Page 29 of Alpha's Secret Baby Girl
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Rafael’s dark, lustful gaze narrowed at her. “Sorry?”
She pressed both hands to his shoulders, stiffening her arms to keep distance between them. “This can’t go further. It shouldn’t have gone this far. It can’t happen again.”
“Gwen—” His voice was impossibly soft and persuasive.
Gwen shook her head. “No. No, don’t. I’m not saying this to be a tease. There’s too much, Rafael. Introducing sex again into our relationship will just make it even more complicated, and it’s already too complicated. I’m confused and scared, and I don’t think I can do this. Demons are hunting my daughter, andsex would be a welcome distraction, but that’s all it would be, and we can’t distract ourselves and—”
She cut herself off, breathing tremulously. No more arguing. No more reasons. No was no. She had to put the boundary down and hold it, no matter how much she longed to forget everything she had just said.
Rafael touched her cheek, feather-light and oh, so tempting. Gwen’s heart caught in her chest as she leaned into him, hating that she was already forgetting her own boundaries. If only she didn’t want him so damn much! She hadn’t expected this, the physical longing. The memories of their past, how safe she had once felt with him, tore at her heart.
“Gwen,” Rafael whispered. “I want you back.”
“Stop. Please.” She was telling herself as much as him.
Pain flashed through Rafael’s eyes, and he lowered his hand slowly. He searched her eyes, his jaw working. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
“I shouldn’t have, either,” Gwen whispered.
This wasn’t his fault. For every touch he’d given her, she had encouraged more, after all. Despite all of her distrust of him, despite how this was very much not what she wanted to feel, she couldn’t blame him. It would be easy. It would be less emotionally fraught if she accused him of seduction without care.
“Don’t,” she said as he opened his mouth. She knew the look on his face. He was going to be sincere and genuine. “Don’t. After the demon is taken care of and Lianne is safe, then maybe we can come back to… figuring things out. But I don’t want to live with you, Rafael. I don’t want to come back to the island, and I don’t want to be your wife.”
That, finally, got through to him. He stepped back as much as he could in the closet and averted his gaze. Silently, he opened the door. The cool rush of air swept in. Gwen slipped by him, her legs still trembling from her orgasm. She didn’t look back as she fled the office.
***
Lianne was napping when Gwen got home, so she took the opportunity to shower and calm her nerves. After all this time and this forced marriage, she shouldn’t want Rafael as much as she did. She should be telling him to go fuck himself instead of wanting him to fuck her. It left her doubting everything she knew about herself. If she wasn’t careful, he was going to see it and try even harder to prove how right they were together.
And the scary thing was, she was pretty sure he would succeed.
Later, Gwen took Lianne to the park. As soon as they arrived, the other parents collected their kids and hurried them away. Gwen tried to ignore this, hoping that Lianne didn’t notice. Lianne was happy to play. She didn’t seem to be traumatized about the demon attack yesterday. Maybe seeing Rafael chase it off had given her enough confidence to put it from her mind.
When two more families arrived at the park, only to turn around and leave right away, Lianne came over to where Gwen was sitting.
“I wanna go home,” she whispered.
Gwen took her hand. “Alright. Let’s get back to Rafael’s house and—”
“I want to go home,” Lianne repeated, whimpering. “Raf-el can come home with us.”
Gwen winced. She crouched next to her daughter and smoothed Lianne’s hair from her face. “We need to stay here, baby.”
“Because of the demon?” Lianne asked, shuddering. “Because it’s in the water?”
The water? Gwen didn’t know how to answer that. “Where did you hear it was in the water?”
“I heard the old lady next to Raf-el’s house. She said we brought the demon from the ocean, and if we leave, it will go with us, so Raf-el better get rid of us.” Lianne’s green eyes were clear, accepting what she was saying as fact.
Gwen’s heart ached. If people were only seeing her as an outcast, it wouldn’t be so bad. She could handle it. But the idea that they were blaming Lianne? Even worse, for her to hear and accept that this was somehow their fault?
“It didn’t follow us,” Gwen said firmly.
“The old lady said it did.”
“She’s wrong. It didn’t follow us. But it is why we can’t go home right now. We’re safe in Rafael’s house and in the town. It can’t get to us. Rafael is going to catch it, and when it’s gone, we’ll be able to go home again.” Gwen hoped that was true. Now that the pack was turning against her and her daughter, it was only more reason not to stick around.
