She drove home humming the entire way, and once inside her warm, cozy little home, she poured herself a glass of wine and opened her laptop. It was time to buy some new lingerie. Something told her she’d need something sooner than later. Definitely by Christmas.
Her curves were a little too generous for Victoria’s Secret, but Deena had clued her in to British lingerie shops and their amazing online stores. Even with international shipping, the prices were reasonable. And the silk and satin? Totally sexy.
And with her new income, and her credit card almost paid off…it was time to indulge her secret love of lace and ribbon.
When the knock came on her door two hours later, she wasn’t surprised, but part of her wanted to text him and tell him to go away. That she had a date with a fantasy Rafe in her dreams and tonight had been perfect, so they shouldn’t mess it up with talking that would inevitably lead to fighting.
But on the other side of the door lay a good probability of another smoking hot kiss.
She may have been a little breathless when she wrenched open the door. She covered it up with a bright smile. “Is this about me ducking out?”
Rafe cocked one eyebrow and moved right into her personal space. He closed the door behind him and cupped her face in his hands, pressing a hard, hot kiss against her mouth. “This is about us having a lot of unfinished business.”
Heat unfurled in her belly and she pressed her lips together as he took off his leather jacket. He’d changed out of his uniform and now wore a black thermal henley over dark green cargo pants. He looked every bit the bad-ass soldier and cop she knew he was—but that just underlined some of that unfinished business between them, and not the good kissing kind. He sat on the bench and unlaced his boots, then held out his hand. She let him lead her to the couch, where he moved her laptop out of the way and took a seat at one end. She sat at the other.
“Did I interrupt you working?”
She shook her head and let a small smile play on her lips.
He raised his eyebrows. “What? You look like the cat that got the canary.”
“I was doing some online shopping.”Why are you telling him this? Clothes must stay on!“For lingerie.”
Laughter was not the response she’d been hoping for. “Baby, really?”
She crossed her arms. “They haven’t shipped yet, so there’s still time for me to cancel.”
“No, don’t do that.” He sobered up and gave her a hard stare. “You’re teasing me. Yesterday you weren’t speaking to me, today you’re, you’re…” He trailed off and let his sentiment be known with a bite of his lower lip and a slow up and down sweep of her body. Which was clad in yoga pants and a hoodie, quite the opposite of sexy silk, but it probably wouldn’t matter.
She lifted her hands in the air. “I know. But today I’m not leaving town. I’ve got two jobs to the middle of the summer, and I don’t know…maybe I won’t leave at all.”
He stared at her. “Why?”
“Does it matter?” She didn’t really know the answer to that question yet. It just didn’t feel right, leaving. She’d been running away from something she didn’t need to fear. No matter what, she could stand on her own two feet in Pine Harbour.
He nodded slowly. “I think it does. I think if we’re going to do this, we have to start differently. As equals, no obligation.”
She looked at his hand resting on top of the cushions at the back of the couch. Tan skin, a light dusting of dark hair at the wrist, neatly trimmed nails at the end of big, blunt fingers. He was a giant of a man, and when she’d met him she knew he would be a good husband and lover. He had been. A good father and provider. He would have been. Hurt stabbed through her chest. Not her own…his. She might have come to Pine Harbour because he had the career and she didn’t, but her obligation to him faded pretty damn quickly after that. And she started demanding more and more of him. More attention. More understanding. More and more until he couldn’t give it.
She knew now that she should have sought the stimulation she needed in something else. A hobby, although that sounded weak. Should have looked harder for a more interesting job. Been more serious about taking up running or having children. Rafe had wanted kids. She’d wanted to wait, but now that she was nearing thirty, starting a family sounded way less frightening than it had in her early twenties. But maybe that wasn’t on the table. Not the way Rafe was talking about no obligations and doing things differently.
“That doesn’t sound like a second attempt at marriage,” she said softly.
He shook his head. “I don’t know if we were meant to be married, Liv.”
Now the hurt was one hundred percent hers. Oh. Heat flooded her cheeks, crawling down her neck and across her chest. “I thought we’d agreed there was too much history between us for something casual.”
He shifted forward enough to grab her hand and pull her toward him. Not hard against his body, just close enough for their knees to bump and his hand to reach her face. “There is.” He sighed, a deep, heavy release that left a lingering crease between his brows. “But we need to build a better foundation this time. And who knows if that’ll happen? But I want to give it a shot.”
The truth of what he was saying stole her breath away. She felt the trembling start in her middle and travel across her entire body.
“Hey, hey,” he murmured, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “Was that too blunt? Iwantit to happen. I want nothing more than to find a way back to you. Permanently.”
She offered a shaky smile. “It’s not very romantic, though, is it?”
He gave her a hard look. “Is that what you want? Romance?”
She turned the question over in her head. “I don’t know. I liked…” Realization dawned on her. “Oh. You aren’t sure how I felt about your notes.”
