AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I thought you did it yourself like a normal person.” His hand slid lower, covering her belly. “If she works for you, isn’t she paid to keep quiet?”
“That’s the mob.” He wasn’t moving speedily enough for her liking. She covered his hands with hers, trying to pull them away. His grip tightened, fingers lacing with hers. “I need to get dressed.”
“Why? Are clothes going to make her forget what she saw?” He rolled her onto her back and held their clasped hands at her side. “You’re a widow, not a nun.”
“Marco’s barely cold in the ground.” She turned her face away. “It’s about respect.”
“Funny thing about respect—it’s a two-way street. I hate to break it to you, but it really looks like my father was planning on leaving you. So if respect is the only thing holding you back from having sex with me, I think you’ll find the accounts are solidly in the black when it comes to optics.”
When she didn’t respond, he breathed out in frustration. “He had a fucking passport, Donni. He was going to throw you to the wolves.”
“Quoth the wolf king.”
“That may be. But even after ten years, even after all this, I know when you’re not happy. You’re not fucking happy.” His teeth clipped her ear. “And the house is partially responsible for that. You’re not safe here.”
I’m not safe with you.
She thought of the previous night, and how she had used him to fuck away the nightmares. He was the scariest thing in that room, but knowing he wouldn’t hurt her held the same breathless elation as training a beast to one’s hand. It was the fear of regression, of getting burned, that held her in his thrall and kept her coming back for more.
She stepped into her jeans, feeling his gaze as if filaments of spiderweb were clinging to her skin. She kept her back turned as she pulled off her top, fastening one of her expensive La Perla bras before tugging on a Carmen Marc Valvo blouse. The decorative buckle at the shoulder was overly formal, but she found herself with the need to assert herself, to remind everyone that she owned this house, at least for now.
When she was dressed, she looked over at Rafe. He was wearing his jeans and a green shirt. The color infused his olive skin with a rich glow and brought out the glacial intensity of his eyes. But with the fabric hanging open around his hairy chest, the vivid hue of it struck her as more than a little obscene.
(Did you think I was lusting after you in your ripped Levi’s 201s?)
“I need you to stay here until I can get everything sorted out,” said Donni.
“Until you can get rid of the help, you mean.”
“Look.” She cleared her throat. “Maybe you can’t see what this looks like, but I’ve had to spend most of my adulthood being made to feel sorry for things I did as a young woman. Things that weren’t nearly as bad as this.” She paused a moment, to draw in a breath. “People are going to say that I groomed you.”
“I thought you didn’t care what people think.”
“Rafael,” she said. “Please. Do this for me.”
She saw his jaw tighten. “Fine,” he said. “But you owe me.”
Donni could imagine whatowinghim would entail. She sighed and gave her head a brief jerk before turning to the door. In the hallway—where he wouldn’t see—she smoothed out her hair and clothes before making her way downstairs where she could hear the clatter of plates.Shit.
She usually made a point of doing the dishes before Madge came over so the place wouldn’t look like a dump. But as she entered the room, she was reminded very swiftly of the mess the police had left. The glass bar was dangerously broken and the master bedroom still smelled like smoke. The dishes were the least of her worries.
Madge looked up, a flicker of something that looked like distaste crossing her face. She turned her head back towards the shattered bar before Donni could really get a good look, though. “What happened there? Was there an accident?”
It was a reasonable enough question to ask, but considering the lack of closeness between them, Donni could feel herself shrinking in, becoming defensive. Rather than sounding concerned or even merely curious, the housekeeper’s words carried the slight ring of accusation.
“There was a break-in. A few nights ago.”
“Did you call the police?”
“Yes. They’re looking for the person who did it.” She folded her arms, hating that she felt so uncomfortable. Even at the best of times, this place didn’t quite feel like home. “I know this is a bigger mess than what you’re normally used to. I’ll pay you time and a half for it.”
Madge nodded before turning back to the sink. Her shoulders were tense. Donni could sense her unasked questions hovering in the air—Who was that man? What broke all the glass?She walked to the cupboard and saw the other woman turn to face the shattered bar. Her face, in profile, was unreadable, but that tightness had yet to leave the set of her spindly body.
“Oh,” Donni called out. “There’s no need to do my room today—or the guest room,” she added, as if it were an afterthought. “I’ll take care of it myself.”
Madge made a noise that could have been acknowledgement or interrogatory. Donni pretended it was the former and opened up her food delivery app. She ordered enough for both her and Rafe, and the housekeeper if she wanted, telling herself that it wasn’t a bribe.
“Madge,” Donni said, without looking up, “would you like me to order you lunch?”
