Forbidden Deception (Deception)

19

I can’t waste the last night in Greece sitting at my suite working until the last minute, so I decide to head out without bothering Rafael. He didn’t contact me after we both went into our rooms.

I am walking past his room when he opens the door. He looks up, and his eyes widen.

“Where are you going?” He looks at my white sundress and sandals, my hair down for the first time in beachy curls, and my face void of any makeup. I truly want to relax on this ride and putting makeup on is the last of my concerns.

“A boat ride I booked. I didn’t want to spend my last evening in the room. The work will be done before our next working day, I promise.”

Rafael frowns, shutting the door behind him, looking delicious in his trousers and his shirt with his sleeves rolled up.

“Why didn’t you book me on the ride, too?”

I stop and look over my shoulder. Rafael is following me.

“I didn’t think you would want to go.”

Rafael frowns deeper. “Don’t you know that with so much tourism around Greece, thieves target women a lot?” He grabs my wrist and pulls me behind him, down the hotel hallway.

“You shouldn’t walk around alone,” he mutters, putting on his sunglasses with me walking beside him.

I bite my lip, holding in a smile.

“Admit it. You want to spend time with me,” I tease, carefully watching his expression.

His face twists as if he is about to deny it, but he stays silent.

“You know, I noticed you don’t lie. Like you never hide what you feel or what your intentions are.”

He nods but doesn’t elaborate.

Once we reach the lobby, Rafael signals for our rental car, and when it arrives, he finally lets go of my wrist and opens the passenger door for me. Then he slides into the driver’s seat.

“I’m not sure if they will let you on, but you can try to negotiate. I’ll ask, actually. They will totally fall for my puppy eyes.”

“Sure.”

“You don’t sound convinced. Are you doubting my abilities?”

Rafael looks over at me. The windows are down, so his hair is a mess in the wind.

“I don’t. In fact, I might find myself punching the guy if he doesn’t let me on because you asked.”

“Perfect.” I clap my hands.

When we soon reach the port, we stand in line together, watching the sun slowly start to descend; me with a grin on my face and Rafael with a small frown, watching everyone around us.

“Aren’t you excited? It’s going to be such a beautiful ride.” I sigh, imagining it.

“You should have asked me, and we could have gone on a private boat.”

I take a step to my left at the guide who is crossing out names of people. Red hat, sunglasses and a full white uniform.

“Hey,” I smile at him, Rafael stood behind me.

He turns his head to me. “Name?”

“Venezia Campbell. I had a question if you don’t mind?” I ask carefully.

He dips his chin while looking for my name on the clipboard.

“I have my friend who wants to join me, would it be possible to allow him on? We can pay for the ticket right now too, we don’t mind,” I smile.

His head snaps up and I faintly catch a frown on his face through the dark lenses. “I do mind, miss. We can’t allow—” his voice trails off when he glances behind me at Rafael and visibly swallows.

“We are not allowed to do that without ID checks and—” he gets cut off with Rafael shoving his ID in his face and twenty note in his hand.

“Thanks.” Rafael mutters before grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the boat.

I shake my head, climbing from the dock to the boat, then sitting in the front seat. I want a clear unobstructed view. I pull Rafael to sit down next to me.

“I want to enjoy it with people around me. I often spent my time alone—most of my life, actually—so silence kind of freaks me out a little. It’s why I try to fill it as much as I can, because my mind is a scary place, Rafael.” I turn to him, hoping he can see in my eyes that something truly terrifying lies in my past.

Rafael pushes my hair off my shoulder, and the boat heads away from the coast.

“And you shall forever bother me with your chatter. You may not realise it, but I’ve let a lot slide with you, Venezia. There is some mystery wrapped around you, and I will uncover it one day, then lay you bare in front of me.”

My eyes burn, and I look away, a breath falling from me when his hand grabs mine off my knee and places it in his lap.

“You won’t like what you see,” I whisper, knowing everything will be destroyed in the upcoming months. This new side of Rafael is a little dangerous.

“Leave that to me.”

The boat sails farther out to sea, and the mix of reds and pinks painting the sky like an acrylic painting is gorgeous. My eyes never once leave the sky.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” I comment, fascinated by the moon peeking out early.

“Yes,” Rafael replies.

I look at him to find his eyes already on me, making me chuckle. I push his cheek away and towards the sky. “The beauty is there, not here.”

He turns to me again. “I beg to differ.”

Laughter spills out of me, and my heart feels like it’s ascending to the heavens.

