He didn’t remember driving to the penthouse, and it was only when he stepped into the elevator that he thought to pull out his phone. There was a worried text from Bel that he quickly replied to, reassuring him that everything was in hand and he was fine. He didn’t feel fine, but it didn’t matter. Sleep would help.
But sleep dropped to the back of his mind when he saw a new text from Philippe asking if he needed any help.
Everyone is safe and sound, Rafe replied to Philippe.
To his shock, his phone started vibrating in his hand a few seconds later. He looked down to find that Philippe was calling him rather than texting.
“You don’t believe me?” Rafe asked with a weary grin in his voice.
“Oh, I believe that all your people are safe and sound, but I’m calling to find out if you are okay.”
“I’m good as well,” Rafe said with a sigh as he leaned heavily against the wall of the elevator, resting on his heels. His words were followed by the chime of the elevator. He pushed to his feet and started forward as the doors slid open.
“Was that the elevator? Are you home again?”
“I am.”
“Would you be up for a personal inspection of your well-being? My mind will only be satisfied when it sees your fitness firsthand.”
Rafe stopped in the middle of the hall, a smile tugging unexpectedly at the corner of his lips. “It sounds as if this may be a very thorough examination.”
“Very thorough, yes. I also fear that it could take quite a while. More than one session of examination.”
Rafe fought the chuckle that was rising. Philippe’s voice sounded so damn serious. His heart was pounding with the promise of seeing Philippe again, of feeling his wonderful hands sliding over his body.
“It’s starting to get a bit late. It sounds like such examinations could last until dawn.”
There was a long pause, and Rafe nearly checked to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped when Philippe finally spoke.
“Would you be opposed to me being trapped with you during the day?”
His very use of the word “trapped” was laughable. Locked away with Philippe Arsenault for hours on end, no one intruding, a break from the worries that were plaguing them both, sounded like a dream.
“Get over here now,” Rafe commanded in a rough voice. He needed Philippe, and for just a moment, he allowed himself the luxury of believing that Philippe needed him as well.
Chapter Fifteen
A niggling of anxiety crawled across Philippe’s flesh as he stepped out of the elevator and into Rafe’s penthouse later that night. It wasn’t so much the idea of being trapped with Rafe during the daylight hours, but that he was willingly trapping himself in a place that was one wall of windows after another, offering him up to unbroken sunlight.
Self-preservation was screaming at him to turn around and go home, but he silently repeated to himself that Rafe spent each day in this place, and he was perfectly safe. He wanted to see what happened in Rafe’s unique home to keep him protected from the murderous rays of the sun. And he wanted to spend the day wrapped in Rafe’s arms.
After everything that had happened, after years of giving all of himself to others, he wanted to claim this one moment. Even if this was the only time they ever had, he wanted this for himself.
“You look worried.” Rafe’s low, seductive voice drifted out of the deep shadows to greet him.
Philippe stopped and searched the living room to find Rafe standing in the open doorway from the balcony. He was wearing a pair of soft sleep pants. His normally wild black hair was wet and slicked back as if he’d just recently showered. There was something wonderfully predatory about the man. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Philippe had willingly stepped into his lair.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love your home. It is only that you seem to have an abundance of windows, and exposure to sunlight tends to be quite unhealthy for me.”
Rafe’s face was a deep shadow, and Philippe was hoping that Rafe was smiling at his playful teasing. He wanted to remove the fatigue from his voice. Philippe’s problems weren’t the only ones plaguing Rafe. He had his own people, his own family to worry about.
“Is it not enough that I plan to cover your body with mine?”
Philippe laughed softly and took another step into the penthouse. “Oh, that sounds quite pleasurable, but I have no desire to see you come to harm just to keep me safe. Do you have any other options?”
Rafe moved inside and slide the door shut behind him, cutting off the sound of the wind so that they were now enveloped in silence. “Then I guess we will have to make do with the shades that slide down over the windows, blocking out the sunlight.”