Leopard 02 - Wild Rain

like Adam and Eve.”
    His hand tightened on hers. “You have to talk to me about him. I don’t want to harm the man, but you have to give me something to work with, Rachael. You either trust me or you don’t.”
    She stood at the bottom of the large tree, staring up into the canopy where his house was hidden. “Do you think it’s a matter of trust?”
    He rested his palm on her bare bottom, helping her up to the lower branches. She pulled herself up using the creepers hanging like streamers. Rio stood back watching her body, the flexing muscles, the curves and hollows. She had a beautiful butt. He grinned as he leapt up to the lower branch easily, caught the creeper, his hands above hers, his body caging hers between his and the tree trunk. He pressed against her, much in the way of a dominant cat, his teeth nipping her shoulder, his breath teasing her nape. “I know it’s a matter of trust.”
    Instead of pulling away or stiffening as he expected, she leaned back against him, rubbing her alluring derrière against his thickening groin. “I do trust you. I trust you completely with my life. I’m here with you. I’ve chosen you. I’ve always chosen you.”
    And she had. She knew it. She had always chosen him. Would always choose him. “Don’t you feel it, Rio? We’ve always been together. I know we have. Somewhere else, somewhere good.”
    He shook his head, urging her up to the house. “It wasn’t somewhere different, Rachael. There’s always been blood and bullets and things to fear. But we managed them together. That’s what we do.
    We live our life the best that we can, together, facing whatever comes our way.”
    She pulled herself up to the verandah. Her clothes were lying in a heap where she’d stripped. She picked up the shirt, held it to her. “I love him, Rio. I know he’s done things, horrible, hideous things.
    People think he’s a monster and they think I should help destroy him. But I can’t. I won’t. I understand how he came to be what he is.” Very slowly she pulled on the shirt. Rio’s shirt. It seemed everything came back to Rio. “Do you really think we were together in another time?”
    His brilliant green gaze drifted over her. “Don’t you?”
    She leaned against the chair and smiled at him. “I think you’re beautiful, Rio. I thought it then too, wherever we were. I remember that much.”
    He stepped very close to her, his body crowding hers. Tall, muscular, broad shoulders and incredible strength. He caught her chin firmly and tilted her face up to his. There was no laughter in his eyes.
    “Don’t ever do that again. Don’t leave me. I think you tore the heart out of my chest with your bare hands.” He felt like an idiot saying it. He didn’t write poetry and he didn’t know the first thing about romance, but he had to find a way to make her understand the enormity of what she’d done.
    She lifted her hand to map his face, her fingertips very gentle. “I won’t, Rio. If you’re willing to take the chance, I’ll make my stand, here, with you.” She stepped back when he reached for her. “I want you to know about me before you make up your mind.”
    “Rachael.” He said her name softly, lovingly. “I have made up my mind. I would want you in my life no matter what the circumstances. I lay beside you the other night and thought about whether I would want you if we could no longer have sex. I have to tell you, sex with you is amazing. I look forward to it and I think about it a lot.”
    “That’s a surprise.” She managed a small grin.
    “The point is, I would want you in my life, in my bed. I want your laughter and your temper. It’s you, not your past, not even your body, amazing as that is.” His hand skimmed over the swell of her breast.
    “Not that I want that to change.”
    “My brother and I inherited a drug empire.”
    Her gaze was fastened to his face. He felt the hit somewhere in the region of his gut, but he didn’t flinch. Didn’t change expressions. She was waiting for that. Waiting for rejection. For betrayal. He didn’t even blink.
    She waited in silence for his reaction. For his disgust. Her mouth was dry with fear of losing him but she went on. He had to know. He deserved the truth. Rachael spread her hands out in front of her. “It’s actually worse than it’s portrayed in the movies, Rio. There are the fields and the workers and the laboratories. There are endless supplies of cocaine. There are guns and murder and