Instead of telling Mateo that he couldn't possibly protect her the way he wanted to, she agreed with him, she told him what he wanted to hear. "I trust you. I know that you'll never let anything touch me."
The moment was so intense, so fraught with emotion, that what happened next seemed inevitable. They reached for each other, his hands on her face, her hands on his face and they kissed. Raina didn't know who started the kiss and she didn't care. All she cared about was erasing the events of that evening, for both Mateo and herself.
The kiss was instantly explosive, igniting the smouldering chemistry that they'd been trying so hard to suppress. She didn’t know why Mateo was waiting for the wedding. Perhaps he was giving her time to get used to him, or maybe he was a traditionalist.
For Raina's part, she had absolutely no problem with consummation. She had a normal libido and a healthy sex drive, but there was something about sex with Mateo that made her pause. He was so serious, so intense, even when he was trying to protect and love her. The idea of sex with Mateo scared her. Both physically, because he was a big muscular guy who kept himself in peak condition at all times, as well as mentally. She knew, without a doubt, that once they had sex there would be no going back.
But right then, their bodies dripping in sweat from the exertion of their workout, their emotions high, neither of them cared. They kissed each other with such intensity that Mateo's tooth sank into her bottom lip, cutting it open. Neither stopped as the taste of blood filled their mouths. It should have been gross, but Raina felt turned on by it. His love, his possession, was so fierce that it was like he couldn't contain it, even when he wanted to. It was a heady thought, the idea that she had this much power over him.
He pushed her back onto the mat and they rolled onto the grass together, their mouths still fused. Mateo's hands began tugging at her clothes, pushing her shirt up over her breasts. She cried out into his mouth as soon as his calloused hand covered her breast, squeezing, lifting, testing. His thumb brushed roughly over her nipple, drawing another cry from her. It was pure ecstasy. She arched up into his hand, silently begging him for more.
And he gave her so much more. His other hand shoved impatiently between their bodies, beneath the band of her sweatpants and into her panties. She gasped breathlessly as his fingers attacked her clit, then down to her opening where he gathered the wetness from her, dragging it back to her clit, rubbing furiously.
She shrieked at the intensity, but he caught the sound in his mouth as he smothered her with another kiss. She thrashed underneath him as he touched her in a way that he hadn't done before. It was too rough, too hard. When she masturbated, she touched herself lightly, drawing her orgasm out and tipping over the edge into a sweet ecstasy. This was so much different. She had no control over this. He drove her higher, higher, higher, until she was crying, begging, screaming for release. She wanted the orgasm, but it almost hurt.
He continued to hold her down, his fingers rubbing her, inside, out, all over her pussy. It was like he was attacking her with his brand of ownership. He was claiming her pussy for himself and she was helpless to stop him. With a piercing scream, her head flung back into the grass, her hair a halo, she came so hard that she felt the spurt of fluid into her panties soaking his fingers.
Tears trickled from her eyes, down her cheeks and dripped onto the ground. Mateo kissed her softly, his lips now caressing hers, no teeth or tongue. Though she could feel the imprint of his steel hard cock against her thigh, he didn't do anything about it. He wasn't going to fuck her right there in the grass as she thought he would. As she’d been half hoping.
He’d wanted to touch her, to make her come, to show her who her body belonged to. And after the way he touched her, she couldn't deny it. She belonged to Mateo Gutierrez.
Chapter Thirty-One
Raina woke late in the morning, her body protesting the aches from her late-night sparring session. She rolled out of bed with a groan and stood unmoving for a few seconds, taking stock.
It had been a strange night. She wasn't sure what freaked her out more, the one-sided sparring session or the massive orgasm that Mateo had given her. She blushed thinking about it. It was the first orgasm given to her by another person. She didn't know how to feel about it. Part of her wanted to hunt Mateo down and demand that he finish the job and fuck her already, but the rest of her wanted to hide from him and never have to look him in the face again.
She felt unequipped for these feelings. In some ways, she'd been forced to grow up rather quickly, her kidney disease destroying some of her carefree childhood. But that also meant she’d been extremely sheltered. Her experience with the opposite sex was limited.
As a teenager, she’d been interested in boys, but several years behind her classmates when it came to sex and relationships. As a result, she now felt like she was on shifting ground. She didn't know where to step, how to step, if she should take any steps or let Mateo do the work.
A subdued Raina showered and got dressed, readying herself for the day. She chose a white summery top with a pattern of red roses splashed across it and a pair of capri jeans. She slid her feet into a pair of red flats, brushed her hair and pinned it back behind her ears with clips. On the inside she might feel uncertain but on the outside she looked fabulous. She snatched up her glasses from the nightstand and headed down to grab some breakfast from the kitchen.
She wasn't expecting to find Mateo still in the house. He was usually gone by that time of morning on whatever business he had to do while taking over Miami. But when she arrived in the kitchen, he was sitting at the breakfast table, leaning back in his chair, a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. His expression was dark and brooding and his frown only deepened when he caught sight of her.
Raina stopped in the doorway and stared at him. He was wearing a tailored suit, the dress shirt open at his tanned throat. He looked good.
