He shrugged. “I want to seeyoufine even more. If this isn’t gonna get you there, then we’ll reassess.” He threaded our fingers together briefly and squeezed. “And just to say, the kidnapping wasn’t for nothing. Best kidnapping I’ve ever experienced. Ten out of ten. I’ve even learned to love the smell of Shalimar.”
I laughed helplessly.
God. There were times when I justlikedthe man so damn much, it was hard to believe it was real.
The steadfastness in his eyes made my stomach settle and my heart leap at the same time—which made a strange sort of sense, when I thought about it, because in a life like mine, nothing was as exciting as stability.
“I’m being a giant baby about this,” I confessed, like he wasn’t already aware. “Aimee’s okay, I know she is. And you already told me the whole story.”
He dipped his head, a confirmation. “As much as I know of it.”
“So it’s really just hearing about what’s going on with her right now and why she never told me the truth about any of this, even after she left Florida.”
Just that.Pfft.Why my sister didn’t trust me with important facts of her life. Incidental stuff, really.
Rafe’s mouth quirked up on one side, like he’d heard everything I didn’t say. “You need this to get your relationship with her back on track, and I know that’s important to you. Look how well talking things out has worked for us.”
“True. And speaking of which… I, uh, think we should probably tell her that you and I are… you know.” I motioned between us. “Together?”
I watched Rafe’s face closely. He’d been the one to broach the idea of more-than-friends the day before, but he hadn’t said anything about it since then. Nothing except, “Jay and I are friends. Best friends” with a look in his eyes that said it had cost him something to deny us to the world. No lie, I felt terrible about it—and as everyone knew, terrible-without-a-clue-how-to-rectify-it was the worst kind of terrible.
“Since Aimee practically threw me at you the other day on the phone, I don’t think she’s gonna disapprove or anything,” I babbled on. “And maybe—”
“I wouldn’t give a single fuck if she did,” Rafe said without hesitation. “I don’t care what anyone thinks. This is between me and you.” He cupped my cheek in one strong palm. “I love Aimee a lot. You know that. But making sureyou’reokay is my priority here.”
I sucked in a breath. Had anyone ever said something like that to me? I didn’t think so. I kissed him, hard and fast, tasting his surprise and his instant response, and then I leaned against him, temple to temple.
“You know, about yesterday morning back at the inn. About us being, uh… best friends? I—” I swallowed. “I’m not sure if I made it really clear that you’d gotten that promotion you suggested. To boyfriend.”
I felt his grin against my cheek, and his warm breath curled in my ear. “Oh, that’s a relief. ’Cause I promoted you also.”
“Yeah?” I’d tried to sound amused, but it was probably probable that I’d overshot the mark and landed squarely ondesperate. “Also to boyfriend? Because that would be convenient.”
“I was thinking about elevating you tosecondfavorite singerever,” he said in a reverent voice. “Right after…”
I spluttered out a laugh and clapped a hand to his mouth. “Don’t you dare speak his name.”
Rafe’s eyes danced, and he tugged my hand away so he could kiss me quickly. “The sooner we’re done here, the sooner we can find a hotel,” he reminded me. “It won’t be the Dry Hump Pleasure Emporium, but—”
“But it could be our own pleasure emporium. If we try hard enough.” I waggled my eyebrows, and he groaned.
And that was more than enough to have me unwrapping a honey drop, getting out of the car, and striding briskly toward the hospital with Rafe’s hand in mine.
“We’d like to see a patient of yours. Aimee Rollins,” I announced to the receptionist—a bored younger guy this time, rather than the elderly woman who’d been there a few days before. I pointed at Rafe. “Rafael Goodman is here to see her. He’s on her NV-whatever list.”
“Sure thing.” The guy, whose name tag said Cedar, typed something into the computer, and his friendly look disappeared. “Hmm. I’ll need to see your ID, Mr. Goodman.”
“Of course,” Rafe said. But he rolled his eyes at me as he extracted his license, and I could practically hear his voice in my head saying, “Unorthodox methods.”
It was a sign of how sappy I was feeling that I let this go.
Cedar frowned down at Rafe’s ID. “I’m sorry, this is the wrong address. Wrong date of birth, also—”
“Ha!” I shouted triumphantly. “See? I told you they had your birthday wrong! I totally knew your birthday!” To Cedar, I added, “I totally know his birthday.”
Rafe shot me a sideways smile.
“Nifty,” Cedar said. “But that doesn’t get you on the authorized list, Mr….” His voice trailed off as he looked up at me—reallylooked. “Wait,Rollins? As inJayd Rollins?Holy shit.”
