Page 15 of Rio
I shake my head just thinking about how pathetic I was.I quickly forgot about Dani when I realized there was no chase.It’s Raquel who piques my interest in a way I don’t fully understand.Her telling me about her childhood, and not knowing who her father was, and growing up in a favela—that’s all sorts of interesting.I now have a better idea of who she is, and I want to know more about her than ever.
Me and her getting together?We’d set the bed on fire.But instead, I’m now lying here, pissed off by her sudden disappearance.That’s never happened to me before.If I’m in a room with a woman, sex is what happens.
Raquel’s worth chasing, for sure, and the horny devil I’m feeling right now, I’m in the mood to catch her.She can’t stay hidden for long.Her bestie has just married my brother and this gives me hope.
I reach down behind, me, and pull out the panties she’d taken off.Bringing the flimsy, teensy black strip of fabric to my nose, I take a deep inhale.
At once, she’s there, her heady strong perfume making every cell in my body dance in readiness.My cock stands thick, and dripping.With her panties wrapped around my hand, I reach down and give it a gentle tug.
Chapter 4
Two months later …
RAQUEL
“I can’t wait to see you,” Dani squeals.
“I can’t wait, either.See you soon!”I hang up.
While I love talking to Dani, it brings back the ghost of Rio, and trying to forget him is a battle I’ve been mostly winning these days.Rich men like Rio—charming and smooth and best avoided—are my worst nightmare.
In my legal career I’ve seen how the system protects the wealthy while crushing everyone else, so I’ve known that these are not my people.He is everything I hate, yet for the life of me, I don’t understand why I’m still so drawn to him.
Sure, I’ve approached men in bars before.It’s how I know they’re not afraid of a strong woman.Of a woman who may possibly earn more than them, or be in a higher position than them.I like to know these things upfront.
Rio was charming, smooth and sexy.He was flirty and fun.We are similar in some ways, and that surprised me most of all.Dani told me about the two sets of brothers, about the secret mistress, about Paul Knights’s wife, about the suicide.I didn’t know that about him the first time I met him, but by the time of Dani’s wedding, when I invited him into my hotel room that night, I knew his childhood trauma and story.
This man isn’t just a stud or a player.He has heart and his outer shell is at odds with the deeper, wounded, quietly loyal man underneath.Dani says he loves his mom.He’d do anything for her and I believe her, because that night Rio spoke of her lovingly.
He makes me feel things I haven’t felt in years and he also makes me feel reckless, a little dangerous, a little too eager to do things that are out of my comfort zone.I feel like he could wreck me in the best and worst ways.
It took me a while to stop thinking about him after that night in São Paulo.A month later, I got a traumatic phone call from Dani, crying and sobbing, and telling me what Paul Knight had done.
She confessed to everything.Her and Dexter’s marriage of convenience, and why she’d done it.
I knew it.
I knew something was off, though at the wedding reception, they seemed to be so much in love.Then she told me about Paul Knight and the dirty trick he played on Uncle Arminio, Dani’s father, wresting control of AO Electronica away from him.
I was raging with fury after that phone call.Dani didn’t stop crying.In between sobs she told me she’d had enough, that she was sick of the Knights.I offered to look over all the contracts Paul Knight had given her and her father, and that was when I saw how dirty these Knights can play.
I should have flown out to be by her side, and to take care of her but Pierce kept me busy.I was stressed, overworked, exhausted, and still wrestling with that sleazy man, and the guilt at hearing Dani sob over the phone, knowing I needed to be there, ate away at me.
I was furious, because I was right.
She’d married into the worst, most dysfunctional family around.
Filthy rich bastards.
I did the right thing to have walked away from Rio Knight.
After that, I helped her through it.Told her she needed to go to the Dominican Republic if she wanted to get a quickie divorce.I had no idea she was thinking about marrying Oscar Ramos.If I had, I would have flown out and physically restrained her from doing such a thing.I just assumed she needed the divorce to be free of the Knights.
Now she’s coming to visit me next weekend, with Dexter.I’ve been meaning to meet her in person to figure out what’s going on with her.To find out what the hell she’s doing with her life, because she’s now back with Dexter Knight.I’ve been too busy, and so has she, so this weekend will be great for a catch-up.
Life for my bestie has been nothing but a roller coaster life ever since Dexter Knight landed in it.She sounds genuinely happy.I even called her parents, on another pretext, and they assured me that this is real.That Dex saved Dani.My head naturally spins at the story but I’ll get it all out of her soon.
Talking to her brings back thoughts of Rio even now, months later.There’s too much drama around the Knights.I don’t know what to make of it.Dani, in love.I don’t know what Dex does to her, but she’s still with him.
