Rough and Ready, page 25
Rome wasn’t built in a day, she told herself, seeking some consolation.
They hoped that by recreating everything they’d shared—minus the sex—Rafe would realize that what the three of them had wasn’t just an affair. It had been so much more.
Last night, she’d gone out to dinner with her brother again, so she hadn’t seen either of her guys. She refused to think of them any other way. She still hadn’t told her brother about Gio or Rafe. Not that she thought he’d be angry or upset, and not because she wanted to keep it a secret. It was just that until things were settled—please, let them settle the right way—she wanted to wait. She wanted to be able to look at Kayden and tell him that she was madly, deeply, truly in love with Gio and Rafe, and know that they felt the same way.
So now, it was Wednesday night again, and they were back in the office, after putting the finishing touches on the room. Thus far, Keeley had shown bits and pieces of the office on video, but hadn’t given a total panoramic, waiting until the work was finished so she could do a big reveal show.
Tonight, they were finally there, and the three of them were thrilled with the end result.
“And that’s a wrap,” she said, hitting the red button to stop recording. She spun around once more, marveling at the room. “I can’t believe this is the same room! When I started working for you, Rafe, this was floor-to-ceiling boxes with little more than a path to the desk.”
“I know.” Rafe’s smile was huge and contagious. “I can’t…Jesus, I never imagined.” He looked over at Gio. “You outdid yourself.”
Gio waved the compliment away. “We outdid ourselves. You were right beside me every step of the way, man.”
“Yeah, but I never could have come up with this. My idea for renovating it was slapping some paint on the walls. This…”
Gio’s vision had gone quite a few steps further and included stripping and refinishing the molding and hardwood floor, adding a vintage rug they’d found at an antique shop, repairing the gorgeous bookcases that lined two walls, removing the heavy curtains to let in more natural light, replacing the gross, dusty lamps with recessed lighting that worked with a dimmer switch, making the useless fireplace functional again…and then, slapping some paint on the walls.
In addition to restoring the historical aspects of the room, Gio had updated it with some hidden, contemporary touches, because this room—once the inn opened—would serve as the business center.
“Well, one room down, forty-seven more to go,” Gio joked as he slapped Rafe on the shoulder. “At this rate, we should have the inn ready to open by our ninetieth birthdays.”
“We could break all the records for longest-running renovation show on Facebook,” Keeley joked.
Rafe chuckled, but before he could respond, his phone rang. He answered it, turning his back to them and walking to the window.
Keeley could tell it was his mother. Rafe had a “mom voice,” which was sort of similar to the tone he used to use on her, when she was flirting shamelessly.
Patience and affection.
“Oh, Mom, I’m sorry to hear that,” Rafe said.
Keeley and Gio exchanged a glance, both of them coming to the exact same conclusion. Rodney, the stepdick, had left. Keeley felt the slightest twinge of panic because, while there was no love lost between Rafe and Rodney, she couldn’t help but wonder what that would mean for the three of them. Would this set Rafe back? Restrengthen his convictions that love and relationships were bad things?
“I’ll come by tomorrow morning to see you, promise.” Rafe paused, then said, “It’s all going to be okay. Bye, Mom.”
After hanging up, Rafe stared out the window, into the darkness.
Keeley studied his reflection, hating the heaviness that replaced what had been genuine happiness just a few minutes earlier.
“Rodney leave?” Gio asked, breaking the silence.
Rafe nodded as he turned around. “Does it make me a terrible son that I’m glad the asshole is gone?”
Keeley shook her head and walked over to him. “I think it makes you a good son. From what you’ve told me about the guy, he was a total jerk and not good to your mother.”
Rafe lifted one shoulder miserably. “And yet, she loved him.”
Keeley acted on instinct, hating how sad he looked. She stepped closer, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m sorry, Rafe.”
Unlike the past couple of nights, Rafe didn’t immediately return her hug, his arms remaining by his sides. Keeley didn’t care. She wasn’t letting go.
Once that became apparent, Rafe lifted his arms, wrapping her up, holding her tightly. She breathed in his scent, relishing this too-infrequent closeness.
When his grip began to loosen, she lifted her head from his chest, turned her face up to his. She could feel his breath, could see all those emotions he’d been trying so hard to hide written in his eyes.
“Rafe,” she whispered.
He lowered his head and kissed her. Kissed her with the same passion and power she’d come to expect from him. Rafe never merely claimed. He consumed. And she loved it.
Their lips parted as the kiss deepened. Her fingers closed in his shirt, while his found her hair, his fist closing around it tightly until her scalp stung under the delicious intensity. He used his grip to twist her head, to control her, to put her exactly where he wanted her.
And then, as quick as it started, it ended. Rafe broke the kiss and took two steps back. She started to follow him, but he held his hand up, and she knew she’d let this go too far, too soon.
It was just…he’d been hurting.
Rafe’s expression was one of regret and apology, especially when he turned to look at Gio.
Keeley followed his gaze, took one glance at Gio, then her eyes flew back to Rafe, perfectly aware he wouldn’t like what he’d seen.
