Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Pomegranates were supposed to be safe. They were one of Rafael’s acceptable topics of conversation with Grace, something to keep him in check, to keep him from wanting her all the time.
Look how well that had worked out. Not only had he slept with his sister’s best friend, but now he was drooling over her as he watched her lick pomegranate juice from her fingers.
There was a spot on her lip where a tiny bead of juice had avoided her tongue, and he wanted to rub his thumb over it.
Not just his thumb. He wanted to suck it into his mouth, to taste her pomegranate lips, and he knew he was doing a terrible job of hiding it.
When Alma left the room with her phone pressed to her ear, Rafael let out a long breath.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing a hand against the back of his head.
“For what?” Grace asked, genuinely confused.
“For—um—not being able to resist you?”
Grace rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. Then she gestured to where Alma had just exited. “I hope this is a good sign. Calling Obinna.”
“I hope so, too.” He touched a lock of hair that had fallen against her neck.
“I really think they’ll get back together. Even in his tiny apartment, they were having so much fun. But…” She lowered her eyes. “I guess either way you’ll have your place all to yourself again.”
Rafael felt his entire body tense. “All to myself? What about you?”
Grace shifted on her feet. “Oh, Alma didn’t mention it? She heard from the landlord yesterday. He said the apartment is almost ready. Finally.”
Rafael dropped the piece of her hair he’d been tugging, suddenly feeling like he’d just fallen from a great height. “Oh. How soon would you be able to move back in?”
“Just another week or so, he thinks.” She glanced away from him again, suddenly very interested in the remaining pomegranates on the counter.
Rafael nodded. Obviously, this was what was meant to happen.
Grace had been staying with him longer than anticipated already, so of course she would be leaving soon.
Still, the thought made it hard to swallow.
It felt so natural to have her there all the time.
He hadn’t been back in Spain for very long, and she’d quickly become part of his life there, part of his home.
He cleared his throat. He could hear the hum of Alma’s voice through Grace’s bedroom door.
He could only think of it as Grace’s bedroom now.
What would it be when she was gone? It would still belong to her.
He would still remember the way she stared out the little window, studying the city through a pane of glass.
He didn’t know what to say. What was he going to do, beg her to stay because they’d slept together twice even though they weren’t really dating?
It was too soon, especially for someone who had never had a real relationship before…
and for another someone who had just gotten out of a long one. It didn’t make any sense.
That didn’t stop him from imagining it though, what it would be like if she were to stay, if they could belong to each other.
He stared into her eyes for a long time without speaking, trying to read the look on her face, to make sense of her feelings about moving out of his apartment.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I’m wondering why you’re looking at me like that.”
Rafael shook his head, uncertain how to navigate the tension between them, how to cross the line between flirtation and something deeper. “You know why.”
Grace glanced up at him with some measure of surprise and released a shuddering breath. “Maybe.” She brushed some hair from her face and tilted her head at him as if something had just occurred to her. “You know what else I’m wondering?” she asked.
He rubbed a knuckle against the back of her wrist, waiting.
“In Barcelona… I know you didn’t even like me.” Rafael immediately tried to protest, but she stopped him with a held up hand. “I know you didn’t. It’s okay. I was immature, and you were…too mature.”
“I was an idiot.” He let out a soft laugh, unsure of where this was going.
“But I’ve always wanted to know,” she continued. “If you didn’t like me, then why did you try to kiss me that night at the club? Were you just drunk?”
Rafael froze, but Grace laughed. “You don’t have to be nervous. It was forever ago. I’m just curious.”
“It’s not that I disliked you.” Rafael pulled back from her, putting a hand on the counter.
Grace snorted, clearly skeptical of his explanation.
“I mean, maybe, yes, it came off like that. And maybe I did dislike you, but it wasn’t because of you. I think I was just jealous.”
She frowned, scrunching up her nose. “Jealous of what?”
