Rafe reaches for the hem of my sweater, uses it to yank me into his lap, and situates me so I’m straddling him. “I meant a kiss,” he tells me, bringing a hand around to the back of my neck and drawing me closer.
I melt against him, closing my eyes as his perfect lips brush mine.
“We should leave soon,” he murmurs against my mouth.
“Oh, should we?” I ask, languidness washing over me.
“Mm hmm. I want to eat your pussy, and I don’t think I can do that here.”
Arousal shoots through my lower belly and settles between my legs. “You can lick my pussy anywhere and anytime you like. On the six o’clock news, if you really want to.”
Rafe’s chuckle rumbles through me and I snuggle closer. His hand drifts down between my legs and he rubs me through the snug denim of my jeans.
I nearly jump out of my skin—and nearly fall off Rafe’s lap—as Sin pointedly clears his throat. My eyes dart to his like a guilty teenager whose father just walked in on her with a boy, while Rafe’s reflexes are thankfully good enough that his arm shoots out and keeps me from falling backward off the chair.
Swiftly untangling myself from Rafe, I climb off his lap, my face flaming. I don’t know what to say, exactly, so I just stand here. Waiting to be grounded, I guess.
“You know we have windows, right?” Sin asks.
I clear my throat. “I—” I stop immediately, realizing I have no idea what to say.
Rafe, however, seems to know just what to say. “Don’t tell Laurel.”
My swollen heart drops right out of its too narrow cavity. It scrapes the sides on the way down, and drops into a dark pit in my stomach. I glance at Rafe, but I don’t look long enough to catch his eye. I don’t know how to interpret what he just said, but as I begin running through explanations, none of them are good. Obviously he doesn’t still have romantic feelings for her (and Sin isn’t the person he would confide them in if he did, since he’s her fiancé) but the fact that he wants Sin to protect Laurel from this information… the fact that as much as we’re enjoying one another, he doesn’t want those closest to him to know…
It means I’m temporary.
It means I am Cinderella at the ball, and midnight is coming. Rafe is just enjoying the dance before then, like he does with every other temporary girl he brings into his life.
I’m a booth girl. Just one with a longer shelf life, I guess.
Sin doesn’t have the most expressive face, but when he looks back at me, I see a flash of pity in his eyes, and it’s more than I can take.
Clearing my throat, I reach for my purse. “You know what? I have an early morning tomorrow, so I should be getting home anyway. Tell Laurel I said thanks for inviting me.”
Rafe frowns at me, pushing up out of his seat. “Yeah, I should go, too.”
“No, you should stay,” I tell him. “Stay here with your family. I’m going home. Alone.”
I flash Sin a wilted smile and make my way around front, but Rafe is right on my heels.
“Virginia, come on. Don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything,” I state, working to keep unhelpful emotions out of my tone. “Everything is fine, Rafe. We’re fine. I just really do have an early morning tomorrow, and I should probably maintain my own life outside the Rafe bubble. That’s all. I can come over when I get off work tomorrow, if you want me to.”
Since I say all that without stopping and without so much as looking back at him over my shoulder, he doesn’t buy it.
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” he tells me. “I’m not even sure why I did. It seemed like an unspoken understanding between us that we weren’t telling. I put the ball in your court on Christmas, and you’re the one who didn’t want—”
Now I spin around. “I didn’t want Carly to know. I didn’t want my co-workers to know, because you own the damned restaurant and I didn’t want people to talk shit about me sleeping with the boss. Sin and Laurel? They’re our friends. They’re your family. Laurel is the one who started dragging me under your nose to begin with. She would be happy for us. She’s maybe the only person who would be happy for us. Everyone else thinks I’m on the fast track to heartbreak, but hell, maybe they’re right and she’s the one who doesn’t get it.”
Instead of responding sensibly or trying to disengage my burst of emotion, Rafe fires back with his own, “Felix, you mean. Felix thinks you’re on the fast track to heartbreak.”
I can only stare at him, wide-eyed. That’s too close to verbatim to be a coincidence. “What, were you eavesdropping?”
“There’s security footage on the bar. You acted weird around him, I wanted to know why.”
Now my jaw joins my eyes in their expressions of disbelief. “Are you serious? You spied on me?”