"Hello?"
"M-m-mom?" The single word came out in so many syllables, as the familiar voice filled Tami's ears. A sob almost broke from her lips when her mother gasped.
"It can't be," she mumbled, sounding stunned. "My baby girl. Tami is that really you?"
The tears she had tried to contain came rushing down when her mother called her name. The relief in her voice was enough to set Tami's heart at peace forever.
"Yes mama. It's me." Tami threw a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs, remembering that she needed to convince her mother that she was okay, and that they don’t need to worry anymore. But crying like this would give the wrong idea.
Tami could hear her mother calling for her sister in pure joy, telling her that Tami was on the line.
"You're lying," Amy, her sister, grabbed the phone to see if it were true. "Tami? Tami are you really there?" Amy was already crying from the joy she felt, knowing her older sister was alive.
She had had sleepless nights for days, worrying about her best friend in the whole world.
Tami's heart clenched painfully that she almost stumbled back, but she had to steady her voice as best as possible. "It's me Amy. I'm fine. How are you?"
"How am I?" she cried. "I've been a mess! Where are you? You were kidnapped, Tami. I've been worried sick."
Guilt ate away at her, and even Raphael, who was silently watching the interaction, felt terrible for the pain that was obvious on Tami's face.
How would she say it?
"I wasn’t kidnapped, Amy. I'm so sorry for the pain you all have been going through. I see now how selfish I was, and I really wanted to let you all know that I'm fine, and I’ll be home soon."
"Nonsense!" Her mother shrieked in the background. "That is not like you, Tami. Are you saying you ran away?"
"Yes." She squeezed her eyes shut and bit down hard on her lip to contain her cries. "Well, no. Not exactly. I had to leave promptly on a once in a lifetime trip. I've lost my phone and I didn’t get a chance to call until now."
"You don’t expect us to believe that?" her sister asked furiously. "Tami, tell us where you are. We will send the police and you'll be home."
"I know the day you disappeared, we weren’t on speaking terms," her mother added. "But we know that you didn’t just leave like that. It's so unlike you."
"Well I've just graduated from grad school, mom. I needed a get away and as I said, it wasn't planned."
"You would've told me," Amy snapped. "You tell me everything."
"Not this Amy. I'm sorry guys. I really am. I love you all so much and I'll be home soon. I just wanted to tell you not to worry anymore. I am safe and...happy." Tami paused as she quickly gazed at Raphael, knowing the risk she was taking for him.
They'll forgive her. They have to.
"Is dad there?" More than anything, she pained for her father.
He was ill, and the stress that her disappearance may have caused ate away at her conscience. Nights upon nights she laid awake at night, wondering if the stress made him fall even more ill.
"No," Amy mumbled almost silently. "He-he doesn’t know. He's with his uncle John in Canada, after mom convinced him to take a trip home to see his family. As far as he's concerned, you left to stay with a friend for the summer."
Tami released a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. That was good thinking, she wanted to applaud, but she wouldn’t dare after all the trouble she'd put them through.
Even though she didn’t kidnap herself, she was here agreeing to stay with her kidnapper, in hopes that her family would somehow believe her lie and forgive her eventually.
"I'm sorry guys," she said truthfully. "I never wanted this to happen."
"So why did you leave like that!" The tone of Amy's voice took Tami by surprise, but she had expected it.
This was sort of good, she thought. This meant Amy believed her. Still, Tami had no other thing to say than sorry.
"I'm sorry."
Tami could hear the distant cries from her mother too, and she knew that she'd hurt them with this lie.
'Only until summer,' she told herself. 'Just do this for you, and by the end of summer you can sort out anything'.
"I'm young, guys. I haven’t truly lived like someone in their twenties, you know? I promise to stay safe and be home soon. Please forgive me. I love you both so much."
"Have a great holiday, Tami." That was the last thing she heard from her sister, before the line went dead.
She let it all out right there and then, sliding against the glass to her bottom as she pulled her feet to her chest and let the tears fall.
