Rough and Ready, page 11
Rafe frowned—because he’d just done the same thing. Not that Keeley had pulled away. If anything, she’d shifted closer. “That happens to you a lot?”
Keeley shrugged casually. “Enough to be annoying. But it was under control.”
Gio growled, “Didn’t look like it was under control.”
Keeley smirked. “I’d already given Liza the look, and we were a few seconds away from making our move.”
Rafe was intrigued. “What move?”
“We dance toward each other and do a sexy girl shimmy. The offending asshole always takes a step back to watch the show. Then, in the midst of the girl-on-girl action, either Liza or I—whoever is closer—slam our heel down on the jerk’s foot. Works every time. Liza’s the best at it. I swear I think she’s probably broken a few bones with her high heels.” Keeley laughed, obviously amused by her own story.
“Is this the part where I thank you for not crippling me on the dance floor?” Rafe joked, aware Keeley’s story had done nothing to cool Gio’s jets. Rafe had seen his protective nature before, but it had never reached this level of…
No. Gio wasn’t feeling protective. He was jealous.
Which proved Rafe wasn’t the only one in over his head.
“You were in no danger of getting ‘the heel,’” she air-quoted. “That dance?” She fanned herself. “God…so hot.”
Rafe shook his head, fighting to restrain his cocky grin as she leaned her elbow on the table and shifted closer to him, her expression full flirt when she added, “So hard. And not tiny.”
Gio laughed, and it appeared he’d managed to shake off the worst of his jealousy. “Behave, minx. You’re gonna make Rafe blush.”
Rafe narrowed his eyes. “I don’t blush. Ever.”
“So…what brings you guys here tonight? Thought you were both staying in,” Keeley said, with a shit-eating grin that proved she’d sent that text earlier to provoke them into doing exactly what they’d done. Crashed her night out. Again.
Gio shrugged, aiming for casual and failing miserably. “We felt like a beer.”
She laughed. “Sure you did.”
Before they could reply to her taunt, a waiter approached their table. “Hey, Keeley.”
“Hi, Chad.”
The waiter glanced at Gio and then him. “Oh…hello, Mr. Baros.”
So this was Chad.
“You can call me Rafe. Mr. Baros was my grandfather.”
Chad smiled. “We still on for Tuesday night, Keeley? Thought we could go to Spruce Street Harbor Park. Grab some funnel cakes and ride the Ferris wheel.”
Keeley grinned widely. “That sounds awesome.”
“Cool. I’ll text you later and we can figure out where to meet up.”
“Perfect,” she replied
“Gotta get back to work. You guys good on drinks?” Chad asked.
They all nodded, and Chad weaved his way back through the crowd.
Suddenly, Rafe was suffering from a bad case of what Gio had—and it scared him spitless. Because Rafe didn’t do jealousy any more than Gio did.
Then Keeley gave them a mischievous grin, one he couldn’t help but return, even as he knew the joke was about to be on them.
“So…it sounds like we’re all going to the park on Tuesday,” Keeley teased. “What are you guys wearing? Maybe we could coordinate outfits.”
* * *
Gio wanted to laugh at her joke. He really did, but his head was all over the fucking place tonight, and the only emotion he seemed capable of at the moment was jealousy. Which was not a comfortable feeling for him. He didn’t have enough experience with it, so it was running rampant, and he had no way to get it under control.
“Your brother is here,” Rafe pointed out. He said the words to Keeley, but Gio knew they were meant for him. He took a couple deep breaths, which helped him calm down, then he gave Rafe a subtle nod that he would be careful.
Keeley rolled her eyes. “Jesus H. Don’t you guys have anything better to do than chase around after us?”
“You don’t seem to mind the chase,” Gio said with a smug grin.
Keeley considered his reply. “That’s not entirely true. I wouldn’t mind the chase if one of you guys would actually catch me at some point.”
“Just one of us?” Gio asked.
Keeley leaned forward, and Gio realized he’d never understood the term “bedroom eyes” until that moment. “Is that an invitation for more?”
