Page 21 of Rio (Knight Empire #3)

RIO

I don’t like this idea. Driving late at night, on roads I don’t know, in a truck I’m not even driving. It’s a young guy behind the wheel, and I’m worried he’s drunk too much. No way do I want him behind the steering wheel.

I’m about to go and question him when Raquel tugs my sleeve. “You’re not the boss here,” she reminds me, her voice warm with amusement. “They want to have fun. You should let them be.”

“That’s all good, but you want to make it home alive, don’t you?”

“Just go with the flow, Knight. Loosen up, You might like it.”

She smiles, looking more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her. Her curls are wild from dancing, and her skin glows in the moonlight. This version of Raquel is reckless, radiant, and maybe a little tipsy—and I can’t look away. I don’t want to look away. I want her to be safe, and get back in one piece.

I won’t like it. Driving out this late, to go to a lagoon, where who knows what creatures might be hiding, is not a good idea.

But I’m not about to let Raquel go alone, even if her friends are with her.

I’d hate for anything to happen to her. So I go along, trying not to ask a million questions is hard though, but I somehow manage it.

We all pile into an old Toyota truck. It’s the kind of pickup that looks like it belongs in a dumpster.

The cab fills up first, and the rest of us cram into the open bed at the back.

Bodies wedged together, legs dangling, arms bracing as the trucks jolts along the dirt road.

Someone starts singing, too loud, and not too great, but everyone joins in.

Except me and Raquel. We grin at one another.

It feels chaotic. Alive and dangerous. I like it more than I want to admit.

After what feels like forever, the truck grinds to a halt. Darkness covers everything, except the faint outline of trees and a narrow dock leading out over still water. comes to a stop and we’re told to get into a boat.

“Out,” someone shouts. “Get onto the boat. Slow and easy.”

I help Raquel off the truck and eye up the small, flat-bottomed boat nearby, my stomach filling with dread.

“Seriously?” I mutter, glaring at the guy who is leading us all like a pack of sheep to the wolves.

He grins and pats me on the shoulder. “It will be worth it, boss.”

“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “Are you charging money for this?” I don’t understand why anyone would do anything like this for free.

Vilma seems annoyed by my questions. “He works here. He wants to give us, the locals, a chance to do what tourists like you pay to do. He’s allowed to, no?”

“Try not to offend anyone, Knight,” Raquel whisper-hisses.

“I hope we don’t drown.” This is incredibly reckless, incredibly unnecessary, and here we are. Setting off late at night, in darkness, to swim in a lagoon. I dread to think what creatures could be lying in wait for us.

I’m almost thirty, and these kids look like they’re in their early twenties. Is that the difference between reckless stupidity and knowing exactly how fast things can go wrong? I give in. Raquel wants to go, so we are going. There’s no way I’m letting her do this alone.

We all get into the boat. As I look up, I see stars that take my breath away. Not just a few dotted around, but hundreds of them, sparkling brightly in the clear night sky. Beautiful. I’ve not seen a night sky like this before.

“Wow,” Raquel gasps, looking up. We’re sitting crushed up against one another, both staring up in awe. It is majestic. Utterly breathtaking.

“This is so beautiful,” she murmurs, her voice thick with awe. I have to agree. The construction site, the meetings, the noise the locals are making, all seem so far away. This is something I would never have experienced had I not begrudgingly come along. Now I’m glad I did.

The boat drifts to a slow stop in the middle of the lagoon, and the guy who’s in charge, cuts the engine. We float in near-silence. He expects us to jump into that, from this?

Alarm bells set off in my head. This is so irresponsible. There could be all sorts of creatures lying in water in the still, inky black water. I try not to think about crocodiles. Or snakes. Or whatever the hell else lurks here.

“You look scared, boss.” The main guy prods me in the ribs. “It’s safe.”

“You willing to bet your life on that?”

“It’s safe. I trust him.” The guy, Edwin, says.

There’s no dock. No shoreline to wade in from. Just still, black water stretching all around us, and a quiet that hums beneath the surface.

“This is it,” someone says. “Jump in.”

Around us, people are stripping down to their underwear and jumping in from the boat.

“I trust him. He’s a tour operator,” Vilma says. I turn my back to her, because she’s starts to undress.

“I didn’t have you down for being a scaredy cat, Knight,” Raquel says, shimmying out of her dress.

I catch my breath. She’s in her bra and panties, and she looks sexy as sin, the moonlight illuminating her body, giving her an almost ethereal glow. The swell of her hips. The line of her collarbone. Long, strong legs, the kind that look like they were made to wrap around someone’s waist.

Hot damn.

“I’m not a scaredy cat. I just like being in control.”

I hate unexpected shocks and surprises. I’m bearing the scars of the shock which ripped through our family all those decades ago, and I decided then that I like my life to be controlled and orderly.

Everyone has peeled off shirts and shorts, laughing and tossing clothes onto the benches. One by one, they jump in.

Splash!

The water explodes in glowing blue light. Trails of neon shimmer in the dark, like stardust. It’s otherworldly, and unreal. It’s magical. Almost as magical as the night sky with its myriads of stars. I start to slowly, reluctantly undress.

