Rough and Ready, page 22
“I don’t really know.”
Liza frowned. “Doesn’t that feel like something you should know?”
“Yes. I mean…” Keeley closed her eyes and shook her head briefly. “After the first date, we went back to the mansion and…” Keeley waved her hands rather than saying the words.
“Fucked like a bunch of rabbits,” Liza filled in.
“Anyway, afterwards, just before we went to sleep, Gio asked me to stay with them while Kayden was out of town.”
“You’ve been staying with them?”
Keeley nodded.
“Every single night?”
She nodded again.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Keeley grimaced. “I probably should have asked him that, but I didn’t.”
“Why not?” Liza was getting more confused by the minute, and Keeley decided she needed to give her friend more information.
“I’m not the first woman Gio and Rafe have shared in bed.”
Liza’s brows rose. “Wow. How did they manage to keep that a secret in our group of friends?”
Keeley shrugged one shoulder. “I probably shouldn’t have told you that, but—”
“I don’t betray confidences,” Liza interjected, holding one hand up.
Keeley knew that, knew Liza would take anything she told her to the grave. She’d played Rafe’s confession at Alpen Rose about his dating—no, it was hooking up—history over and over in her mind these past two weeks. “With each woman, the relationship began as a sexual affair between the three of them. But whenever the woman expressed feelings, Rafe excused himself and Gio remained. He dated the women because he’s looking for love and marriage. Rafe isn’t.”
“So when Gio asked you to stay with them for three weeks, he was putting a time limit on the sexual affair with Rafe?”
“I don’t know. He just asked me to stay with them while Kayden was away. You know my brother. He asked the guys to look after me.”
Liza scoffed. “They could have kept an eye on you if you were in your apartment too. So that doesn’t wash.” And because Liza was like a prosecutor trying to bring a serial killer to justice, she reworded the question, determined to get down to the truth. “Was Gio telling you that this threesome thing you’ve got going on ends completely once Kayden gets home?”
Keeley shrugged, as she considered the last two weeks. “Kayden called last week, and Rafe said something about us reevaluating where we were when my brother got home. He didn’t really close the door, so I guess there’s a chance that this could continue even after Kayden’s back in Philly.”
Or at least that was what Keeley liked to pretend. Because she could see the writing on the wall. Rafe didn’t talk about the future like Gio did, didn’t give her the slightest indication that his attitude toward relationships had changed.
At some point, the hourglass was going to run out of sand.
“So Rafe is the flight risk. You know he’s leaving, or at least, that’s what he’s done in the past. But what does Gio want?” Liza asked.
While Rafe had continued to keep an emotional distance from her, Gio acted like a guy who was all in. She couldn’t begin to count the number of times he’d discussed future dates they would take. Trips to the shore. Holidays with the Morettis. Restaurants he wanted them to try if they ever managed to make it out of bed.
He painted beautiful pictures of the life he wanted them to lead. And while Rafe was there for those conversations, he never joined in, never gave Keeley any indication that he would be a part of that future. The last few times, he’d even gone one step further and walked out of the room. “I’m pretty sure Gio wants what Tony and Layla have.”
“A committed threesome,” Liza said.
“Yeah. And he wants it with Rafe. So when Rafe walks away from the threesome—”
“It falls apart. Gio and the woman inevitably break up and the cycle starts again.”
Keeley nodded.
“And you think that’s going to happen here?”
“No. I don’t. I think…I hope…” Keeley couldn’t finish that thought. She started to tell Liza that she thought Gio planned to stick around for the long haul. And while a huge part of her genuinely hoped that was true, that wasn’t all she longed for. Because ultimately, she wanted what Gio wanted.
What Tony and Layla had.
She wanted Gio and Rafe.
Liza toyed with the stem on her wineglass, though her gaze remained on Keeley’s face. “You’re in love with both of them.”
“So much it hurts.”
“But you haven’t told them.”
