Chapter 5 #4
Jill was a pleasant enough woman, but once she got her hooks in a man, she was relentless. He’d had to block her number two weeks after their breakup because she kept blowing his phone up with calls and texts.
That had been his reason for dumping her in high school, which—like an idiot—he’d forgotten. He’d tried to console himself with the fact it had been fifteen years, and there’d been a chance she had changed. She hadn’t. If anything, she’d gotten worse.
“Jill,” Rafe said with a single nod.
“It’s so great to see you both. I was sorry to hear about your grandpa,” she said to Rafe.
He acknowledged the kind words. “Thank you.”
“I haven’t heard from you in a while.” Jill was looking pointedly at Gio, who didn’t have a clue why she thought she would. He’d told her the relationship was over, and when she suggested they be friends, he assured her the best thing was that they not see each other anymore.
“I told you that you wouldn’t,” Gio said, trying for gentle, but managing nothing better than an annoyed growl.
Then Jill finally noticed Keeley at the table. “Oh. I’m sorry. Are you guys on a date?”
Gio didn’t respond because that question might lead to a conversation that revealed more than Keeley knew. Time to end the interaction now before Jill said anything more. “It was good to see you, Jill. Have a nice night,” he said dismissively.
For once, she got the message, walking away without putting up a fuss.
Keeley’s brow was creased in confusion. “You dated her, right?” she asked Gio.
He nodded.
“And you broke it off?”
“Yes,” Gio replied. “A few months ago.”
“Why would she think we were all on a date? Who goes on a date with their best friend?”
Gio tried to brush off the question. “Probably a slip of the tongue.”
He should have known better than to try something that lame with Keeley. She was too smart. “I don’t think it was,” she mused.
“Leave it alone, Kiwi,” Rafe warned, which was the equivalent to waving a red flag in front of her.
“Did you date her?” she asked Rafe.
He shook his head. Rafe wasn’t lying. He hadn’t dated her.
But…Keeley wasn’t backing down. “Did you sleep with her?”
Rafe held her gaze for a long time, and Gio could see him debating his response. Finally, he gave her the truth. “Yes.”
“At the same time as Gio.” It wasn’t a question.
Rafe sighed. “What part of ‘leave it alone’ are you struggling with?”
Keeley grinned, then turned her head, putting Gio on the hot seat. “Were you both sleeping with her literally at the same time?”
Gio nodded, despite the daggers Rafe’s gaze lobbed in his direction.
“So that threesome thing you mentioned wanting wasn’t hypothetical. You’ve actually gone there, done it.”
“It was just sex,” Rafe explained, jumping in quickly. His friend clearly wanted to spin things his way. “The two of us were exploring a kink. It was nothing more than that.”
“Is Jill the only woman you’ve ever shared?” she asked.
Gio shook his head, but Rafe had reached his limit on explanations.
“This conversation is over,” he stressed.
Studying Rafe’s face, Keeley finally nodded and let it go, clearly not willing to upset him.
But Gio knew she’d be back with more questions later. He could practically see them swarming in her mind.
The next two hours passed in laughter as they devoured their cheesesteaks, watching Elio play hockey on the big-screen TVs hanging from nearly every wall.
Once the game ended, they walked out together. Keeley had taken an Uber to the bar, so Rafe—their DD—offered to drive her home. They discussed the game the entire way to her place. Keeley was as avid a hockey fan as they were—maybe more.
Of course, that wasn’t exactly surprising. All of his friends, brothers, and cousins were die-hard hockey fans, or more accurately, hard-core Philly fans. The sport didn’t matter. Most of them played either high school hockey or football throughout their teens.
When Kayden moved back into his family home after his parents’ deaths, he’d hosted a weekly hockey night for their big group of guys.
Keeley was always there, sitting on the floor, yelling at the players, the goalies, the refs, and the coaches as much as they did.
She’d grown up hanging out with them. Probably a lot more than most kid sisters. But that was to be expected.
After all, Kayden was overprotective to a fault, so she spent way too many of her teen years being dragged along to Eagles—let’s go birds!—games and poker nights, so he could keep an eye on her. And he’d been right to do so.
Liza had once compared her to a preacher’s kid, the type of teenager who constantly chomped at the bit.
Keeley had a bit of a wild side, so she hadn’t made things easy on her brother when she was in high school.
She was a social butterfly at heart, something her parents had found easier to accept than Kayden, who’d enforced strict curfews.
As such, she’d snuck out of the house at night to go to parties, and had invited boyfriends over when Kayden worked the night shift, even though he’d forbidden her to have boys in the house when he wasn’t home.
Gio used to laugh whenever Kayden shared Keeley’s crazy exploits, but now, he looked back on those stories and sympathized with her brother.
“Okay, here we are.” Rafe pulled up to the curb and turned off the car.
“Well, I have to say my horoscope was right on today,” she said before getting out.
“Oh yeah?” Gio prompted.
“It said, interesting news and stimulating conversations were coming my way. Nailed it.”
Gio chuckled. Rafe did not.
Keeley climbed out of the back seat, surprised when he and Rafe got out as well. Rafe came around the car and stood next to Gio on the curb…making him curious. Rafe had warned him not to kiss Keeley again, so had he gotten out of the car as a way to reinforce his request?