Rafael sorted his thoughts, trying to figure out what to say. “You were so young and easy-going and carefree, just as you should have been. Alma, too. I’d never been like that. I didn’t know how. My father would have thought I was ridiculous.”
Grace rubbed the tips of her fingers along the back of his hand, reaching for him. He turned up his palm, welcoming her touch.
Rafael pushed on, unsure if any of this was coming out right.
“Somehow, though, I always felt like you saw me, or saw through me, maybe. You knew it was all an act, and I was drawn to that. I hoped some of your joy might rub off on me. I guess maybe I thought you seemed like someone who could really know me, not just the person I was pretending to be.”
Grace stared at him. “So, it wasn’t just that you’d had one too many glasses of sangria?”
Rafael pulled a face.
“I’m kidding,” she said, and then she tightened her grip on his hand. “I do want to really know you,” she said, almost in a whisper.
He started to pull her toward him, his other hand sliding up the back of her arm, but then they heard the sound of the doorknob rattling, and Alma emerged from the bedroom.
Grace turned away from him quickly, stepping backward. “Everything okay?” she asked her best friend. A flush crept up Grace’s neck and onto her cheeks. Rafael wanted to search every inch of her to see where else she’d turned that shade of pink.
Alma was pulling her hair back into a high bun.
“Yes. Well, maybe. Obinna said he’s been doing a lot of thinking about where to go from here, and he realizes he might have put too much pressure on me, but he wants to talk it out some more.
I’m going to head over to his place so we can hash it out for a while. ”
“Good,” Grace said. “Very good, Alma. I really hope it goes well. I mean, I think it will.”
Alma shrugged but she was almost fluttering around the apartment as she collected her keys and her purse.
“Do you think you’ll be returning tonight?
” Rafael asked, trying to sound completely nonchalant.
He was truly hoping that his sister was going to work things out, that she might spend the night with Obinna and find that thread of happiness she’d been following ever since she’d met him.
Admittedly, though, Rafael was also trying to assess whether or not he’d be able to spend the night with Alma’s best friend.
Alma thought for a moment. “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but even if we’re back together, I want to manage my expectations. Maybe we shouldn’t go right back to living together again, you know? And my apartment will be ready soon.”
“That makes sense,” Grace agreed.
Alma glanced back at them before she started toward the from door. “Hasta luego.”
“Wait,” Grace said suddenly, rushing over and pulling her into a hug. “Good luck.” She whispered something else, and Alma looked at her with eyes full of tenderness.
Rafael gave a little wave. “Buena suerta, Alma. If he gives you any trouble, go straight for the towels.”
Alma smiled and gave him a little acknowledgment of their shared history, of the difficult home where they’d relied on each other so long ago.
Just like that, she was out the door, and Rafael and Grace were alone again. Every day since Alma had been there, it had been rare that they were alone together in the apartment, and even when they were, they’d hardly touched, anticipating Alma’s return at any moment.
Silence fell over the room in her absence. Grace and Rafael were as still as statues until he managed to growl, “Get over here.”
Grace moved toward him slowly, as if being reeled in on a tether. As soon as she was within his reach, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.
“I need to tell Alma tonight,” Grace said into his chest. “Or tomorrow, whenever she’s back.
I know I’m a terrible friend for not telling her sooner, but I didn’t want to distract from this thing with Obinna or add more to her plate.
I almost blurted it out fifteen times today, though, and I can’t keep it from her any longer.
I have to…” She swallowed. “I need to tell her we slept together.”
Rafael eased back so he could see her face. “That we slept together?” he asked, enunciating each word. “Or that we’re sleeping together?”
She pursed her lips, almost as if she would refuse to answer.
“Grace,” he said, the serious tone of his own voice surprising him.
She didn’t let him continue, though. In an instant she was back in his arms, and he molded against her on instinct, arching his hips to meet hers, tangling his fingers in the hair at the back of her neck.
It felt like he’d used every ounce of his self-control, and finally, he could give in.
He could stop holding himself back. He traced his nose along her jawline before sliding his lips up to meet hers.