Chapter 10 #3
Keeley saved him from having to say more when she returned with an overnight bag. “I have to say, you guys are awfully sure of yourselves. Even when past experience should have proven to you that my dates never end well.”
Gio wrapped his arm around her shoulders, guiding her to the door. “We’re about to break that unlucky streak. Show you how real men treat a woman on a date.”
She smiled her thanks when Rafe took her bag to carry for her. It was light, so she obviously hadn’t packed much more than a toothbrush and change of clothes. He was tempted to tell her to grab more. Because if she decided to go through with this, one night with her wasn’t going to be enough.
“So where are we going?” Keeley asked once they were in the car.
She’d claimed the backseat, while he and Gio were in the front.
Gio, as always, made his stupid joke about them “ridin’ eye-talian,” which Urban Dictionary had taught him meant men in the front seat, women in the back.
Rafe had no idea why Gio found the phrase so funny, but he used it pretty much every single time the scenario fit.
“We made reservations at Alpen Rose,” Rafe replied.
From the rearview mirror, he saw Keeley’s eyes widen. “Wow. I’ve always wanted to eat there, but it’s super expensive.”
Gio chuckled. “Rafe’s rich now, remember?”
“Is that your way of telling me I’m picking up the check?” he joked.
Gio, shameless as always, said, “Shit, I thought that was implied when we booked the table.”
Keeley laughed. “You guys are crazy.”
Rafe continued to sneak glances at her as he drove, noticing with some pleasure that the smile never left her face. Keeley was happy, and she didn’t bother hiding that fact.
Once they parked, Rafe put his hand on her back as they walked into the restaurant. Gio gave their name to the ma?tre d’, who showed them to their table. They’d requested a booth, so Gio slid into one side as Keeley and Rafe claimed the other.
The intimate restaurant was perfect for their first date, as it only seated forty people. The dining room was cloaked in wood, and the lighting, provided by ornate chandeliers, was dim, which made it easy for them to pretend they were the only three people in the place.
Keeley ordered a glass of red wine, while he and Gio both opted for bourbon on the rocks. Once they’d placed their orders, conversation began to flow.
Keeley had remarked at Eclectic that she’d liked JT originally because talking to him had been easy. Rafe had to admit the same was true for the three of them. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt comfortable enough to simply be himself.
“This place is incredible,” Keeley observed, leaning closer to Rafe.
He took advantage of the situation by resting his arm along the back of the booth, encouraging her to nuzzle in even more.
He caught the scent of her citrus-y shampoo and marveled over how the smell of lemons had become an aphrodisiac for him lately.
“How’s your ankle?” Gio asked.
“Better. Just a little twinge every now and then. And it’s not swollen anymore.”
Gio nodded, then said, “Even so, maybe you should keep it elevated. Slip off your shoe and lift your foot up.” He gave her a wicked look that was one-hundred-percent dare.
“Are you suggesting we play footsie?” Keeley asked, though Rafe could tell from the way she shifted, she’d already lifted her foot.
Gio reached beneath the table. “Nope. I’m suggesting you play footsie.”
“Gio,” she whispered, glancing around. “Put it on the bench beside you. Not…”
“Where’s the fun in that for me? No one can see,” Gio assured her as he whipped his napkin open dramatically—for effect—then draped it over his lap.
Rafe couldn’t see where Gio had positioned her foot, but he could definitely guess, especially when Gio groaned softly.
“Press a little harder.”
“You two are incorrigible,” Rafe said. “We’ve been here less than half an hour.”
Keeley giggled, then lifted her face to give Rafe an affectionate kiss on the cheek. “You’re the one who made us stop back at my place.”
Rafe nodded, then took the opening Keeley had offered him. “I did. Because I thought we should talk before we let things progress any further.”
Gio sighed dramatically. “Talk, talk, talk. Rafe, man, sometimes it’s okay to leap without looking.”