She felt awkward. What did one say to the man who had essentially beat her up the night before and then gave her the best orgasm of her life? She blushed at the thought. Then she got angry. Fuck him for making her feel awkward.
"What are you doing here?" She didn't bother to take the edge out of her tone, she wanted him to know that she was still pissed. "Thought you'd be out breaking kneecaps or whatever it is gangsters do."
Mateo stared at her, not responding to her rudeness. Raina strode to the fridge and jerked it open taking the milk out and slamming it on the cupboard. She grabbed a bowl, a spoon and some cereal then poured herself a breakfast of Lucky Charms. She needed the sugary pick-me-up.
She eyed the chair opposite Mateo then turned on her heel and prepared to leave the kitchen. She would rather eat her breakfast in the big formal dining room than sit at the same table as Mateo right now.
"Sit your ass down." The growl came from right behind her and she jumped, spilling a couple drops of her milk. Mateo took her by the arm and pulled her toward the table, pulling a chair out and pushing her into it.
Raina's temper soared. "Excuse me? You are not the injured party here. I didn't drag you out of bed in the middle of the night and into a cold yard, then force you to fight for your life. I get to be angry, not you."
Mateo raised an eyebrow, giving her a look that suggested she had better stop speaking. "You do not get to be angry," he said calmly, with underlying steel to his voice. "Knowing how to defend yourself could save your life in the future."
"But that's not what you did last night." She picked up her spoon and attacked her cereal with a vengeance. "You took your own frustrations out on me. And that kind of behaviour isn’t acceptable, Mateo. Not unless you want me to disappear again."
Mateo slammed his fist down on the table hard enough to make her cereal bowl jump and a wave of milk come splashing out. She flicked her hand in annoyance where the cereal had spilled over, sending milk droplets flying in every direction.
"If you so much as even think about leaving this property without the proper permission and protection, then I wil
l lock your ass up so tight that you’ll never see sunlight again."
She opened her mouth to argue with him, but the look on his face was so fierce that she decided to back down. For now.
"You will watch what you say to me. You will watch your step. And you will listen and obey every word I say. Do you understand?"
Raina's mouth fell open. She was used to Mateo being demanding, overbearing and controlling. But those behaviours were usually mitigated at least by a slight sense of humour, combined with his desire and care for her. She didn't know what to do with this Mateo. He was too serious and frightening.
He slammed his fist down again and repeated himself, his voice taking on a terrifying tone. "Do you understand?"
Tears filled Raina's eyes. Not tears of sadness or grief, but tears of anger. She wanted to fight back, to defend herself. She’d been raised to believe that she was equal to any other person around her, man, woman, alien, whatever. But in this situation, in this household, she was not equal. And the knowledge stung her to the core.
"I understand." Her voice dripped with ice and she stared at him, unwilling to drop her eyes. There was so much more she was tempted to say to him, but she held it in. This was not the time. He was too volatile.
Mateo stood and she thought he was going to leave the kitchen, to go about his day. But he came around to her side of the table and knelt in front of her. He was tall enough that even kneeling his head reached the same height as hers. He touched her face, running his thumb down her cheek and then dropping his hand to her shoulder where he squeezed gently. He ran his hand down her arm, then her leg down to her ankle. He did the same on the other side and she realized that he was checking her for injuries.
"Does anything hurt?" The gentleness of his hands and his question were incongruous with their previous conversation.
She wanted to shout at him, tell him that everything hurt, especially her heart. But again, she didn't. She held it in. Something was going on with Mateo, something separate from their relationship, but something that affected their relationship.
She shook her head. "Just a few bruises, nothing worse than what I've experienced in the past week of sparring."
Mateo nodded and stood. He put his hand on the top of her head and then ran his fingers down her hair, rubbing the fine strands between his fingertips. Then, without another word, he left the kitchen. She suspected he was going to leave the house for the day, as per his usual.
Raina finished what was left of her cereal and wiped the rest of it off the table with a damp cloth.
When she was done cleaning up, she left the kitchen to survey the different areas of the house that were under construction. To avoid disrupting the household too much, Daniela and Raina agreed to section the renovations. At the moment, Daniela and her team of carpenters, painters, electricians and plumbers were working on the second floor, making their way through the guest rooms.
Raina wasn't planning to do much to the guestrooms, just update some of the styles and colours and add a few modern touches here and there. Nothing major. As she surveyed each room, she was impressed to see how far the team had come. She was pleased with the progress.
A frown marred her features as she made her way down the long marble hallway. Where was Daniela? The other woman had said that she would be here today, matching paint samples and upholstery samples in the various rooms. Raina wanted to meet with her, see if they could come up with a few ideas for the master bedroom. Raina had pretty much given the other woman run of the house, except a few rooms.
Finally, Raina pushed open the last door that she had left to check on the second floor, Mateo's bedroom.
"What are you doing in here?" Raina asked sharply, finding Daniela crouched next to the desk in Mateo's room, one of the drawers open.