“Gio,” Rafe said, shaking his head, his tone rife with warning. “That’s enough. You’re taking it too far.”
Keeley glanced over at Rafe, took one look at his cold expression, and sighed sadly. “Guess not.”
She wanted it too. She felt it, this pull between the three of them.
Gio was perilously close to laying down the gauntlet—with Keeley and with Rafe—but Liza returned to the table, picking up her margarita and taking a long drink. “Where’s Gianna?”
“Sam texted. He just picked her up,” Keeley replied.
Liza shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s not going to end well.”
Keeley nodded, and it looked like she was in agreement.
“So,” Liza said, her wicked grin all the warning Gio needed. “You three were really heating up the dance floor. Where did that come from?”
Gio narrowed his eyes. “That guy was getting way too close.”
Liza shrugged. “And we were about to give him the heel. Though I have to admit, I enjoyed watching your method of cock-blocking him better.”
“We weren’t cock-blocking him,” Rafe retorted.
“Of course you weren’t,” she replied sardonically. Liza, like Gio’s sister Layla, was the youngest and only girl in her family. In Liza’s case, it made her loud, bold, outspoken, and shamelessly honest. Gio figured it was either that or allow her brothers to run roughshod over her, something Liza had never allowed. And never would.
Though, now that he considered it, that bold-faced honesty thing ran through the entire Moretti line.
“What was the deal with the guy you were dancing with?” Keeley asked Liza, mercifully drawing the heat away from them.
Liza shrugged. “He was a good dancer, but not much personality. I tried to start at least three different conversations and got single-word responses in every case. Fuck that jazz. I need a man who can string at least two sentences together. Bonus points if he manages a whole paragraph.”
Gio scowled when yet another man approached their table. Where the hell were all these guys coming from?
“Keeley?”
He started to tell the man to shove off—his jealousy already pushed to the brink too many times tonight—but Keeley’s expression gave him pause.
She looked up at the guy and froze. It was just for a second, but Gio saw it…recognized her instant unease. Probably because it was something he’d never witnessed from her before. Confidence wasn’t a trait Keeley lacked, but with this guy…it wavered.
“JT. Hey. What a surprise.” Whatever had initially bothered her about him wasn’t present in her tone or in her expression. Keeley had a good poker face.
“Yeah,” JT said. “Long time no see. I’ve, uh…” He paused as he looked at Liza, Rafe, and Gio. “Liza,” JT added, nodding at her somewhat nervously.
“Asshole.” Apparently, Liza preferred another name for JT, not bothering to hide her disgust for the man. Gio had never loved his cousin more.
“Liza,” Keeley chastised before gesturing toward them. “JT. These are my friends, Rafe and Gio.”
He felt the inexplicable desire to change the word friends because he didn’t like the way she was looking at this guy.
Keeley looked at him and Rafe. “JT and I went out for a hot minute about a year ago.” She laughed as she said it, but there was something about the way she was holding herself that told him she wasn’t as nonchalant about this guy as she’d been with all the others.
JT chuckled. Stupid prick. Anyone paying half attention could see through Keeley’s act.
Liza’s expression darkened, and Gio took his cues from her reaction to the man, not bothering to feign friendliness.
“You still working at the office supply store?” JT asked.
“No.” Keeley shook her head. “Actually, I’m working for Rafe now. Marketing Director.”
“Wow. Sounds like you got your dream job. That’s cool. I’ve been thinking about you lately.” He was apparently feeling confident about putting the moves on her, now that he knew she wasn’t with one of them.
“Oh?” Keeley said softly, and Gio could almost see the wheels spinning in her head. Whatever happened between Keeley and JT appeared to fall into a different category than all her other failed dates. He racked his brain to remember if she or Kayden had ever mentioned a JT, but no memory surfaced.
Not that it was a shocker. He’d known precious little about her personal life before this month, only picking up the occasional tidbits from her or her brother or Liza. He’d listened with half an ear and hadn’t asked questions because he’d been a stupid, blind fool, no better than apparently every other idiot male in Philadelphia. Because just like them, he’d failed to really see Keeley for just how special she was.
