Page 15 of Alpha’s Secret Baby Girl (Nightfall Island Alphas #1)

Gwen buried her fingers in Rafael’s hair, feeling the silky texture. Seriously, what products did he use? She’d have to raid his shower and start using it on her own head. Her breath came in little, quick gasps as her hips rolled forward, pressing against him through their clothes.

“Gwen,” Rafael grunted. His hands were so possessive on her, but she didn’t care. She wanted him to hold her tighter.

His mouth was amazing, the give of his lips shooting sparks through her.

Heat built in her belly, feeling like liquid fire between her thighs.

She wanted more. Breaking from his lips, she kissed along his jaw, feeling the sharp stubble of his beard starting to grow in.

They itched against her lips, and she moved down, kissing his neck to find his collar.

Would he still groan and jerk his hips if she licked his Adam’s apple and touched his abs at the same time?

As it turned out, the answer was yes. Gwen gasped when she felt his hardness press through her skirt against him.

The hand on her waist dropped, cupping her ass.

He kneaded the soft globe as he pulled her head back lightly with his other hand, exposing her throat.

Gwen let him guide her movements, clinging to him.

He kissed her neck, and shivers shot straight to her core.

Her eyes widened, and she lifted one leg over his hip.

“Goddess, Rafael.” She shivered against him. “It’s been too long since—”

She moaned and shivered again.

“Too long?” His hand left her hair and moved between them, shifting her skirt out of the way. “Too long since me or too long since your last time?”

If she told him it was the same thing, his head would swell so big it would endanger his neck. So for the sake of his own life, she only groaned in response and rolled her hips against him again. The need and heat sweeping through her was too strong.

Somewhere in the distance, behind the door, she heard an elevator door ping. She ignored it until voices reached her.

“Has to be careful,” Joshua’s voice came.

Rafael pulled away from her just as she jerked away. They were coming back? Gwen tried to pull away from him, to straighten herself, but Rafael’s grip on her only tightened. He groaned into her skin, the sound a breathless plea.

“We’ll be caught,” she whispered, hating to break this connection but not wanting anyone to see them.

Married or not, if his brother and best friend walked in on them in a clinch, there would be no stopping the rumors.

With her thigh hitched over his hip and her skirt riding up, leaving her skin to rub against the rough texture of his jeans.

Wait, which underwear did she put on this morning? Was it—

Focus, she chided herself, pulling back as the voices grew closer. “Rafael, stop.”

He pulled away slightly. His pupils were large with arousal.

His arms tightened around her, and he twisted around.

They scrambled together to a small closet nearby.

Rafael whisked her inside, pressing her against the back.

Two suits hung in the closet, along with a couple of extra pairs of jeans.

Light seeped in through the small slats in the door.

“Rafael—”

He pressed a long finger over her lips. “Shh. We don’t want to be caught, do we?”

His eyes sparkled in the dimness. He added a second finger to her lips while his other hand smoothed down her thigh, then slid under her skirt. Gwen’s breathing hitched at the feeling of his skin against hers. Her heart pounded, and she knew she should protest, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to.

“He’s not even here,” Joshua’s voice came from the office. “It’d be just like him to be off with Gwen somewhere instead of taking care of business.”

Rafael smirked, his fingers following the seam of her panties up the side of her hip. She pressed her hands to his chest, shaking her head. Not while they were in the office!

“What can you expect?” Michael said, sounding exasperated and amused. “After spending seven years pining after her, she’s back. I’m surprised they’ve left the bedroom at all.”

Joshua laughed. Footsteps headed away. The door clicked shut behind them. Gwen relaxed and let out a sigh, but when she opened her mouth, Rafael tilted her head and covered it. His thumb hooked over the waistband of her panties. He leaned in close, lips brushing against her ear.

“Shhh. They might come back, and we wouldn’t want them to catch us, would we?

” His voice was rich and deep, sending pleasant shivers all throughout her body.

Heat built in her core once more. As his hand moved slowly, sliding into her panties, Gwen gasped against his hand.

Her palms were still pressed to his chest. She could push him away if she wanted.