Rafe shook his head. “That’s actually never okay, and especially not right now.” He turned his attention to Keeley. “Were you okay with everything that happened last n—” He paused and amended his timeline. “Early this morning.”
“Yes,” she said without a moment’s hesitation. “I would have been even more okay with it if you and I…” She let him fill in the blanks.
He ran his finger along the back of her neck, loving the way that simple touch caused her to shiver with need. “We’ll get there. So you’re sure you’re interested? In sleeping with both of us?”
“I am. Very much so.”
He remembered Gio’s comment at her place, and he felt the need to ask, “Did I hurt you earlier in your apartment?”
“No. I mean, it was intense. But…” Her voice had taken on a breathless quality. “I liked it. No one’s ever…”
Rafe watched her face flush. He hadn’t expected shyness from her, and while it wasn’t there often, it did peek out from time to time. It was what told him that while she’d taken men to her bed, her experience was still limited.
“You like it rough,” Rafe mused aloud.
She considered that, then nodded. “I think I do.”
He was glad to have this opportunity to talk to her. “I don’t want to hurt you, Keeley. I’ll never take more than you’re able or willing to give.”
“I know you won’t,” she said with an assurance that hit him hard, blindsiding him. It told him that she trusted him. He never wanted to betray that, but God…he didn’t see a way around it, now that they’d opened the door to this affair. “So, how did the two of you discover you liked sharing women?”
Gio reached across the table, holding his hand palm up. Keeley slipped hers into it. “Rafe and I went to dinner with Layla and her guys right after they got together. After they left, the two of us started talking, and we realized we both wanted to try it.”
“How in the hell do you pick up women together?” she asked.
Gio chuckled. “Rafe knew our first lover, Jennifer, from work. He invited her to happy hour with us, and one thing led to another. We met our second lover, Vanessa, at Eclectic. We asked her to dance, and one thing led to another…” he repeated.
She laughed. “I’m sure it did. I’ve been a part of that bump and grind. It was why I had to walk off the dance floor after one song. So hot.”
Rafe kissed the side of her head. He noticed neither he nor Gio seemed capable of being near her without touching her. “The last affair was with Jill. She and Gio dated in high school. We ran into her at a bar, and again…”
“One thing led to another,” she finished. “I only ever heard about Gio dating Jill. From Liza and Jess. You…” she started, pausing for Rafe to fill in the blanks.
“I didn’t date her,” Rafe clarified. “Only Gio did.”
“So you just…”
Rafe forced himself to nod. This conversation was going exactly where he’d intended it to, and yet he hated what he was about to confess.
“For me, it was just sex. You know how I feel about relationships. Gio’s the one looking for a woman to marry.
And it was clear Jennifer, Vanessa, and Jill were all looking for the same thing.
So I stepped aside after their feelings changed, and Gio… ”
Keeley looked at Gio. “You dated them.”
Gio nodded. His friend had been decidedly quiet throughout this part, letting Rafe do all the explaining.
“So…just sex?” she asked Rafe, repeating his words.
“Yes,” he replied, though that answer felt wrong. “That’s all.”
Keeley picked up her wineglass and took a sip. She fell silent, and Rafe got a sense she was mulling over what he’d just told her.
Finally, she said, “I see.” Then added, “And I understand.”
Rafe wondered if she did. He hadn’t come straight out and said their affair would be the same. Had she assumed so? Or did she see what was happening between the three of them as something different? Did he?
A wise man would stop screwing around with the subtleties and just state what he was thinking outright.
The problem was, his thoughts and feelings weren’t in agreement at the moment.
His head still didn’t believe in love. But his heart was starting to have some serious doubts.
So he held his tongue.
Dinner arrived, and the conversation changed, primarily to how delicious the food was. They were debating dessert when Gio growled.
Rafe looked at his friend, confused, until he realized Gio was looking at someone behind him.
