“I—” I stop, searching for the right words. “I saw him touch you. And I… snapped.”
Rafe’s brow furrows. “Elliot.”
“Yes.”
A slow exhale leaves him. “You’re jealous.”
My face burns. “I don’t get to be,” I say immediately, because it’s true and because it’s the only defense I have.
Rafe’s eyes sharpen. “No. You don’t.”
The words hurt more than they should, even though I deserve them.
“But you were anyway,” he adds, softer, like he hates that he can’t stop caring.
I swallow hard. “Yeah.”
Rafe drags a hand down his face. “Jesus.”
“I didn’t plan it,” I repeat, because if he doesn’t believe anything else, I need him to believe that. “I wasn’t thinking about cameras or headlines or?—”
“Or the fact that you’ve spent your whole life, your career, hiding,” he cuts in.
I flinch.
Rafe’s jaw clenches like he regrets the sharpness immediately, but he doesn’t take it back. How can he when it’s still true?
I set the water down carefully, like if I move too fast I’ll break the moment. “I know,” I say quietly. “And I know it was reckless. And I know it was unfair to you, because you didn’t ask for?—”
“Don’t,” Rafe says, voice low.
I blink.
He pushes off the counter, taking a step closer. Not close enough to touch, but close enough that I can feel his warmth. “Don’t turn that into an apology,” he says. “Not like that.”
“What do you mean?”
His gaze drops to my mouth for a split second, then back to my eyes. “You kissed me,” he says, like he’s naming something sacred. “And I kissed you back.”
My heart stutters violently.
Rafe’s throat works. “I’m not going to stand here and pretend it didn’t matter.”
I can’t breathe.
He looks away, the motion abrupt, like he just exposed a nerve. “But it also doesn’t—” He pauses, fists clenching. “It doesn’t erase anything.”
“I know,” I whisper.
Rafe’s eyes come back to mine, hard. “Do you?”
“Yes,” I say, and I mean it. “I do.”
Because that’s the point. I’m not here expecting the kiss to be a reset button. I’m here because I got served divorce papers and realized I might lose him forever, and because I deserve that, and because I can’t let the last thing between us be silence.
Rafe’s voice shifts. “The attack.”
The abrupt pivot makes my stomach drop. “What about it?”