She didn’t want to.

His fingers moved through her folds, sliding down the length of her.

They skimmed over her entrance, collecting the moisture pooling there before moving back up.

The glide was slicker, more fluid. The space was tight, and the pressure was already intense, thanks to their positions.

Her legs were pressed lightly together, and when she tried to maneuver herself to open up, make it easier for him, Rafael’s other hand dropped to her hip.

He pressed her into the back of the closet and stared intently at her.

“Don’t move,” he warned in a whisper.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She rolled her hips into his hand just to spite him.

The answering grin he gave her was anything but spiteful.

He found her clit and moved one finger in a circle around it, testing her, watching her reaction.

Her hips rolled forward again, seeking more friction.

Her breathing grew ragged quickly as the tension inside of her broke, and a new tension took its place.

The delicious sort, the kind that stopped her from thinking about anything else.

Rafael’s knuckles grazed her thigh as he moved down again, pushing two fingers into her entrance.

He used his palm to apply a rough, dull pressure to her clit.

Gwen’s fingers curled into his shirt, her jaw clenching as she struggled to maintain her composure.

She let her head fall back as he pushed his fingers knuckle-deep and adjusted his hand to sweep his thumb over her little bundle of nerves.

“Fuck me,” she breathed, unable to stop herself.

“Mmmm. Not today.”

Gwen opened her eyes and glared at him. “I didn’t mean that literally—oh!”

His thumb moved again. She pressed herself closer, and he pressed his free arm across her waist, pinning her in place.

“Rafael,” she snarled, tightening. His fingers moved inside of her, his thumb growing more relentless. His rhythm made her knees grow weak. The closet closed in around her, narrowing the world to them, to his touch, to the pleasure growing all the deeper inside of her.

Just as the orgasm hit, he kissed her. He swallowed the sound of her cry, fucking her harder with his fingers.

She clung to him, riding the shockwaves, begging wordlessly in groans and moans for him to keep going.

He coaxed it out as long as he could until she gasped into his mouth and slumped forward, her weight pressing against him.

Then he withdrew his hand and wiped it off on the nearby jeans before pulling her closer, supporting her as he leaned back against the wall.

Trembling, lips parted, Gwen pressed her face into his chest and breathed in his scent. Goddess… that had felt good.

Too good.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been there, pressed into him, before she found the strength to straighten. Their bodies weren’t so close that she could feel his arousal, but a quick glance down showed he was. Longing washed through her, but she let out another shuddering breath and shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Rafael’s dark, lustful gaze narrowed at her. “Sorry?”

She pressed both hands to his shoulders, stiffening her arms to keep distance between them. “This can’t go further. It shouldn’t have gone this far. It can’t happen again.”

“Gwen—” His voice was impossibly soft and persuasive.

Gwen shook her head. “No. No, don’t. I’m not saying this to be a tease.

There’s too much, Rafael. Introducing sex again into our relationship will just make it even more complicated, and it’s already too complicated.

I’m confused and scared, and I don’t think I can do this.

Demons are hunting my daughter, and sex would be a welcome distraction, but that’s all it would be, and we can’t distract ourselves and—”

She cut herself off, breathing tremulously. No more arguing. No more reasons. No was no. She had to put the boundary down and hold it, no matter how much she longed to forget everything she had just said.

Rafael touched her cheek, feather-light and oh, so tempting.

Gwen’s heart caught in her chest as she leaned into him, hating that she was already forgetting her own boundaries.

If only she didn’t want him so damn much!

She hadn’t expected this, the physical longing.

The memories of their past, how safe she had once felt with him, tore at her heart.

“Gwen,” Rafael whispered. “I want you back.”

“Stop. Please.” She was telling herself as much as him.

Pain flashed through Rafael’s eyes, and he lowered his hand slowly. He searched her eyes, his jaw working. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

“I shouldn’t have, either,” Gwen whispered.

This wasn’t his fault. For every touch he’d given her, she had encouraged more, after all.

Despite all of her distrust of him, despite how this was very much not what she wanted to feel, she couldn’t blame him.

