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Rafe stared at her. ‘He said... Are you serious?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘No, I joke about that kind of thing all of the time. Of course I’m serious.’
‘It’s rubbish. He’s an idiot.’ Rafe reached for her and she pushed him away.
‘Don’t. Just...don’t.’
He couldn’t believe that she could have taken something that was so obviously a cruel jibe to heart. Mimi was the most exciting woman he’d ever known, both in and out of bed, and this guy had to be certifiably insane. But she’d listened to him, and it had worked into her system like poison.
‘Didn’t I make you feel good enough?’ Rafe knew the answer to that as soon as he’d asked the question. When she didn’t answer, it confirmed everything. He’d never confided in her, and then he’d left, without giving any proper reason. He’d done nothing to repair the damage that had already been done.
She shook her head. ‘It’s... It doesn’t matter.’
It did matter. Nothing he could say was going to make her believe how completely wrong all this was. Only one thing would do. Rafe leaned forward and kissed her.
She gave a little squeak of surprise and then she kissed him back. It was a proper kiss, not the brushing of lips against skin which hardly knew how to respond because it was all so brief.
They were both breathless, holding the kiss for so long that Rafe felt almost giddy. He pulled her close in a sharp, strong motion and she gasped. Then she climbed on top of him, sitting on his lap, her legs folded on either side of his thighs.
This time he would tell her how irresistibly beautiful she was, how much she meant to him in every way. He’d make her understand...
She nuzzled against his neck and he felt her lips move against his ear. ‘What’s your number, Rafe?’
‘You have it, don’t you? Why...you want to call me?’ Maybe this was some kind of complicated telephone sex game that Mimi had dreamed up. He couldn’t help wishing it might be.
‘No, idiot. How many girlfriends? Proper ones.’ She nipped at his ear with her teeth and his whole body jerked with desire.
He knew just what she was asking. She didn’t care about the ones who came before they’d lived together. Since then... He wanted to know who she’d been with since then too.
‘Six. That’s my number. And there’s been no one since you...’ Rafe decided that full disclosure was his only option. Her body was too close to his for anything else. ‘No one serious, that is. I’ve asked women to dinner or the theatre but that’s all. The odd barbecue...’
She silenced him with a kiss. One that told him, without any doubt at all, that barbecues didn’t count and six was the right answer.
‘Three,’ she whispered into his ear and he felt uncertainty tear at him. Two before him; he knew that. Maybe someone had helped her move the furniture and repaint the walls. ‘Including you.’
An instinctive warmth spread through his whole body. No one since him. Rafe swallowed hard.
‘And this tells us something?’
‘I just wanted to know. Didn’t you?’
‘Yeah.’
She grabbed his wrists, forcing them back on to the cushions behind him. Then she kissed him again, somehow managing to tease and take both at the same time.
The anger, the new self-confidence which had been the source of so many arguments in the last few days, had translated into the physical. He’d always tried to be a considerate lover, and he knew that he could take them both into a state of dizzy satisfaction. But she didn’t want that this time. She was going to take them there.
A sharp jolt of arousal spun through his veins. He stretched his legs out in front of him, longing for her to play out the fantasy.
She stilled suddenly, her lips a hair’s breadth from his. ‘Say my name. The way you used to.’
He knew just what she wanted. Rather than call her Miriam all the time, he’d simply stopped calling her anything. ‘Mimi. Beautiful Mimi.’ He felt his lips brush hers as he said the words.
‘I want to know...’ She was dropping kisses on his cheek, working her way across to his ear. ‘I want to know how far I can take you.’
‘Then find out, honey.’ He wouldn’t beg just yet. Not while he still had the choice. He had a feeling that Mimi might be depriving him of that quite soon.
‘Be careful what you wish for.’ One hand loosed its grip from his wrist and slid down to the buckle of his jeans. Rafe closed his eyes, feeling the scintillating fumble of her fingers.
