by June Bowen
“Okay, Kelly, now it’s your turn to feed Rafe.”
Taking the remaining part of the piece of cake she and Rafe had cut, Kelly placed the offering in front of his lips. Instead of taking the cake in his mouth with a minimum of fuss as she had done, Rafe held her wrist and ate the cake but left a generous portion of icing on her fingers and thumb. As he held her gaze in his, he took one of her fingers in his mouth and sucked off the confection. All thoughts fled her mind. They were replaced with feelings. The rough texture of his tongue against the pad of her finger. The heat of his gaze. And the matching drawing feeling in her core.
The light of a flash broke the intimate moment. Kelly was startled to see that the entire crowd had been watching. The blush that never seemed far away once again started running up her neck to her cheeks.
“Get a room,” her brother-in-law yelled from the back of the crowd.
“I have.” Rafe grinned wickedly.
As the photographer and wedding coordinator bustled them off, Kelly’s churning thoughts started again. Unless Rafe’s interest was just show, he seemed ready, willing, and able for tonight’s activities. And she wasn’t completely ignorant about sex. She just lacked the skill that only comes from experience. Maybe she could pull this off without revealing her innocence. How difficult can it be? Adam and Eve figured it out without the benefit of Dr. Ruth, didn’t they?
Kelly caught Rafe’s heated gaze again. She felt like a T-baller at bat facing a major league pitcher. At least Adam and Eve were at the same skill level.
Kelly’s awareness of Rafe didn’t have a chance to wane as the DJ started playing a slow song. He called for the new bride and groom to do the honors of the first dance.
If mouth to fingers had been thrilling, body to body was mind shattering. As they danced, Rafe bent slightly to press his cheek to hers. His head was at just the right angle to send his heated breath down the front of her gown. Like a warm summer wind, each wave of air melted her more. So distracted was she that she didn’t realize the song had ended. She stepped on Rafe’s foot when he stopped.
Although they were quickly claimed by other dancing partners, Kelly always was aware of where Rafe was and what he was doing.
As she was saying her goodbyes, Janie grabbed her in a hug.
“This may be a wedding of convenience, but he’s looking at you like a starving man would look at a steak. You need to have that little talk on the way to the villa.”
Kelly’s stomach churned.
“I love you,” Janie said, with tears in her eyes and a quiver in her voice. “Rafe Martinez just made the best acquisition of his life. Even if he doesn’t know it, you shouldn’t doubt it.”
“I love you, too.” Kelly could feel all the pent-up emotion threatening to burst through the dam of her control.
“Okay. Now go make me an aunt.” With that, Janie pushed her out the door into the waiting arms of Rafe, a throng of well wishers, and a sea of birdseed.
When they arrived at the door to the Rockrose, Rafe bent his head and birdseed fell out of his hair.
“It looks like I have some form of mutant dandruff,” Rafe joked.
“Birdseed in my hair is the least of my problems.” Kelly glanced down at the cleavage exposed by the V-neck of her dress. She could feel the birdseed settling in her bra.
When she glanced up she found that Rafe’s gaze had followed her own. He then grinned wickedly and looked at her directly.
“A snack for later.” Rafe’s expression left Kelly in no doubt that he wasn’t speaking of feeding the birds.
“Rafe, I—” Managing to truly get choked on her words, Kelly started coughing.
Rafe opened the door to the villa. Instead of stepping aside to let her enter, he turned toward her. Before she had a chance to question his actions, he literally swept her off her feet.
“Oh, no. You’ll hurt yourself,” Kelly protested.
“Your wifely concern is touching, but don’t worry.”
No, Kelly thought. I wouldn’t be that lucky.
Instead of just setting her down, he slowly removed his arm from under her knee, turned her to face him, and let her slide down the length of his body. And there was a lot of length to cover.
The action caused her dress to ride up. As if it was all part of his plan, he used his free hand to caress her newly exposed leg. When he hit the top of her thigh-high stockings, he encountered the garter belt that was a gift from Janie.
“A garter belt, Mrs. Martinez?” His statement was followed by a throaty laugh. “You never cease to amaze me. What other surprises do you have hidden beneath all these clothes?” He started to unbutton the front of her dress.
Janie’s warning proved to be correct. Kelly knew she had to buy some time and buy it now. She took a step back.
“Give me just a few minutes to freshen up.” Wasn’t that the phrase that all new brides used on their honeymoon?
Having no idea as to what to freshen, Kelly grabbed the small suitcase that she knew contained her toiletry bag and fled to the bathroom.
