"I think we need to set up some ground rules for you. It took me twenty minutes to locate you in this mausoleum," Mateo's voice drawled from behind her.
Raina jumped, not having heard the door open. She twisted around in her seat to look at him.
"Maybe we should set up some ground rules for you," Raina countered. "You seem to come and go at will. Maybe a bell around your neck so I know when you’re sneaking up on me?"
Mateo's lips twitched in amusement. "You want to know where I am at all times, mi amor?"
"Not really," she countered. "How about your ground rules include you knocking on doors?"
He took a few steps toward her, his dark eyes sweeping her from top to bottom. Raina felt self-conscious and quickly ran one hand over her thighs, smoothing her jeans and the other over her hair, tucking a lock behind her ear.
"If I were to knock on the door before entering, you would have time to gather yourself. I prefer to see you uninhibited, without the time for that sharp brain to come up with some kind of challenge for me."
Raina blushed as she imagined what he might see when walking into a room unexpectedly. Particularly, her bedroom.
She was about to say something tart in return when he stopped her, raising his hand and speaking. "I would like you to come outside with me."
Raina raised an eyebrow, then shrugged and stood. It wasn't like she had anything else to do. She had finished her last commission and was waiting for more to come in.
They left through the French doors of her office, which led straight out onto the pool patio. "This way," Mateo said, taking her arm.
Near the pool was an outdoor gym with weights, benches and mats. Raina had seen this area before while exploring the mansion, but she avoided it. She’d never really been a weightlifting girl. Her arms resembled sticks more than anything that might have real muscle.
Mateo escorted her onto one of the mats and then let go of her arm, standing opposite her.
"Fight me," he commanded her.
Raina frowned at him. "You want me to do what?"
"I want you to fight me."
Raina was beginning to believe that he was serious. She spent enough time with Mateo now to understand his various moods, not that there were many. He tended to be either neutral, serious or annoyed. Sometimes funny, in a dark sort of way.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "If you recall, the last time I fought you, I lost."
Not only had she lost, but she'd ended up drugged and in Venezuela for a month, then two years on the run after that. If she learned anything from that experience, it was that she should avoid fighting Mateo.
He shook his head, frustrated. She sort of felt sorry for him. Mateo was a man of action, not words. He also held a great deal of power, which meant he didn't have to explain himself to many people. However, she fully intended to set the precedent that he would be 100% accountable to his future wife. Which meant explaining himself, if need be.
"Why do you want me to fight you?" she demanded. “We both know you can kick my ass. If you need an ego boost, go talk to Danny. He looks like he’ll present more of a challenge.”
Mateo was nearly a foot taller than her and weighed 100 pounds more. It was never going to be a fair fight between the two of them.
"When I picked you up on your university campus, you fought me," he said insistently, as if encouraging her to do it again.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah and look how that ended."
"What I'm saying is, you had training. You challenged me, if only for a few seconds. That doesn't happen. Very few people, especially women of your size, are able to challenge me." He ran a hand through his hair ruffling it, obviously frustrated with the direction of this conversation.
Raina waved her hand dismissively in the air. "I caught you by surprise. You didn't know I'd taken any self-defense training. You probably thought you had an easy mark."
He nodded, pointing at her. "Exactly. I thought you would be an easy pick up, and you did take me by surprise. No one takes me by surprise."
She was beginning to get where he was going with this. Cautiously, she asked, "Are you asking for a rematch? Because I haven't exactly been honing my skills in case you hadn't noticed when I got shot in Italy."
"I'm not asking for a rematch, little girl," he said, with some amusement. "I'm looking to teach you a few things. In case anyone else ever tries to grab you. You take them by surprise, the way you did me. Only, if you're attacked again, you take them by surprise, you take them down, and you kill them."
She stared at him in consternation. She hadn't considered that he might want to teach her how to fight better. It shifted the way she viewed him. It was like he didn't care if she used her skills to fight him as long as she survived any other potential attack. That knowledge was something she didn't want to examine too closely. It fit with the apparent devotion he was showing toward her. She didn't know how to deal with it.
"You spend half the time watching what I eat in case it tips the delicate balance of my kidney health, yet now you're proposing to teach me how to fight. You don't make any sense to me," she challenged him, pointing out his contradiction.
Instead of defending himself, he said, "No, I don't imagine I do make sense to you. Not yet anyway."
"What does that mean?" she demanded, hands on her hips.
But before she could get an answer, he was lunging for her. She let out a shriek, flung herself to the side, gripped his elbow and tripped him. He didn't go down. He was too skilled to go down, but he stumbled and it took him a second to turn around and face her again. When he did, a grin was spread across his face, as if to say I told you so.
Raina clapped a hand over her mouth. She hadn't meant to do that; it had been automatic. Muscle memory from all those self-defense classes.
"Well done," he praised, striding back toward her. "Now, when I attack you again, this is what I want you to do – "
Raina had a surprisingly good time learning combat tactics with Mateo. He didn't just teach her self-defense, he taught her how to finish an opponent if she needed to. How to make sure the attacker stayed down so they couldn't grab hold of her again.
