Rafe took a deep breath, his chest rising, then falling slowly. “I haven’t been with anyone in three years.”
Bailey’s jaw dropped open. “Seriously?”
A smile tugged at his beautiful mouth. “Seriously.”
If that had been a question on a pop quiz, Bailey would’ve gotten the wrong answer. All these years, she’d thought he’d merely been good at being discreet.
“Does that have something to do—”
Rafe interrupted with, “Let me just put this out there. If you insist on standin’ here naked, Iamgonna fuck you again.”
Bailey peered down at herself. She’d honestly forgotten she didn’t have on clothes. Weird thing to forget at a time like this, but whatever.
“Noted,” she said, taking her washcloth into the living room.
She hurried to clean herself up, then gathered her clothes and pulled them on while Rafe was still in the bathroom. When he didn’t emerge immediately, she perched on the edge of the recliner and waited. She was beginning to wonder if he would remain in there all night when he finally emerged, his hair wet from obviously taking a shower.
“I have to get back to the B and B,” she told him as she stood.
He came over to her and pulled her into his arms. “This isn’t a one-time thing.”
Bailey would admit she’d needed to hear that. She needed some sort of validation from Rafe that what they’d done had meant something to him.
“Technically, we did it twice,” she informed him.
His smile reached all the way to his eyes, and she tried to recall if it ever had before.
“I know you’ve got some stuff to figure out, but what I said earlier was true.”
Bailey pulled back. “What do you mean, I’ve got some stuff to figure out?”
“With Holt?”
“What about him?”
Rafe looked confused. “I figured you’d end things now that…”
“Now that what?” Bailey felt her ire rise. “Now that we’ve fucked.”
The word tasted funny in her mouth, but that was what they’d done. They’d surrendered to the potent attraction andfucked.
Rafe shook his head. “I guess I’m confused, then. I don’t know what it is you want from me.”
Bailey stared at him, realizing she didn’t know what she wanted either. She’d come over here to talk and ended up having sex with Rafe. Now she had to go back and talk to Holt, to tell him what happened. Where would they go from here? Any of them?
She honestly hadn’t considered what the next steps were.
“I need to go,” she blurted and started for the door.
“I’ll take you.”
“No. Thanks, but no.”
“Bailey!” Rafe called after her as she rushed out of his apartment. She followed the narrow hall to the end of the building and hurried down the stairs.
She felt like an idiot. Not because she’d had sex with Rafe but because she’d had sex with Rafe knowing she wasn’t willing to give Holt up. And maybe she’d done it partially because she figured Holt expected it. But now what? Were they gonna fuck and decide the fate of this … this … strange triangular threesome?
Exhaling heavily, she hurried across the street and through the park. She emerged on the other side, wondering if she smelled like sex. What if Holt decided he wanted nothing to do with her now? She wouldn’t blame him because this could be construed as cheating, right?