Now he was regretting not digging deeper for details.
“I was wondering,” JT said, rubbing the back of his neck. He was uncomfortable, but apparently determined. “Would it be okay if I called you tomorrow? I was hoping to talk to you about some stuff.”
“What about your girlfriend?” Liza asked, her question shining some light on the mystery of JT.
“We broke up. It would just be one phone call,” JT hastily added when it became apparent Keeley was going to say no. “Then if you want, I’ll lose your number. Promise.”
“Or you could lose it now,” Liza suggested.
Keeley shot her friend a warning glance. “Liza. Stop.”
Regardless, she didn’t answer JT immediately, and Gio’s respect for Keeley rose. She was no one’s fool, and nobody pushed her around.
“Fine,” she said at last.
Liza shook her head, rolling her eyes, and Gio decided to pull her aside later to find out what the deal was with this guy. “I’m going to go talk to my brother. Not interested in watching this tragedy unfold.”
She walked away, and JT visibly relaxed, grinning, as if Keeley’s capitulation was the equivalent to getting the keys to the city. Which meant JT didn’t understand Keeley at all. “Well, I’ll let you get back to hanging with your friends. Talk to you tomorrow, Kee.”
Gio gritted his teeth at the presumptuous bastard’s nickname for her. Who the fuck did this guy think he was?
He looked across the table and caught Rafe’s glower as well.
Once JT left, he and Rafe both turned to look at Keeley, who was studying her empty margarita glass with the intensity of someone trying to pick out which puppy they wanted to adopt.
“So,” Gio said, when it was obvious she wasn’t going to offer any insights on her own. “Who’s JT?”
“I told you. A guy I went out with.”
“And he had a girlfriend at the time?” Rafe asked.
Keeley raised her hands. “No, no. It was nothing like that. JT and I went out a year ago for a couple of months. He was super nice, and we had a blast. We talked on the phone for hours every night, and went out three or four times a week. I really thought… Well, we slept together and then…”
“And then…” Gio prodded.
“He called me the next day. Said he’d run into his ex-girlfriend, and they were getting back together. He was very apologetic, and I could tell he was genuinely sorry. They’d gone out for three years before he and I started dating. And she’d dumped him, not the other way around. Apparently, she’d had a change of heart, and he decided he still loved her. So that was that. I haven’t seen or talked to him since then.”
“He hurt you,” Gio said, pressing for more.
She hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I guess he did. Liza caught the brunt of my tears, which is why she was so cold. It’s just…JT was probably the first guy I ever dated that I thought might be the one, you know? We really had a good time together, always laughing. Stuff that was hard work with other guys was easy with him. I could just be myself.”
“Are you sure you want to talk to him tomorrow?” Rafe asked.
She lifted one shoulder. “Not sure what harm could come from it. It’s just one phone call. We’ll catch up on the last year and then…who knows?” She smiled at them.
Gio was tempted to lay his cards on the table, to tell her to kick JT to the curb and go out with him—with them.
But he hesitated.
Because of Rafe.
And because of Keeley.
Her mask was gone. And she looked happy—really happy. Like a woman on the verge of getting a second chance at finding true love.
So he spent the rest of the evening kicking his own ass for being a fool because he wanted her, and not just in his bed but in his life.
Keeley was the woman for him.
For them.
He knew it with every fiber of his being.
And there was a very good chance their window of opportunity had just closed.
Chapter Seven
Rafe took a breather inside the front door, wondering what the hell he’d signed up for. He’d spent the last couple of months trying to clear his grandfather’s house out. Now, in one day, he’d just helped Gio move all his shit in. And the piles that had been dwindling were replaced with new boxes. Not that he cared all that much. It would be nice to have someone to share this big-ass house with.
He was just feeling grumpy due to a lack of sleep. Every night since he’d kissed Keeley had been restless, alternating between dirty fantasies of him in bed with her and Gio, and anxiety over what the hell he was supposed to do now.