Over and over Mateo would attack and she was forced to go on the defensive. She learned different ways to throw her hands up, to lunge, to kick, to use dirty tactics to take an opponent down.
By the time they finished, she was laying on the ground, heaving for breath and grinning broadly. Mateo, who was standing over top of her, dropped to the ground beside her. She looked over at him. He had barely broken a sweat, whereas she was practically dripping. Still, he looked satisfied, pleased by her performance, which lit a small fire inside her. She didn't want to become his trained monkey and actively resisted his orders so that she could retain her independence, but deep down, she liked it when he looked at her like that, as though he felt pride in her.
"Again?" she asked, inviting him for another round.
He rolled over onto his hands and pushed himself up in a push-up, his biceps bulging against his T-shirt, threatening to tear the seams. He sat back on his heels and held a hand out to her. "Again."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Raina ached everywhere. It was the ache of using muscles she hadn’t used in a long time. Throughout the week she'd been training with Mateo, Angela or Danny depending on who was available. The more she got out on the mat, the more she wanted to spar. All of her opponents were highly skilled, and she was learning fast.
Despite the fun she was having, Raina decided to take a day off to recover. She was curled up in her window seat, a plush blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a cup of herbal tea on the table beside her. At her feet was a battered romance novel that Mateo had sent to her room. The Hellion Bride by Catherine Coulter. Either Mateo had a thing for historical fiction, or he was making a joke at her expense.
She was in the process of painting her toenails bright pink. When she was finished, she was going to start the book.
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br /> Raina had to admit that her life at the mansion was starting to settle into a kind of pattern, an enjoyable one even. During the day she either worked or shopped. In the afternoons she usually sparred with whoever was available, and in the evenings, she had a leisurely dinner with Mateo.
So far he'd shown up for every single one, despite the pressure of taking over one of the biggest crime capitals in the world. Their meals had not only become a must, but something that she wanted to do. Sometimes, she and Mateo didn't speak at all, just sat and ate in companionable silence. Sometimes they chatted about their daily activities, like what Raina shopped for that day or how the renovations on the mansion were going. Other times, they fought like cats and dogs, but Raina loved every minute of it. For some reason, she felt safe using her sharp wit on Mateo. He never got angry with her and his counterarguments were intelligent. He filled her mind with things that she never thought about before.
Without warning, her bedroom door opened, startling her. She frowned at the presumption but let out a sigh when she saw Mateo.
"I thought we talked about the knocking thing," she grouched at him, carefully applying the next layer of polish to her toenails.
He didn't address her snarky comment, but walked closer to her, watching her carefully. He always did that. Watched her with a look in his eyes that he reserved especially for her. A kind of intense scrutiny, but not one that made her nervous. On the contrary, by the time his face smoothed into a blank expression she usually managed to catch a brief look of satisfaction. As though he was pleased with everything he saw when he looked at her. It started a small glow inside of her, one that grew brighter with every passing day, with every glance.
"May I sit?"
Raina shot him a skeptical look. "Since when do you ask?"
Mateo reached out for a chair and pulled it up next to the window seat, sitting beside her, close enough that his knee brushed against her thigh. At that single accidental touch, her entire body began to vibrate with tension. She didn't know how he did it so easily, but something about him made every particle of her being stand up and take notice. It was like the skin of her thigh had suddenly become hypersensitive.
"Pretty colour," he said, nodding toward her feet, his voice gruff.
Raina raised an eyebrow at him and stuck her toes out for him to admire. She replaced the top on the nail polish and set it aside, then shifted in the seat to give Mateo a piercing look.
"You didn't come in here to talk to me about my nails, did you?"
"Perhaps I like being with you, no matter what you're doing." His eyes held hers so that she could see the seriousness, though the banter was light.
She snorted and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Next you'll tell me that you watch me while I'm sleeping."
He gave her a wolfish grin, one that stole the breath from her chest. He rarely looked at her like that and when he did, he captivated her. "You do this adorable snore when you sleep on your back. And you sigh like a woman having secret dreams when you roll over onto your side."
Raina stared at him in horror. Was he serious? Or was he just pulling her leg? She couldn't tell. But if she was being honest with herself, she would admit that he absolutely had the capacity, ability and arrogance to watch her sleep.
Sometimes he seemed like such a normal guy and then other times… she didn't have a clue what he was thinking.
"Are you going to tell me why you're here?" she pushed. "I doubt it's to watch me sleep since it's only 4 o'clock."
He nodded, his face growing serious. "Our wedding is less than two months away."
Raina made a hissing sound as she sucked air in through her teeth. "Thanks for the reminder."
"You do need the reminder," he countered, his voice growing harder. "As far as I can tell you haven't made a single wedding plan."
"You expect me to plan this wedding? A wedding that, I should remind you, I want nothing to do with." A jolt went through her as she said the words. Something inside her brain whispered liar. "Why don't you plan the wedding?"
