HIS LOVE

by KENYAN, M. O

  "Are you crazy?"

  "Morrison was just here. There are armed men inside and around the house. I need to get you two to safety."

  "If they see us trying to sneak about they'll kill us."

  "I'll protect you, I swear it. We just need to get to Alessandria's room. That's where the panic room is."

  "I had a feeling that closet wasn't just a closet." Rayne lifted the sleeping girl in her arms.

  "Are you ready?" he asked once they were at the door. Rayne nodded, afraid she might be heard.

  When they stepped out of the room instead of hurrying down the hallway Rayne froze.

  "Where is she?" the voice called out. It was cracked with age and her words rattled like a stone in a tin can. She knew that voice anywhere, and the bitterness in it chilled her to the bone.

  "Let's go," Antonio said with urgency.

  "There is no need." Rayne went back into Antonio's room and put Alessandria back in bed and for a moment she thought about joining her.

  "What's going on?" Antonio asked more confused than terrified this time.

  "I know who the source of terror is. I got the same terrified feeling every time she came to our house, but she's all bark and no bite." Rayne was pissed off that her old life had barged into her new one and was causing havoc. She walked down the stairs, an armed Antonio at her side. She spotted Kane already at the bottom of the steps engaged in a staring match with the old woman.

  "What do you and your band of bandits want, Grandmother?" Rayne asked, exasperated.

  "I have come to rescue you," Eliza said, the steel in her voice evident. "I know you to be a thief and a sneaky unscrupulous business man Kane, but kidnapping? Or is that something your son specializes in?"

  "I'm not being held against my will, Grandmother." Although, she had been at some point in time.

  "I would believe that if the man next to you didn't have a gun." Eliza stared daggers at Antonio.

  "You have attacked his home. He's just trying to defend his family." Where are the men in black?

  "Come down here and let me see you."

  "No, Grandmother." Rayne turned back toward the room. "Please leave before you wake up my little girl."

  "I thought your daughter died."

  "She did." Rayne exchanged a glance with Antonio, the warmth in his eyes evident. This guy has more moods than there are colors in this world. It was obvious that he liked the sound of Rayne referring to Alessandria as hers.

  "I'm dying Rayne," her grandmother called out and she froze.

  "People like you don't die, Grandmother. You will outlive all of us." Rayne rushed back into the room.

  Antonio came in after her. She could tell he wanted to say something, but Rayne wouldn't let him. "I just want to sleep. I've had a couple of tough days. So just hold me even though you still think I betrayed you."

  Antonio put the gun in a drawer and lay beside Rayne. He held her as she slept and didn't say a word.

  The next morning Rayne was woken up by this strange feeling that someone was watching her. When she opened her eyes she found Antonio donned in his power suit, his hair gelled back in place, and his tie at the point of strangulation, watching her.

  "What is it this time?" She swung her legs off the bed, but a bout of nausea hit her and she didn't have the time to listen to why he had that frown on his face. Rayne dashed to the toilet and let her guts spill out. She sighed when a cold towel pressed against her neck.

  "Are you okay?" his cool voice asked.

  "I am perfect. I don't know how many more of these mornings I can take." She sat back on the cool tile. "What time is it?"

  "Noon."

  "Dear God, where is Alessandria?" Rayne made as if she was going to stand up, but the wave of vertigo that hit her forced her back down.

  "I already gave her, her breakfast and medication. She's taking a nap right now."

  "I'm sorry you didn't get to go to work," she said apologetically.

  "I already did. It's noon Rayne."

  Of course he did. He is James Bond stalking the night with a gun one second and back in a suit ruling the world in the next.

  "You need to get cleaned up, your grandmother is here."

  "Nah-uh," Rayne said and began looking for a much more comfortable position.

  "She's here to see you and to talk a bit of business."

  "I thought you thought I was a spy? You want me in your business meeting now?"

  "It appears that Martin is our leak."

