Page 38 of Rio (Knight Empire #3)

RIO

I open my eyes, and everything looks unfamiliar. Then I remember.

The lamp’s gone out. The hut is quiet, and dim, with enough light coming through the rickety old window. I feel my arms around someone, warm and soft. When I turn to look, Raquel is staring up at me.

“I was waiting for you to wake up.” She looks unsure, even though we’re lying tangled up in each other and neither of us moves apart.

“You should have woken me.”

“You were sleeping like a baby, I didn’t want to disturb you.”

This is sweet. I was worried things would be awkward in the morning, that Raquel would turn back into the feisty lawyer, but she’s not like that. She’s sweet, and a little vulnerable, and she still likes me. I like this version of her.

“Sleep well?” I ask, because I sure did. Too well, given where we are.

“On and off. The floor’s hard. I couldn’t get used to it.” She presses a kiss into my chest, and when she presses another one, I settle back, smiling lazily, like a contented lion. I could get used to this. “Don’t stop.”

She makes a dreamy sound. “I’ve been drawing little invisible circles all over your chest.”

I like that even more. I bask in how wonderful and natural this feels, me and Raquel, lying like this, after a night of intimacy, is even better.

Who is this creature?

“I know someone who has a nice big, soft, comfortable bed, and AC, and Wi-Fi, and the most incredible shower,” I murmur softly.

“The most incredible shower?” she cries, quickly moving to a sitting position. “I could do with a good shower.”

I sit up and place my hand on her bare back. Her skin is warm to touch, soft, like satin. I lean in and rain kisses along her shoulders and neck.

She squirms and giggles. “Ticklish.”

My hand stays on her back, sliding down along her spine, to her base. I quiver at the thought that’s she still naked. That I’m with her. That maybe we can carry on from where we left off.

“This doesn’t change what I’m doing,” she says, pulling on her bra. My insides freeze. The old Raquel is back—interrogator, judge, lawyer, attorney.

“I don’t expect it to.” She’s got clear boundaries, and last night she blurred them. I try to find the words to win her back. To make her think with her heart instead of her brain.

“The storm’s gone,” she states, sliding her tank over her head and pulling it down. “Alma will be worried. I couldn’t text her to let her know I was okay.”

I reach for my phone, but my battery is also now dead. “Even if I’d had the presence of mind to give it to you last night, I didn’t have a signal.”

She stands up, and rolls on her panties, then her shorts. Casual, yet cold. It feels like a dream, how intimate we were only a few hours ago.

“She’ll be worried,” she says. “I need to let her know I’m okay.”

I don’t like how quickly she’s reverting to the other Raquel.

“She might even have sent out a rescue party,” I add, wondering how to get the conversation back around to us.

Not work. Not the eco resort. Not business.

I’m not ready to leave yet, and I want for us to talk.

To say something, about what happened last night and what happens next.

I try to get my cue from Raquel but she’s sliding her sneakers back on.

It’s suddenly become awkward.

I get up and get dressed.

She watches me shyly—so uncharacteristic of her—as if the night we shared wasn’t hot and steamy and everything I’ve wanted more of. Unfazed, I reach out and touch her face. “I don’t want this to be the only night I have with you.”

“I didn’t expect this to happen.”

“But it did. You can’t deny that,” I insist.

She pauses, like she’s trying to work out if I mean it or not.

“I’m glad it happened.” That elicits a frown from her, but I mean it with all my heart. “If all I get is one night, I’ll take it. But I’m not giving up, Raquel.”

Her expression softens. Then, “You mean, you didn’t just conquer and ditch me?”

Fuck. It was a comment I made to Dex once, when he was snooping around, trying to find out what had happened between me and Raquel.

How the hell does she know that? And probably out of context, too, if I know Dex. I’m horrified. “Shit. I’m sorry. I did say that. Does Dani tell you everything that goes on in the Knight household?”

“No. Mostly only the stuff that pertains to me.”

“I didn’t mean that. I was trying to deflect attention away from you,” I protest. I can’t fucking believe that Dex would relay that conversation to Dani of all people.

It was meant to be only between us. Now, when I feel I’m getting somewhere with Raquel, my words have come back to bite me.

“I’m going to strangle Dex when I next see him.

He wanted to know why you and I missed the breakfast brunch Dani’s parents put on the day after the wedding.

It was a casual comment. I didn’t want him on our trail. Not that we had a trail …”

She nods, then. “Did you mean what you said?”

I take her face in my hands, focusing on her beautiful brown eyes, needing her to believe me. “You weren’t conquered, and I can’t see any way that I’d ever let go of you, were I ever lucky enough to have you in the first place.”

She relaxes in an instant. The hardness, the walls, the armor that she was putting back on, suddenly melts. I realize then, that Raquel is all about protecting herself. Her mind, her heart, her body.

Growing up in a favela, she must have learned early on that trust is a currency you spend sparingly, that you keep your soft spots hidden, because once someone finds them, they can use them against you.

She’s had to guard herself against men who wanted to take, against a world that doesn’t give second chances, against anything that could hurt her or make her feel small.

“I meant the other bit. The part where you said you’re not giving up.”

I thumb her jaw. “Yeah, I meant it.”

She looks pensive. “I wasn’t sure what to make of you. You’re a Knight, and I already have my reservations about your family.”

“But I am not my father.” I feel like that’s becoming my mantra.

“That’s what Dani said, and I’m starting to see that you’re not.”

I must thank Dani the next time I see her.

“So …” I say, gingerly, rubbing my thumb over her lower lip, and taking my chance, fully aware that Raquel is always the first one to walk. “I want more with you. More time, more conversation, more intimacy. We’re not done. This is just the beginning. So how about you take a chance on me?”

She looks like I’ve asked her to skin a cat.

“I don’t want to get hurt, Rio.”

I squeeze her hands, and as much as I want to hold her and kiss her, I hold back and restrain myself. “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

“You really do have a nice big bed.” She looks up at me.

“You could get a good night’s sleep in it.” I nod, my cock twitching already. As if I have any intention of letting her get any sleep.

“A good night’s sleep is exactly what I need.” She tilts her head up, her luscious lips reminding me of how perfectly they were wrapped around my cock last night.

“It’s still the weekend,” I remind her, trying hard not to remember the rest of last night. Of my face buried in her pussy. “You don’t have to work today. You can recharge and take a nice shower, recharge your phone …”

“I should let Alma know I’m okay.”

“What will you tell her? She knows I went looking for you.”

“I’ll keep it vague.”

“What do you want to do?” I ask.

“You do have the nicer hotel suite. It’s not a room, Rio. It’s a suite.”

“For you, princesa, it can be whatever you want. We can get room service all night long.”

“There’s something else we can do all night long too,” she says.

That’s my girl.