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His mouth devoured hers and he brought her against his chest with a rough jerk. The hand between her legs stayed gentle as he stroked her and slipped a finger inside, but his lips weren’t. She rubbed her body against his, getting as much of a thrill from the thought of him being fully dressed while she was completely naked as she did from feeling the different fabrics and textures rubbing against her tight nipples and her wet cunt.
He picked her up and practically threw her on the bed, already undoing his belt. He barely had his cock out from inside the trousers of his impeccably civilized suit before he was thrusting inside of her. She grabbed handfuls of his clothes, trying to push them away and find more of his skin as she arched under him.
Rafe kept his feet on the floor and pulled her hips to the edge of the mattress, wrapping her legs around his waist so she didn’t fall. He drove into her, fast and deep, until they climaxed.
“Dammit,” he breathed into her hair.
“What?” Abbe asked, pushing him back so she could see his face.
He didn’t look happy and he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Just shower, okay?” he said, pulling out and turning away from her to fix himself.
Abbe sat up on the edge of her bed, watching his frustrated motions. “What happened?” she asked.
He sighed deeply. “Nothing,” he said softly. “I just don’t want this to be it.”
He left the room. Abbe sat there for a moment, knowing she’d messed up somehow. She got in the shower, distracting herself with the mechanics of bathing, wondering what she’d find waiting for her out in the living room when she was finished.
She came out of the bathroom, slipped on her robe, and went out to the living area to check. Rafe was sitting on her couch, suit jacket off, music playing, typing furiously on his phone.
“You’re still here,” she said, surprised.
He looked up from what he was doing and made a sardonic expression before looking back down at the screen. “I don’t run away from things,” he said. She heard the whooshing sound of an email being sent from his phone and he looked back up at her. “I wish you’d believe that.”
She stood in front of him, twisting her hands together before letting them drop. “I’m really trying to,” she said.
He leaned back on her couch, stretching his legs out in front of him, and gestured for her to come to him. She stepped to either side of his legs and knelt down onto his lap, straddling him. His hands came up to hold her hips and she rested her wrists on his shoulders, so they were in a little cage of each other’s arms, their eyes staring directly into each other’s.
“I know how deeply women feel their friendships with other women,” he said. “My sister Bianca would literally do anything for her friend Eden.” He rolled his eyes. “Which is not a good thing because Eden’s a mess,” he said, chuckling ruefully before getting back on track. “My point is, I can see how upset you are today. I’m guessing it’s about your friend Avrika. If you don’t feel like you can talk with me about her, that’s fine. I’ll give you space, and we won’t spend the weekend together. But don’t use sex to keep me at arm’s length.” Abbe took a breath to argue but he continued over her. “I’m an expert at fucking my feelings away, and I know you’re using this chemistry we have—this crazy,amazingchemistry—to avoid going through something emotionally. I’ve done it for years. I don’t want to do it with you.” He thought about it for a second. “Iwon’tdo it with you.”
She nodded, accepting what she’d done. “I’m sorry. That was pretty shitty of me. Though in my defense, I was not entirely aware I was doing it. You are exceptionally hot, and you were provoking me.”
“Fair enough.” He gave a little laugh and tightened his grip on her hips, giving them a shake, like he could jostle it out of her. “Now. Tell me what happened between you and Avrika.”
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she asked.
“No,” he admitted. “But go ahead anyway.”
She opened up her robe. “This.” She pointed to her scar.
His face froze. “How’d you get that?”
“Emergency appendectomy. About a year and a half ago my appendix exploded. When the doctors took it out, they immediately saw that something was off about it. There was a tumor. They found cancer.”
Rafe got very still, like he’d stopped breathing.
“I’m okay. I don’t have cancer. Once the tumor was out, I was cancer-free, but they didn’t know that at first. They told me they had to do a ton of tests to be sure, and that appendiceal cancer was very rare and strange and they just didn’t know until they knew. Does that make any sense?”
“Yes, continue,” he said in a business-like manner. Abbe made a face, noticing how he was switching into Master of the Universe mode, like taking more control made him feel better.
“Well, at the time, I was engaged to be married.” Abbe could feel his muscles clenching under her hands. “To Avrika’s cousin. She introduced us, actually.”
“What was his name?” Rafe asked. She already knew how well he retained names.
“Danny.” Abbe bit her lower lip, pulled herself together, and finished the story. “As soon as he heard the wordcancer, he broke it off. Didn’t even want to wait and see how the tests turned out. Said he couldn’t spend the rest of his life caring for a sick wife.”
It was like all the air left the room.
“He left you because you might have had cancer?” Rafe said, his voice low and dark.
