“Okay, what?”
“Okay, Rafe,” she whispered at my chest.
“Now, what was your question, sweetheart?”
“Er… right. I just… I’m not sure what this means… between us.”
I reached up, cupping her face with both my hands at her jaw to tilt it so her eyes met mine, as my fingers went into her soft hair. “I really, really like you, Clara. That’s what this means. Those dirty little fantasies you had about me––”
“Gah! I really shouldn’t have told you about––”
“Baby, times those fantasies by a factor of a hundred, add in a lot more creativity and you’ll have something approaching the torture I’ve endured. I think about youallthe time. It’s inappropriate as fuck, but I’ve gone way beyond caring about that now.”
Her eyes were wide as she stared up at me. “You think about me?” she whispered, and I smiled.
“All the time,” I whispered back before pressing a soft kiss on her mouth. “Now, stop distracting me, woman, and I’ll feed you.”
The banging started after I’d fed Clara and convinced her to snuggle into my side on the sofa. Considering all of that took a great deal of effort and persuasion, I was not best pleased to have my peace disturbed. I’d known it was Poppy; she was renowned for forgetting her key and for coming back here to stay if she was on a night out and didn’t want to wake up Granny (Poppy lived in a wing of Granny’s house and whilst the property was vast, my granny had bat ears). But now, with blood trickling down my sister’s forehead, my annoyance was replaced with concern.
“Okay,” said Clara quietly as she settled the first aid kit next to Poppy on the kitchen table, took out the surgical spirit and dabbed a sterile cotton pad with it. “This will sting a little bit, Poppy, alright?”
“Hit me, babe,” slurred Poppy. “It’s fine.”
She flinched slightly as Clara gently cleaned the crusted blood away from her scalp.
“This is good,” said Clara. “You won’t need any stitches for this. It’s really small, and the edges are opposed. You’ll have to be careful washing your hair, but otherwise you should be fine.”
“You a nurse as well as a teacher, babe?” asked Poppy blearily.
Clara laughed. “Not a nurse, I just… well, I’ve patched up a few people in my time.”
That comment got my attention. I gave her a sharp look, but she was too busy cleaning up my sister to notice.
Chapter 19
You and I are happening
Clara
I watchedhim from the entrance to the kitchen. He was wearing his full three-piece suit, stubble darkening his jawline despite him having just shaved, and his thick hair curled around his collar, still slightly damp from the shower. Looking at him now, I had a strange sinking feeling, tinged with panic.
I had a habit of thinking three steps ahead to anticipate danger. My whole life had been about anticipating danger, really. It was completely built into my personality now. But Rafe wasn’t dangerous to me in the normal way. Rafe wouldn’t break me physically; it was my heart that was at risk.
When he caught sight of me, his gorgeous blue eyes lit up, and he smiled. That wide, white, glamorous smile, filling the kitchen with his magnetic energy.
“Hi,” I said, feeling lame for my completely inadequate greeting after what had happened the night before. I tucked my hands into my pockets and shifted on my feet,still not moving from the doorway. I wasn’t sure how to act around him in the light of day. Last night seemed like some sort of crazy fever dream now. Maybe in my super-stressed, anxious state I’d made all of it up? My instinct was to run, but before I could back away out of the doorway, Rafe put his coffee cup down and strode across the wide space in just a few long strides until he was right there in front of me. I automatically lowered my gaze to the floor, but, just like last night, his hands came to either side of my jaw to tilt my face so that he could look into my eyes.
I’d learned by now that Rafe really did not like when I avoided eye contact. When I was looking straight into his intense blue gaze, his smile widened.
“Hi,” he said, before he kissed me briefly, then pulled back to search my face. “You okay?”
I nodded against his hands, which were still in my hairline. “I think so,” I whispered, then glanced behind me before I looked back at him. “Maybe we shouldn’t…?” I hadn’t slept in Rafe’s bed last night, despite him making it clear that’s what he wanted. I was still confused about us, and I certainly wasn’t going to sleep with him with his sister in the house.
Rafe kissed me again, longer this time. And, of course, because it was him, because he was so glorious, because his clean, expensive smell was invading my senses, because he smelled of shower gel and aftershave andman,I slid one of my hands into his hair, my other hand up his back and I melted into him, my mouth opening under his. After a few moments, he broke the kiss to rest his forehead on mine.
“Now that is how I want you to kiss me in the morning, baby, okay?” He was using that tone again, the one that was soft but had a hard edge behind it, the one I knew heexpected to be obeyed. I glanced behind me again, slowly coming out of the Rafe Daze.
“Your sister,” I whispered.