The apology lingering on Rafe’s lips died the moment he saw Gio’s smile, his pleasure at watching the two of them kiss. After all, Gio had allowed his best friend to assume they’d moved on, that they were fine with following the standard protocol of Rafe walking away and Gio continuing the relationship.
Gio’s smile. Her kiss. It gave them away.
Rafe’s eyes narrowed.
They’d overplayed their hand. Revealed their true intentions, hopes, desires.
“That won’t happen again,” he said coldly.
Four words. That was all Rafe said before he left the room.
Gio sighed heavily. “Fuck.”
“Yeah,” Keeley agreed. “Fuck.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Anybody home?” Keeley called out from the front door.
Rafe sighed. He had hoped to make his escape before she arrived this evening.
He’d tried to be pissed about last night, about that kiss the two of them had shared, but he couldn’t work up a single speck of anger. Because it had become immediately, painfully clear that Gio and Keeley hadn’t truly accepted his decision to step away from the relationship.
Instead, they’d joined forces, trying to bring him back into the relation—
Shit.
He sighed heavily.
Affair. It was a fucking affair.
Or at least, he’d let himself pretend it was. For an entire week, things had continued the same as they’d been the previous weeks. Only without the sex.
And it had been just as amazing, just as terrific.
But they’d been tricking him, playing a game, making him believe they were a happy couple, fine with moving on without him because that had been the plan all along.
Then he’d fucked up. Kissed Keeley because he missed her so bad, it was a physical ache that never left him. He’d reached for her before his brain could engage. When it had, he’d looked over, expecting Gio to be pissed. After all, Rafe had broken things off, had basically given Gio his blessing to make Keeley his girlfriend, assuring him he’d be fine, just like he always was.
Rafe had been lying.
But so had Gio.
Because instead of anger, Gio had been smiling, looking at Rafe with that same open expression that held back nothing, that proved Gio hadn’t accepted the so-called status quo. His best friend had no intention of moving on alone with Keeley.
Not this time.
So why wasn’t he furious at them for trying to trick him?
Because this is what you want, you fucking idiot.
Keeley loved him. That had been the catalyst, had been the trigger, his downfall.
She’d said those words and Rafe had shut down, panicked. No woman had ever said those three little words to him because he’d held every woman he’d ever dated at arm’s length, made sure to walk away before they could.
The worst part was that Rafe was so fucked up in the head, he hadn’t even believed her, certain that Keeley was mistaken.
Then he’d kissed her last night…
And he’d felt…
Fuck.
He’d felt all of it. Her love, his love…Gio’s.
The truth crashed in on him until he thought he’d suffocate beneath the fallout.
And he’d run again because at the back of it all, he’d just heard his mother’s voice when she told him her marriage was over…again.
Love. Leave. Love. Leave. It was one of the few absolutes in life. Right?
He started down the stairs, stopping halfway when Gio drifted in from the kitchen. He used the back door there to go to and from his workshop.
Keeley lifted a bag. “I brought over homemade Italian hoagies and chips for dinner.” She looked up and gave him a hesitant, hopeful smile.
It made what he was about to do feel a million times harder.
“I can’t stay for dinner,” he said.
“Going to your mom’s?” Keeley asked.
Rafe shook his head. “No, I stopped by her place this morning. She’s fine.”
“Fine?” Keeley asked in surprise. Not that he could blame her. Rafe had talked about his mom’s previous four divorces. About how she fell apart and it took a long time, and a lot of consoling, to pick her back up again.
“She kicked him out,” Rafe explained.
“No shit!” Gio exclaimed, as shocked as Rafe had been this morning when he’d walked into his mom’s house and found her humming as she cleaned the kitchen.
“She’d had enough of him grumbling about the inheritance and bad-mouthing me, accusing me of preying on Grandpa’s illness and tricking him into rewriting his will.”
“What a jerk,” Keeley said. “You would never do that.”
“I know. And so did Mom. I didn’t realize how bad he’d gotten since Grandpa’s death. I should have called her more, but first, I was afraid she wouldn’t want to talk to me. And then…”
“We distracted you,” Gio finished for him.
“She told me she understood why Grandpa left his business, his house, everything to me. I reassured her I’d take care of her, but…” Rafe smiled, recalling their conversation. “She said she didn’t want me taking care of her. Said she didn’t want any man to do that anymore. She’s made some new friends in a book club, who’ve apparently inspired her to find her own happiness rather than thinking she needs a man or material stuff to make her life good.”
“Wow,” Keeley said, grinning widely. “That’s awesome.”
It was awesome. But Rafe was afraid to trust it. His mom had managed to break the pattern, and he was happy, albeit tentatively. For the first time in her life, it felt like she’d found the strength to do what made her happy rather than focusing on someone else’s happiness.
The smile on her face this morning had stuck with him all day because…he’d never seen it. Not like that. Not that bright, that absolute, that sure.
“So where are you going?” Gio asked. “Got a hot date?” The last was a joke, which made Rafe’s response all the worse.
“Yeah. I do.” He started down the remaining stairs—and tripped when he reached the last one.
He grabbed the handrail to steady himself, pausing. It felt as if someone had…pushed him.