He grinned. The Morettis had a special sound whenever a Russo was around, so Rafe had a pretty good idea what he was going to see when he turned around.
He glanced over his shoulder at the exact same time Penny spotted them. The ma?tre d’ was leading her, Gage, and Matt Russo to a table.
Penny detoured to their booth instead, while Gage and Matt reluctantly followed.
“Hey, you guys,” she said cheerfully.
Rafe had grown very fond of Rhys’s little sister over the years.
She’d always been a quirky thing, but lately she seemed to have blossomed.
Her fashion sense was still a bit out there, but she’d traded her too-big glasses for contacts and had started wearing her hair in an actual style, as opposed to pinning it up in braids or messy ponytails.
Keeley smiled at her friend’s arrival. “Penny! Oh my God, I haven’t seen you since your birthday. Where have you been hiding out?”
Penny shoulder-bumped Gage. “This guy keeps monopolizing all my time after work.”
“Right. Just after work,” Matt muttered grumpily, making it clear Gage and Penny were indulging in some office hijinks.
Rafe grinned briefly, then schooled his features when Gio frowned at him.
Gage obviously noticed as well, and Rafe’s respect for the guy rose—despite his last name—when he decided to take himself out of the equation.
He looked around and saw the ma?tre d’ waiting on them.
“Stay here and talk to your friends, Penny. Take as long as you want. Matt and I will head to the table and order a bottle of champagne.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then he and Matt walked away.
“I guess you don’t want to hear me tell you that they really are good guys,” Penny insisted.
Gio sighed. “Gage seems like a decent man, but Matt’s an asshole.”
Penny shrugged but wisely didn’t try to plead the man’s case any further.
“Champagne…?” Keeley asked, deftly changing the subject.
Penny’s face erupted in a smile so big, Rafe wondered if it hurt her cheeks. Then she lifted her hand, revealing an emerald-cut diamond engagement ring. “Gage proposed!”
Keeley’s eyes widened with glee as she looked at the ring. “Holy shit. That ring is gorgeous!”
“I know,” Penny gushed. “I couldn’t believe it when he asked me last night. I was going to text you and the girls to invite you to happy hour one day this week. I wanted to tell you in person.”
Rafe frowned. “Didn’t you just start dating the guy?”
Penny nodded. “Well, yeah. I guess officially we started dating at my birthday party, but before that, we…” She shrugged, making it clear she didn’t intend to finish whatever she was about to say.
“And your birthday was only a month ago,” Rafe pointed out. He’d never taken Penny as the impulsive type. Awkward and a little shy, sure, but never impetuous.
Penny shrugged. “Gage said we could have a long engagement. Of course, two minutes later, he was talking about how awesome a winter wedding would be.”
Penny and Keeley laughed.
“If he’s moving that fast, you definitely need to set up that happy hour,” Keeley said. “We have a wedding to plan.”
“We do!” Penny grinned even bigger, something Rafe wouldn’t have thought possible. Then she said, “I should get to my table. I’ll text you later, Keeley. Bye.”
“Wow,” Keeley said after Penny walked away, clearly tickled for her friend. “That is so awesome.”
“That is so fast,” Rafe replied, recalling how his mother’s marriages had all happened about five minutes after the first date. He hated to think of Penny making the same mistake.
Rafe expected Keeley, Miss Romantic Hearts, to argue with him, but he hadn’t anticipated Gio beating her to the punch.
“Tony said it was the same with him and Rhys. Said they both knew within days that Jess was the woman for them. Took them a little longer to convince her, but I think when you know, you know.”
“Yeah. I think so too,” Keeley agreed.
Rafe wanted to debate that. After all, his mother “had known” that same thing five times in her life. But he didn’t say that because he was too distracted by Keeley’s face, by the way she was smiling at Gio. And the way he was smiling back.
They knew.
He could see it in their eyes.
And suddenly, he didn’t want to tell them they were wrong.
Instead, he wanted her to look at him like that.