It would be easy. It would be less emotionally fraught if she accused him of seduction without care.

“Don’t,” she said as he opened his mouth.

She knew the look on his face. He was going to be sincere and genuine.

“Don’t. After the demon is taken care of and Lianne is safe, then maybe we can come back to…

figuring things out. But I don’t want to live with you, Rafael.

I don’t want to come back to the island, and I don’t want to be your wife. ”

That, finally, got through to him. He stepped back as much as he could in the closet and averted his gaze. Silently, he opened the door. The cool rush of air swept in. Gwen slipped by him, her legs still trembling from her orgasm. She didn’t look back as she fled the office.

***

Lianne was napping when Gwen got home, so she took the opportunity to shower and calm her nerves.

After all this time and this forced marriage, she shouldn’t want Rafael as much as she did.

She should be telling him to go fuck himself instead of wanting him to fuck her.

It left her doubting everything she knew about herself.

If she wasn’t careful, he was going to see it and try even harder to prove how right they were together.

And the scary thing was, she was pretty sure he would succeed.

Later, Gwen took Lianne to the park. As soon as they arrived, the other parents collected their kids and hurried them away.

Gwen tried to ignore this, hoping that Lianne didn’t notice.

Lianne was happy to play. She didn’t seem to be traumatized about the demon attack yesterday.

Maybe seeing Rafael chase it off had given her enough confidence to put it from her mind.

When two more families arrived at the park, only to turn around and leave right away, Lianne came over to where Gwen was sitting.

“I wanna go home,” she whispered.

Gwen took her hand. “Alright. Let’s get back to Rafael’s house and—”

“I want to go home,” Lianne repeated, whimpering. “Raf-el can come home with us.”

Gwen winced. She crouched next to her daughter and smoothed Lianne’s hair from her face. “We need to stay here, baby.”

“Because of the demon?” Lianne asked, shuddering. “Because it’s in the water?”

The water? Gwen didn’t know how to answer that. “Where did you hear it was in the water?”

“I heard the old lady next to Raf-el’s house. She said we brought the demon from the ocean, and if we leave, it will go with us, so Raf-el better get rid of us.” Lianne’s green eyes were clear, accepting what she was saying as fact.

Gwen’s heart ached. If people were only seeing her as an outcast, it wouldn’t be so bad. She could handle it. But the idea that they were blaming Lianne? Even worse, for her to hear and accept that this was somehow their fault?

“It didn’t follow us,” Gwen said firmly.

“The old lady said it did.”

“She’s wrong. It didn’t follow us. But it is why we can’t go home right now.

We’re safe in Rafael’s house and in the town.

It can’t get to us. Rafael is going to catch it, and when it’s gone, we’ll be able to go home again.

” Gwen hoped that was true. Now that the pack was turning against her and her daughter, it was only more reason not to stick around.

But maybe when the demon is gone, they will go back to accepting us. At the very least, Rafael will be able to concentrate on protecting us that way.

She wrapped her arms around her daughter, trying to hide her internal tension. “It’s going to be okay, baby. Rafael will protect us from the demons. And the pack, they just don’t understand things. They’re scared, and sometimes scared people do silly things.”

Lianne buried her face into Gwen’s shoulder. “But what if they’re right? What if it’s my fault?”

“It’s not,” Gwen said firmly. “And anyone who says otherwise is stupid.”

“Oh, Mommy, you used a bad word,” Lianne gasped. When Gwen leaned back, though, Lianne was giggling.

Gwen’s heart eased. Good. At least she was able to get Lianne laughing again. “You have my permission to say the bad words to anyone who tries to scare you.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Ha! I’m going to call the old lady a… a…” She looked from side to side furtively. “A batty bag lady!”

Gwen kissed her forehead. “Let’s get back to Rafael’s house. Maybe we can make a cake.”

Lianne danced on the spot, clapping her hands. “Yeah! Demons are scared of cakes!”

As they headed back, Gwen ignored the way people crossed the street to avoid walking near them. This was going to work out. Rafael was going to protect them. The demons were going to be dealt with. And when it was over… well, she’d deal with the rest of it after that.