Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Once Keeley was in the privacy of the guest room, she closed the door and leaned against it, sucking in some much-needed air.
Her breathing was shaky as two emotions fought for dominance.
Arousal and shock.
They wanted to take her on a date.
Both of them.
Rafe had told her to take some time to think about what she wanted, but she’d be damned if she needed it.
She knew what she wanted, and it was them. The realization that they wanted her too was a dream come true, and there was no way in hell she was walking away from it.
If the JT thing had happened a couple months ago, perhaps she would have taken it a lot harder. She would have had her heart hurt by the stupid asshole again, but right now, she felt none of that. Because…it wasn’t JT who’d been consuming her thoughts, her fantasies, her sleepless nights.
It was Gio and Rafe and those sensual, passionate, mind-blowing kisses of theirs.
Years of flirting, of crushing on them, and nothing.
Then, last week on the dance floor at Eclectic, she’d thought perhaps the bro-code had been officially kicked to the curb.
Because there’d been no denying the chemistry between the three of them.
Gio’s hands brushing her breasts, Rafe’s erection rubbing against her ass as they did the bump and grind.
She’d had to leave the floor after one dance because her arousal had reached dangerous peaks, and she wasn’t sure she could keep the next dance from advancing to an X-rating.
When they’d returned to the table, she realized she’d obviously misread the sexy dance.
Because once again, Gio had responded to her bold comments with his normal brand of harmless flirting, while Rafe brushed it off, his emotions locked down, the usual wall that told her nothing was going to happen between them back in place.
She’d known in that instant she was still in the kid-sister box, doomed to only ever sleep with them in her fantasies.
She’d thought giving JT another chance would help her move past her unrequited desire for Rafe and Gio. It hadn’t. JT hadn’t hurt her feelings tonight. Not really. He’d just wounded her pride. And pissed her off. He’d used her, and she fucking hated being used.
But now, in the blink of an eye, everything had changed.
All she could think was “be careful what you wish for,” because while she’d dreamed about Gio and Rafe for years, she never—NEVER—thought they’d be interested in her, and she never—NEVER—imagined it would be the two of them together rather than separately.
She was surprised they’d pulled away from her after those good-night kisses a few minutes earlier.
Because, holy fuck, if those weren’t “let’s get it on” kisses, then she clearly didn’t understand kissing at all.
But they’d stepped away and said good night.
Which she was grateful for and annoyed about at the same time.
She sighed, the sound ridiculously happy.
How in the hell could it have gone from one of the worst nights of her life to one of the best in less than an hour?
They wanted her.
Her!
It was heady and wonderful…and overwhelming.
Rafe had been right to tell her to get some sleep.
She needed some distance to consider what they were saying because right now, she was thinking with her libido.
Rafe assured her it wouldn’t be a one-night stand, which was awesome.
But that also didn’t really tell her what it would be…
because he’d told her point-blank he wasn’t looking for a committed relationship.
And it sounded like what he and Gio did together in the bedroom couldn’t be classified as a relationship anyway. It sounded like it was just casual sex.
How had Rafe described it? Exploring a kink?
Keeley wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
She’d slept with men without love being part of the equation before, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to keep her heart safe with Gio and Rafe.
They’d been stealing little pieces of it here and there for a decade, starting with the night her parents had died.
She pushed away from the door and walked to the bed. Tonight had been…a lot. She was overtired and overwrought.
Of course, she was also overhorny—was that even a word?
“Enough. You’re not doing anything else tonight except sleeping,” she muttered to herself as she stripped out of her jeans and slid her bra off without removing her shirt.
That and her panties were going to have to serve as her pajamas.
She wished she’d thought to ask one of the guys for a clean T-shirt, and briefly considered using that as an excuse to seek them out again.
Down, girl.
Turning off the light, she climbed beneath the cool cotton sheets and glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was three a.m., and it had been one hell of a night.
She closed her eyes and willed sleep to come, willed her brain to shut down.
She wasn’t exactly sure when she stopped tossing and turning, but apparently, she had for a little while. Because when she jerked awake nearly two hours later, she was bleary from a restless sleep.