I want to enjoy the moment. I want to stay here, on this boat ride with Rafael, ignoring the knowledge that he will change when we go back to Edinburgh. I want to keep this small memory locked away.

“Fancy a dinner?” I ask, breathless and happy once we make it back to the dock.

Rafael looks down at me, the wind sweeping his hair. “With you?”

I nod.

“Then yes.”

Rafael’s change of behaviour has me on edge, because he doesn’t feel the same intensity as me, and yet he does. What is true about him and what isn’t? I don’t know.

It’s like announcing an impending disaster, and now you are just waiting for it to happen.

It’s coming. The moment either me or Rafael takes that step, everything between us will burn into flames. There will be nothing remaining, and we will be left feeling hatred towards each other.

I have a lit match in one hand, ready to light Rafael’s life on fire, and he doesn’t know that in my other hand, a knife is ready to drive into his very heart.

A knock on my hotel door makes me sit up in bed. Who could it be at this time? Rafael already went to his room. It’s eleven o’clock, and I need to be up at seven in the morning for my flight with Rafael.

I open the door to find Rafael standing there, his hair unruly and an expectant look on his face. There is something distressed about him. His brows are pulled down, and when he looks to the side, I notice he’s clenching his jaw as if keeping something in.

“Join me?” he asks gruffly.

“Join you where? We just came back from the boat ride, and I—”

“I can’t sleep. Join me, please,” he pleads, his eyes almost troubled.

I falter, my resolve dissolving. I nod and grab my keys and phone. And soon, we are walking along the shore, waves crashing beside us softly while we tread barefoot in the sand.

“Okay, maybe this is not so bad. It’s so calming to be walking at night along the beach in Greece, the lights behind us, and the calm waves lapping at the sand. I just—” I sigh, a stupidly content smile on my face.

“You do that a lot, you know.”

“Do what?” I turn to Rafael.

“Speak what you are feeling.”

I nod with a shrug. “You don’t lie.”

A small smile appears on his face, as if me knowing that about him is something secretive.

“And you don’t speak about your feelings, unless it’s forced out of you,” I point out.

Rafael chuckles, shaking his head.

“Of course, even my own brothers are constantly trying to pull information out of me. Some things are best kept hidden, and most people don’t realise that my silence is my biggest weapon. I don’t speak about my feelings because acknowledging them will conflict with who and what people perceive I am.”

“And what are you? What are you hiding, Mr Gustav?” I bump my shoulder against his arm playfully.

“Powerful secrets.” The way he is looking at me tells me everything.

I don’t think he realises that I know exactly what he is hiding, and it makes everything all the more complicated. All the more heartbreaking.

“Secrets? You know, you can’t just tell me you have secrets and not reveal at least one of them.”

“You want a secret?” Rafael stops in his tracks, and so do I.

“Yes.”

He looks at me, his eyes conflicted, a small frown between his brows like he can’t admit something but he wants to. The chocolate eyes roam over my face, a tinge of something very close to adoration on his face, but it’s gone before I can confirm it.

He takes a step closer to me.

My heart stops.

He takes another.

Rafael raises his hand and slides it up my neck until it’s buried in my hair. My breath hitches when he leans closer to me, his face a breath away. The wind picks up, and the waves crash harder, as if they know exactly how erratic my heart is beating.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you all day long, Venezia, and it’s fucking killing me. Why are you doing this?” His hold on me tightens, and the tingle of pain in my scalp is drowned out by the rush of blood in my ears.

I lift a shaky hand to his chest in an attempt to push him away, but instead, I grab his shirt.

His face scrunches up in pain but then his brows drop and his eyes soften. His eyes dip to my lips, his breath coming in short pants, matching my own. His other hand drops to my hip, pulling me against him, and yet he still makes no move to kiss me.

“Why?” he hoarsely whispers.

“I don’t know,” I whisper back, my mind barely making any sense. “I don’t know why you want me. You shouldn’t, Rafael. You should keep me away. We are worlds apart,” I stress, but he shakes his head, softly brushing his nose against mine.

“No, you don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot feel. You haven’t left my mind for a single second, to the point where I can’t sleep, eat, or work without thinking of your presence missing. How could you do that?”

He pulls me even closer, his lips brushing against mine in pure torture with every word. “End this. End this torment for me.”

I go to shake my head, but he tightens his hold on me. A hiss falls from my lips.

“Wrong answer,” he grits out and crashes his lips against mine.

My world explodes.