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)
His chin jerked in shock. “I . . . I wasn’t even aware of her doing that.”
“Oh, so you’re that comfortable with her now that you just didn’t notice her petting you?” Tears burned my eyes. “Or remember that the last time we saw her, she told you she was pretty much waiting for you to dump me.”
“Star—”
Weeks of pent-up fears and frustrations bubbled between us. “No, no, seriously. I get it. You flirting with her. Makes sense.”
“I wasn’t flirting with her.”
“I know when you’re flirting, and you were flirting.” I laughed hollowly. “Jesus, Rafe, I’m a big girl. You can be honest with me. If you don’t want me anymore, it’s no skin off my nose. You can marry your perfect society princess and I can go back to casual fucking my way through Staten Island ’cause that’s what I’m good for. I still have my favorite fuck buddies saved in my phone.”
His eyes dropped to my toiletries bag as understanding dawned. Then Rafe took hold of my biceps, bending his head toward mine, face etched with fury. “Stop this.”
“What do you care who fucks me now that Ms. Camille’s back in your life?”
“She met someone,” he hissed, eyes blazing into mine. “She’s in love. For real this time. He was at the party. She was apologizing for what she said the last time we met. We cleared the air. She told me she’d never felt this way about a guy and I’ve never heard her speak like that, so I told her I was happy for her.”
I should have deflated at his explanation. Should have apologized. Yet I felt like I was floating away, like my feet couldn’t quite touch the ground no matter how hard I tried, and I was furious about it. And I was furious at Rafe because . . . he didn’t love me.
If he loved me, I knew he would have told me by now.
I was pathetic for sticking around, hoping that at some point, he’d fall in love with me. But I couldn’t make myself leave him. Just in case love hit him, eventually. Hope was pretty shitty like that.
“Yeah, well, good for her.” I shrugged out of his grip.
“You’re not going to apologize?”
“For what?” I retorted belligerently.
Rafe gaped at me as if he’d never seen me before and bit out, “Favorite fuck buddies saved in your phone?”
Lifting my shoulders in a lazy shrug, I replied nastily, “They’re backups. In case of an emergency.”
Hurt lit his eyes and then anger. Suddenly I found myself pressed up against the bathroom counter, his front to my back, and my eyes flew to his in the mirror above the sink.
“Delete them.” His chest heaved with emotion. “Because you don’t need any backups. I’m your fucking ‘in case of emergency.’ ” Rafe saw the raw desire on my face, and whatever thread of control he’d been holding on to snapped. He pushed up my dress and yanked down my underwear, the cool air blowing between my legs.
My body had been teetering on the edge of confusing arousal from the moment we’d started to argue. Now, with a million unsaid worries and emotions flooding between us, my skin flushed hot with desperate need.
Rafe slipped his fingers between my legs to check, and his eyes darkened at finding me ready. He held me pressed to the sink with one hand while his other yanked at his zipper and shoved his pants and underwear just far enough down to free himself.
And then he filled me.
I gasped, my back arching as Rafe thrust in and out.
“This is yours, only yours,” he promised harshly. His grip on my hips tightened as he held my gaze in the mirror. “And this is mine, only mine.”
Lust-fogged and insecure, I enjoyed the possessive words. They egged me on as Rafe fucked me, fast, hard, claiming. I gasped out his name with each hard drive into me.
The tension coiling inside me had needed little seduction, and I was pulsing and squeezing around Rafe as my climax hit me like a lightning bolt.
Instead of giving in to his own orgasm, he spun me around and gripped my right thigh in his hand and entered me again. He covered my mouth with his and I held on as he took what he needed to take from me, kissing him through his thrusts and then through the orgasm that shuddered over him.
As our hearts slowed and reality returned, tears wet my eyes.
Rafe tensed at the sight of them, and he brushed my hair back from my face. “Did I hurt you?”
I shook my head. “Did I hurt you?”
His gaze lowered so I couldn’t see his expression, and he gently pulled out. I had hurt him. Dammit. I leaned against the counter as he cleaned us both up. His tenderness made the tears leak free.