Iris's POV

"But I want to be here,"

I said quietly and I kissed him.

I didn't decide to. One moment I was looking at him and the next my hand was on his chest and my mouth was on his, my eyes were closed and I was kissing Rafael Blackridge at the edge of his pool at eleven at night.

I expected him to stop it, expected his hands to come up and hold me back, his voice to come out calm and controlled telling me to go inside. The version I knew, the one that always kept the distance, but he kissed me back.

His hands came up and cupped my face and he kissed me like he'd been waiting and was done pretending he hadn't, his thumbs were at my jaw tilting me up, and I made a sound against his mouth that I'd never made in my life.

Then my brain caught up.

I pulled back, stepped back, my hands flew up between us.

"I'm sorry." The words came out fast. "I shouldn't have... that was... I'm sorry, I don't know why I..."

"Iris..."

"I should go inside." I was already turning. "I'm drunk, I'm not thinking straight, that was... forget it..."

His hand closed around my wrist, hard.

He pulled me back and I turned, his arm wrapped around my waist, his hand flat against my lower back, and he pulled me flush against his body in one motion.

I stopped breathing.

His grey eyes were very dark, his jaw tight. He looked like a man who had been arguing with himself for a long time and had finally stopped.

He kissed me harder.

His hand gripped the back of my neck, his mouth taking me apart. I grabbed his shoulders and kissed him back with four years of wanting behind it and the sound he made low in his chest went straight through me.

"Rafael..." I breathed against his mouth. "We can't..."

"Why not?" He asked, his lips moved to my jaw, my throat.

I tipped my head back without meaning to and his mouth followed.

"Because... because Chloe is my best friend," I stammered. "You're her father and I live here, and-"

He cut me off with a kiss, his mouth claiming mine, his tongue slipping between my lips to tangle with mine. I moaned, my body pressing against his, my hands fisting in his hair.

"Rafael," I gasped, my body aching with need. "We shouldn't-"

"Shh," he whispered, his hands sliding up my thighs. "Let me take care of you, Iris. Let me make you feel good."

I bit my lip, my body already responding to his touch, to his words. He leaned down, his mouth finding mine again, his hands sliding to the back of my neck, holding me in place as his mouth moved against mine. He walked me back and I lost my footing, my balance, and I fell, the water closing over my head.

The water was cool and dark, closed over my head and then his hands found me before I'd even surfaced.

He lifted me up, pulled me against him. I wrapped my legs around him, my arms around his neck, my body pressed against his. He walked us to the edge of the pool, sitting me down, his hands never leaving my body.

He groaned, his hands sliding under my tank top, his fingers tracing the lines of my body. I arched into his touch, my body coming alive under his hands, my heart pounded in my chest.

He pulled back, his eyes meeting mine, and then he lifted my top over my head, his mouth finding my breast, his tongue flicking against my nipple.

I gasped, my head falling back, my fingers tangled in his hair. He kissed his way down my stomach, his fingers hooking into the waistband of my shorts, pulling them down, his mouth finding the heat between my legs.

"Rafael," I moaned, my fingers tangled in his hair, my body arched into his touch.

"I've imagined this," I breathed. "Dreamed about it."

He growled. "Tell me," he commanded. "Tell me what you've imagined."

I hesitated, my cheeks flushed, but the look in his eyes, the raw hunger, the desire, made me speak. "I imagined you touching me," I said. "Your hands, your mouth."

He made a sound against my throat. His fingers found me soaking, had been since the moment he'd pulled himself out of the water and he groaned again, his forehead pressed hard into my shoulder.

"F*ck," his voice was rough. "How long have you been this wet?"

"Since you got out of the pool," I said honestly.

His fingers moved and I bit down hard on my lip to keep the sound inside.

His fingers slid inside me, his thumb circling my clit and I moaned. "Rafael," I gasped, my hands gripping his shoulders. "Yes, please, yes."

He chuckled, a low, sexy sound that sent vibrations through me. "You like that, baby?" He asked, his fingers moving faster, harder. "You like it when I touch you like this?"

"Yes," I moaned, my hips moving in time with his fingers. "Goddess, yes."

His fingers worked me open and I was shaking, actually shaking, my whole body wounded to a point it had never reached with anyone.

"Please," I breathed. "Daddy, please..."

The words came out of me before I knew it was coming.

He went absolutely still, then his grip tightened and he made a sound against my skin that I felt it I my spine and everywhere below it.

"Say it again," he said, his voice completely wrecked.

"Daddy..." I gasped.

His fingers curled and I cried out, the sound escaping before I could stop it, my nails dug harder in his shoulders and my whole body was shaking against him.

We heard the front door opened.

Chloe's voice floated through the house. "Hello? Anybody home?"

We froze, my heart pounded in my chest, panic coursing through me, her footsteps moved across the marble entrance, getting closer.

"Dad? Iris?" Chloe's voice cut through the night. "Are you guys out here?"