by Vicki Savage
I nodded, but said nothing.
“Beautiful, intelligent … she knows Portuguese, Spanish, and French in addition to English, you know.”
I looked down at the flowers. “No, I did not know.” We didn’t talk too much when we were together. I had never known what to say to women, and felt more comfortable being a silent presence, someone strong and dependable who helped her with her daily chores.
“She’s compassionate and thoughtful, too. Why just this morning—”
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather not listen to how wonderful you think she is.”
Miles tilted his head to the side and looked at me with interest. After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, I looked away.
“You’re jealous,” he finally said.
“What? No.”
“You are.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. “You’re jealous that I get to stay here in the same apartment with her while you have to go home to your grandfather downstairs.” He moistened his lips and raised his brows. “I bet you wonder what we do together when the lights go out.”
“I do not. It’s none of my business.”
“You forget, I know you, Rafe.”
“You used to know me. And it’s Rafael now.”
Miles made a sound of dismissal. “God how I’ve missed these conversations. After you left, things got so … boring.”
“You were the one who left, Miles. Not me.”
“Details.” He leaned back in his chair. “She talks about you, you know.” He hesitated and then added, “I can tell she likes you.”
“Stop it.”
“This morning she started asking me questions about our university days.” He hesitated a moment before continuing. “More specifically, she wanted to know more about the times we shared women.”
“Those days are long gone.”
“That’s what she told me you said. I disagreed.”
I raised my brows. “You what?”
“We didn’t stop having fun with women. We took a break. A little vacation.”
“A little—” I shook my head and stared at the flowers on the table. “You left me, Miles. You left without a word and I had no way of contacting you.”
His smile faded. “I had to,” he mumbled.
“Why?”
He leaned his elbows on the table. “It doesn’t matter. That’s all in the past. Things are different now.”
I jerked my head up from the flowers and met his gaze. “Different how?”
He shrugged. “You have your work, and you’re well respected in the medical community.”
“How did you know—”
“With the next generation of royals being born, it is far less likely that I will ever take the throne.”
I widened my eyes. “Was that why you left? Because you were embarrassed of me?”
“Never. I left because I loved you.”
All of the air left my lungs as he grinned. “You what?” I whispered.
“Yes, I said it, and I should have said it the night you made your big confession. I love you, you big knucklehead, and I couldn’t bear to think of our relationship being brought to the national spotlight.”
“But we were so careful to keep our dalliances with women anonymous.” Shock slammed into me as I stared at him.
“I have a very recognizable face, my friend.” He chuckled and slid his hand across the table until it covered my own. “It was only a matter of time before one of them figured out I was royalty and tried to blackmail me. Blackmail us.”
“Someone discovered your identity,” I whispered.
“And went straight to my father.” Miles chuckled. “He wasn’t pleased.”
I pressed my finger into the table between us. “So you left me to protect me?”
“To protect us.” He took my hand in both of his. “As much as I loved being with you, I knew that I had to leave. Neither one of us wanted that kind of negative publicity. It would have destroyed us.” He squeezed my fingers once more and then let go. “I was failing all of my classes, anyway. Between that and the blackmail note, he had reached his limit.”
“Miles…” My voice trailed off as I tried to think of what to say. All of these years I had thought he had grown tired of me. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
“My father paid off the woman and made her go away, then set about trying to ‘reform’ me. I tried to please him and go back to my old life, but I couldn’t do it, Rafe. Not after experiencing all that we had together. I’m not cut out for royal society.”
“What did your father say about you not wanting to take part in the family legacy?”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“Miles!”
“Does it matter what he thinks? I did a little research and realized we are so far removed from the throne, it’s laughable. Still, my father hopes that I would become close to my cousins, so my family would win special favors once one of them took the throne.” Miles shook his head. “He doesn’t realize they don’t think like that. They have too much of their mother in them.”
I snorted as I laced my fingers with his. “I couldn’t see you shouldering that kind of royal responsibility, anyway. It would be far too stuffy and constricting.”
Miles chuckled and leaned closer to me, practically climbing up onto the small table. “My father is too caught up in the game to notice. So I do what I can to appease him, and take advantage of what royal perks I can get.” He wiggled his brows. “Like getting us out of this apartment, and into a nice hotel uptown—”
“What about Carina?”
He flashed me a seductive smile. “We could bring her, too.”
He was close, so close, and as his fresh, minty breath caressed my face, I couldn’t help but think of that intimate kiss we had shared, and all that had passed in between us. I leaned over the table, wanting to be closer.
“What about your father?” I asked.
“I’m tired of trying to please him. It makes me miserable.” He shifted his gaze to my lips. “Being without you makes me miserable.”
There was only a sliver of air between us now. Memories rose up to the surface, and for the first time in a long time, I felt a stirring of excitement about our future.
“I won’t use Carina like we used the others.”
He flicked his gaze up to meet mine. “I know. I don’t want that, either.” He moistened his lips. “I’m tired of meaningless relationships. I want something more.” He inched closer. “I think you want something more, too.”
