Courtship

Part 54

They walked side by side toward his car. "I now know where you get your directness from." He told Marina with a smile in his voice. "Your grandmother must have been quite a handful in her youth, like her grand daughter!"

"What do you mean in her youth! She is a handful now. Honestly I've never been so embarrassed in all my life. She really has no regard for an individual's right to privacy!" Marina was tempted to apologise for the inquisition he'd just been put through. So much for coming round for a nice quiet dinner. "Sorry about that. They make the Spanish Inquisition seem positively tame." She huffed indignantly, knowing she would be having a few words with her family about the last couple of hours. It was bad enough with her grandmother asking blunt questions, but then Isabelle and Cara had joined in, digging for information just for the sheer fun of it. "And they wonder why I don't bring men home to meet the family!" She grumbled as they kept walking.

"You don't bring men home to meet the family?" That made him happy! He draped an arm along her shoulder and hauled her closer to his side. "I was the first?" Why that was such a big deal he did not know, but it made him feel good.

"Yes. You're the first." She muttered unaware of the fact her revelations were making him happy.

The evening hadn't been as bad as she thought, not for him. He'd been through worse cross-examinations with some of his previous girlfriend's families. But clearly for Marina, given he was the first man she'd brought home, clearly her family's not to subtle questions were unexpected and mortifying if her body language was anything to go on.

"I won't be doing that again!" Marina stated firmly.

"Good!" He replied with a smile in his voice.

"You won't come home, here again?" She pursed her lips at him, not believing for a second that he meant that. But she wondered whether her family had gone over the top.

"You won't be bringing other men home!" He corrected just as they reached his car.

Marina spun out of his shoulder hug so that she could face him. "Oh?" Her eyes gave away the fact she was teasing him. "I won't hmm?"

Rafe smiled. His palms framed her face, his thumbs gently stroked across her cheekbones, "If you did, I might have to hurt them, and you know that goes against the medical code of conduct. We are healers, remember?" He didn't give her a chance to reply. Instead he lowered his head and sealed her lips with his. Marina flung her arms around his neck, her elbow cushioning the back of his neck as she consciously drew him closer and tighter. Then his tongue swept into her mouth and conscious thought fled.

She felt weightless. If it wasn't for the fact his hands had moved from her face to her waist and then his arms had slid around her back and pressed her tight to him, she might well have floated off into the night. Rafe's kiss left her in no doubt that he wanted her. No doubt whatsoever. His lips signaled intent. His arms signaled possession. His hard-on signaled desire. They'd been here before.

Breathing hard, Rafe broke off the kiss. This was going to be a problem. For weeks now he knew he'd been skirting this step. It hurt. Physically hurt! Before that visit to the centre he'd very much wanted to step things up, but was not willing to until he knew what she had been hiding from him. Now with those secrets out, there was nothing to stop him. But his timing was poor. They could hardly go back to her house to continue, which is exactly what he wanted to do. And he had no intention of taking her in the car! He leaned his forehead against hers. Marina's eyes closed once again as she tried to stop those signals going haywire. Silence ensued as both fought to bring their bodies back under control. Eventually Rafe lifted his head, he waited for her to make eye contact, before he said with a wry tone, "We can't keep doing this."

"We can't?" She almost stumbled back.

"Not unless you want to drive me to the brink of madness!" He murmured ruefully as he tried to keep things from getting out of hand. "Stopping is .."

"We don't have to stop." She interrupted.

Rafe's lips tipped up at the corners, "You want us to go back to the house and let your Nan know what we are about to do?" It was amazing how easy it was to be just himself. That's what he liked about their relationship. The fact he could be himself around her and she seemed to like it! They had sexual chemistry, of that he had no doubt, given he only had to look at her to become hard. But what he had with her that he did not have with his previous girl friends was this sense of knowing you were with the person you were meant to be! He could see himself growing old with her, and that was not something he had ever seen with the previous women in his life. Interestingly when he woke up every morning the firstperson he thought about was her. When he went to bed at night it was usuallyafter a conversation with her on the phone even if they had been out to dinner.So she was also the last thing on his mind when he fell asleep. Not that eitherstate was conducive to helping him keep his body in check. It was frustratingnot having her in bed with him!

Marina shook her head, "You really know how to dampen a mood!" She remonstrated and took a step away from him.