“How can I?” Keeley asked. “I say those words and Rafe definitely walks away. What if…what if we can have more than three weeks? What if I just don’t say the words? Because—God—I’m scared. I don’t know if Gio and I can really make a go of it if it’s just the two of us. His past relationships haven’t survived without Rafe.”
“Wait. Keeley. Hold up. How can you not say it?” Liza pressed, refusing to let Keeley get away without acknowledging her feelings.
Keeley hadn’t really expected Liza to come to the same conclusion she had. Hadn’t expected her best friend to actually advise her that if she wanted to keep this wonderful, magical, amazing thing she shared with Gio and Rafe, she would have to remain silent about her feelings.
Because that was a crazy, stupid, insane, impossible thing to do.
Liza leaned back in her chair, staring her down. She was waiting for a response, but Keeley didn’t have one.
Because Liza was right. Too many times in the past week or so, the words “I love you” had been right there, so ready to be spoken. She’d managed to hold them back, but she couldn’t do that forever. One night, they would slip out.
And then…
What if Rafe left her? Left them?
She knew Gio cared about her. Hell, she was pretty sure he loved her too. But would that be enough? Or would their relationship eventually end like all his others?
The idea of losing Rafe was unbearable, but the thought of losing both of them?
That was terrifying.
“So what’s your plan?” Liza pressed.
Keeley shrugged hopelessly. “I wish I knew.”
Chapter Fourteen
Rafe rubbed his eyes wearily, fighting to focus on the computer. He’d logged on a half hour earlier to tackle his email after arriving home from Eclectic with Keeley. It had been a long night at the end of a long week.
When he’d said he was going to do a little work in the office, Keeley, the eternal night owl—who should have been as tired as he was—had gone to unpack a box or two before turning in. Now it was almost midnight on Friday, and he was fucking beat.
He, Gio, and Keeley were three weeks into their whirlwind romance, and so far, it showed no signs of slowing down. Which was a problem.
Typically by this point in his shared affairs with Gio, Rafe was starting to feel stifled, ready to move on. And the sexual encounters with Jill, Vanessa, and Jennifer hadn’t progressed to anywhere near this level, as he, Gio, and the other women only met up once or twice a week for a bit of fun between the sheets.
He’d spent twenty solid nights—as well as a shit ton of mornings and afternoons—in carnal bliss with Gio and Keeley.
Twenty nights.
Kayden came home tomorrow, and Rafe was no closer to figuring out what came next than he’d been after the first night. He wasn’t sure why he saw Kayden’s return as the end of this affair. None of them had specifically said that. At least not in those words. Gio had asked her to stay with them while Kayden was out of town, and he’d suggested they reevaluate the affair at that time. So, it didn’t make sense that he saw tomorrow as D-Day.
All he knew was…fuck…it should be.
The longer he remained, the harder it would be to leave.
Their sexual escapades had died down a little this past week, but that wasn’t because of a lack of desire. Nope. It was because shit had hit the proverbial fan Monday on the work front.
Tony had stopped by to check on Gio’s progress…and realized he hadn’t made any. Since then, Gio had been hunkered down in his workshop, determined to make up for all the lost time. He’d come in after a fifteen-hour day just a few minutes earlier, announcing he was going to take a shower.
As for himself, on Monday afternoon, Rafe had uncovered undeniable proof that Rick, the manager at Eclectic, was indeed skimming money from the business. He’d fired the man on the spot, which meant until he hired someone new, he was managing the club, something he had no fucking clue how to do. Keeley had offered to help him as much as she could, so between the two of them, they’d come up with a work schedule, placed the orders for food and alcohol, and dealt with the seemingly countless issues that cropped up every other minute.
He rubbed his neck. The stiffness he hadn’t felt the past few weeks had returned with a vengeance. He needed to find a chiropractor.
“I found it!”
Rafe looked up as Keeley dashed in excitedly.