  "New guy!" she exclaimed, but then broke out in laughter. "I should have known. It's the quiet ones that are dangerous."

  "Anyway your grandmother wants a word with you. We'll be in my office."

  Rayne didn't have to go far to get ready. All her things had been moved to Antonio's room. She had been forced to watch helplessly as the maid went through her things and arranged them side by side with Antonio's. She took her time with getting ready and once she made it to Antonio's office she found out that it wasn't just them in the meeting. Other suits were there, men she assumed were both Antonio's and her grandmother's lawyers. Kane was there too.

  "What is it, Grandmother?"

  "I'm dying."

  "You said that already." Rayne took the seat Antonio pulled out for her.

  "I want you to take the company," her grandmother said.

  Rayne didn't have to think about her answer. "No."

  "Why?"

  "One, because I don't trust you and secondly I'm not going to be Burke Enterprises' competition." They were going to be living in the same home and she would rather keep the business talk out of the bedroom and the house.

  "You wouldn't be our competition," Antonio pointed out.

  Every single idiot in New York State knew that she was no match for Antonio, so why try. "I don't want your company, Grandmother."

  "Antonio will be running it," Eliza said. "Burke and Montgomery Enterprises will merge with both you and Antonio at the helm."

  "I don't know anything about cheating, lying, and espionage I won't be any help to either of you." Rayne put in, sinking in her chair to avoid Antonio's gaze. She didn't mean him, he had to know that.

  "This business is cut throat. It's a game that only snakes and cold-hearted monsters can play," Eliza said.

  "Problem solved, I'm neither." Rayne stood up to leave, but her grandmother's words stopped her.

  "I didn't hate your mother because of how she looked. I envied her. She changed Reno in a way that I couldn't. He always did what I told him, but when your mother came into his life he grew a backbone. They were married the same week they met. I was doubtful it would work and I thought that she was out for his money." Rayne couldn't let herself fall for the pained expression that marred the old woman's wrinkled face.

  "That's why you disowned him?"

  "He disowned me. He walked out of the company, and our lives." Eliza chuckled at the irony. "I want you to take my father's company as your own. You are the only family we have left. Antonio—" Rayne noted the look of mistrust in Eliza's eyes. "Tells me that you intend to get married."

  Rayne couldn't help but chuckle. She didn't comment. "Then what do you want from me?"

  "Burke Enterprises will have a fifty-one controlling interest and you will have the other forty-nine. Call it your financial security because I don’t trust these Burke men." Eliza hissed.

  Rayne was silent for a while as she thought about it. She would finally be able to put her degree to use and the position would make her Antonio's equal in a way. She didn't think Antonio would kick her out, not after everything they had been through, but running a multi-billion dollar company side by side with him didn't sound like a bad idea.

  "All right then, but I won't work during the duration of my pregnancy." She saw the shock on Eliza's face. "I will use that as a teaching period and Antonio can teach me the business. Where do I sign?"

  Rayne flipped through the contract and realized that Antonio hadn't signed. She looked up at him for a second h
esitating, but Eliza's annoying drumming got her to sign it.

  "Done, I'll be on my way now." Rayne left the office.

  She sat at the dining room table and started eating a bowl of fruits and ice cream Melody insisted she have. She was thinking over her latest impulsive decision. Rayne was starting to doubt if she signed the contract for the right reasons, but her grandmother and her army of lawyers had already left. There was nothing she could do right now.

  "A penny for your thoughts." Antonio took a seat beside her.

  "They are worth more than that." She winked at him.

  "I wouldn't have signed it if you didn't." Goose bumps claimed her skin when Antonio traced his finger along her hand.

  "Even though you were bound to make billions more?"

  "You are more important to me." His lips curved in a sly smile. "I'm glad to know that you will be close to me in the bedroom and the office."

  "We get different offices." Rayne's breath shuddered out. She needed to pull her hand away before he clouded her mind with desire, but couldn't.

  "I'm glad you decided not to work while you are pregnant."