She was also freezing.
Like, shoved-naked-into-the-Siberian-winter freezing.
She shivered violently, and her teeth honest-to-God chattered.
She tried to burrow deeper beneath the sheets and the duvet, but it didn’t help.
Unfortunately, it was so cold in the room that the idea of peeking even one little finger from beneath the covers in search of another blanket—or twenty—or more clothes was unthinkable.
She lay there for a few minutes, caught between that half-awake, half-asleep state, aware of only one thing. She was going to freeze to death if she didn’t do something.
The room was still dark. Pitch black, in fact.
Rafe’s haunted mansion was on the outskirts of the city on a fairly large parcel of private land.
As such, there were no streetlights, and given the utter blackness from the window, the moonless sky wasn’t going to provide any help either.
In an hour, dawn would break, but for now, there was no reprieve from the unnatural darkness.
She pulled the duvet over her head, burying herself beneath it. Perhaps her trapped breath would provide some level of heat.
Her shivering grew worse, and she realized she was being stupid. There was no way she could fall back to sleep when she was this cold. She needed to find more blankets.
She took a deep breath and gave herself a pep talk. Then she threw back the covers, stood up, winced when she put weight on her still-sore ankle, and darted out of the room to the hallway—which felt like a sauna compared to her bedroom.
“What the hell?” she murmured, shocked by the extreme change in temperature.
She glanced back to the open door of her room, wondering if a window had been left open or something.
Although, that shouldn’t have mattered. It hadn’t been cold outside.
She hadn’t even worn a jacket to dinner.
Even though it was late September, the weather had been quite balmy for the past few days.
One moment, she was still looking through the open bedroom door, and the next, it slammed shut with a loud bang.
Keeley jerked, yelping loudly in surprise.
“Jesus!” she cried out, placing her hand on her suddenly racing heart.
Gio and Rafe emerged from their rooms quickly.
“What’s wrong?” Gio asked.
“Are you alright?” Rafe stepped closer, grasping both of her hands. “Why are you so cold? Your hands are like ice.” Then he looked at her more closely. “Jesus, your lips are blue.”
“It was f-freezing,” she said, her teeth still chattering. “I thought maybe a w-window was open or the AC was cranked down too low. I came out to look for more blankets. But then…I didn’t slam that door. It just did it on its own.”
Rafe looked over his shoulder at her closed bedroom door. “Tonight’s not the first time random doors have slammed shut for no apparent reason.”
“I know I said the haunted house thing would be a cool feature for the inn, but I think I changed my mind. I’m not going back in there. You can’t make me.”
“No one’s making you go back in. Come on. Let’s get you warmed up.” Gio wrapped his arm around her waist, guiding her to his bedroom.
“I’m not taking your bed,” she argued. “I can sleep on the couch. All I need is about thirty blankets in case it’s cold in the living room too.”
He ignored her, leading her to his bed. Rafe had followed them to the room, but he stopped before entering, leaning on the doorframe and watching them.
As Gio pulled back the duvet, she realized she was basically half naked. Her T-shirt just barely came to the top of her boy-cut panties.
“Get in,” Gio said. “And slide to the middle.”
She climbed in, doing as he asked.
Gio glanced toward the doorway, where Rafe remained. “Care to join us?”
Rafe gave Gio a look that could have been a warning or exasperation. She couldn’t tell which.
“Us?” she asked, before Gio crawled into bed beside her and drew the duvet over them.
Then she felt the mattress give way on the other side, and Rafe slid in. He turned her onto her side, away from him, before slipping closer so that her back was pressed against his warm chest.
It was at that point that she realized both men were also half naked. Only they were baring their top halves, wearing nothing more than boxers in Gio’s case and lounge pants in Rafe’s.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Getting you warm,” Gio replied, as if the three of them crawling into bed together was perfectly normal.
Rafe spooned her as Gio twisted onto his side to face her, grasping her still-cold hands, blowing his hot breath on her palms in an attempt to warm them.