Rafe:They done?
Me:No, but my riding lesson finished early.
Rafe:Come over.
Me:I thought you wanted to wait until they left?
My phone rings,and a picture of Rafe sitting atop Isabella pops up on my screen. I can’t help but smile at the image. He looks sexy and grumpy. “Hello?”
“You can come to me,” he offers without a greeting.
“Miss me already?” I tease.
“Yes,” he answers unabashedly.
“I would…”
“But?” His tone changes to expectant.
“I don’t want to leave Mom alone with them in the house, and she said she wanted to talk to me later.” I wait several long seconds for him to respond.
When he does, I can hear his disappointment, even though his words are joking. “Abduction is still on the table.”
I chuckle, and it sounds throaty, even to me. It’s so much different than the nervous laugh from just a few minutes ago. “The only thing stopping you from coming here is you. I have bread.” I can’t believe I’m tempting him with baked goods. I understand why he shouldn’t come, though it would be nice to have him here, especially since Joe is being a little flirty.
“Who’s there? What installers?” he clarifies.
“Uh, David, Joe…Greg, and I can’t remember the last one.” I feel someone tap on the door from the other side. Crap. I should have gone farther into my room. They probably overheard me on the phone.“Yeah?” I call loudly.
“I need to install the sensor on the window.”
“Who’s that?” Rafe inquires.
“Just one second,” I call through the door. “I should go, they need to do the window in my room.”
“Put me on facetime,” Rafe demands.
“Why?” I ask, but I pull the phone away from my ear and hit the button to transfer the call to video. My face pops up in the corner, but the rest of the screen stays black. “Let them in.” He ignores my question, but to be fair, I’m not sure if he heard me or if he answered when I was switching the call over.
I keep the phone in my hand and open the door. Joe is on the other side with a smile and a small red bag similar to the one David was carrying downstairs. “Sorry about that. Window’s over there.” I point needlessly.
“Great.” Joe looks around. “This your room?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Rafe’s deep voice floats through the room, coming from the speaker of my phone.
“Sorry, I’m on a call,” I explain with a wince.
“Don’t apologize. It’s none of his fucking business.”
“I’ll leave you to it,” I chirp after smashing the phone to my chest to muffle Rafe in case he says anything else, then I back out of the room swiftly.
When I reach the stairs, I look down and peel the phone from my chest. “That was a bit much don’t you think?”
“Not nearly,” he snarls. I still can’t see his face, but I can just picture him all cranky and disgruntled. It makes me smile, even though it shouldn’t. “You’re leaving him in your room alone?”
I snicker, then whisper jokingly, “You think he’s going to steal my panties?”
“He might, guys are fucked up. I’m coming over.”