  "I know how scared you are. The last thing I want you to do is crush your father's and my grandfather's business if something goes wrong. You tend to be destructive in grief." She meant it as a joke, but the grave expression on Antonio's face told her he took it literally. "I'm kidding. Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise."

  "What about your grandmother?" He weaved his fingers with hers and kissed the back of her hand.

  "I know death; we've gone through a couple of rounds together. I have this ache in my soul that usually tells me when something bad is going to happen." Rayne shrugged. "There isn't much I can do about it."

  "About the company, do you trust me with your money?"

  "I don't know, maybe I'll get Martin to look over your shoulder." Rayne picked up her bowl of fruit and turned to walk away.

  "I’m sorry about that."

  "If you love me, you have to believe that I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

  "I do."

  "Three nights ago, you looked like you were about to kill me."

  "I'm sorry."

  "Love is forgiveness, I forgive you."

  "Then marry me."

  "Nope." Rayne shrugged away when he tried to reach for her. She ran out of the dining room and up the stairs. When she ran past Kane she knew Antonio would stop to talk to his father.

  "What happened?" She heard Kane ask.

  "I asked her to marry me and she ran."

  "Not a good place to start," Kane teased.

  ***

  Rayne lay awake in Antonio's bed as she waited for him to return. She hadn't seen him since he had asked her to marry him and she had said no. What would being Antonio Burke's wife be like? She wondered as she rolled in bed. Rayne pushed her nose into his pillow and inhaled the scent of him. It was enough to drive a stranger mad, and she had already had a taste of him, it drove her insides crazy.

  Two months and he hadn't made an attempt to kiss her or make love to her. Granted she warned him off, but as the days passed and he began to change his attitude toward his daughter, she had hoped he would make an attempt to lure her back into his bed. She closed her eyes and turned to face the opposite direction when she heard the door open. Antonio moved around in his living room/office before he went straight into his bathroom and closet.

  Rayne almost whined in disappointment. Antonio walked past her a couple of times like she wasn't in his bed. She carefully stuck her leg out from under the covers, trying not to look like it was a deliberate move. No red-blooded man would ignore a naked thigh begging for his attention. When she heard him chuckle she knew she was found out.

  "If you want me to make love to you, why not just ask?" Antonio smiled.

  "Because—" Rayne turned to face him and what she saw almost stopped her heart. He was so strong and carrying his muscular body with ease and confidence. Antonio stood bare in front of her wearing nothing but a sly grin. "Because I didn't have to ask the first three times you mauled me."

  She cleared her throat and sat up. She was at a disadvantage. Rayne was in her pajama shorts and a bulky sweatshirt, she didn't exactly scream sexy. Her eyes took him in and lingered on the length of him. She had never gotten the opportunity to just look at him. Usually he blinded her with passion and she was writhing in pleasure beneath him, at the mercy of his expert hands and lips.

  "If I ask, you might just say no." He moved to the bed and Rayne rose to her knees. She wanted to touch him, but that would be too easy. She licked her lower lip, how she wished she could taste him.

  "You don't ask, you demand, command." She moved back on the king size bed as Antonio advanced toward her like a predator. The lust shining through his eyes made her shiver.

  "Then I will ask, nicely." Antonio stood up and she almost screamed out in protest. Where the hell was he going?

  Antonio returned moments later with a velvet box in his hands and a towel wrapped around his waist. Rayne seemed more bothered with him covering the goods than excited about the eminent proposal.

  "I don't know any flowery language, that's not me, but you see me for who I am and you were able to love me at my worst. I am asking you to love me at my best, to love me forever. Will you marry me?" His eyes were filled with earnest as his hand trembled.

  "Come to bed and we'll talk." Rayne pulled the sweatshirt over her head.

  She heard him growl and could see the battle going on between his body and his mind. "I'm really trying to stay on topic here, but you are making it close to impossible."

  Rayne stood on the bed and shimmied out of her pants. She stood bare in front of him and had the pleasure of seeing him gape in awe at her nudity. "Come to bed and we'll talk."

