Page 48 of Bedding his Innocent Mistress

im.

But now?

With a groan, she sat up once more and reached for her phone, prepared to tell him – she couldn’t have said what she wanted to tell him. But it was Rafe’s name that was flashed across her screen.

She answered on autopilot. “Hello?”

“What’s wrong?”

Her stomach lurched. “What do you mean?”

“You’re upset.”

How the hell could he tell that from one word? She sniffed, focussing her gaze on the window once more. “I’m fine.” She wasn’t. But she didn’t want to talk to Rafe about Steve.

“What’s happened?”

“I said, I’m fine. What’s up?”

“And I know you’re lying. What’s happened, Ivy?”

A small sob shifted in her chest. “He called.”

There was a silence but it prickled with displeasure. “Give me your address. I’m coming over.”

CHAPTER TEN

IT WAS STRANGE THAT having Rafe in her house should feel like the biggest betrayal to Steve of all. Given what she’d shared with Rafe, and that Steve was marrying someone else, why should it matter that the handsome Spaniard was moving through the rooms with a proprietorial manner that was obviously innate to him?

She watched as he went from room to room, his manner grim, his body taut.

She padded behind him when he walked into her bedroom, and tried to see it through his eyes.

She’d removed the photos of Steve from in here. It had hurt too much, and she’d been angry as all hell. But still, he was everywhere. The colour scheme, the masculine bed, the DeLorean model, the still-empty side of the wardrobe, left in abeyance as though waiting to be filled.

Rafe spun around to face Ivy, and now, there was a palpable pulse of energy moving between them.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing of consequence.” She followed him with a frown. “What are you doing?”

He pulled a dress from her wardrobe and held it out to her. It was a casual maxi dress she’d bought a couple of summers ago. “Put this on.”

“What? Why?”

“Because we’re going out.”

“Out?” She shook her head. “I don’t really feel like going out.” She moved towards him, her intention clear, her palms lifting to his chest.

“No.” He gripped her wrists. “You want me to sleep with you. Because you’re upset about him. Right?”

She swallowed, doubts, uncertainty, and confusion making her eyes cloud. “I’m … isn’t that what you want?”

Rafe’s laugh was a harsh rejection. “I want to sleep with you, yes. But not with his damned shadow everywhere I look.” He dropped the dress to the bed. “Get dressed, Ivy.”

“Rafe…”

“I swear to you, I will walk out that door right now and that will be the end of us if you don’t do what I damned well say.”

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