“You don’t have to walk in with me,” she said. “There’s a security code on the door to the building.”
Gio knew that. Knew that was one of the requirements Kayden had laid down when his sister said she was moving out after college. It had taken Keeley a few months longer than she’d wanted, trying to find a place in a safe neighborhood that she could afford, that checked off all of Kayden’s boxes.
Rafe leaned against the car. “We’ll just watch until you get inside.”
“Cool.” However, Keeley didn’t turn to leave. Instead, she just stood there.
“Is something wrong?” Rafe asked.
“Where’s my good-night kiss?” she demanded.
“Did your horoscope predict that too?” Gio asked, hedging. He’d decided Rafe was smart to issue the warning, that he’d be wiser to hold back until he figured out how to proceed with Keeley. It was those first two kisses that now had his emotions in turmoil.
“Keeley,” Rafe said, in the same tone he’d used a thousand times, whenever she flirted with them. It was the perfect blend of patience and exasperation, something only Rafe could pull off.
Keeley was a quick learner, so she hastened to say, “It’s just a kiss. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Gio snorted. “You’re getting spoiled.”
She gave him a haughty look. “The kisses aren’t that great, Gio,” she teased.
He had to give it to her. She had his number. Wild horses couldn’t have dragged him away from a challenge.
He reached for her shoulders, pulled her close, and made sure to give her the kind of kiss that would having her changing her tune—it was slow and hot and long.
Keeley’s hands found their way to his waist, her fingers gripping his shirt tightly. It took everything he had not to pull her body flush against his, to let her feel the impact she was having on him.
He’d kissed countless women in his life, so he couldn’t begin to understand why this kiss felt…different. Felt like so much more.
Maybe it was because he’d known Keeley for most of her life. He’d seen her at so many stages, watched her blossom into this beautiful, intelligent, funny woman.
It would be so easy to let himself get carried away, to push for more. But he wasn’t sure Keeley was ready for what he wanted from her, and he knew Rafe wasn’t.
So he slowly gentled the kiss, then backed away.
He expected this interlude would end as the previous two had. Rafe would hug her, they’d say good night, then he’d spend the rest of the night alone with his hand, as visions of Keeley danced in his head.
Keeley, apparently, had other plans. “Why don’t you ever kiss me?” she asked Rafe.
He frowned. “That wouldn’t be smart, Keeley.”
“Why not?” she pressed.
“Because we’re friends. Because you’re Kayden’s sister. Because you work for me now.”
Keeley grinned, the look on her face pure minx. “You had that list ready to go, didn’t you?”
Rafe opened his arms. “Behave yourself and come give me my hug.”
Gio had become quite fond of Keeley’s hugs as well, not even sure when those had started. They’d never touched much at all before, but somewhere during these past few weeks, in addition to simply saying goodbye after work, Keeley never failed to give both of them hugs.
Keeley crossed her arms. “No. I want a kiss instead.”
Rafe looked at Gio. “See what you started?”
Gio shrugged, unapologetically. “Sometimes it’s fun to act on impulse.”
Rafe shook his head. “One of us in this little trio has to be levelheaded.”
Gio wanted to respond to that, but he literally couldn’t. He got too hung up on the word trio. He liked it. Too much.
So when he could speak again…he poked the bear. “Go on. Kiss her.”
Rafe frowned.
“Yeah.” Keeley added her own taunt to the game. “Unless you’re afraid you’re going to fall into the same category as all those other bad kissers in my past.”
“I’m not Gio,” Rafe said. “You’re not going to taunt me into getting your way.”
“Just one kiss?” she asked, in the most genuine, least-flirty voice he’d ever heard from her.
While Gio responded to teasing, apparently Rafe was a sucker for sincerity.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “You were warned. Both of you were.” That was all he said before he cupped Keeley’s face in his hands and kissed her.
Gio’s brows rose nearly to his hairline as Rafe took possession of Keeley’s lips with a passion he had never witnessed in his friend.
It was deep and sexy and hungry, almost desperate.
Keeley gripped Rafe’s forearms, but Gio didn’t mistake her touch as part of the embrace. No. She was holding on for dear life.
Gio stood there, stock-still, watching. And that heart-to-heart he’d promised to have with himself transpired right there, right then.
This…God…
This was happening.
The kiss could have lasted for ten seconds or ten hours, but when Rafe released her, none of them moved. Hell, Gio wasn’t sure any of them were breathing.
“Rafe,” Keeley whispered at last, as she touched her kiss-swollen lips, her cheeks flushed bright red.
“Damn, man,” Gio muttered.
That was when Gio suddenly realized Rafe had never kissed Jill or Jennifer or Vanessa. Not once. He had always left the kissing to Gio, just like he’d left the relationship part to him.
He had never seen his best friend kiss a woman. Not until this moment.
And he couldn’t help but wonder what that meant.
Rafe should have looked victorious. Should have been as smug as hell, but instead…he looked lost. Especially when he said, “Keeley. When I kiss a woman, it means something.”
With that, he turned around, heading back to the driver’s side and climbing into the car, leaving Gio and Keeley standing side by side, speechless.