* * *
Rafe was pretty sure his new wife was having a good case of the bridal jitters.
Deciding to get comfortable himself, Rafe removed his jacket and tie and started unbuttoning his shirt when he heard his phone vibrate from his jacket pocket. He pulled it out to turn it off when he noticed the call was from the CEO of his biggest competitor on the Wellington project. His competitor and sort of friend was probably calling to compare bids now that the deadline had passed. Glancing at the door to the bathroom, he gauged that he probably had enough time to take it. “It’s a little early for congratulations, but I appreciate the thought.” Rafe skipped the salutation.
“You smug son of a bitch. You might have wanted to wait until after the deadline before you sent me your bid. It’s not too smart to give the competition inside information.”
Rafe frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You know good and damn well what I’m talking about. By the way, how did you get hardware cost that low?”
Rafe’s stomach lurched. “How did you know about our special hardware pricing?”
“It was clearly outlined in the bid you sent me.”
“I didn’t send you any bid.”
“I’ve got an email from you that I’m looking at now that says otherwise.” Rick went on to read several very specific pieces of information that could have only come from the final bid, including the bottom-line price.
“I didn’t send that to you.”
“What do you mean? Your name is clearly listed as the sender.”
“But I didn’t do it. And that is the bid we sent, including some last-minute changes.” Rafe paused, trying to think of the best way to ask this question but decided just to dive right in. “Did you do anything with the information?”
“No, but I thought about it when I received it. Since I thought you sent it on purpose, I was tempted to change our bid just to teach your cocky self a lesson. But truthfully, you got such a great deal on the hardware that I couldn’t beat it. We were about even on everything else.”
Rafe breathed a partial sigh of relief. He was determined to find who did this, though, and bring them down. After hanging up with Rick, he searched for his laptop. He’d left it out and stupidly, signed in. He’d almost given up until he saw a corner of it peeping out from under the bed. He knew he hadn’t left it there.
He went to his sent items and sure enough, there was an email from him to Rick. He knew it had to come from his laptop. He had decided on the final margins just before the bid. But who would send it? Kelly had been here all afternoon. Rafe sat on the edge of the bed. Kelly. Rafe felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. It couldn’t have been her. When he thought back through the night, he remembered she seemed a little off. She tried to tell him something just before coming into the room. But no, it couldn’t be Kelly. She couldn’t have because…well, because he loved her.
When the realization hit him, R
afe broke out in a cold sweat. Once again, he’d risked his heart, and this time he came up an even bigger loser. She hadn’t left. She’d betrayed him.
His bride opened the bathroom door. The light from the room backlit her diaphanous gown, giving him a stunning image of the body in it.
“Rafe, I have to tell you something.”
“I bet you do. Guilt getting the best of you?”
Kelly frowned in apparent confusion. “No.”
She must have been thrown off by him finding out so fast. “Hoped to make it until after the wedding night, huh? Well, you’re out of luck. Rick called. I know you sent him the bid.”
“I haven’t sent Rick anything.”
“Don’t insult me. And get dressed.”
Kelly glanced down and quickly went back to the bathroom. Rafe wanted her gone. He didn’t want any reminders of the position he’d allowed himself to be put in. He went to the closet and grabbed a suitcase and packed up the few items she’d put out.
The door opened and a dressed Kelly emerged.
“Grab your bag. You’re leaving.”
Kelly stared at him for a moment, opened her mouth, and closed it. She went back and grabbed her suitcase from the bathroom.
He followed her out into the main room in silence.
She paused at the door, taking her other bags from him. “I don’t know what type of crazy thinking led you to the conclusion that I would try to harm a company I have worked so passionately for. But once you do realize the mistake you made, I hope you can live with yourself.” And with that, she turned on her heel and left.
Chapter Eight
“You’re an idiot.” That was the greeting Rafe got when he entered his office on Monday morning.
“Betty, I’m in no mood.” With that, he closed his door, only to find Carol and Ben sitting in the chairs by his desk, obviously waiting for him. “Can’t this wait?”
“I don’t think so. Kelly called Carol this weekend and said you accused her of sending our bid to Rick.”
He was surprised that Kelly would reach out to her. He wouldn’t think she’d want to further incriminate herself. He looked at Carol. “Did she ask you to hide the evidence?”
“You’re an idiot.” Carol shot him an incredulous look.
That seemed to be a popular sentiment this morning. He certainly felt that way by letting himself get duped.
