A Touch of Notoriety(23)
Something that Raphael, at least, found amusing, if the laughter gleaming in those dark blue eyes as he looked down at her was any indication.
‘It is past time you were fed, it would seem,’ he bit out harshly. He rose agilely to his feet before holding out his hand to help Beth stand up beside him, the expression in his eyes hidden by hooded lids.
A Beth who was totally aware of the dampness of her T-shirt against her bared breast, as indication of the intimacies they had just shared...
* * *
Intimacies Raphael gave no indication of so much as remembering, let alone being affected by, fifteen minutes later as he moved efficiently about the kitchen preparing the steaks and potatoes for their dinner, while Beth washed and prepared the salad.
Beth didn’t know whether to be relieved or irritated by his behaviour. A lot of both, perhaps. Relieved that she wasn’t being put through feeling awkward in his company. But irritated, just the same, by the way Raphael seemed to have succeeded in putting the incident—apocalyptic as far as Beth was concerned!—completely from his mind. She had dated often in the past, even shared a passionate kiss or two with several of the men she had dated, but she had never been aroused by those kisses in the way she was even now just being in the same room with Raphael, let alone allowed them to touch her intimately. More than touch her intimately...!
Her gaze had avoided meeting Raphael’s earlier as she had mumbled her excuses before stumbling from the gym and hurrying down to her bedroom, breathing a sigh of relief once she was able to lean back against the closed bedroom door. Which was when she had caught sight of her reflection in the dressing-table mirror directly across from her...
Her hair was a tangled mess as it escaped the confines of her plait, her eyes looked feverishly bright, her cheeks flushed, lips slightly swollen, but worst of all had been the sight of the damp patch on the left side of her T-shirt, that moisture making the white material almost transparent, and so blatantly revealing the turgid ripeness of her nipple...!
A nipple still red and achingly engorged from the intimate ministrations of Raphael’s lips, tongue and teeth, Beth had discovered when she drew the T-shirt over her head before throwing it across the room in disgust.
Which was why, once she had showered, she had chosen to dress in a black bra beneath a black blouse over the top of faded denims, before brushing her hair dry so that it lay in a soft and silky sheen against the black blouse.
A pale foundation had taken care of her flushed cheeks, but there was very little Beth could do to hide the fact that her lips remained slightly puffy and swollen from the fierceness of the kisses she and Raphael had shared...
Not that she need have worried too much about her appearance when Raphael—again looking dangerously handsome in a black T-shirt and black denims—had only given her a cursory glance as she entered the kitchen, before then proceeding to continue preparing dinner as if she weren’t there.
Which only succeeded in increasing her feelings of irritation. ‘Would you prefer to eat in here or in the dining room?’ she prompted sharply.
‘In here is fine.’ Raphael didn’t so much as glance her way as he grilled the steaks.
‘Scared I might misunderstand if we were to eat in the formal dining room together, with maybe a candle or two alight in the middle of the table?’ Beth taunted as she placed knives and forks on the kitchen table for the two of them, along with the condiments.
Raphael did glance back at her then. ‘Very little scares me, Beth,’ he assured her coolly.
A coolness that only made Beth’s temper burn even hotter. ‘So we’re just going to pretend earlier didn’t happen?’
He raised dark brows. ‘I had hoped so, but obviously I was wrong.’
Her hands clenched at her sides. ‘Don’t take that superior tone with me.’
‘What tone do you want me to take, Beth?’ Raphael sighed as he turned fully to face her. ‘Or perhaps you require an apology?’ He grimaced. ‘Very well. I should not have kissed you earlier, let alone touched you in the way that I did—’
‘You’re just making the situation worse!’
Raphael didn’t see how it could get any worse. He had overstepped a line earlier, had breeched that barrier so necessary between protector and the person being protected. A lapse in judgement that seriously jeopardised his ability to protect Beth in the way that she should be protected. A breach, if Beth’s challenging behaviour now was an indication, she was unwilling to overlook, and so making it impossible for Raphael to do so, either.