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But it did. People were getting hurt because of our mistakes.
I placed my fingertips against his mouth, trying to stop things before they spun out of control. I had a tendency to lose track of time and space when I was in his arms. But I needed to make sure some poor guy hadn’t just died because of me.
“Rafe. Tell me what happened.”
By the mulish expression on his face, I thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then I poked him in the side.
“I paid a visit to that asshole who hurt you.”
Shit, shit, shit. What had he told Rafe? I swallowed. “Is he still alive?” My heart squeezed.
Rafe frowned. “Yes. I wouldn’t—” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I don’t— That’s not the kind of man I want to be.”
“What kind of man do you want to be then?” I kissed his bruised knuckles. Could he be distracted from this conversation?
“A just one. I do what’s necessary to protect the innocent.” He glanced down at his hands. “As it stands, I was barely able to control myself. And that makes me sick.”
“Rafe,” I whispered. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I thought I did. When I went there, I wanted to make sure he understood that the things we do have consequences. I was his consequence. After all, he’d hurt what was mine. That was why I went there. But I realized that I didn’t belong there.”
Hell. He knew. He had to know.
“I’m yours?” Even though he’d said it before, it had felt more like the product of high emotions and rushing testosterone. Men said all kinds of things in the moment that they didn’t actually mean. But this was different.
“How could you not know how I feel about you?” Rafe dragged me forward and kissed me again. On a shocked breath, I opened for him again. He angled his head to deepen the kiss. When he touched his tongue to mine, I stilled and backed away, flattening a hand against his chest.
“You can tell me anything. You know that, right? Diana—”
“Wait. I just need a minute to breathe.” I pushed my hair away from my face and tried to take a breath. I battled conflicting emotions—worry over what Rafe had done on my behalf and guilt at my own deception. I was caught up in a web of lies and didn’t know how to untangle myself. What the hell had I done to his life?
There were so many questions and no answers, and the swirl of confusion was making my head hurt. But for the first time in my life, I felt alive. Like I was doing more than just existing from one day to the next.
Whether it was right or wrong, I couldn’t resist one more chance to feel alive in Rafe’s arms. For the rest of my days, I doubted I’d ever feel like this again.
If I had been unsure about leaving him before, now it was even clearer why I needed to. Despite everything I knew, I loved him. And I couldn’t keep doing this to either of them. I needed to leave before I destroyed us both.
I swiped a tear off my cheek. “I didn’t want this, Rafe.”
“Baby, don’t cry. Please don’t be scared. I would never hurt you.”
Rafe shifted slightly, looking as wrecked as I felt. This back-and-forth was taking a toll on both of us.
“I know.”
I cut him off by tugging him to me and fusing our lips together. He didn’t need further invitation and dragged me onto his lap so I straddled him, my dress shifting up to expose my thighs.
* * *
Rafe
I should have known this was too good to be true. All I wanted was to sink into Diana, make her come a handful of times, and hold her to sleep. That would be better than any aspirin.
But just as she hiked up her skirt, there was a knock at the door. Fuck that, I could ignore it. I slid my lips over Diana’s, wanting to get lost in them.
“Rafe, don’t you think you should get that?”
“Nope. Remember the last time I opened the door? Matthias cock-blocked me. I’m not taking that chance again.”