“What did you find?” Gio asked, following her into the room. His hair was wet from his shower, and he was shirtless, wearing nothing but a clean pair of lounge pants.
Keeley was momentarily distracted by Gio’s bare chest, something that would have amused Rafe if he wasn’t so tired. Their girl was insatiable, and Rafe was here for it.
“The boat!” she said, waving several pieces of paper in the air. “It’s at Pier 3 Marina. Your grandpa kept it there in an annual slip. It’s paid for through December.”
“I wonder if he ever got to go out on it,” Rafe pondered. Upon studying the title, he discovered his grandpa had bought the boat a month before he found out he had cancer. He assumed the boat was going to be part of Grandpa’s retirement plan, something he’d only begun discussing at their Monday dinners a few weeks before his terminal diagnosis.
“We need to plan a trip to the shore before the weather turns too cold,” Gio said excitedly.
Rafe grinned. “Yeah. I guess we should. Still no safe combination?”
Keeley shook her head. “Not yet. But we’ve long since figured out there’s no rhyme or reason to what’s in the boxes, so I’m sure we’ll find it.” Rafe and Keeley had originally expected the paperwork to be in some sort of chronological order date-wise, thinking it made sense for the older stuff to be buried deeper in each box room. That had not been the case. If there was some plan or pattern to the boxes, how and where they were stored, they’d yet to figure it out.
At this point, he’d accepted there was no organizational schematic. It was merely random. Either that, or Marta and Grandpa Albert were moving the boxes in their spare ghost time, just to fuck with him.
“So…” Gio wiggled his eyebrows. “Are you two finished with work?” He was clearly ready to move this conversation to the bedroom.
Rafe, who’d been weary to the bone, found his second wind in an instant.
Keeley grinned as she walked toward the hall. The moment she reached the door, she called out, “Race ya!”
She was at the foot of the stairs by the time Rafe emerged from the office, but Gio was hot on her heels.
She laughed loudly when Gio caught her by the waistband of her pants, slowing her down as he attempted to pass her.
“You’re cheating,” she cried out, trying to break free of his grip.
Rafe didn’t even bother to enter the competition, happy enough to watch their antics. Gio and Keeley were far more playful than he was. He’d wondered on more than a few occasions if that was because they’d both grown up with siblings, while Rafe was an only child. He’d had far less opportunity to wrestle and roughhouse as a kid.
There were a lot of similarities between Gio and Keeley, things that made them a natural couple. They both had a cutting wit and seemingly endless energy. They loved the same crappy reality TV shows, a genre Rafe would never get into. Whenever The Circle came on, he excused himself to his office to do some work. They also enjoyed cooking competitions, which Rafe was at least willing to sit through, though Is it Cake? was starting to get on his nerves. He never guessed right.
Rafe had sat beside them on the couch for two hours last night as they’d all watched a J. Lo movie. It had been Keeley’s night to pick, and he was pretty sure she did research to find the movie most likely to drive him and Gio nuts, just for shits and giggles. He’d been humming the stupid “Marry Me” earworm all fucking day, something Keeley had taken great delight in pointing out to him every time it happened.
As they’d watched the movie, Keeley curled between them, her head on Gio’s lap, Rafe had realized…they’d done it.
Found her.
The perfect woman.
And she’d been standing right in front of them for years.
Rafe tried to correct the pronoun in his head, tried to tell himself that Gio had found the perfect woman, but it was harder than he liked.
Keeley squealed as Gio got by her. She wrapped her arms around his waist but couldn’t get a good grip, so she just slid down his body. Gio dragged her along awkwardly, struggling to walk with her clinging to his thighs.
“Just concede,” he taunted.
“Never!” she yelled, very nearly tripping him when she lost hold again and made a last-ditch dive for his ankles at the top of the stairs.
Rafe smiled lightly, but he was struggling to let go of the heavier thoughts tonight.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that Gio expected him to walk away tomorrow. After all, he’d basically put a time limit on the affair by asking her to stay with them just until Kayden returned home. Whether it had been intentional or not, he’d given them…God…an end date.
