My fear of water was nothing compared to my fear of my own body. If I had to choose to face one of them, it would be the water any day.
"Don't let anyone make you feel ashamed of the things you want, mi princesa," Rafe murmured as he guided me over to the walkway to go around the back of the falls. The sound of rushing water from the falls nearly made me hyperventilate, so much stronger than the memory of the river sounds that were in my head.
"Nobody is making me feel ashamed of anything," I said in response, watching as the stairs spread out in front of me behind the rock face as we made our way up to the top. The pools curved around the back and through a narrow passage in the rocks, before opening up into a larger pool with two smaller waterfalls pouring into it. The sound was less deafening, less intense, as Rafe guided me down the steps to stand on the pathway beside the pool.
Large, flat rocks curved into the water as Rafe guided me toward them. He dropped the towels on one of them, pulling his shirt off over his head while I stood frozen and staring at the water. I couldn't bear to get any closer to it, but needed to know how deep it could get.
The blooming flowers and trees around the waterfall were stunning as I slid to my butt on the towel, curling my knees to my chest and hugging them as I tried to breathe. Rafe dropped to the rock next to me, grabbing sunscreen out of a nearby basket.
Everything with Rafe was planned and meticulous. I wondered how someone like me fit into those particular behaviors when I usually did things my own way.
Stripping my dress off over my head, he squirted sunscreen into his hands and applied it to my shoulders in a gentle, soothing massage that was so at odds with the dominating man he'd shown me only moments before that I let out a breathless chuckle. His hands worked wonders on my skin, even as I tried to deny the way he made me feel.
His touch was a sin, dangerous to everything I thought I knew about myself.
Rafe stripped off his shoes and stood, lowering himself into the water as he stayed by the edge and waited for me to follow. I shook my head, furrowing my brow as I watched him.
"I don't want to," I said.
"That's exactly why you need to. You can't stay afraid of water forever. You have to face that fear," he said. He held up a hand, waiting for me to take his again.
I swallowed, sliding my flip flops off my feet and getting up onto my knees so that I could look into the water. I sat back on my butt, scooting myself closer to the edge cautiously as Rafael waited with an extended hand. Then he asked a question that should have been laughable considering the stunt he'd pulled and his vague threats.
"Do you trust me?"
I wished I could say the answer was no.
19
Rafael
She shouldn't trust me. Not when it came to her heart and her freedom, but in this I would never let her fall.
Still, I couldn't blame the hesitation to place her hand in mine as indecision warred on her face. "I won't let anything hurt you," I murmured softly, raising a brow and waiting for her to follow through on the command we both knew I'd issued. She'd be getting into the water with me, even if I had to force her.
Her fear of water might have worked to my advantage in keeping her isolated on the island, but I wouldn't risk her drowning in an escape attempt if it came down to it. Desperation made people do things that they would never have considered normally. If I stripped away Isa's free will, she might have walked into the ocean just to spite me.
Much like wandering around Southern Spain alone just to get away from me because she was pissed I'd brought her here.
"You want to hurt me," she whispered, her eyes darkening with a moment of understanding. "Is that what this is? A way to hurt me without having to put in the effort of chasing me down?"
I sighed, reaching forward and grasping her around the hips. Tugging her into the water with me slowly, I enjoyed the feeling of her body wrapped around mine as she instinctively clung to me to protect her. She might pretend she didn't understand the nuances of the pain I wanted to cause, but her body told me no lies.
She understood the difference.
"I want to hurt you in ways you'll enjoy. Not with fears that grip you and torment you over a decade after your accident," I said, keeping one hand on the edge of the rocks so that I could support both our weights for the moment. “Besides, you’re mine to hurt. Aren’t you, mi princesa?” As much as I wanted her to cling to me, it would be a struggle for me to support both our weights as I swam. My feet didn't touch the bottom in the same way they had in the pool.
I'd known taking Isa here would be more of a challenge than if I'd pushed her in the pool at the hotel. But I knew she wouldn't want to reveal her fear in front of others, and clearing out the pool at a busy luxury hotel wouldn't change the fact that we'd have witnesses. The ocean was no place to learn how to swim, with its endless horizon looming as a threat. Even the calmest waters of Ibiza would be more intimidating.
These pools were deep, but they