My heartbeat quickened. “A permanent threesome?”
He gave a brief nod. “Think about it. It will be perfect.”
I could think of little else over the past week. Tears stung my eyes as I thought of how happy we could be together, of how much Carina deserved a little happiness in her life.
“When can we go to this hotel?” I asked.
“When Carina agrees that this is right. And it is right, Rafe. You know that, don’t you?”
I slid my tongue over my lower lip as I thought about the three of us together. “We don’t have to go to a hotel, you know. We could confront her here. We could show her all we could give her right in her own home.”
“What about Angelina?”
“My grandfather could watch her, or she could go to a friend’s house.”
“Perfect.” He squeezed my hands. “It will be amazing.”
“Yes.”
“Say you will help me convince her.”
“Yes.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
Miles let go of my hand and slid his fingers around the back of my head. Curling them in my hair, he dragged me the last little bit home. His lips were gentle, yet firm, and with a groan I opened to him, allowing him to push his tongue into my mouth and claim me as his own.
He straightened and moved around the table, pulling me closer. Instinctively, I slid my arms around his waist, loving how his hard cock pressed up against m
ine. We rubbed our hips together, and his moan of appreciation made me harder than granite.
There was movement at the door, and we quickly parted. Miles adjust my shirt collar and grinned like a cat who had just swallowed the canary. “Just remember your promise,” he whispered.
Before I could respond, he moved away, leaving me with a hard on that made it difficult to think of anything else.
“Carina, is that you?” Miles moved to the front door.
As I watched him walk away, I tried to gather my wits. Everything was falling into place. My dreams were about to become a reality. All that was left was confronting Carina and making her say yes.
The thought gave me pause. She seemed so strong, so desperate to set a good example for her daughter. Would she be offended by our proposal? I didn’t want her to feel like she was compromising on her beliefs.
Then again, maybe her beliefs weren’t her own. She had mentioned she was a widow, and it was possible the man had placed some ideals in her head that were utter nonsense. I had seen her breath hitch as Miles and I told her of our adventures, and I had felt her passion when I told her to let loose and be spontaneous. Perhaps being with us wasn’t so much a compromise, but a release. Hopefully, that was the case, because I wanted Carina for more than just one night of sexual fun. I wanted her forever.
Chapter Six
Carina
It had been a difficult morning. I had taken Angelina with me to go drop off what was left of the glass bottles. I knew the task was going to be unpleasant—Mr. Rodriguez had ordered several dozen more than I was giving him—but it couldn’t be helped. My time had been taken up by caring for Miles. I had neither the supplies nor the energy to replace the broken bottles and get the shipment done by the deadline.
By taking Angelina, I had hoped to soften the blow. Perhaps this time he would not yell at me. Perhaps this time, he wouldn’t raise his hand as if to strike my cheek. I was right, he did not yell at me, nor did he hit me. What he did was far worse.
“You have broken our contract,” he had said. “There will be repercussions.”
“Please,” I had begged. “Angelina and I need this money to survive. You can’t expect me to pay back the advance—”
My words had died on my lips as he slid his chubby, dirty fingers down my cheek. “Perhaps there is another way you can fulfill your end of the bargain.”
His dark, needy gaze made his intentions all too clear. I had always known that he had desired me. Even when Adrian was alive, the man’s lustful stares had made me uncomfortable. Under normal conditions I would never have sex with this man, but without him distributing my painted bottles to shops around the city, without his advances and loans, we’d be destitute.
When I had signed the contract, I knew what I was getting into. Gradually, he had been pushing me, ordering more and more bottles and taking a greater percent of the profits. It was inevitable that I would eventually not be able to fulfill my end of the contract. I had only hoped that I could do a few more shipments, perhaps save a little money, before he cut me off completely.
Now he was propositioning me, just like I heard he propositioned some of the other women who had sold him trinkets for the tourist shops. He would let go of my contract if I granted him sexual favors. If I said no, he would take me to court. After he dragged my name through the mud, he would take all of my possessions, leaving Angelina and I with nothing.
The sexual favors he asked for would not include simple missionary sex, I was sure. Too many times I had seen local women creep away from his shop like wounded animals. Their bruised face and matted hair evidence of his dark desires.
According to rumors, this man liked to hit and yell while he spilled his seed. He got off on controlling women and treating them like sexual objects, made to satisfy his kinky desires.
The air in the room had stilled and became thick with tension. “I have Angelina with me,” I whispered.
He dropped his hand, and while doing so, he brushed his knuckles against the tip of my breast. “If you wish to keep my money, then come back to me tonight right before closing. Do not bring the girl.” He dropped his gaze to my chest. “I think a new contract can be negotiated, one that will be beneficial to both of us.”
In that moment, I realized that he never wanted my bottles. For years he had been stringing me along, making me more and more dependent on him and his money so he could strike a new deal, one that didn’t involve handmade trinkets, but sex.