He considered all the times Keeley had almost fallen, he or Gio reaching out to catch her. Rafe took a deep breath, then mentally told his grandpa to cut it out.
“You do,” Gio muttered, clearly surprised by his response.
He tried to focus on Gio, unwilling to see Keeley’s reaction.
On the way to his mother’s this morning, he’d called Dana, a part-time employee from the flower shop he’d inherited, inviting her out for dinner and drinks tonight. It had been an impulsive, knee-jerk decision that he’d regretted five seconds after she’d accepted.
This was why he thought shit out. Because as soon as he didn’t, he was opening an inn and indulging in a menage with Keeley and Gio and…fucking up everything in his life.
“Oh,” Keeley said quietly. She managed to pack quite a punch with that single syllable.
Rafe glanced her direction, forcing himself to acknowledge the deeply hurt expression he’d put on her face. “Her name is Dana. She works at the flower shop. I met her last week when I was going around to check in on all the businesses. I thought…”
He’d thought moving on and dating someone else would show Keeley and Gio just how serious he was. Because there was still a small part of him that didn’t believe he belonged, that she really didn’t love him, that they would be better off without him.
He’d made that call to Dana, which had been a huge fucking mistake, and he’d hated himself for it ever since. He’d picked up the phone a dozen times since this morning to cancel, but…apparently, he was his own worst enemy.
“It’s just drinks and dinner. I’m taking her to that new Italian place, Roma’s, that Tony was telling us about a couple weeks ago. Near Rittenhouse.” Rafe had no idea why he was still talking. He needed to get out of here. “Anyway, I should probably get going or I’ll be late. Enjoy your hoagies. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
A large part of him—the foolish part he’d only just discovered—wished they’d stop him, tell him they wanted him to stay.
Neither Keeley nor Gio said a word as he left.
Looked like he’d not only slammed the door closed this time. He’d locked it as well.
* * *
Rafe forced a smile as Dana shared a story about an encounter with a customer. The man, a husband, was looking for a way out of the doghouse. Dana had reassured him a dozen roses would probably work just as well as a hundred.
“A hundred,” she exclaimed. “Can you imagine? And it wasn’t even infidelity. The guy had just forgotten their anniversary. I had to wonder if he was married to Atilla the Hun.”
“So what I hear you saying is, you could have sold a hundred roses, but you talked the guy down to twelve,” Rafe joked, aware it was the first thing he’d said since they sat down that wasn’t a single-word response. He felt guilty for being such a shitty date, especially considering he’d been the one to ask her out.
Dana was nice, an easy companion. At any other time in his life, he would have felt an attraction, would have asked for a second date in hopes that things would progress to the bedroom. But every single part of this evening had been hard work so far…and he hadn’t even been putting much effort into it.
“Guess I shouldn’t have confessed that to the boss.”
They fell silent again, Dana sneaking yet another peek at her phone, probably wondering how much longer she would have to endure his less-than-stimulating company.
If he’d been smart, he would have simply invited her out for drinks. What had he been thinking, tacking a whole meal onto the deal?
They’d finished their first round of drinks and an appetizer, and were just about to order, when two familiar faces caught his attention.
Rafe fought to restrain a relieved grin when Keeley and Gio approached their table, both of them feigning absolute amazement over running into him in the exact place he’d told them he would be.
“Rafe,” Gio said, stopping next to him. “What a nice surprise. How long has it been, buddy?”
It was on the tip of Rafe’s tongue to give him the honest answer of “less than an hour,” but instead, he ignored the question. “Dana, these are my friends, Keeley Gallo and Gio Moretti.”
Gio’s gaze narrowed briefly at the word friends, but he recovered quickly. Rafe keenly recalled how he’d felt when they’d crashed Keeley’s first date, and she’d introduced them that way. He’d hated it…though he had refused to admit it at the time, even just to himself.
“Nice to meet you,” Keeley said, shaking Dana’s hand.
Dana smiled and returned the greeting.
Gio looked around the restaurant, which was doing a pretty good business but was by no means overly crowded. “This place is packed,” he exaggerated. “Hey, what do you say we get the waiter to pull a couple chairs over and we’ll join you.”
Rafe covered his mouth, quickly trying to pass his laugh off as a cough.
Dana, who really was very nice, looked at him and shrugged like she was game. She was probably grateful there would be someone else at the table to talk to, since he hadn’t been carrying his weight.
Gio, the cocky bastard, didn’t even wait for them to give their approval. He’d already waved the waiter down and requested the chairs. He and Keeley sat down with them, ordering drinks and looking at the menus.
Keeley, a master at first dates, led the conversation throughout the meal, engaging Dana in discussions about their favorite wines, what books they were currently reading, then debating the best-smelling flower—Dana was in the hyacinth camp, Keeley in the lilac one.
Then they told Dana about the renovations they were doing to the mansion, and Keeley pulled out her phone, showing her a bit of one of the videos. Dana asked for the link, promising to watch later.
If Dana thought it was strange that he and Gio were currently making videos together, yet pretended they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, she had the good grace not to mention it.
While the date had felt eternal at the beginning, Rafe was surprised by how quickly the time passed, the four of them enjoying the meal and each other’s company.
