“We’re going to be so tired in the morning.”
“You’ve probably lost your spot on the nice list for letting me fuck you. All you’re getting is coal now.”
“Probably,” I agree. “I regret nothing.”
“Yet,” he says, lightly.
I widen my eyes at him, thinking he means I probably made a mistake sleeping with him.
Then he corrects my thoughts when he follows it up with, “We’ll see how you feel when you have to sit down tomorrow. I fully intend to fuck you again before we leave for Sin’s house in the morning.”
Oh, okay, he meant I’ll be sorry because of physical discomfort, not because of the inevitable heartache that’s bound to follow this encounter. Good, good. I can work with that. “You can fuck me until I’m sore, then fuck me some more. I can handle a little ache.”
He buries his face in my neck and growls. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
“If it means more orgasms, absolutely.”
“Troublesome minx,” he accuses, rolling back into his spot, locking his strong arms around me, and tugging me close.
“Please. I’m the least troublesome woman you’ve ever had in this bed.”
He can’t argue with that, so instead he tucks my face into his chest to shut me up and cuddles me tightly against him. I can’t complain. As much as I enjoy talking to Rafe, cuddling is new, so I’ll take as much of it as I can get.
Besides, maybe it’s not by accident that I’m the least troublesome, and also the woman who is finally in this bed after Cassandra’s death, after his fiasco with Laurel, after his “lady cleanse.”
Maybe Rafe has finally had enough troublemaking women in his life.
I didn’t need Galina. I needed you, he said.
I hate to even hope for that, but his words certainly gave me some of it. I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment so I won’t commit to this expectation, but maybe… just maybe… Rafe is finally ready for something different.
15
Virginia
Rain water falls gently from the blue-lit head above. I’ve never thought kissing in the rain was terribly romantic regardless of what Hollywood tried to tell me, but when Rafe spins me around in the shower so I’m facing him, cradles my face in his big, strong hand, and pulls me close for a tender kiss under the rain water shower? It’s pure romance.
It’s almost scary how happy I am. This happiness feels as slippery as his muscular biceps when I run my hands down them under the gentle spray. God, he is a sexy man. I didn’t want this much of him emblazoned in my mind, but now that it is, I can’t complain.
I don’t even know how we’re supposed to act around each other when we leave the bubble of Rafe’s house and go to Laurel and Sin’s place. I just told Carly last night I wasn’t sleeping with Rafe, and I know that’s the only reason she let herself like me. Even Laurel; she may have brought me to Christmas Eve so Rafe wouldn’t be lonely, but how will she actually feel when—if?—she finds out I’m fucking the father of her child?
And what if Rafe doesn’t want anyone to know? Then I’ll get stuck overthinking it, wondering if it’s just because this is the Christmas holiday and he doesn’t want to steal the spotlight or make things uncomfortable, or if he has another (much less pleasant) reason.
Thankfully, Rafe tugs me out of thoughts of the future when the water changes. The rain shower stops and I look to see what he’s doing, since he’s reaching past me.
Rafe grabs the shower spray extension and turns the head until a harder spray comes out. I make a little murmur of satisfaction as he runs it along my neck and shoulders and down my back.
“Gotta get you clean,” he tells me.
“Oh, yes. It wouldn’t be a successful shower otherwise.”
“Mm hmm,” he murmurs, lowering the spray and running it along the small my back. The spray stings just a little, but it feels good. Then Rafe uses his free hand to move my sopping hair off my neck and presses his lips there instead. Pleasure shudders through me and I let my eyes drift closed.
“You know what we should have done?” he asks.
“What we’re doing right now?” I suggest. “I’m a big fan of that.”
His low chuckle rumbles against my neck and gives me chills. “No. I should’ve taken you to the shower attached to my gym. It has a sauna, so there’d be a place for you to sit while I bury my face between your legs and have an early breakfast.”