.He ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh, disheveling it and it was like the action stripped him of the last layer of control he had clearly been holding onto tight with both hands. He looked utterly and completely worn out.“Exhausted, annoyed, antsy, depleted.”He sounded like it. He also

“Signore.” Rafe gave a small grunt of acknowledgement when Enzo called out to him, his mind focused on the paperwork in front of him. It had been a long time since he’d felt energized and not forced to work. He was going to capitalize on that before things went back to normal. “You look different.” That got his attention. With his brows pulled together, he looked up at Enzo where he stood across from him on the other side of the mahogany desk and asked, “What do you mean?” Lips pulled, eyebrows raised, he answered, “Relaxed, rested… unlike your normal self.” One side of Rafe’s lips rose in half a smile. He looked relaxed and rested? He sat still and thought on those words and, truly enough, he didn’t feel that ton of weight on his shoulders, his chest didn’t feel packed and congested and he didn’t have that headache that had become normal to him. He was lighter, freer and if he could dare to say, happy. He hadn’t felt happy for the hell of being happy in a very long time. That was