Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
This time, he turned his head to grin at me before looking back at the road. “Am I?”
“Who are you, and what have you done with Rafe Whitman?”
“Are you feeling okay?” He blindly reached toward me as if he wanted to touch my forehead.
I slapped his hand away, laughter in my voice. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”
Rafe chuckled as he returned his hand to the wheel. “That is very true.”
A tingle burst to life between my legs at the flirty rumble in those words, and I squirmed in my seat.
Yeah . . . I was very, very confused.
* * *
• • •
When we first arrived at his parents’ house, Rafe continued to be affectionate and sweet, but now we had an audience. Guests had only just started arriving for the weekend house party, and Rafe kissed me on the mouth in front of his family before he told me he was taking our luggage to our rooms.
“Oh, room, darling,” Jen corrected. “As in singular. We don’t expect you two to pretend like you don’t share a bed. And frankly, I needed the other rooms for guests.”
Rafe stared at his mother, a frown between his brows. “You always put Camille and me in separate rooms. It drove her up the wall.”
Jen shrugged. “That’s because I didn’t like her.”
Gigi hooted. “Momma Jen keeping it real with some honesty. I love it!”
Jen rolled her eyes at her daughter’s antics, but I could see the amusement there.
Then Gigi wrapped her arm around my shoulders and hugged me to her. “Looks like someone approves, gorgeous.”
My cheeks flushed and I’m sure they thought it was humble modesty. But it wasn’t. The heat was part guilt and part holy shit, I’m stuck sharing a room with Rafe for the weekend.
As if she had read my mind, Gigi whispered in my ear, “Don’t feel guilty. Trust me, Rafe deserves this reprieve from my mom’s matchmaking insanity.” Gigi and I had spoken privately about it, and she’d told me that what I’d witnessed at Charmaine’s birthday party was nothing compared to what she’d watched her brother endure. She’d once been out for coffee with him and he’d received five calls in an hour from women his mom and Pippa had given his number to.
I nodded at Gigi, giving her a small smile of thanks.
Then I looked over at Rafe. His smirk was cocky before he left the room with our luggage.
Was he . . .
No.
He couldn’t be.
Right?
* * *
• • •
Gigi commandeered me as soon as we joined the party, dragging me away from Rafe to ask me advice on how to deal with a friend who’d just lost her job and had started ghosting Gigi. I advised her to go see her friend to make sure she was okay. Sometimes low feelings made us push people away. After that, our conversation moved easily to more friend talk, guy talk, work, tattoos, and more. Before I knew it, so much time had passed, Rafe came to collect me.
“I need you by my side for this,” he grumbled, pulling me away from his sister.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get caught up.”
He gave my waist a squeeze. “It’s fine. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I brought a woman home who got on so well with Gigi or any of my family, for that matter.”
Huh.
I was not going to overanalyze that.
Within the next hour of the garden/pool party, Rafe had returned to Mr. Monosyllabic. But only, I realized, around the guests he didn’t know. He kept me close with his arm around my waist as his mom introduced us to new friends and acquaintances and we said hello to old friends. Rafe was visibly more relaxed around the people he knew.
Something had slowly occurred to me over the last few weeks. We’d moved away from a conversation with a couple Pippa and Hugo had invited. During the exchange, Rafe had tightened his hold on me and barely said a word as the husband droned on about insurance for small businesses like Rafe’s.
Getting nowhere with him, the man finally gave up and made an excuse for him and his wife to leave.
As soon as they were gone, Rafe released a sigh as if he was deflating, grabbed my hand, and glowered his way through the guests. He picked up two bottles of beer from the bar and kept walking until the music and murmur of conversation was just a hum in the background. We stopped in the shade of trees in the woodland behind his parents’ property.
As I took the beer Rafe held out to me, I leaned against the nearest tree. “Is it shyness?”
Rafe pushed his sunglasses into his hair and frowned at me in question as he took a swig of cold beer.
“You’re different around people you don’t know.”