“Holy shit. Itworked,” Amber breathes. Rafe and I haven’t told anyone about the tip we received from the stranger on the roof.
The stranger who left after seeing Nora and Amber down here.
Vivienne walks up to Rafe. They spend a long time talking, and I look around for Alex. It’s his castle we’ve won back. Where is he?
He’s nowhere to be seen.
“We should leave,” West says, and there’s relief in his voice. “We’re done here.”
Rafe comes to join us. His eyes are locked on me.You’re both going to have averyfun night tonight, the waiter said.
Was there some kind of aphrodisiac in the shot? Heat prickles at the back of my neck. I have no clue how they work. Is it Viagra? What does that do to men?
Maybe he doesn’t know what he’s taken yet either.
We start heading toward the back of the yacht. Alex and James are already there, talking quietly by the railing.
Alex’s face turns into a smile when he sees us. He slaps Rafe on the back. “Knew I could count on you,” he says.
Rafe pulls out a piece of paper from his suit jacket. It’s folded twice over, but I can see dark sprawled writing through the thin paper. A handwritten deed? “This cost all of us,” he says.
“I know, I know,” Alex says. “I’ll repay you.”
He reaches out for the piece of paper, but Rafe pulls it back. There’s a hard set to his jaw. “No.”
The air seems to crackle.
“I won. So I’m going to own the castle for you,” Rafe says, “until I trust you won’t gamble it away again.”
Alex’s face looks furious for a split second. But then it breaks into an easy smile. “If you want me to win it from you, that’s fine. I can do that. Just name the time and place.”
West and James share a look, and it’s clear there’s been a conversation here I’ve not been privy to. “Start by restoring it,” James says. “Lord knows it needs it.”
“We can’t all have a museum taking uphalfof our homes,” Alex snipes back.
“Come on. Let’s go somewhere quieter,” Rafe says, and his hand finds my waist. Like it belongs there. “Paige and I have to tell you something.”
We end up in the back of an SUV that drives us all back to the hotel. It’s too tight of a squeeze, and Nora sits half in West’s lap near the back.
I end up sitting in Rafe’s lap.
There’s no other space, and no one seems to bat an eye either. His arm comes to rest around my waist to keep me locked in place. I tell them the story in the car, everything I can remember about the stranger.
There’s complete silence afterward.
Then West curses, and Amber puts a hand to her mouth.
Rafe’s hand on my waist tightens, and I shift slightly against him. There’s something hard beneath me. It takes me a moment to realize what it is.
And then I go very still.
You’re going to have averygood time tonight.And he’s hard from nothing but me in his lap. Rafe doesn’t speak another word the entire drive home, and his arm on my waist is so still it feels like he’s holding on to me like an anchor.
It’s long past midnight, and the others head to their hotel rooms.See you tomorrowsare thrown out, and James steers Alex away from the hotel bar and toward the elevators.
Rafe is quiet beside me. There’s high color on his cheekbones.
When the elevator doors close behind us, he turns to look at me.
