“Four,” Holt corrected.
Bailey rolled her eyes again, and more weight seemed to fall from Rafe’s shoulders. For the first time since he was twelve, Rafe felt …hope.Yeah. He was pretty sure that was what it was. He had hope for them now.
“I have to work tonight,” Rafe said, glancing between them. “But I was thinkin’ maybe the three of us could have breakfast tomorrow mornin’.”
Bailey nodded. “We’ve got guests comin’ in at some point tomorrow, but I’m sure we can figure somethin’ out.”
Rafe stepped closer. He tilted her chin up and pressed a kiss to her lips.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For what?”
He met her wide eyes. “For a lot of things. But I promise, I’m gonna do things differently from now on.”
“Meaning?” Holt prompted.
Rafe smiled, sidestepped Bailey, and kissed Holt on the lips before moving to the door. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
As he walked across the park to his apartment, Rafe was already making mental notes of all the ways he could prove he had something to contribute to this relationship. And he knew exactly what he needed to do first.
***
“Did that just happen?”
Holt kept his eyes on Rafe’s form as it got smaller the farther away he got. “I think it did.”
“You think he’s really okay?”
Closing the door, Holt took Bailey’s arm and escorted her into the living room. “I think something changed.”
Holt could still feel the lingering sensation of Rafe’s lips on his. He’d kissed him like he’d done it a million times before walking out the door. It was … dare he say, normal?
“I don’t need to sit down,” Bailey said as Holt helped her onto the couch. “I cut my finger. I didn’t break my leg.”
“You can rest while there’s no one else here.”
“No. What I can do is clean the guest rooms so that when someoneishere, I’m not rushing around to take care of things.”
Figuring she had a point, Holt nodded. “I’ll help. What can I do?”
“You could start by findin’ me someone who wants to work here,” she grumbled. “I’ve interviewed three people, and no one wants to do the work. And the one woman who was willin’ said she couldn’t work for me.”
“Why?”
“She said I was too young to take orders from.”
“I certainly don’t mind taking orders from you,” he said, hoping to make her smile.
It worked. She relaxed, and a grin teased the corners of her mouth.
“I think I might have an idea,” he said.
“If you tell me you’re gonna clean toilets, I—”
Holt put his finger to her lips and shook his head. “I have no desire to clean toilets.”
“Yeah, no one else does, either.”
