Page 43 of Rafe: Sins of the Father

I wrap an arm around her, tug her against my side, grab her jacket off the barstool, then lead her up the stairs to the second level. Cole’s room is the last one at the end, and I key the door.

Halfway up the exposed brick wall behind the bed is a section of multi-paned windows. Rain runs in rivulets down the glass, making the light from the floodlights outside shimmer and dance across the floor.

“There’s a bathroom through that door if you need,” I tell her, flicking on a bedside lamp.

Her eyes go around the room, then settle on the bed, and I sense her sudden nervousness.

I lift my palms. “No strings, Tori. We’re just gonna sleep. I swear.”

She nods but doesn’t look any more relieved.

“I can find another room if you’d feel better.”

“No.” Her answer is short and quick. “I… ah, don’t want to be alone.”

“I get that. Especially after what happened tonight.”

“Do you think the house will be okay? I mean, the window on the back door was broken in, and the rain…”

“The kitchen floor might get wet, but we’ll clean it up in the morning. I’ll get it all taken care of before your aunt comes home.”

“My aunt,” she says and drops to sit on the bed to check her phone. “Oh, I’ve got a missed call and a voice message. Shit.” She pulls it up and listens to it, then puts her phone on the nightstand. “She was just checking on me with the storm. She assumed when I didn’t answer that I was already sleeping.”

“Well, good. Then you don’t need to be concerned that she’s worried.”

“I guess.”

I tilt my head. “You okay?”

She nods. “The girls… well, Melissa especially, she said… she thought we were a couple. She thinks you like me.”

“I do like you, Tori.”

“I mean, you know, likereally likeme?”

I grin and walk to her, taking her chin and tilting her face up to mine. “And if I did?”

She searches my eyes and licks her lips. “Do you?”

In answer, I dip my head and touch my mouth to hers, just a gentle brush of our lips. No pressure, no expectation of anything more.

She kisses me back, and I feel her hand gently cup my neck.

I break the kiss and gaze into her eyes. She’s not so drunk she can’t give consent, but she has been drinking, and I won’t go there now, even though I want nothing more than to guide her down on the bed and settle my body on top of her soft curves. “Maybe I do like you like that, Tori. Would that be so bad?”

“No, but my father…” she trails off and drops her head.

I straighten, but don’t move away. Instead, I cup the side of her face and stroke my thumb over her cheekbone and ear, staring at the top of her head. “I know. We come from two different worlds. You and me… I guess it doesn’t make sense. Doesn’t mean I don’t want you, girl. Doesn’t mean I don’t love talking to you. Doesn’t mean I don’t love the scent of your hair or the way you cling to me on the bike.”

By the end, she’s lifted her head and is staring into my eyes.

I drop my hand, withdrawing a couple of steps. I don’t want to make her feel pressured. I pull off my cut and hang it on the back of a chair, then shrug out of the button-down flannel I have on over my t-shirt and hold it out to her. “You can sleep in this if you want.”

She stands and takes it, then heads to the bathroom.

While she’s in there, I dig through the drawers and find a pair of sweatpants, kicking my boots off and switching into them. I lay on the bed, stack my hands under my head, and switch off the light. The shadows of the rain dripping down the glass patterns the room in hazy blues and grays.

The bathroom door opens, and Tori is standing there in my flannel shirt and no pants. It hangs to her bare thighs, and she looks sexy as hell.

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