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“What is your problem?” I snap.

“What’s yours?” she shoots back. “What were you doing in there? Threatening a professional boxer? You do realize he was playing, right? Innocent flirting.”

“He knew you were here with me. It’s disrespectful.”

“It’s not! We’re not together, Rafael.”

“Says who? He made a fucking kissy face at you!”

She releases a frustrated growl as she struts across the concrete promenade and I reach for her arm. We’re coming up on my limousine parked by the curb. My hand clamps shut on her elbow and I drag her toward the luxury vehicle to her scream and thrashing protests.

The moment we’re inside and I slam the door shut, she slaps me across the face.

A light sting prickles my cheek.

“Don’t you ever do that again!” she warns, nostrils flaring. Her eyes burn with anger. Her chest heaves for every breath she takes.

You’d think I’d listen. I’d apologize or admit I’ve been overreacting.

But all those turn out to be wrong.

I do what I always do—I do what I want.

I grab Portia James by the throat and drag her mouth to mine.

16

PORTIA

One kiss is allit takes to erase my resolve.

Rafael crushes his lips to mine and any fight I have grinds into dust. His hand on my throat. His heavy body pushing me back against the limousine’s cushions. The way he prods my thighs apart and wedges his knee in between, taking me over.

Taking charge and laying claim.

All of it undoes me. I’m unraveling on the spot.

Excitement sparks through me while lust heats a direct path to my pussy. A year and a half worth of neediness reaches a sudden and unpredictable fever pitch.

Every day I’ve gone without Rafael Calderone’s touch adds up. Every second suddenly feels too long.

I’ve lasted as long as I could. I’ve fought as hard and valiantly as possible and yet here I am, surrendering to him.

He kisses me hard, his grip giving a light squeeze at the sides of my throat. A whimper leaves me, my fingers clutching at his chest, my once classy dress riding up my thighs. He reacts to even my subtlest move. At the slight part of my lips, he’s switching our angle. He’s kissing me deeper, tasting my bottom lip.

Tart wine and sugary dessert and the taste of desire.

It spurs him on with a rough groan.

When I wrap a leg around his back, he pins me against the leather and grinds his hips into me. His body, so warm and rigid to the touch, is like an instrument of pleasure. His erection, so thick and swollen from inside his suit pants, feels even bigger than I remember.

I moan into his mouth as he strokes a hand up my bare thigh and we kiss like time’s about to run out. The clock will drop to zero and we’ll never get this chance again.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity must be savored.

It must be stretched as far as it possibly can go; we can’t stop now.

I’m on edge, my pussy throbbing with an emptiness only he can fill. No one else but Rafael Calderone will do.