“Look at that!” Raquel cries. The water glows when people swim or move, every movement leaving a trail of electric blue light, illuminating the movement, like stardust suspended in the water, leaving a trail of suspended stardust in their wake.

She gasps, bending over gripping the side of the boat.

“It’s like they’re swimming through stardust.” She watches, mesmerized … but she doesn’t move. Not yet.

“You okay?” I ask, stepping closer.

She turns, lips parted, her eyes wide as she sees me in my boxers. “You brave enough to jump in?”

“I’m not scared. Just careful.”

She straightens her spine, and steps up onto the edge of the boat, pausing for a heartbeat, before diving in. The water explodes around her in glowing blue. Her body becomes a comet—blazing through the water, blue and beautiful, as she swims away.

I dive in after her and swim towards her.

“This is insane,” she murmurs, swiping her hands over her hair as she smooths it back off her face. Everyone has jumped in, and the once silent lagoon is a flurry of noise and light. It’s magical. Like swimming through the stars and the galaxy.

Raquel glides up beside me. “Aren’t you glad you came?”

I nod. “You look like you’re all lit up from the inside out.”

She circles me slowly, sending shimmering hallows through the water with her every move.

I tread water, kicking off a wave of light with my movements as I watch her, the way her hair floats around her shoulders, the moonlight catching the droplets on her skin, her smile wide and unguarded.

The kind of smile that steals my breath.

The kind of smile in a moment I’ll remember forever.

This isn’t the intense lawyer who incinerates her opponents in court.

The woman in the sharp and sleek pressed business suits, with armor to match.

This is Raquel, raw, soft and vulnerable. I think I like this version even more.

The others are in the middle of the lagoon, and Raquel and I have somehow drifted to one side.

“You look the happiest I’ve ever seen you,” I say.

“Being away from work does that.”

“You really hate it where you work?”

“With every moral fiber in my body.”

“Work consumes you.” It seems to, she’s intense and focused, and such a justice warrior, I wonder if she ever makes time for fun. It took her coming out here to relax.

“I see it more as a vocation.”

We swim around one another. Treading water, swimming a few strokes, staying in our own secret orbit.

“You like to be in control?” she asks.

“Always.”

“You like to be on top?”

A rush of heat hits me and my mind flashes to picture what that would look like. What it would feel like. It’s enough to get my cock swelling. I circle her, close enough to catch the faint glow of bioluminescence trailing off her skin, and she mirrors my movement.

“I’ll let you go on top occasionally.”

“I’m sure you’d like that.” Her voice is soft, and it turns my cock even harder. We stop, treading water, getting into deeper water with our innuendo.

“I would love that.” I struggle to keep my voice level.

The words conjure up a picture of her doing just that, head tipped back, breasts thrust out, glowing like a damn goddess in this electric blue water.

My cock cheers me on. I know what she wants, she wants to make serious conversation, but stripped down to our underwear in a bioluminescent lagoon is not the place for serious confessions.

She floats closer to me, her hair fanned out in the water, her eyes, dark and intense, locked on mine. “I very much like being on top,” she whispers so close to me that her lips brush my ear. Her body brushes mine, for a few seconds.

Fuck me, if she doesn’t leave me speechless and with a boner that’s going to hurt all the way home.

“I’ll let you do that, one day, princesa.” My voice turns hoarse.

“One day?”

“You decide, princesa. Totally up to you. I showed you my cards, told you some things. Now it’s up to you.”

She treads water, facing me, her movement keeping the water all lit up wherever she’s been.

I move nearer, and she doesn’t move away.

Instead, she floats nearer, the slight undercurrent maybe pushing us closer together.

Our bodies bump together, bare skin on bare skin.

The water lights up between us, slithers of glowing blue swirling around us.

I brush a lock of wet hair from her face, feel the wet softness of her skin.

She tilts her head, we move closer, and soon we’re almost bumping legs.

Our faces close now. Close enough that we could kiss.

I don’t move but when she splays a hand on my chest, the movement sets off tiny grenades inside me.

“I do like you, Knight,” she murmurs.

“Yeah?”

She nods.

We’re making fucking progress.

“So, what are we going to do about it?” I ask.

My insides feel hot and tight, like a tightly coiled up spring, needing release.

She’s waiting for me, but I’m in awe. Suspended like this, with the water blue and magical and magnificent around us.

This feels like a moment suspended in time.

She dips her head towards me, and I mirror the movement.

Our lips brush. Soft and wet. Her body brushes against mine again.

I’m pretty sure my boner’s grazed her skin, but hot damn if this doesn’t feel amazing.

“Time to head back!” someone shouts.

We stay still. Lips brushing again. The kiss eluding us, again. We breathe each other’s air in, poised in time, waiting with want.

She floats away. “It’s always the timing with us.”

No shit. It’s always the damn timing. “Another time,” I say, watching her with admiration. And wondering how the hell I’m going to climb back on board, hiding a humungous hardon.