Chapter 3
RAFE
I’m a fucking dick, plain and simple. Still, she left me with her parting shot, and it kicked me right where she wanted—square in the balls and doing nothing for my aching cock.
I drag a hand down my face, then stare at the report in front of me, the numbers blurring on the screen.
Seraphina leaving her tablet on my desk is for one of two things: a reason to come back into my office or to keep me looking at the report and how we were almost swindled.
Not like any of it is sticking. I’ve got a pile of shit to get through—projections, contracts, emails waiting for my signature—and none of it matters.
Because every few seconds, my attention snaps right back to where Seraphina is currently sitting, right in my line of sight.
She definitely knew what the hell she was doing by leaving the door open.
I tear at my tie, tugging it away from my neck and lifting it over my head, then drop it to my desk.
My eyes move right to Seraphina. She’s sitting at her desk that’s situated near the floor-to-ceiling windows much like mine.
The mid-morning Seattle drizzle paints streaks along the glass beside her.
She has her hands up, putting her hair in some kind of loose twist, but strands keep escaping around her face even when she attempts to tame them into place.
When she’s through with her task, she tucks one long shapely leg beneath her in the chair, losing a shoe in the process, before she becomes completely absorbed in her work.
Unlike me.
Seraphina Westwood is completely unaware that she’s driving me insane. Again.
This is a bad idea, a very bad idea, especially after what almost happened moments ago.
I can still smell her.
I can still hear the soft inhale she made when were close.
I can still taste the mint rolling off her lips that I wanted nothing more than to dig my fingers into the back of her head, pull her close to me, and get her flavor directly from the source. Then she looked up at me with her doe eyes. Christ.
The shrill tone of my office phone shatters my moment, and I’m left with one thing and one thing only to do: answer the damn thing.
“Sable.” I mutter a curse. Across the way, Seraphina’s mouth twitches like she knew exactly who would be calling. Little traitor.
“What?” I answer the phone with annoyance.
“Well, hello to you, too, big brother,” Sable says with a chuckle. “And my, don’t you sound pleasant today.”
“Is there a reason you’ve been blowing my phone off the hook?” Whereas there was once a time my hackles would be raised and I’d answer a split second after the phone rang when it came to my little sister, now, I can breathe easier. She’s got a man, a damned good one, too.
“Can’t a sister call her brother?” I can hear Nellie in the background and a slight tinge of exasperation in her tone. She’s nearing the end of her pregnancy, and, from what she tells me, she is as round as a beach ball.
“I’m working.” Seraphina isn’t the only one who receives the brunt of my pleasant disposition.
“Mhmm, sure.” I lean back in my chair, watching Seraphina, tugging at my lower lip with my thumb, and wishing she would be here in my lap. Instead, she’s pretending to not pay attention, but I catch the tiniest shake of her shoulders. The damn woman is laughing at me.
“What do you want, Sable?” I question, needing to get off the phone and actually be productive in some type of way today.
“I called earlier, you know.” There’s a but in there somewhere.
“I was busy.” Not technically a lie, not technically the truth, either.
“Hmm, can’t remember a time in my life when my brother hasn’t answered the phone after three calls, and all three times I was greeted by nothing but a voicemail.” She’s like a dog with a goddamn bone.
“I was very busy,” I elaborate. Just because they’re three hours ahead and the day is well underway, doesn’t mean mine is.
“Doing paperwork?” Sable hums thoughtfully on the other end of the line. My gaze drifts to Seraphina again. She reaches up, pulls the clip holding her hair out, and dark waves spill over her shoulders. My jaw tightens. “Rafe.”
“What, Sable?”
“Jesus, you sound like you’re one second away from committing a felony.” If she only fucking knew.
“Did you call to annoy me?” I slice my hand through my hair, fingers tugging at the strands to keep myself busy and planted in my damn seat.
“Nope. Those days are long behind us. I called because rumor has it you’ve been unbearably boorish with your new assistant, and even other employees are avoiding you more than usual.
Have you thought about, I don’t know, being a bit nicer?
Maybe stop glaring long enough to let the girl survive her probation period?
” I grumble a noise beneath my breath. If she only knew Seraphina the way I do.
“Alex talks too fucking much.” My eyes narrow instantly. The next time I’m upstairs, I know exactly what I’ll be saying to her.
“Alex is delightful, actually,” Sable says with a snort.
Of course, she’s friendly with Alex, Sable could make friends with a brick wall.
Jett, Toren’s cousin, has been in Seattle for his gallery show, and his woman, Indy, is best friends with Alex.
Much like most friends group do, they chat, or better yet, cackle, gossip, and converse non-stop.
How they can hang out at an event all night, then instantly start texting an hour later is beyond me.
