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No matter how he’d tried to rationalize it, that was exactly what he’d been doing.
“That’s my bad. I was trying to be cool and see if you liked me,” he said as he entered her living room. The television projected a soft blue glow into the room and he noted the opened container of frozen yogurt on the coffee table.
She sat in the chair that he had fond memories of making love to her in, with her legs curled under her body. With a quick economical movement she reached over and flicked on the light on the side table.
“I think we both know I like you,” she said.
He sat down on the ottoman in front of her and put his hands on the arms of the chair. “I’m not talking about lust. I’m talking about whether you like me for the man I am. I don’t think I did much but show off the last time I was in Key West. Trying to catch your eye and show you I wasn’t like all the other men in the bar.”
“You did that,” she said softly. “If that was you showing off, you did it very well.”
He winked at her. “After all this time I do know how to present a good image.”
“It worked. So is that what you were doing in Alma with the people? I saw some of the press coverage from your trip. It looks like you were falling in love with the country and the people.”
“You’re talking about the blonde, right?” He laughed softly when she frowned and shook her head in denial. “Her family is nuts. They want her to marry the next king. She’s not...real. It’s not like when I’m with you,” he said. Dita was a beautiful woman, but all the scheming with her mother made him edgy. And it was impossible to think of anything other than getting away from her.
“So what do you want from me?” Emily asked.
There it was. The million-dollar question. He had been debating it for so long and still had no answer. “Right now, I need to figure out how the media found out you were pregnant.”
She nodded. “The easy stuff first.”
It was interesting that she thought finding the source of the leak was going to be easy. “How is that the easy stuff? Do you know who broke the story?”
“Let’s just say I have some suspicions, and if that little weasel is at the coffee shop tomorrow morning I intend to confirm them,” she said. “I pretty much caught some guy eavesdropping on me when you and I were talking on the phone the other day. And yesterday...I had really bad bout of morning sickness at the coffee shop and Snoopy was right there talking to me about you. Seems odd, right?”
Rafe didn’t like the idea that Emily had been targeted. How had the reporter been alerted to her presence? The community in Key West was a close-knit one and Rafe couldn’t for the life of him imagine any of them talking about Emily.
It must have been someone who knew him. He remembered the way she’d sneaked into his penthouse. Maybe that was where the reporter had picked up the thread of the story. Maybe he’d followed her.
Hell, he had no idea.
He rubbed the back of his neck. He was tired.
“You’re not confronting anyone,” he said. “I’ll go tomorrow and take care of it.”
She put her hand on his chest and shoved him back so she could get up from the chair. Standing next to him, she put her hands on her hips and arched one eyebrow at him.
“One—you’re not the boss of me. Sorry, I’m just not going to take orders. Two—that rat bastard played me and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” she said. “So I’ll take care of it.”
It was late and he was tired of being pulled in too many directions, so perhaps that was why he let his temper slip as he stood up, towering over her. He put his hands on her shoulders and realized all he wanted to do was protect her, and that was the one thing that Emily didn’t seem to want from him.
“Dammit, woman. I’m trying to keep you safe. I don’t want any of this dirty press to affect you. I need to know that you aren’t harmed by it.”
“Why?” she asked. “Because you think I can’t handle it?”
“Hell, Red. You can handle anything. I am doing this because I care about you and if anything hurt you I wouldn’t be able to live with it.”
Nine
Rafe pulled her to him and slammed his mouth down on hers, backing her up against the wall. The moment their mouths met his anger died. It felt like too long since he’d held her in his arms. She did that thing with her tongue where she twirled it around his, and he instantly got hard.
He cupped her butt and flexed his fingers, lifting her up until he could rub his erection right over the center of her body. She was naked under her shirt, and he liked the feel of her cool buttocks in his hands. She moved against him and he feathered his finger in a circle around the small of her back. She moaned and arched against him before tunneling her fingers into his hair and holding him to her while she plundered his mouth.