Ever the picture of sophisticated coolness, Daniela didn't jump at the sound of Raina's voice. She gracefully stood from her crouch and turned to face Raina. As always, her smile was professional, polite and distant. There was no warmth to this woman.
"I needed to get measurements in here, it's the only room we didn't discuss," Daniela said in her husky voice. She waved a hand behind her indicating the desk. "A vintage piece, very nice. Do you know where it came from?"
"No, I don’t." Raina stood next to the open door and looked pointedly out to the hallway. "I believe I mentioned that I would need to speak to Mateo before we proceeded with renovations in this room."
Daniela walked gracefully toward Raina, an expression of self-condemnation and guilt on her face. Raina called bullshit. Every expression this woman had was carefully arranged.
As Daniela went to slip by Raina, she said, "Forgive me. I was so eager to continue with the work that I completely forgot what you told me about this particular room. I’ll try harder to remember your instructions in the future."
Clever.
Daniela was placing herself firmly in the inferior position, the employee. She was doing and saying all the right things. Except for rifling through Mateo’s room. And Raina didn't believe the woman's excuse for one moment. Daniela had been in there looking for something.
As the two women walked down the hall side by side, Daniela casually asked, "Where did you meet your fiancé? You’re American, correct? And he’s from somewhere else?"
Raina glanced at Daniela, trying to determine if the other woman was attempting to get information from her or if she was genuinely curious. Raina told herself to stop looking for a conspiracy where there was none. Daniela's probably met a lot of different people in her job, and Raina had to admit that she and Mateo made an interesting couple.
"My parents introduced us." Raina attempted to keep the bitchiness she was feeling from her tone. "Mateo did some work with my stepfather. We met two years ago and then reconnected recently.”
"Oh, what a lovely story!" Daniela exclaimed. "I adore hearing about second chance love."
Now Raina knew for sure something fishy was going on with the other woman. Daniela looked and acted as though she was carved from an iceberg and now she was gushing about second chance love stories? Raina wasn't buying it.
"Sure," Raina said sarcastically. "We’re a match made in heaven. If you'll excuse me, I have some work to do in my office. When you get those samples ready for me, bring them down and I'll have a look."
Raina walked away from Daniela without another word. She didn't know what was going on, but she was going to get to the bottom of it.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Raina couldn't sleep that night. Was she being paranoid? Seeing conspiracies where there were none?
She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something off about Daniela. Right from the beginning Raina hadn't been able to warm up to the woman. Not that Raina had to be friends with every single person she met, but she had hoped to forge some kind of relationship with her interior designer.
Considering what a large job the mansion was and the huge potential for future work, she would have thought that Daniela would unbend enough to attempt being pleasant. Yet she wasn't. She was standoffish and frequently rude. If she hadn’t been doing such a good job, Raina probably would’ve fired her by now.
She tossed and turned for well over an hour before finally giving up on sleep. She shoved the hair off her face and sat up with a deep sigh. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed she squinted at the alarm clock but couldn't quite make out the fuzzy numbers. She grabbed her glasses and shoved them onto her nose, then looked at the clock again. 1:36 AM.
She chewed on her bottom lip trying to decide what to do. There was no help for it. She needed to talk to Mateo. She was relatively certain that he would want to hear this, given his obsession with Raina and security.
She pulled on a pair of fuzzy pink slippers and grabbed a short cotton robe to cover her pajama pants and cami top. She made her way into the lit hallway, squinting at the bright light and walked to the master bedroom.
She hesitated for a couple of seconds, lost her nerve, headed b
ack to her room, changed her mind, and headed back to Mateo's room. She lifted her hand to knock, then dropped it. Then she got annoyed at herself, huffed, and banged on the door so loud that the sound reverberated down the corridor. She cringed at the noise.
She heard movement from the other side of the door and stood back waiting. Mateo jerked it open, surprising her as much as she surprised him. He was disheveled from head to foot. His hair looked like a windswept mess and he wore nothing but a pair of unzipped jeans with the belt and buckle hanging open. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of the generous treasure trail heading straight down to his groin. She looked away quickly but thought she caught a glimpse of the base of his penis. Her heart thumped and every single thought in her head took flight.
"What's wrong?" he demanded, searching the hallway behind her. He braced his arms on either side of the doorway to look around. That's when she caught sight of the gun in his hand. Her mouth went dry. Maybe this was a mistake.
"I… I…" she stuttered and then shook her head.
It was unlike her to have to search for words, but the sight of him was disconcerting. What had she been thinking? Going to Mateo's bedroom in the middle of the night. This could’ve waited until the morning. She started to tell him she’d talk to him later, but he reached out and took hold of her arm, pulling her into his room.
He closed the door behind them and then dropped her arm, taking a couple of steps back.
"Tell me."
Raina started to pace, wringing her hands as she spoke. "I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have come. It's just…"
Mateo took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "Raina, I trust you. If you came to me at this time of night, then you have a good reason. Try to relax and tell me."
His calm voice and the warm caress of his long fingers curving over her shoulders did help to relax her. She took a deep breath and nodded, grateful that he was being so understanding, especially after their confrontation in the kitchen.
Born a Queen (The Queens Book 3) Page 17