My mind raced as I tried to think of a compromise, one where I would not have to return sexual favors for food. “Please, Mr. Rodriguez, I have no one to take care of her.”
“You must have family.”
“Adrian was my only family.”
“Adrian.” Guilt briefly flashed through his gaze at the mention of his old friend. It quickly vanished. “Leave her with friends, then.”
I thought of Miles back at my apartment. Ever since Rafe had told me about their relationship and how they used to share women, I had been curious. Instead of doing my chores, I had caught myself fantasizing what it would feel like to be loved by two men as handsome and thoughtful as them. While I knew Mr. Rodriguez would make me feel cheap and used, they’d make me feel like royalty. I had seen Rafe stare at me on more than one occasion and I could tell the direction of his thoughts. He had held his desire in check, however, giving me the space and time I needed to sort through my conflicting thoughts. His kindness only fueled my daydreams.
While Rafe was kind and gentle, Miles made me laugh with his stories of his many adventures. I could tell he loved entertaining me, and sometimes I felt he embellished his tales to make me smile. He was always quick to compliment and quicker to help with my many chores. His desire to please made me want him even more.
Mr. Rodriguez was the polar opposite of Miles and Rafe. The shop owner cared nothing of my feelings, only of his needs. I wanted no part of it, but had no choice. If I wanted to survive, I would have to do as he said.
“Closing time,” I said.
He nodded and turned his back to me. “Don’t be late, Carina. If you are, you will be punished.”
I shuddered and took Angelina’s hand. “Come.” Turning my back, I hurried out onto the sidewalk.
My despair must have shown on my face, for when we were half-way home my daughter squeezed my hand. “You don’t have to go visit him, Momma,” she said.
“I’m afraid I do, baby.” I wiped my damp eyes with the back of my hand. I had two hours before closing. Two hours to find a place for Angelina and try to prepare myself for what was to come. It wasn’t nearly enough time, but I was out of options. I would have to let that foul man use my body for his kinky needs in order to survive.
I wanted to cry, but somehow managed to hold my emotions in check as we made it to my landlord’s door. I knew Rafe was still staying with his grandfather, and I hoped he wouldn’t mind taking care of Angelina for a couple of hours. I didn’t want to tell him my reasons. If he found out that Mr. Rodriguez propositioned me, he’d become angry. He and Miles might even try to stop it. Initially, their efforts may help, but I knew that they wouldn’t be around forever. Once they left, Mr. Rodriguez would return and I would be right back where I started. In fact, the shop owner would probably be angry over the men’s interference and punish me more.
There was no choice. At the end of the day there was only me and Angelina. I had to do what was best for my daughter. Clearing my throat, I knocked on Mr. Juarez’s door.
“Oh.” I stepped back as my landlord’s face filled the doorway.
“Carina,” he said. “This is a surprise.”
I cleared my throat and gathered my thoughts. “I’m sorry. I was expecting Rafe.”
The old man smiled. “This is my home, not my grandson’s.”
“I know. I mean…” God, why was this so difficult? I needed to stop thinking about what was to come and just focus on the moment. “I was hoping that Rafe could watch Angelina for a couple of hours.”
The old man narrowed his gaze. “Why?”
“I—I have to work.”
“Work?” His features brightened. “Does this mean you have a real job?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. “Yes.”
“Rafe is not here, but I will take care of her.”
“I can’t pay you—”
“No need.” He turned to my daughter. “Come, Angelina. I think I might have a treat for you in the kitchen.”
“Ooh, treats.” She let go of my hand and hurried into the apartment. “What kind of treat?”
The old man closed the door, leaving me alone in the hall. I knew that I should have felt relieved, but all I felt was sadness. This was wrong, it was all wrong, but for the life of me, I couldn’t see another way out of this mess.
Trudging up the stairs, I fought back the tears and opened my apartment door. I knew that Miles would be home, and I didn’t want him to blame himself for the mess I was in.
“Carina, is that you?” Miles asked as I shut the door behind me. I looked up to see both him and Rafe step into the living room. They had this strong and powerful presence, and it immediately washed over me, making me feel safe. With my defenses lowered, I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Carina, what’s wrong?” Rafe broke away from Miles and engulfed me in a strong bear hug. “Where’s Angelina?”
As his warm, reassuring presence washed over me, I started to cry. “I left her with your grandfather,” I said in between sobs. “I wanted someone to watch her while I … while I…”
Tears flowed down my cheeks and I let them come. After two years of trying to hold myself together, of struggling to provide for both myself and my daughter, I had finally broke into pieces, and it felt horrible.
“Come, let it all out.” Rafe wrapped his arms around me, surrounding me in his strength and warmth.
“Bring her to the kitchen,” Miles said. “I will make us some tea.”
In the next second, Rafe swept me up into his arms and carried me the short distance to the kitchen, where he gently placed me in one of the chairs. Kneeling beside me, he wiped the tears from my face with his fingers. Concern etched his features, and when he was through, he took my hands and brought them to my lips.