Page 30 of Rio

“You can’t, can you?”Wild courage boosts my confidence.“You want me,” I whisper in her ear.She shivers, and I feel it.

“Then that’s your mistake.”She tilts her face up, her eyes falling to my lips.All I see are her red lips, the lips I yearn for.And just like that, we’re kissing, falling into one another, bodies flush.She mewls and moans against my mouth, her hands tangling in my hair.Our kisses are hot and feverish, a letting go of all the frustration of everything we held back.

Finally, we break apart, gasping for air.Her lips are moist, her eyes shiny.“You do want me,” I rasp.

“I wanted to prove that I don’t.And I just did.”

Her flawed logic makes no sense.I peer at her in disbelief.Her lipstick is a little smudged, on one corner.Not enough.But her hair is wild, pupils large, her chest rising and falling with each breath.She might say she doesn’t want me, but the evidence suggests otherwise.Still, I’m shocked by her words, shocked that even now she’s pushing me away when all I can think about is kissing her some more.

She steps back.“This can’t happen.I won’t let it.”And just like that, she walks back inside.I stay behind, staring out at the Miami skyline, chest tight, hands itching to reach for her.

I think back to our earlier conversation, about where she grew up and how she’d sit in the corner while her mother helped out at the legal clinic at the favela, listening to stories of people being destroyed by the system.

That would be enough to make her wary of a man like me.

I scare her.The Knight world scares her.She fights people like us in court, and it frightens her to want me.But she can’t deny the passion between us.The longing.The heat.Maybe she knows how good we can be together.Whatever it is, I can’t push or pressure her.She has to come to terms with everything herself.She has to come to me on her own terms.

Enemies, then.If that’s what she needs.That’s what it will be.This time, it’s best if I walk away, because it’s over before it’s really begun.

Chapter 8

RAQUEL

I need a lobotomy.That’s what it’s going to take to get that man out of my head.I haven’t been able to focus since the weekend and I’ve struggled at work.Pierce can see I’m not on my A-game, and I need to be.

Dex and Dani’s visit should’ve been a welcome distraction, and it was, for most part.Dani seemed happy.Dex was charming, sharp as ever.

But then he showed up.

The other Knight.

The bane of my life.

Uninvited, unexpected, and still impossibly charming and smug.

I wish I had more control.I usually do.I command, and lead.I decide if something happens or not, and as much as I tried not to give in to Rio Knight, I couldn’t.

This kiss was even hotter than the first one; the one I’ve been trying to forget for months.Only now I have something more vibrant, new and electric, imprinted on my mind and body, and I doubt I’ll ever forget it.

Or him.

Damn that man for knowing exactly how to unravel me without even trying.The way his voice dropped when he said my name.The way he looked at me like he still wants more.

I know I do.I was so sure this was a setup, him walking into the restaurant like it was unexpected.I was so sure of it, but he called my bluff.Turns out, he really was here for a meeting, even if it comes across as being too neat, too orchestrated.

Those Knights know how to do these things.They play 5D chess, while everyone else is playing chequers.I shouldn’t have stepped out of the restaurant with him.Dex and Dani shouldn’t have left us alone.

You didn’t have to go outside with him.

I thought I was strong.I thought I could convince myself, and him, that I didn’t want anything from him, but I can’t push him away.

Rio is like a storm that wreaks havoc in my carefully structured life.He uproots it, creating chaos and leaving wreckage in his wake.He chews up head and heart and spits it out.

We didn’t even talk for long.

Just enough to cause cracks in the walls I’ve built up around me.

Just enough to let him in and kiss him like I’ve never kissed anyone before.