CHAPTER FORTY-SIX: POINT OF NO RETURN

Rafael's bedroom was cast in shadows and intermittent flashes of lightning, the storm outside providing a dramatic soundtrack to the moment that would change everything between them. Natalia stood beside his bed, suddenly aware of how momentous this decision was—not just for her revenge plot, but for the woman she was becoming.

"Second thoughts?" Rafael asked softly, his hands resting gently on her waist.

"Always," she admitted. "But not about this."

He kissed her then, slow and thorough, as if they had all the time in the world instead of stealing moments between thunderclaps. His hands were reverent as they traced the lines of her body, and Natalia found herself remembering a different version of this scene—a different lifetime when she'd given herself to this man completely, holding nothing back.

That woman had been destroyed by her trust. This woman knew better.

But as Rafael's lips moved to her throat, as his hands whispered across her skin with familiar expertise, Natalia felt her carefully constructed defenses beginning to crumble. This was supposed to be strategic, she reminded herself. Part of the plan. A way to get closer to him, to earn his trust before she destroyed him.

Instead, it felt like coming alive after years of sleepwalking.

"You're thinking too much," Rafael murmured against her collarbone.

"It's a bad habit of mine."

"I can think of better uses for that brilliant mind of yours."

"Can you?" She pulled back to look at him, noting the heat in his eyes, the way his breathing had become uneven. "Such as?"

"Figuring out how to get out of that dress, for starters."

She smiled, turning so her back was to him. "Zipper's at the back."

His fingers found the zipper, drawing it down with agonizing slowness. The fabric pooled at her feet, leaving her in nothing but black lace and the phoenix tattoo on her wrist that marked her rebirth.

Rafael's intake of breath was audible. "Jesus, Natalie. You're..."

"What?"

"Perfect." He traced the tattoo with one finger, his touch feather-light. "This is beautiful. What does it mean?"

The question hit her like a physical blow. The phoenix was everything—her death, her rebirth, her transformation from victim to avenger. It was the symbol of rising from ashes, of becoming something stronger and more dangerous than what came before.

But she couldn't tell him that. So she gave him a version of the truth instead.

"Renewal," she said softly. "The idea that we can be reborn into something better than what we were."

"I like that." His lips pressed against the tattoo, sending electricity shooting up her arm. "I could use some renewal myself."

If only he knew how literal that statement was. If only he understood that his renewal—his redemption or his destruction—lay entirely in her hands.

Thunder crashed overhead, and this time Natalia didn't flinch. She was too focused on Rafael's hands, on the way he was looking at her like she was something precious and miraculous. When he lifted her onto the bed, she went willingly, pulling him down with her.

His mouth claimed hers in a kiss that was far too deep to be patient, yet his hands betrayed a maddening restraint, skimming down her sides, mapping the delicate ridges of her ribs, circling her waist without sliding lower. Natalia shivered beneath him, her pulse racing, her body aching for him to abandon that control.

Rafael kissed lower, dragging his mouth along the slope of her throat, sucking at the hollow until she gasped, arching up into him. His teeth caught her earlobe, then his tongue soothed the sting, the contrast making her hips lift unconsciously against his.

“Rafael…” Her voice cracked, more plea than protest.

“Shh.” He smiled against her collarbone, hot breath ghosting over damp skin. “I want to taste every inch of you.”

His hands parted her thighs, fingers stroking lazily over lace before tugging it aside. The air against her damp heat made her gasp, and then his mouth was on her, tongue dragging through her slick folds in a slow, deliberate stroke that had her clutching at the sheets. She tried to stay quiet, tried to bite her lip, but the sound still broke free, raw and desperate: “Ahhh—!”

He groaned into her, the vibration jolting through her clit, and she nearly lost herself right there. He licked her again, firmer, circling, teasing, before plunging his tongue deep inside her. She writhed under him, fingers tangling in his hair, pressing his face tighter against her. He gave in gladly, devouring her like a starving man, sucking her clit until her thighs trembled around his head.

“Please—God, Rafael, don’t stop—”

Her climax hit fast and violent, arching her spine, a cry tearing from her throat. He held her through it, drinking her down, not easing until she was shuddering, begging, pushing weakly at his shoulders. When he finally lifted his face, his mouth was wet with her, his expression dark with hunger.

“Beautiful,” he rasped, kissing her inner thigh, then higher, leaving open-mouthed bites up the curve of her hip. “I could live here.”

She tugged him up to her mouth, kissed him hard, tasting herself on his lips. His cock pressed insistently against her belly now, straining against his trousers, and she reached down, sliding her hand inside to free him. He was heavy and hot in her grip, twitching as her thumb swept over the slick bead at his tip.

His breath stuttered against her cheek. “Careful. I’ll embarrass myself if you keep that up.”

“Then lose control,” she whispered, stroking harder, dragging the swollen head along her slick folds.

His restraint snapped. He growled low in his chest, tore the last barrier of lace from her body, and shifted above her, lining himself at her entrance. The blunt heat of him pressed against her, nudging inside—

—and then—

When Rafael moved over her, when their bodies finally joined, the heat of him stretching her open made Natalia gasp sharply into his mouth. His weight pressed her into the mattress, solid and anchoring, while the storm outside cracked the sky wide with sound. She curled her legs around his hips instinctively, pulling him deeper, the friction igniting every nerve like fire racing along dry tinder.

“Ahh—Rafael…” The name broke from her throat before she could stop it, muffled against his kiss. His answering groan was low, guttural, the sound of a man starved finally tasting what he’d been denied. Each thrust drove into her with hungry precision, hips rolling slow at first, savoring the way she clenched tight around him, then harder, faster, until the bedframe knocked faintly against the wall in rhythm with the storm’s thunder.

Her nails dug down his back, scoring red crescents in his skin, but he only shuddered and pushed deeper, as if daring her to mark him, to leave something on his body that no rain could wash away. His mouth moved over her breasts, sucking one stiff peak between his lips, teeth grazing until she cried out, arching up to meet him.

“God, you’re so wet for me,” he rasped against her skin, voice wrecked. “Like your body remembers me even if your mind won’t admit it.”

The words cut straight through her, far too close to the truth, and Natalia bucked against him in answer, gasping when the angle shifted and he ground hard against that spot deep inside. Lightning flared through the curtains, stark white against his face above hers—cheekbones sharp, jaw clenched, eyes wild and desperate as though he feared she might vanish if he blinked.

She grabbed his face, pulling him down into another kiss that was all teeth and need, swallowing his ragged moan as he pistoned into her, harder now, rough with the edge of a man who’d been waiting years for this moment. Her body trembled beneath him, tension coiling tight in her belly, building higher with every stroke. The world outside might have been burning and she wouldn’t have noticed—every sound was drowned beneath the slap of flesh, the creak of sheets, the broken syllables of her own voice.

“Don’t hold back,” he whispered fiercely into her ear, one hand sliding between them, thumb pressing tight circles over her clit. “I want to feel you fall apart on me. Let me have you.”

Her cry ripped out of her, sharp and unrestrained, as release tore through her body like the lightning outside, white-hot and devastating. She spasmed around him, clenching so hard he cursed, driving deep and holding there as his control snapped. His body jerked, his breath shuddering against her throat, and she felt the flood of him spilling inside, pulsing in rhythm with the storm.

For a long moment, neither of them moved, their breaths ragged, hearts pounding in sync. His sweat-slicked chest pressed against hers, his lips trembling against her temple as though even now he couldn’t quite believe she was real. Natalia’s fingers remained tangled in his hair, holding him close as her body fluttered around him in the aftershocks, every nerve still thrumming with the memory of his possession.