Raphael was there in a second, holding her against his chest as she cried. It took everything out of him not to call his pilot and arrange for a flight home for her. From the looks of it, he could see that her family was really hurt by what she told them, and he knew it was all his fault.
If only he had pursued her in a normal way, where he would eventually meet her family and they'd all have dinner and discuss the future.
But he believed time was against him, and he couldn’t have the only form of peace in his life, to slip away just like that again, after sixteen years of misery.
Tami had agreed to stay with him until the end of summer. She agreed to put her own life on hold, and give him a chance that he didn’t even deserve.
In that very moment Raphael made a promise to himself that he would make these few weeks the best for her, showing her how grateful he was for her, and showing her just how much he needed her more than breathing itself.
She paid a large price to be with him even when she shouldn’t have. So he knew, just knew, that he had to make it perfect for her.
***
Tami curled up on her bed after stuffing her stomach with ice cream for the umpteenth time today.
After having her mood tarnished, she couldn’t do anything else but watch movies and eat ice cream. Unfortunately, Raphael had an emergency with work, and had been spending the last three hours trying to sort it out.
What a wrong day to be a CEO.
After two movies and no enjoyment whatsoever from them, Tami exited Netflix and decided to skip through the hundreds of TV channels that she had.
Raphael really outdid himself when it came to her luxury, she had to admit that much, as she couldn’t decide on what channel to decide on.
However, she immediately skipped a few channels back when something, or someone, caught her eye. A very familiar face--a face she knew since birth--was plastered on her huge TV screen, on the local news station.
Tami turned up the volume even more to hear what her mother had been saying.
"I don’t believe she left. That's so unlike our Tami. I think that whoever took her, forced her to make that call. So I implore you, disregard what my younger daughter had been posting on whatever social media she uses. My Tami is still out there in trouble."
Tami’s heart fell again, as she couldn’t believe her ears.
She knew Amy believed her lie, but apparently, her mother didn’t fall for it. The reporter continued talking about some other missing persons, as an officer led her mother away. Tami cursed under her breath as she pulled up her YouTube, wanting to see or hear what her sister had been saying.
Indeed, there was a new video posted on her sister's YouTube Channel with a timestamp only about an hour after she made the call . She had on sunglasses, and Tami assumed she was trying to hide her red eyes from crying, and the video had already gained over ten thousand views.
"Hey guys. I know this video is a bit different from my regular content, but I wanted to address something." Tami gulped as she waited to hear what else her sister would say. "You might've seen on my Instagram, Twitter and even here on my channel, where I asked for your help to find my sister when she went missing. However, I received a call today and she is..." She didn’t finish the sentence.
"Oh no." Tami sighed.
"She's fine guys. She's alive and she seems well. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped and was there for me. I don’t know what I'd do without you guys. At least I know there are actually people who care about how I feel and how things affected me and my family."
Ouch.
Tami couldn’t watch the rest. She was convinced that her sister hated her. Her goal with the call was to cease her family's worrying about her whereabouts. But instead, her sister hates her, as it seems, her father was oblivious and her mother was still at square one.
A knock on her door pulled her thoughts away from the screen and she immediately shut it off as if she wasn’t watching it.
She saw how much her reaction affected Raphael earlier, and she didn’t want him to feel worse than he already does.
Raphael pushed through the door slowly, approaching with caution, as he didn’t know what mood she'd be in. He was delighted when Tami smiled at him. Tami was only happy that he finally had freetime.
All he wanted to do since they got back, was to be wrapped in his arms and have her troubles kissed away.
"Hey," she greeted softly as she sat beside her on the bed.
"Hey," he returned as he quickly pecked her lips. "Are you feeling okay?"
She gulped, deciding that she wouldn’t tell him about her family issues. "I'm okay. Still processing. Are you done? Everything is okay with your Italian office now?"
"I suppose so." He sighed, feeling the weight on his shoulders and the work that he still had to do. He simply couldn’t focus after knowing Tami was upset. "I'll deal with that later."
