Page 31 of Trust Me With Forever

Somehow I moved to straddle his lap, and Rafe placed a possessive hand on my hip, holding me tight as his mouth continued to devour me. Each nibble and lick and swirl made me moan even harder and my clit throbbed, wanting more, so much more.

His hand on my hip moved to my ass. He kneaded and squeezed as his mouth continued to tease and claim. When he pressed me closer, I didn’t resist. The moment his hard cock pressed against my clit, even through both our clothes, I cried out.

Rafe broke the kiss and quickly moved me to the sofa cushion. He stood, walked to the fireplace, and stared into the flames.

My mind tried to catch up with what had happened. I breathed heavily, reveling in his lingering taste in my mouth. The memory of his cock pressed against me made me want to drag him back and demand more.

No kiss had ever made me lose myself like that, to the point I would’ve fucked him on the couch if he hadn’t stopped us.

How was I supposed to live with this man for a year and keep things platonic?

His voice was low, so low I could barely hear it as he said, “You should go now, Abby.”

Frowning, I stood and tried to meet his gaze, but Rafe continued to stare into the fire. “Why? If we act like that, then it should convince anyone we’re a couple for real.”

His gaze shot to mine. “You were acting?”

No. It was the best kiss of my life.

“Yes. Why waste time fumbling around when we’re both experienced enough to know how to kiss?”

His eyes searched mine, his expression unreadable. Could he tell I was lying?

Finally, he looked back at the flames and replied, “Well, I’d rather not take it that far in front of our families. Speaking of which, I need some time alone to think about the holes in our story. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can finalize things.”

“But the dinner is the day after tomorrow. Shouldn’t we talk in person to get used to each other more? I can stop by tomorrow.”

He shook his head. “I have a lot to do at the training center tomorrow. Sorry.”

As he drummed his fingers on the mantel, I wanted to ask if the kiss had affected him as much as me. Or, was he trying to spare my feelings? For all I knew, he’d kissed twenty women the same way and he didn’t want to encourage me.

Not wanting to go down the rabbit hole of comparing myself to his former partners, I nodded. “Fine. Call me when you can. But it’s probably better if we arrive separately to Emmy and West’s place. That way, they won’t know right away we’re a couple and we can judge the best time to reveal the news.”

“I agree.”

I waited a few seconds, wondering if he’d say anything else. But Rafe just continued staring into the fire and ignoring me.

So the kiss meant nothing. He just wants me gone. I’m the inconvenient future roommate.

It shouldn’t hurt, and yet it did.

At least it reminded me that being married to Rafe was purely transactional.

Before I could do something stupid, like cry, I cleared my throat and said, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Not waiting to see if he looked up, I turned and grabbed my purse from the table in the entryway, exited, and rushed into my car.

I took a second to stare at Rafe’s house, remembering the kiss and how I’d felt in his arms—safe, desired, an equal.

Then I quickly took a deep breath and locked it away. He’d been my childhood crush, true. But tonight had been the wake-up call I’d needed. From now on, this would be a giant production, one where I played a character to the world but dropped it when alone with Rafe.

The hardest part would be keeping it up around my family. Once this was all over, I only hoped they would forgive my deception. Especially once they learned about the favor I collected from Rafe and his help at hopefully taking care of Travis.

Because at some point, I’d have to share what he’d done to me.

Of course, that meant surviving the year and not screwing up by doing something stupid, like falling for Rafe all over again.

Not wanting to dwell on it, I turned on the car, blasted some music, and headed back to my family’s house. The sooner I got home, the sooner I could start a fight with one of my brothers and forget about everything else.

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