“She mentioned, ahem, that you’ve been growling at people all week,” Sable says casually.
“I do not growl.”
“You absolutely do, and you just did. Don’t worry, Jett says it’s a man thing. Apparently, Toren does it, too. Colt doesn’t, so I’ve got the unicorn of a man in the bunch.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“How are you people even able to communicate this fast? Don’t you eat, sleep, work, and do shit couples do?” I’m not going there with my sister and her man. It might be happening, but as far as I’m concerned, Sable is still my baby sister and doesn’t do that shit.
“Well, unlike you, emotionally-constipated Rafe Montero, the rest of us speak openly.” Yeah, and I’m sure it’s while sitting around a campfire. No fucking thanks.
Across the office, Seraphina glances up, our eyes lock, and the air shifts. Heat, tension, and desire. The same dangerous pull that nearly wrecked my self-control earlier threatens to dissolve. Her gaze drops to my mouth, and my pulse kicks up a notch.
“Rafe.” Sable is trying to get my attention when the only person who’s managed to keep it has been Seraphina.
“What?” I look away first, my jaw flexing with exasperation. The way I keep grinding down, I’m going to end up with TMJ.
“You’re doing it again, aren’t you?” my sister questions.
“Doing what?” I have absolutely no idea what she’s going on about.
“The thing where you want something and instead of reaching for it, you make yourself miserable. And before you start, no, I’m not psychoanalyzing you.
I wouldn’t know where to begin in doing so.
” My sister’s voice softens. “You think I don’t recognize it, but I do.
You sound exactly like you did before you left on your last tour.
” That lands harder than I expected. I stare out at Seraphina’s desk.
She’s gone now, probably restocking the sitting area or heading out to get me food since my hunger made its presence known.
Seattle stretches beyond the endless windows—glass towers, gray skies, water, and below it all the roads where the traffic never ends.
“How do you know what’s going on here?” I mutter, my tone of voice coming down a notch.
“Jett is out there half the time, helping Toren. Indy is there with him, which means Alex is around. People talk and tend to notice things,” Sable explains with laughter in her voice.
“Christ, it’s like I’m still living in a small town,” I reply.
“You are from a small town.” She’s not wrong. Even before she moved to Whispering Oaks, the town we grew up in was postage-stamp sized.
“Seattle is vastly bigger than where you live, and yet somehow, gossip still travels.” I shake my head.
Seraphina reenters my line of sight. Her blouse shifts with the movement, giving me another glimpse of the curve of her breast. My cock jerks in my pants.
God help me, I can’t keep my body from reacting where she’s concerned.
“You’re staring at her right now, aren’t you?” Sable sighs dramatically into the phone.
“She’s walking back to her desk.” The words slip from my mouth without intending to.
“My god, you’re hopeless.” My mouth twitches.
Seraphina bends slightly, no idea the reason why, but the view I get of her heart-shaped ass is right there for the taking.
“Go after her, Rafe. Because if you keep dancing around this, eventually, someone will get hurt. She’ll find someone else, you’ll end up alone, and both of you will think about all the should-haves, could-haves, and would-haves.
” The amusement drains from her voice. That’s exactly the problem.
Seraphina deserves stability and safety.
A man who doesn’t wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares of his past.
“Not a good idea.”
“I know you care about her.” I move my eyes away from Seraphina and to the tablet she left on my desk.
“And I know that every time you convince yourself you’re protecting others by shutting them out, you only end up angry and alone.
” The silence settles heavily between us.
Seraphina appears at my door. The look on her face is softer, not a teasing hint to be seen.
In its place is concern, and that’s somehow worse.
“Have you always been this irritating?” I release a breath.
“Yes.” Sable’s answer has a smile tugging at my mouth.
“There’s my brother.” How she’s able to figure me out from thousands of miles away is only something a sister could know.
“Don’t start.”
“Rafe, man up. Shit or get off the pot, if you will.” I bark out a laugh.
“Is that your professional advice, Sab?” Seraphina is still waiting to gain entrance to my office, tilting her head to the side, and I keep my eyes firmly locked on her.
“Sisterly advice. Now I’ve gotta go. Love you, grumpy bear.” I lean back in my chair, phone pressed between my ear and shoulder, nodding at Seraphina to come back inside.
“Love you, too.” I hang up just as Seraphina puts one foot in front of the other and walks toward me.
What I wouldn’t give to demand she shut and lock the door behind her, beckon her to stand between me and my desk, and watch as she slides her sexy self onto the wood.
I’d wait until she couldn’t stand it anymore before I finally touch her sweet-as-sin skin.
Fuck, today is going to be torture, and I’m the only one who keeps asking for more.