Because I'd do anything for you. The thought came unbidden, dangerous in its intensity, and I shoved it aside. “Because now you oweme,” I said instead, watching her expression shift from defiance to wariness.
“What does that mean?”
I opened the passenger door of my car. “It means get in. We have things to discuss.”
She hesitated, glancing back at the club, then at me. For a moment, I thought she might bolt, but then her shoulders slumped.
“Fine,” she said, sliding into the seat. “But this better be good.”
Closing the door, I walked around to the driver's side. My mind raced. I'd left my father's office determined to thwart his marriage plans. Now, as I slid behind the wheel beside this woman I'd been trying not to want for longer than I caredto admit, a solution formed that would either save us both or destroy us completely.
Either way, there was no going back now.
Chapter 2
Cece
The weight of Rafe's jacket swallowed me whole as I huddled against the passenger door of his ridiculously expensive car. The leather seats that probably cost more than my rent squeaked beneath me every time I shifted, which was often, because sitting still meant acknowledging the crushing silence between us. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel, jaw clenched so tight I could practically hear his teeth grinding. I wanted to scream, to throw his jacket back in his stupidly handsome face, to demand he take me back to the club where at least I had a plan. Instead, I stared out the window and watched the glittering nightlife of New York blur past, wondering how the hell I'd ended up here.
“Why did you owe him that much?” Rafe's low rumble finally sliced through the silence.
I kept my eyes fixed on the passing streetlights. “That's none of your business.”
“I just made it my business. To the tune of—” he named the figure, and I flinched, “—so I think I'm entitled to know why.”
“I needed the money,” I said, each word clipped and precise. “Santiago loaned it to me.”
“For what?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, painfully aware of how little the club's costume covered beneath his jacket. “Rent. Dance classes. Life. Not all of us have trust funds.”
His jaw tightened. “And you didn't think to ask anyone else for help before you started taking your clothes off for strangers?”
That stung. I whipped my head around to glare at him. “I was dancing, not stripping. There's a difference.”
“Not at Santiago's club, there isn't.” Rafe's voice remained controlled, but his eyes, when they briefly flicked to mine, burned with something I couldn't quite name. “Does Everlee know?”
The mention of my sister sent ice through my veins. “No. And she's not going to.”
He made a noncommittal sound that scared me more than an outright threat would have.
The car slowed as we turned onto my street, the transition from Manhattan's sleek avenues to my corner of Alphabet City as jarring as always. Rafe's Aston Martin looked obscenely out of place among the weathered brownstones and graffitied storefronts. I sank lower in my seat, praying none of my neighbors were around to witness this.
“Which building?” he asked, scanning the row of apartments.
I pointed. “The red one. You can let me out here.”
“Not a chance.” He pulled up directly in front, killing the engine with a decisive poke of his finger.
Before I could stop him, he was out of the car and opening my door, one hand extended as if I were some society date he was escorting to a gala instead of a broke dancer he'd just hauled out of a club like a caveman.
I ignored his hand and climbed out myself, stumbling slightly on legs still wobbly from the adrenaline crash. “Thanks for the ride. You can go now.”
Rafe's expression didn't change as he closed the car door. “Lead the way.”
“You have no business being here,” I said, trying to inject some steel into my voice despite the fact that I was standing on a dirty sidewalk wearing nothing but a skimpy costume and his oversized jacket.
His lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. “I have unfinished business with you, Cecelia. And I'm not discussing it on the street.”
