Rafe paused and rubbed his face. “Maybe I will. It wouldn’t hurt to do a surprise visit to the London facility.”
“Have you told her how you feel?”
“That wouldn’t be awkward at all, would it?” Rafe had considered it, but they still had to work together for a couple more weeks. Her responses made him think she was at least attracted to him. He’d taken his mother’s advice and thought they were good friends now. Rafe wanted more but did Ahri?
“I made the mistake of not talking to your mother and almost ruined it for us before it’d really begun.” Alex gently clasped Rafe’s shoulder.
“What if I’m already too invested in her, and she leaves?” Rafe asked, his voice soft.
“Everything worth having comes with a risk.” Alex grinned. “How investedareyou?”
“I’m not going to say I’m in love with her, but I’ve never felt this strongly about anyone before.” Not even Tess. That realization and speaking aloud the thoughts Rafe had been having brought a surprising release. His shoulders relaxed.
“Then I’d say she’s worth taking your time. You want to do it right.”
“Where are we going?”Ahri asked when they were on the road.
“It’s a place called Sky Valley,” Rafe said.
“It’s in Blowing Rock.” Alex rubbed his wife’s neck.
“Oh, that’s where Tweetsie’s at,” Ahri said. “And those cute shops.”
“Yep,” Rafe said. “And don’t forget that hike we took.”
“I’ve been trying to talk Francie into doing this since we got married,” Alex said. “The young’uns need to be at least ten before they can come with us, but I reckoned it’d would be good for her to get her feet wet before then.”
“You sure don’t want Ma to scare them to death,” Rafe chuckled.
“You behave yourself,” Francie said, giving him a mock glare, “or I’m going to jerk a knot in your tail.”
“You’re in trouble now.” Ahri laughed, loving their fun banter.
When they arrived, Rafe led them to another small group that was gathering. The staff were expecting them and passed out their harnesses and helmets. While the guides were assisting the others, Alex worked with Francie and Rafe helped Ahri into hers.
“Hey, you talked her into coming,” Kayn called, jogging up to them, followed by Ezreal and Darius.
“You knew about this?” Ahri shot her brother an accusatory glare, but he only grinned.
“Of course we did. We do this every year, a couple times.” He gave her a one-armed hug. “I’ll admit I didn’t think you’d agree to come along.”
“It seems she’ll do anything for Ma,” Rafe said.
“Hey, Mrs. D.” Kayn gave Francie a hug.
“Now you boys will all see what a big coward I am,” she said.
“Piece of cake,” Darius said. “I’ve been ziplining all over the world. This one’s nice and easy for a start.”
They joked about other trips they’d made, even Ezreal, as they got into their harnesses and helmets. It was nice to see how normal he could act when he wasn’t talking to her.
“Looks like you’ve done this before,” one of the guides said as he checked Ahri’s harness.
“No, but he has.” She pointed to Rafe.
Everyone loaded into some jeeps and began what turned out to be a drive up some rough terrain.
“I thought we’d be closer,” she said, bouncing in her seat.
