Last Words (Morelli Family 7)

“Because you have all the compassion the rest of us lack.”

“I think you guys have compassion, you just have less of it. If we were all—”

Apparently he’s not in the mood for my philosophizing tonight; he cuts me off in the most delightful way—by tugging me in for a hard kiss. His hands roam the planes of my body, marking every inch his. My pulse quickens in anticipation of his every stroke, his every caress. Then he goes for the neck, nearly stealing my capacity for thought with his intoxicating neck kisses.

Before he can effectively turn my brain off with his practiced moves, I pull back. “Wait a minute.”

“I’ve waited lots of minutes,” he states, leaning back in.

“Why is Rafe here?”

He pauses, as I hoped he would. His face betrays nothing, naturally. “What do you mean? I told you, he’s in town on business and I told him he could stay here.”

“I just find it a little suspect he hasn’t been around once in five years and now he’s suddenly here on business—and you’re inviting him to stay here right on the heels of what happened in Vegas.”

“We weren’t on especially friendly terms for those five years,” he reasons. “It wouldn’t have made sense to invite him to stay here when we didn’t associate with one another.”

“But now you guys are all good and you want to be friends?” I ask, eyebrows rising.

Mateo frowns, watching me. “Is there some reason you don’t want Rafe here?”

The way he asks sets me on edge. “See, that’s what I’m saying. What is that supposed to mean?”

Caught somewhere between confusion and displeasure, Mateo’s frown doesn’t waver. “I’m lost.”

“Who are you testing?” I demand. His frown clears and his eyebrows rise with faint surprise. “Is it me or him?”

This time, he makes no attempt to hide the confusion that flickers across his face. “You? Why would I be testing you?”

“You know why.”

“No, I don’t,” he asserts, with what feels like exaggerated—and very intentional—ignorance. “Enlighten me.”

I’m angry that he’s making me say it—I’m not sure if I’m angrier at him or myself. “To see if I would cheat.”

“Of course you wouldn’t cheat,” he replies, without hesitation. “I don’t need to test you to know that. Your loyalty to me is the one thing I never question, Mia.”

“But…”

He doesn’t make me finish. “But nothing. We’ve already gone over this—more than once. I’m disappointed that I have to repeat myself. You have nothing to be ashamed of, Mia. Nothing. I never want you to feel shame about your body or anything anyone has ever done to it—with or without your consent, up to and including me. While I obviously love every inch of your body, it doesn’t determine your worth to me. We’re above this kind of small-minded bullshit, Mia.”

I avert my gaze. “I know you said that, but I also know that the man involved who was never around before is suddenly in my dining room flirting with me in front of all our family and you’re not saying a damn word to put a stop to it.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Why would I? You flirt with Adrian—that doesn’t bother me. Why should this be any different?”

“Because Adrian and I don’t have that kind of history,” I blurt.

Amusement flickers across his face and annoys me. “You and Rafe have a history now? Did you have some secret, sweeping romance that no one told me about?”

“Mateo.”

Chuckling, he pulls me close and kisses my forehead. “This is absurd. You and Rafe hardly have a history. You know I like to watch you play—as long as you stick to men I can control. No loose cannons rolling around our house, but Adrian and Rafe are level-headed men. I thought you’d like having Rafe here for a couple weeks. You can have fun and blow off some steam. You’ve been stressed out by everything going on with Meg and on lockdown since you won’t let me kill Vince. With Rafe here, you have extra protection. You need a little distraction, something to take your mind off things. Rafe will be good for that. I’m too busy right now with work to give you as much of my time as I’d like and you need a friend. Rafe can be your friend.”

“Rafe isn’t exactly Meg,” I point out.

“If by ‘not exactly Meg’ you mean he won’t try to get you killed, then yes, that’s the point. Remember our talk? Only friends who value your safety and well-being from now on.”

“What a weird requirement for friendship,” I remark, lightly. “Good thing I didn’t have that standard when I met you; we never would’ve made it this far.”

Mateo smirks. “I’m an exception to the rule. Besides, I didn’t actually want to kill you.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was just business.”

“I changed my mind, that’s the important thing.”