A reevaluation date. A D-Day.
Rafe was making himself insane worrying about tomorrow. Why couldn’t he be more like them? Why couldn’t he stop thinking, stop panicking, stop questioning every goddamn thing?
His genetic makeup was fucked.
What was he supposed to do anyway? Tell Keeley he loved her? How the hell did he even know if that’s what this was? He’d never been in love. Not once. What if this was something else—like a blend of lust and friendship and that overprotectiveness he’d always felt for her? He’d never mixed those things together, so he could be completely misreading the emotion.
What happened if he said the words and then a few months down the road, he realized he’d made a terrible mistake? He’d promised not to hurt her, and he meant it.
Of course, there was another concern as well. What if Gio didn’t want more than the shared sexual experience? What if he saw a future with Keeley that didn’t include Rafe?
Rafe shook his head and blew out a long, slow breath.
Put it away. Put it all away.
That was easy to do when he entered his bedroom just in time to see Gio playfully pick up Keeley and toss her onto the mattress. His friend followed her down, caging her beneath him, kissing her senseless.
“Concede,” Gio taunted.
“Nope,” Keeley said, laughing when Gio began to tickle her.
Fuck it.
Tomorrow was coming. There was no stopping it.
Tonight…he was going to be here, with them, living in the moment.
He leaned against the doorjamb for a few minutes, watching them kiss and play. They were beautiful together. The two of them would make adorable babies.
Rafe frowned, the idea of them making a family without him cutting like a knife.
Put it away.
Keeley looked in his direction after a few minutes. “Why are you all the way over there?”
Rafe pushed away from the doorframe, pulling off his shirt as he walked into the room. Stopping next to the mattress, he toed off his shoes and shed his pants as well.
Gio and Keeley lay next to each other, watching.
“That’s better,” she said, coming up on her hands and knees to crawl to the edge of the bed to meet him. Kneeling, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him.
Rafe had never been a kisser. Period.
Kissing felt intimate, and that wasn’t something he was interested in.
Sex without strings. Sex without accessories.
None of that was true with Keeley. With her, he wanted everything and more.
Reaching for the hem of her shirt, he drew it over her head. Gio was two seconds behind him, unfastening her bra and tugging it away as well. Then, they both took a moment to admire what they’d uncovered.
She laughed. “You guys act like you’ve never seen my boobs before.”
Rafe reached out and pinched one of her nipples, then the other, loving the way they tightened. She had gorgeous nipples.
“Very suckable,” Gio murmured, shifting to her side so he could take one into his mouth, while Rafe cupped the other, playing with it. They’d learned early on that the quickest way to get Keeley’s motor revving was to play with her breasts. Or her clit. She wasn’t fussy.
Keeley’s head fell back, her eyes closing with delight. She gave them one of her cute little moans. “You guys are way too good at that.”
“We’re bachelors in our thirties,” Gio joked. “We’ve had plenty of opportunities to practice.”
Keeley opened her eyes, gaze zeroing in on Gio. “I don’t want to hear about past practice.”
Gio chuckled. “What’s this I’m seeing? Did you know our Keeley had a jealous streak, Rafe?”
He shook his head. To be honest, he didn’t. Keeley seemed to take everything in stride, and she’d never seemed to mind hearing about their past liaisons with Jill, Vanessa, and Jennifer. In fact, she was typically the one who brought them up. Keeley wasn’t shy about asking stuff she wanted to know.
“Stand up and take off your jeans,” Gio demanded, as he took off his own clothes.
Rafe took a step back so Keeley could rise. She slid her jeans and panties down together. She was barefoot already, and he assumed she’d shucked her sandals at the door. Keeley seemed to have an aversion to shoes, always taking hers off the second she got home. It was why there’d been a stack of no less than five pairs of shoes in his front foyer these past few weeks.
