Chapter 16 Jesse
JESSE
The next morning, after a few more rounds of fucking—lovemaking—Rafferty and I had a leisurely breakfast with Sofija, who was delighted with my large, impressive de?ko.
When I translated that she’d just called him my boyfriend, Rafferty grinned proudly and put his arm around me, kissing my forehead.
He laughed when Sofija pulled out the shiny Rummikub box, one of the few things I had purchased on my travels. He stopped laughing when she kicked both of our asses, but he was good-natured about it.
“Show me Montenegro,” he demanded later, between kisses.
So I did.
I’d spent the last few months just recovering.
Trying to come down from feeling like I had to look over my shoulder every minute.
No one gave a shit about a probably-dead enforcer for a drug enterprise that no longer existed.
With Rafferty at my side, though, I genuinely felt at peace for the first time in a long time.
Which meant I hadn’t gone much farther than Sofija’s backyard, so he and I would be exploring together.
We went up the coast and then farther inland to the mountains.
My grasp of the language had been rudimentary, but traveling around the country forced us to use it every day.
By the end of our month-long road trip, we’d both improved our language skills by leaps and bounds.
Montenegrin declensions still tripped us up, but Rafferty loved a challenge.
Sofija declared our language skills passable when we returned, and she continued to wipe the floor with us on Rummikub nights.
We all spoke enough of a common language that she was more clearly able to demonstrate exactly how protective of me she had been these last several months.
Rather than taking offense to her mama bear routine, Rafferty thanked her, kissed her cheek, and told her he had no intentions of ever harming me and would protect me with his dying breath.
We’d both admitted to wanting more, but given our history, I wasn’t quite sure what it would look like. What it ended up looking like was Rafferty falling in love with our elderly landlord, just as I had.
And that, almost as much as anything else, made me realize how very much I loved him.
“You look like you’re swimming in deep thoughts,” I said, plying Rafferty with a cup of coffee in the soft early morning sun on our tiny, overgrown patio.
He smiled and pulled me onto his lap. “That’s because I was, in fact, swimming in deep thoughts.”
“Care to share with the class?”
Rafferty took a sip of coffee and looked out over the horizon. “This has been the most special time in my life.”
Shit. That sounded like the preamble to bad news. I slid from his lap.
“But…” I said, waiting for him to just get it over with.
Rafferty was going back to his old life, having gotten what he needed from this one. I couldn’t blame him.
He shook his head and dragged me back onto his lap, laughing when he spilled a few drops of his coffee.
“No but. It’s been the most amazing time of my life, period. Because I got to know you even better, and I like what I’m finding out.”
“You do?” I asked, hope fragile in my chest.
His answering look made my heart soar.
“Yes,” he said with a raised brow. “And this is where you say you’ve enjoyed getting to know me as well.”
I punched his shoulder lightly, then kissed it. Then kissed him.
“But I don’t even know your first name,” I protested, mid-kiss.
Fuck, that fond smile was going to be the death of me. “Eugene,” he answered softly. “My name is Eugene.”
“No wonder you go by Rafferty,” I said, laughing my ass off.
“Such a menace,” he muttered, tickling me until I was breathless.
“I have loved getting to know you better, Eugene,” I said, taking a deep breath. “You are incredibly sexy. And funny. You make me feel cared for. And protected. And I love that.”
“Do you love that?” he asked, running his fingertips across my brows. “Or do you love me?”
I blinked at him, my eyes filling in an instant. Fucking Rafferty always had to beat me to the punch.
“Jesse?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.”
“Mm…yeah. But I want to hear it.”
I sat back and scrunched my nose, and he winked at me.
I let out an undignified grunt, then confessed, “I’ve probably been in love with you since you opened the front door to your cabin. And I don’t want to think about life without you.”
“Good,” he said, his smile brilliant. “Neither do I.”
“Because?” I asked, arching a brow.
“Because I love you too.”
We laughed and kissed and spilled a little more coffee, but it didn’t matter.
“Kinda feels like we’re celebrating Christmas in July,” I said, sighing as I rested my head on his shoulder.
“I agree. And I can’t think of a better present than having you in my arms.”
Thank you for reading Texas Snow!