Tami frowned at him, and she could see that what started as a wonderful day, became a stressful day for them both. She propped herself on her knees and proceeded to rub his shoulders.
"You seem a bit tense." She kissed him softly on his cheek, as he moaned in approval at the relief his shoulders were receiving. Her fingers hit the right places, and unknotted each muscle perfectly.
The slight dig of her small fingers sent Raphael’s minds places, as he imagined them digging into his hips with the same intensity as he takes her...
No. He couldn’t have these thoughts. At least not yet. Not while she is still so fragile and may slip through his fingers so easily at the slightest slip up.
But hell, the way she was feathering small kisses along his jawline couldn’t stop the thoughts from coming. Her hands left his shoulders and slid down the length of his arms, before climbing right back to his broad, hard shoulders.
Raphael groaned, feeling his self control dwindle down to nonexistent as she snaked her arms around his waist and ran them all over his toned, hard chest.
"Tami," he called lowly, almost in warning and questioning as to what she wanted.
"Raphael," she returned, and the sound of her voice was enough to drive him over the edge.
Without warning, he grabbed her chin and drove her lips to his, taking them by full force at which she intensely matched.
She climbed onto his lap, and his arms went around her waist as they matched each other's desire in the very rush of the kiss.
Tami's body lit on fire and her moans became stifled in the kiss as she slowly grinded herself against his already erected member. He groaned in approval, loving how the very movements of her on him almost sent him to his peak.
He couldn’t believe that this was actually real. He had Tami in his arms, kissing him as if he was the only man on earth, and there was nothing that could stop them or take her away.
For years, he never thought it was possible, and even after taking her, there was always a hint of doubt.
But this was real. The woman he'd loved before he even knew what love is, was finally his and only his.
And he'd be damned if he let her slip away.
He pulled on the skirt of her dress and she shuffled so that he could get a firm hold of her hips in his large hands. He loved the way she felt. Her skin was warm and smooth as glass, and the fullness of her body made it impossible for him not to squeeze and knead her.
But this gesture made her wild, and his lips left hers to dangerously trail hot, warm kisses down her neck. Her moans were no longer lost in a kiss, but filled the room with her ecstatic want for him.
That was all he needed. There was no going back and he knew it.
Raphael continued to trail kisses down her neck until he was at her chest, and his hand involuntarily reached up to pull on the bodice of her dress, carrying it down to reveal her full, plump breasts. He took a stiff nipple between his tongue, maddeningly flickering and sucking in a way that dove Tami crazy.
"Raphael please," she cried as she threw her head back. But conversely, he slowly trailed his other hand to her font, and massaged her through her already moist underwear.
She throbbed and jumped for him, and her movements on him grew faster when she became impatient.
"You're so wet," he mumbled against her chest. "F**k." He lost every bit of self control when he slipped his finger beyond the barrier of her lace, and he made no hesitation in filling her with it, just to feel the warmth and moisture of her.
Tami gasped in delight at contact, and she could already feel herself riding her climax when he slowly started to pump his finger in her, making her cry for him even more and grow even more aroused by the second at the exhilarating feeling.
He mumbled something in Spanish when he added a second finger, and it was enough to have her finishing for good. The warmth of her orgasm covered his hand as she shook furiously on him, gripping his shirt so tightly, that it could've fallen apart right there and then.
She collapsed on the bed beside him as she caught her breath, and Raphael felt a satisfaction so great that he never felt so accomplished in his life.
"You okay?" he asked through breaths as he laid beside her. She opened her eyes to look at him, her chest heaving up and down as she recovered from her high, but she wasn't done just yet. She wasn't ready.
Her lips pulled into a smile at the sight of his bright, brown eyes and she knew that the risk of the cold shoulder for a few days from her sister was just about worth it.
"I'm more than okay," she admitted, still out of breath. "But you definitely aren’t," she added as she shuffled over to him and climbed on top of him yet again.