Chapter 17

“My sweet Amber, how have you been?” Rafael purred to her as they strolled down to the shore of Evan’s property. He didn’t anticipate Juliana arriving for at least another hour and by then he hoped to have Amber reeling from sexual exhaustion and on her way home. The boathouse was the perfect place for a brief tryst and he longed to settle himself inside her welcoming cunt. It wasn’t like she was anything more than a play toy in his mind, telling her lies came easily and she was so naive that she believed everything he told her. Explaining Juliana wouldn’t be necessary if he played his cards right.

Feeling the hand on her back as they passed through the trees where the rest of the party couldn’t see where they were headed, Amber wondered at the lack of sensation when Rafe touched her that she’d felt every other time, there was no tingle, no heightened desire for him. Worried that Jon ruined her for the man she anticipated marrying within the next year and almost angry that it may be possible.

As they walked, Rafe was telling her all about the latest project they were working on as if she didn’t have the daily updates at the office, he loved to expound on the brilliance of his work, how well the actors responded to his direction and she tuned it all out this time, her mind occupied with another man’s brilliance of another kind entirely. Seeing the birds soaring overhead reminded her of the events earlier in the day when Jon’s face was between her legs and she was doing her own soaring. Memories of the intensity of the blue in his eyes as he watched her come apart at his hands were forever seared on her brain and the delicacy of his lips against hers when she cried afterwards was more than she expected from any man. Lost in her thoughts she was only marginally aware of them entering the elaborate boathouse where Evan kept his pair of supercharged speedboats.

“My sweet you haven’t said a word since we left the party, what’s on your mind?” His smooth voice with its Latino accented syllables finally found their way through to her brain.

Looking around her, she was slightly alarmed when she tried to reason that she should be at ease with this man. “Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. What did you say?”

“I asked if you missed me.”

“Yes, of course.” Panic started to creep through her. “What are we doing here, Rafe?”

Crushing her against him, Rafe’s mouth swept down on hers before she could form a protest, his tongue invading her mouth as she suddenly pushed her palms against his chest to get away from him. Something felt so wrong here and she cursed herself for having verbally shoved Jon away as well, but that was self-preservation. “Stop it! Rafe, get off of me!” She protested as he wrestled with her, attempting to get her back in his grasp and stop her from struggling, he was determined to be inside her sweet, hot cunt that she’d given so freely ever other time they’d been together.

“What is wrong?”

“Get .... off.... of.... me!” Amber didn’t want to scream, but if she couldn’t get him to stop pawing at her, she would.

Rafael loosened his hold on her and trained his very practiced injured gaze on the exquisitely attractive beauty in his arms. “I have longed to feel your body against mine, to touch the soft satin of your skin. You are the angel in my dreams, my sweet Amber, whatever is wrong?”

Shaking off the anxiety that was gripping her gut, Amber forced a smile “I don’t know, I guess it’s been a while and I’m just nervous. I’m sorry I was late for the airport. I...”

He put his fingers to her lips, “hush my sweet, let me kiss away your fears.” His mouth came down on hers again and this time she didn’t fight it, surrendering to the familiarity of his embrace. Entering her mouth with his tongue he sensed her softening against him and probed deeply while his hands roamed freely against her flesh under her blouse, unsnapping her bra and smoothing her skin as he eased the tension he felt there.

Amber for her part closed her eyes and pretended it was Jon fondling her, relaxing against the so recent memories of his invasion of her body. Hating that he set aside her dismissal of him so easily that he could act as if it hadn’t happened when he approached her at the party. The chill of the afternoon against her bare skin brought her back to the reality of the situation, this wasn’t Jon, this was Rafael, her fiancé or soon to be fiancé and she should be responding to him instead of dreaming about another man.

Opening her eyes she realized her blouse was wide open, her bra shoved above her breasts and her pants were down to her knees, while she was pressed against the rough wood of the boathouse wall. Rafael was suckling her left breast and his fingers were stroking her lips that were still tender from Jon’s touch, she could feel her body was responding to Rafe’s ministrations, yet her mind was screaming for him to stop that it was wrong! When his fingers entered her she gasped, then shoved him with all her might away from her, grabbed her pants and pulled them back up, clutching at her blouse she ran into the bathroom and locked the door against him.

Tears started pouring down her cheeks, she wanted Jon, not Rafe to touch her so intimately and she ruined any chance of that happening on the way here. The sound of Rafe pounding on the bathroom door begging her to unlock it reverberated in her head. He deserved an explanation, one she couldn’t give him without telling him that she’d slept with Jon and that was one secret she’d never reveal. Finally he stopped and she sat there for a time before she realized that it was getting dark. Shakily she zipped, snapped and buttoned everything back into place, checked her makeup that was ruined, but washed away the signs of her tears and headed back to the party, not that she was interested in joining it.

The first person to find her was Summer, who had a stunningly beautiful woman with her that she vaguely recognized from somewhere. “Amber darling, where on earth have you been? I’ve been wanting to introduce you to Juliana all evening. Juliana Montero, this is Amber Sullivan. This is Rafael’s wife, they’re celebrating their first wedding anniversary this weekend.”

“Wife? I didn’t know Rafe was married” feeling even more the fool for having allowed the cad to fondle her in the boathouse, not to mention the affair they’d carried on for the last two years or so. The longer she stood there listening to Summer speak glowingly of Juliana’s career as a model, the more Amber’s fury built at being played by the man that apparently didn’t see the necessity of telling her of his nuptials. Finally having had enough, she excused herself and walked directly over to where Rafael was chatting amiably with Evan and of all people, Jon. “Excuse me.” She waited as the three men paused to give her their attention.

Jon could see the fire in her eyes, having seen her speaking with Summer and Juliana he guessed at where that anger was directed and wasn’t about to warn either one of the men he was standing next to what he suspected was coming.

“You look out of sorts, is that period of yours giving you another headache?” Evan inappropriately teased.

“No. I just wanted to wish Rafe congratulations on his first wedding anniversary.” She itched to hit him with all her fury, yet was too focused on preserving her job for that. The fear in his eyes was small consolation for the humiliation she felt at his hands. “I hope you and your wife are happy together. As for my period, it’s none of your damned business, Evan. Good night.” Grabbing her suit coat that was draped over one of the chairs, she flounced out of the party and towards her car with Jon in hot pursuit.

“Amber, could we talk for a moment?”

“NO! I’ve had it with men right now. You’re all pigs. Leave me alone.” Tears were stinging her eyes and she wanted away from him as much as she wanted to be in his arms.
Sensing her indecision, he moved towards her to offer her consolation, yet the moment he did so, she bolted for her car, started it and skidded out of the parking lot. Jon prayed she got home safely and vowed that once she calmed down he’d call her and prove that he sincerely was interested in pursuing a relationship.