Mateo studied her, his face shuttered, not giving anything away. She wondered if she'd hurt him by telling him to his face that she didn't want to marry him. She shrugged it off. It was his own fault for forcing her into the situation. What did he expect? That she would be all sunshine and roses when it came to the idea of planning her own shotgun wedding.
"If you leave the wedding planning to me," he drawled. "Then we’ll be getting married tomorrow in my office and you’ll be moving into my bedroom directly after. Is this something you want? Would you like to expedite our wedding?"
He spoke with such a quiet intensity that Raina knew immediately he was serious. If he had the choice, he would marry her tomorrow. Her heart sped up at the idea and her mouth went dry. Though she suspected his question was rhetorical, meant to scare her, she actually gave it some thought. What if she did take the plunge? Marry Mateo tomorrow, move into his bedroom, become his wife for real.
A warm glow slowly spread through her body at the thought of marrying Mateo and sharing his bed in less than twenty-four hours. But that warm glow was followed closely by a wave of fear. She couldn't do it. She wasn't ready. The whole situation was too much. Mateo was too much. She was still learning how to navigate her new reality.
She shook her head. "I’d rather wait."
"Then you’ll need some help. I don't think you’re capable of planning a wedding in two months by yourself, and I don’t want you stressing yourself out trying." He held up his hand when she opened her mouth to defend herself. "You have some wonderful qualities, but I suspect event planning isn't one of them. You’re a loner. And there's nothing wrong with that, but I believe some help will make this easier on you."
Okay, he wasn’t wrong about the loner thing. Raina was one of those people that gained energy from being alone. She liked that Mateo didn't seem to mind that she wasn't a social creature. That she felt shy and awkward around too many people and tended to avoid crowds. Purposefully planning a wedding that would include a crowd did seem a little beyond her.
"Who are you suggesting help me?" she asked tentatively.
"Your mother." He said, tapping her phone, which was on the bench beside her, Betty Boop case on full display.
"Which mother do you think should help me?"
Her mothers were so different that Raina could only imagine what they would come up with for the wedding. Diane would definitely want more of a simple rustic theme; she'd be all about making the guests comfortable. Vee… well… Raina wasn't entirely sure what Vee would want. She didn't know her birth mother well enough yet, but she suspected Vee would be all about the expensive dresses, flowers and catering.
"Talk to both of them," he said as he stood up.
"Okay."
Mateo set the chair aside and stepped up to Raina's side, towering over her. She tilted her head to look at him, her heart pounding in anticipation. He reached for her, his hand going to her chin to tip her face up. She suspected he wanted a kiss, but as his hand touched her face, out of the corner of her eye she saw deep scrapes. She grabbed hold of his hand and brought it up to eye level. His knuckles were red and raw, and covered in scrapes.
She looked up at him, her fingers still holding his hand. "You hit someone." It wasn't a question. She knew they were offensive wounds.
He didn't bother to deny it and he didn't try to joke it off by saying she should see the other guy. Instead he held her gaze and moved his hand so that he was cupping her chin. He was traced his thumb over the smooth skin and said, "So fucking beautiful. I don’t know how I’ll wait until our wedding."
His eyes narrowed as he scanned her. She squirmed in the window seat, suddenly wishing that she was wearing more than a brief pair of shorts and a cami top. She felt vulnerable and his words sounded like a warning.
"I don’t know if I can wait until our wedding either," she admitted.
He released her chin and turned to walk away. At the door he paused and glanced
back at her. "You may invite your mother for a visit, if you wish." He thought about it for second and seemed to gird himself for the next sentence. "Both of them."
Raina snickered as she pictured Mateo and Vee inhabiting the same house while the wedding planning was going on. She suddenly realized that was exactly the sort of drama she needed in her life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The next day, at precisely 1 PM sharp, Angela escorted Daniela into Raina's office. Daniela inclined her head gracefully and gave Raina a tight smile before sitting primly on one of the leather seats. She was sophisticated, efficient, elegant, utterly beautiful and kind of terrifying.
Raina stood and came out from behind her desk, dropping onto the sofa across from Daniela. She narrowed her eyes at Daniela and watched as the other woman opened her leather portfolio and started spreading out samples on the small table in between them.
Despite Raina's every attempt, Daniela refused to warm up to her. Raina couldn't put her finger on why. There was usually a reason if someone didn't like her, but with Daniela, Raina sensed that whatever it was it wasn't personal. At least not personal to her. Perhaps, Daniela had a grudge against her mother.
"Did you happen to know an Elvira Montana?" Raina asked as casually as she could. "She would have lived here about five years ago. Perhaps used your services?"
Daniela looked up sharply, a frown marring her perfect Latina features. "No, I haven't heard of her, but if she requires interior decorating then please give her my card." Daniela’s voice was cool and professional. "Now if I could bring your attention to…"
Raina pushed her feelings aside. If Daniela chose not to like her, then that was Daniela's problem, not Raina's. Maybe Daniela was one of those women that didn't particularly like being around other women. Saw them as competition.
Born a Queen (The Queens Book 3) Page 15
