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Chapter Three
Music and noise from the bar ripped through her eardrums like a blast. Her senses sharpened. The dank back hall of her workplace and home came into focus, and the man buried inside her… it still felt so right being in his arms, but suddenly her mind was spinning with all the practicalities that should have prevented her from ever getting there.
What if Aaron found them?
Or someone from the bar? Mostly Kayla and Opal were the only ones who used this hall, but the door wasn’t locked.
“Careful baby.” Rafe set her gently to her feet and dropped a kiss against her temple before taking a step back.
Catching sight of the condom, she silently thanked God Rafe had been in enough control of his faculties to wear protection. It didn’t make sense now, but she’d been so desperate to have him inside her, she hadn’t even thought about it. Which wasn’t like her.
Sure she’d been caught up in seeing him after all this time. This was the man she’d spent damn near a year fantasizing about. Missing. Wishing that if things were different, she might have the chance to know.
So maybe…maybe she just needed to get out more so she didn’t practically jump the first guy to ping her make-out-o-meter.
Rafe shook his head and took an unsteady step.
“You okay?” she asked, shocked by how weary he suddenly looked.
Bracing an arm against the wall, he let out a low laugh. “I drove a thousand miles so I could get to you. Guess it’s catching up to me.”
“You drove a thousand miles…and came straight here? To find me?” Her heart was starting to hammer, a sick feeling sliding through her.
There was no way.
It couldn’t be.
Rafe slid his thick fingers through the curls at her neck, pulling her in closer. “I know this is going to sound like a line, but it’s like I was under a spell or something. I had to get to you today—well, yesterday now. But, fuck, I’ve never been so glad I did in all my life.”
Kayla froze, her defenses slamming into place. If this were any other time, any other day, and if she’d had any other sister…then yes, it might have sounded like a line. But today it did not.
“I get it,” she forced out in a ragged whisper. “It was exactly like a spell.”
* * * * *
Kayla pressed her palms flat on the polished wood and eyed Opal. “I know what were you doing with my brush.”
“What are you talking about?” Unwilling to meet her eyes, her sister stepped away from the bar. The corner of her mouth was twitching, involuntarily kicking up, even as she tried to force it down.
She was the worst liar.
Opal wiped her hands on her apron, then wrung them together. “I didn’t do anything.”
Right.
“No? Is that so? Then how do you explain this?” She stretched out her arm and pointed at the employee’s door just as Rafe walked through.
His dark brown eyes immediately found hers, his smile going wide. He took a few steps in their direction before a couple of guys from the end of the bar recognized him and were out of their seats clapping him on the back in greeting. He sent her an apologetic look, but she waved it off with a tight smile.
She needed to talk to her sister anyway.
Opal’s eyes were wide; that tattle-tale smile, wiped clean. “Oh, shit. Did you get some kissy-kissy?” Then her brows furrowed as she cocked her head to one side and wrinkled her pert nose. “Wait, isn’t that the guy—”
“Yes, yes,” Kayla replied impatiently. “The guy from last year.”
Opal sucked in her breath, before letting it out in a low whistle. “Oh, how weird.”
“Yeah, I thought so, too. Is there something you want to tell me about last Halloween?”