  "I am on the last thread of self-control here," Antonio pleaded.

  "I want to make love with my future husband. Come-Ah!" Rayne screamed out when Antonio grabbed her feet and pulled them from under her. She landed flat on her back and in a second Antonio was on top of her.

  She barely had a second to appreciate the weight of his body, when his fingers started to work their magic on her nub. Rayne arched off the bed, bucking her hips against his fingers, while her hand held Antonio's head in place as he teased her nipples. Her body tightened as a tingle shot from her toes to the top of her head. Rayne moaned in pleasure as an orgasm rolled through her, but just as she was about to reach her climax, Antonio withdrew and sat back on his legs.

  "What are you doing?" Rayne asked as her body ached to feel his touch, to reach its peak.

  "You didn't say yes."

  Rayne stuck out her trembling left hand and he slipped the ring on. "Yes, now could you get back here?"

  "With pleasure Mrs. Burke."

  Antonio settled in between her thighs and massaged her center and just as she came he drove himself inside her making her orgasm stronger. Rayne held onto his shoulders as her body writhed beneath him from the assault. She tried not to lose herself in the pleasure wishing that her body would come down from its high sooner so that her senses could concentrate on Antonio moving inside her. But she couldn't. Antonio didn't stop. He rocked faster and harder each time her orgasm seemed to die down. Rayne grabbed at the sheets beside her, her head thrown back as her hips rose to meet him.

  EPILOGUE

  "Alessandria! Sweetheart, get the phone and call Daddy."

  Rayne was happy about moving out of the Hamptons house after the wedding. She was glad because she was sure the distance would help mend Kane and Antonio's relationship. Plus she wanted a house of her own to raise her family. It was a smaller house in Tribeca with only one maid who wasn't a stay in, but now she wished she had waited until the baby was born. She leaned against the vanity as she bit down on her jaw.

  "Ten minutes apart." She lifted her legs one by one and frowned at the mess flooding at her feet.

  "What do I tell him?" Alessandria held the phone in her hand as she played with t
he buttons.

  "Tell him Mommy is leaking."

  Antonio was in a late-night meeting. They had been trying to restructure the two companies into one, and having meetings with all the department heads with no one watching was accelerating the decision making process. She knew Antonio would pick up her calls even though he was in the meeting, if only she could get Alessandria to dial the number.

  ***

  "Hello?" Antonio knew that Rayne must have been worried. Her due date was getting close and she disliked his evening meetings, but he had promised Eliza on her deathbed to make the business successful. He would have done anything Rayne asked him to. He knew she was the one whom he could speak his thoughts out loud and they would be received with interest. She didn't pull any punches with him, and he had never been challenged like that before. She was his equal, his love.

  "Mommy told me to call." He smiled when Alessandria's voice came through.

  "Does she want me to pick something up for her at the bakery?"

  "No, she's leaking."

  "What?" Antonio tried to calm his nerves; he didn't want to scare the little girl. "Is there anything red on the floor?"

  "Nope."

  Alessandria sounded calm, so it was either that Rayne was hiding how she was really feeling or everything was going fine.

  "Don't hang up the phone until the EMTs arrive."

  Antonio took his work phone out and dialed 911, he would have felt better if he could hear Rayne's voice. He had to make due with listening to Alessandria tell him about her day.

  Antonio was already at the hospital when Rayne arrived in the ambulance, his mother with her. Kane, Jacqueline, and Alessandria were in the car that followed behind.

  "How are you doing?" he asked, as he held onto Rayne's hand.

  "Are you seriously asking me that question?" Rayne hissed and squeezed her eyes shut. Another contraction sliced through her. "I love you, I love our baby, but I just want him out."

  Antonio left her side for a second and took off his jacket and tie. He rolled his sleeves to his elbows and watched carefully as they prepped her. Two nurses rushed past him with an IV.

  "No pain medications," Antonio instructed.