He wanted Keeley. Somewhere over the past seven days, it had become painfully obvious to him. Unfortunately, that insight had come too late.
He’d fucked up last week at Eclectic. Gio had started to lay it on the line, had opened the door with an invitation, and like a jackass, Rafe had slammed it shut, warning Gio off and allowing Keeley to believe he didn’t want her. The worst part was, he hadn’t just screwed up his own chances, but Gio’s too, because now JT had entered the picture and…everything had gone off the rails after that.
Liza, Kayden, Aldo, and Luca had joined them at the table after JT walked away. They’d ordered more margaritas and partied the rest of the night, having a great time. Or at least, everyone except him—and Gio, who’d gone uncharacteristically quiet—had enjoyed themselves.
“Want this in the kitchen?” Kayden walked in with a box labeled dishes.
If Rafe was a better person, seeing Kayden today should have helped him put all thoughts of pursuing—seducing—Keeley to rest. However, they didn’t.
He looked at his friend and shook his head. “No. You can put it there. The kitchen is already busting at the seams. We need to unpack and incorporate some boxes before dragging anything else in. Keeley, Liza, and Gianna are in there right now, tackling some of that.”
Kayden put the box down on top of another, then wiped the sweat from his brow with the hem of his T-shirt. “How’s it feel being your own boss these days?”
“I’m slowly getting used to it. Of course, it’s gotten a thousand times better since Keeley came to work with me. That girl is a whirlwind.”
Kayden grinned, pride written on every line in his face. “I appreciate you hiring her. We were perilously close to her having to move back in with me.”
Rafe was torn between laughing and wincing. Because, while Kayden and Keeley loved each other tremendously, the two of them living in the same house would not have ended well. Keeley’s free spirit and love for partying drove her straight-as-an-arrow, in-bed-by-ten-every-night cop brother out of his mind.
“I think we can all agree that would have been terrible.”
“So things are starting to settle down? I know you’ve been working way too hard. Keeley’s told me so.” Kayden had been one of his closest friends since high school, and Rafe appreciated the concern in his voice.
“Slowly but surely,” he muttered.
“Your stepdad still being a pain in the ass about the will?” Kayden asked.
Rafe gave his friend a curious look because the two of them hadn’t talked in weeks.
Kayden grinned. “Gio told us about the scene at the lawyer’s office at one of our weekly lunches.”
“Ah,” Rafe said. “Grandpa’s lawyer assures me the will is airtight, but that hasn’t stopped Rodney from trying to find a loophole. I suspect when he doesn’t find one, he’ll move on for good.”
“For good? You mean leave your mom?”
Rafe sighed. “I think he married her because he believed she was Grandpa’s heir. The guy’s a prick. And as much as I can’t stand him, I know it’s going to kill my mother if he walks out.”
“Poor woman. She can’t catch a break in the love department, can she?”
“No. Not really. It doesn’t help that she inherited Grandpa’s impulsiveness. With him, it was businesses—find one you want and buy it. Meanwhile, Mom falls madly in love with every man she goes out with, without really getting to know them. And, predictably, in the end, it never lasts.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. For her, but also for you. Because let’s face it, you’ve been on that roller coaster with her your entire life, going through her highs of new love to the lows of her broken hearts. It couldn’t have been easy for you growing up. To see someone you love constantly knocked down, especially by a person they cared for. Something like that had to have taken its toll on you.”
Kayden was an astute guy, and empathetic. But he’d hit this nail a little too on the head. “Keeley told you my feelings about love and marriage.”
Kayden gave him another guilty grin. “To be honest, you’ve never made much of a secret about your lack of interest in marriage, but yes, Keeley might have mentioned something about it on the phone this week. You gotta understand, Keeley told our mom everything when she was growing up. And I mean everything. I overheard Mom tell Dad once that she could stand to know a little less about Keeley’s life. She was joking. Partly. After Mom died…well, Keeley’s need to talk to someone about stuff didn’t just go away. Over the years, she’s figured out who to turn to based on the topic. Her girlfriends get the love life and sex stuff, thank God, but I get the rest.”
