Chapter 24
Raffi
Raffi felt like something was crawling all over his skin, and it wasn’t just the warm Napa day getting inside his clothes, making him sweat. He loved running into Ani, and this should have been the happiest of coincidences, but instead he felt small somehow.
First, Ani couldn’t properly introduce him to her sister.
Then her sister figured out who he was and looked at him like he was a kind of war criminal, but then seemed confused that he wasn’t, actually.
The fact that someone was maybe trying to sabotage the wedding?
The wedding that Ani’s and Raffi’s futures were riding on?
It felt big and uncontrollable, and the thought gave him a sick feeling in his stomach.
Then that call from Kami, that’d been such a punch.
Kami demanding Ani’s presence. He’d been so proud of his girl when she said no, but then the alternative?
Almost worse. Kami sending a bunch of up-close photos of herself, her body in no doubt some sexy dress, if he knew Kami, to his girlfriend.
His girlfriend, who’d just gotten over Kami.
He didn’t like it. It wasn’t fair, and this shouldn’t have been Ani’s job.
And then, as if things couldn’t get worse, he overheard the part about Ani staying over at a house Kami rented.
He hadn’t asked Ani yet, but he had been waiting to tell her that she could come stay with him for those three nights.
Now it was too late. Kami was keeping Ani close to her, just how she liked it.
Who knows what Kami might try, feeling emotional the night before her wedding? Would she go and sneak into Ani’s room?
In Armenian, Kami meant “strong wind,” and that’s exactly what she was living up to now—she had swept into their lives like a tempest, upending everything in her path.
They had agreed to date, he and Ani, but they weren’t acting like it. And that was what scared him. Not a future with Ani, but no future with Ani.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, faced his girl, then looked down, embarrassed. “I’m going to be honest with you, I’m feeling pretty bad right now.”
Ani stepped closer to him, one eye on Talar. “I know, I can tell, and I don’t blame you.”
Now he could look her in the eye. “You don’t?”
She appeared so sympathetic, he wished he could kiss that beautiful face.
It killed him not to be able to. “Of course not. I didn’t introduce you to Talar properly, and I am guessing you heard most, if not all, of that conversation.
The house…I don’t want to stay there. I wanted—well, to be honest, I wanted to stay with you. If it wasn’t, you know, an imposition.”
The tightness in Raffi’s chest unknotted. He should have known that. Of course Ani would prefer to stay with him. Where the hell was his confidence? He needed to trust Ani and their relationship more, but it was still so new. It was easily battered before it even got a chance to grow properly.
“It’s never an imposition,” he said. “You could have stayed.”
“Well,” Ani said, “I was thinking maybe I could sneak out one of the nights and stay over anyway, then sneak back in the morning. No one has to know.”
Raffi’s heart warmed, but he shook his head. “You don’t have to lose sleep for my ego.”
“No, but I do want to lose sleep because of what we’ll be doing at your place.”
Despite himself, he growled. He felt it. They were getting closer. She trusted him more and more. She might have implied sex. Did Ani imply sex?
“I’m not sure how I’m standing here not kissing you, Ani jan.”
“Then do it,” she challenged.
But Talar. “Your sister?” he asked.
“I’m going to tell her anyway,” she said.
Raffi was stunned for a second, then the full realization of what this meant hit him.
This wasn’t just about telling her sister; it was about letting the people she loved most in the world know that he was important to her.
That their relationship was important. After weeks of secrecy, of stolen moments, this felt like a seismic shift.
It was trust, and it left him breathless.
In an instant, he scooped her into his arms, then cradled her face as he kissed her long and deep.
They were interrupted by a voice saying, “Wow, okay. I guess we’re skipping the explanations and going straight to the PDA. Nice.”
Talar stood there, hands on her hips, sizing him up. Raffi let go of Ani entirely, but then she grabbed his hand and held it.
“Explanations, right. Talar, meet my boyfriend. Raffi.”
Talar’s eyebrow raised so high, Raffi was actually impressed.
“You can’t—this is—we talked about this, Ani.”
Talar was the first person they told about their relationship, and it was off to a harrowing start.
He supposed he deserved this, though. After everything he’d done, all the damage he’d caused, shouldn’t he feel some shame?
Shouldn’t his bad behavior bite him back?
He just wished Ani didn’t have to get hurt in the crossfire.
But when Ani squeezed his hand, Raffi’s anger and fears ebbed. In her touch, he felt her steadiness, her quiet conviction. She wasn’t shaken. She could handle a few probing questions—because what they had was worth it. The two of them, together as one, were strong.
“Raffi and I have spent a lot of time together. A lot.” She looked at him meaningfully, and damn if that didn’t hit him right in the chest. A lot of time?
And it wasn’t enough. He wanted more—more of her quiet mornings and her loud opinions, more of the way she made him feel like he was the only person in the room, even when they were surrounded by people.
He wanted to be the one she turned to when the world got too heavy, the one who made her laugh when she didn’t think she could.
His thoughts were interrupted by Ani’s voice, steady and sure, like a beacon. “Whatever you heard, maybe that was him once, but it isn’t now. Raffi, I hope this is okay to say.”
He nodded, then looked toward the door. “It is. I feel like I should go so you two can talk about me behind my back,” he joked.
“No, stay.” She turned back to her sister. “Tal, we were going to keep it secret until after the wedding, so we could keep people’s attention on the actual wedding and not us. We’re supposed to be just working together. But I don’t want to hide it from you. I adore him. He’s…everything to me.”
He felt a great weight lift, as if something in him had been unlocked.
Ani had been melting the cold hardness in him for months, but there had still remained an icy gate that Ani just smashed open with her words.
Sharing their relationship for the first time.
He didn’t know it had meant so much to him.
To have her tell one of the most important people in her world that they were together.
He realized it now. He wanted it all—every second, every breath, every damn heartbeat.
Raffi wanted to marry this woman.
Talar shifted uncomfortably, sizing up Raffi. “I have to admit, you’re different from what I thought you’d be, praising my sister like that. Ani really does have a magic touch. I should bring you into some of my negotiations.”
Ani held up her hands. “No, thanks,” she said. “Done with that world.”
“So.” Raffi cleared his throat, feeling a lightness in his body, so light it was turning to near pleasurable delirium. “Should we grab a bite? If you have time?”
Talar smiled cautiously at him. “We have time.”
The three of them strolled to a café, ate enormous chocolate chip cookies and drank iced lattes, and enjoyed the warm Napa afternoon.
They showed Talar the winery and the finished work he and Ani had helped bring together.
And slowly, while chatting with his girlfriend and her sister under the September sun, he felt himself being pulled into their world.
Into a second family, one where he might belong.
All they had to do was make it through the wedding, then he could shout his love to the world.