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“What if someone sees us?”
“The one person we’ve been trying to hide from already knows we slept together.”
“But he doesn’t know about the last two weeks.”
Rafe’s eyes narrowed. “Yet…” When I didn’t respond, he prompted me. “You are going to tell him, right, Talia?”
I swallowed. “Of course.”
I just hadn’t determined when. I wasn’t sure what would happen when Calder came home tomorrow. Rafe and I had been living in a cocoon of bliss because I hadn’t let myself look more than a day into the future for the last two weeks. The moment of truth had been too much for me to think about. Now it was barreling down on me like a runaway train.
Rafe watched me for a moment, and then sighed. “Have dinner with me. Please.”
“Rafe…”
“One dinner.” He stepped closer and brushed his thumb along my jaw. “Give me one night without hiding, one night where you don’t act like being with me is something you need to apologize for.”
I felt that in my chest. “I don’t think that.”
“Then prove it.”
Rafe barely asked anything of me, so I supposed I owed him this. I nodded. “I’ll go get ready.”
An hour later, I sat across from Rafe in a corner of Benedetto’s, trying to pretend my stomach wasn’t considering rejecting anything I put into it. The restaurant was exactly what I’d feared it would be from the outside—low lighting, white tablecloths, candles flickering everywhere. There wasn’t a single table that sat more than two. It freaked me out. And yet Rafe looked perfectly comfortable.
He also looked devastatingly sexy. He’d worn a navy linen button-up that made his beautiful baby blues somehow even bluer. The sleeves were rolled to the elbows, showing off his muscular, tattooed forearms, and the shirt was untucked, the linen slightly worn and wrinkled in that effortless way. It suited Rafe’s personality so well. His angular jaw was clean shaven, his wild curls tamed tonight and pulled back off his face. He’d put extra effort into preparing for our date. And every time the candlelight caught his face, I had to stop myself from staring.
“You’re doing it again,” he said.
“What?”
“Looking like you want the floor to open up and swallow you.”
“I’m not. I swear.”
“You are. But you’re here, and that means a lot to me.” His mouth curved. “Though I probably should’ve fucked you before we came, so you’d be a little more relaxed.”
Even with all the stress, the little butterflies in my belly fluttered. My lips parted, and Rafe leaned forward with the sexiest smile, lowering his voice.
“I could finger you under the table. Give you a quick orgasm to release some of that tension.”
My eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare.”
His sparkled. “Wouldn’t I?”
Our private moment was interrupted by the sound of a man’s voice. “Rafe?”
We both turned.
A man stood near our table, holding the hand of a pretty blonde. The hostess had stopped a few feet ahead of them and now looked back. It took me a second to place the face, but I’d definitely met him before. At a bar. With Rafe. And Calder. My heart dropped into my stomach.
“Dean,” Rafe said, standing. “Hey, man.”
The two clasped hands, and Dean’s gaze shifted to me. “Talia, right?”
I attempted a smile, though I was pretty sure I looked more like the Joker. “Hi. Yes. Good to see you.”
His eyes moved around the restaurant. “Is Calder here?”