“Carol and I both thought the situation sounded similar to the one Kelly experienced. So we worked that angle.”
“I searched for snippets of the code from the original virus on our entire network. That turned up the real culprit.”
“She found a more sophisticated version of it on Mike’s computer. Evidently the guy was cocky enough to develop on his system here. This time it had conditions to search for the bid and to send the email to Rick when it found it.”
Rafe sank into his chair. “So Kelly didn’t have anything to do with it?”
Carol rolled her eyes. Ben placed a hand on hers and answered him calmly. “No, she didn’t. What’s more, I’m surprised you’d ever think that she would.”
“It made sense. She was with the laptop for most of the day. It looked like it came from my laptop. What else was I supposed to think?”
“Did you ask her?” Carol fixed him with a hard glare.
This time Ben squeezed Carol’s hand. “I’ve known you for a very long time. I know that you know Kelly couldn’t truly do something like this. I think you’ve let your childhood affect what I think may be the best relationship you’ve had. I’ve had Mike removed from the office. Carol’s working on ridding all traces of the virus. We’ll need your laptop before you use it again. But I suggest you take the time off you’ve planned and work on your relationship with Kelly.”
With that, Ben stood, keeping his grip on Carol, and pulled her out of the office with him.
Rafe closed his eyes. He was indeed an idiot.
* * *
Kelly was ensconced in Janie’s guest bedroom, surrounded by pillows and tissues. A knock sounded at the door. She quickly brushed away the latest tears with a soaked wad. She forced her eyes not to blink for several seconds to dry them out. “Come in.”
Janie came through the door, balancing a tray on her hip. When she set it on the bedside table, Kelly saw it contained sliced cucumbers, wet tea bags, and a glass of iced tea with lemon.
“Drink this.” Janie thrust out the glass of iced tea to Kelly.
Tea sounded delicious. But after one big gulp, Kelly broke out in a coughing fit. “What’s this?”
“Sweet tea with lemon and a scosh of something else.”
“That’s some scosh.” She took a much gentler sip this time.
“You need it.”
Kelly’s eyes teared up again. “I never would have thought it would have ended the way it did. To end this quickly, without a baby. Somebody to love.” A sob escaped.
Janie hugged her tight. “You’ll find someone to love again. This time someone who deserves it. You’ll have to beat the men off with a stick once you get ready to get back in the game.”
Kelly snorted on Janie’s shoulder. “Don’t oversell it here. If you remember, it took a pair of hooker shoes and a makeover by a drag queen to get me where I am today.” Kelly started to cry again.
Janie pulled back to face Kelly. “Where did you get the impression that you are unattractive?”
“Oh, please. Let’s look at the track record here.”
“Your past is hardly an indication of your potential because you weren’t even trying to make yourself attractive and approachable.”
“Oh, this from a woman who had to pay Frank Bailey to take me to the prom.”
“I did no such thing! Where did you get that idea?”
“Frank told me you did.”
“What? Why would he make up a whopper like that? When did he say that?”
“Right after I refused to sleep with him. He said that was fine anyway. That you hadn’t paid him that much.” A hiccupping sob escaped.
“Why that little—” Janie broke off, sputtering. Then she put a hand on either side of Kelly’s face and made Kelly look directly in her eyes, just like she did with Jeremy. “You listen and you listen good. I never, repeat, never paid anyone to go out with you. Frank bugged me for weeks about you, wanting to know if I would help him to get you to agree to go with him, the little jerk. He was just covering up for his pride when he said that. Besides, from what I hear, you weren’t missing much. I think you would have found him to be a disappointment. And a little one at that.” Janie drawled out that last part.
“Janie, you didn’t sleep with him, did you?” Kelly could hardly believe her ears.
“Good lord no. Remember Rhonda Blaine? She had firsthand knowledge of every member of the Mimosa Scorpions football team. Biblically speaking, that is. Yes, she said that Frank didn’t have much to work with and was rather uninspiring with what he had.”
“I had no idea. I’d forgotten all about her.”
“She contacted me through Friend Finder. She found Jesus in college and ended up marrying a preacher. Had a passel of kids and couldn’t be happier. Her youngest girl is the same age as Jeremy.”
“Wow.” It took Kelly a while to digest that. Not the part about Rhonda finding Jesus, a husband, and kids. No, it was the part of Frank’s lie that she’d carried around inside her for so long. It didn’t really matter what he thought. It was the fact that she thought Janie needed to pay someone to go out with her. She always looked up to Janie, especially when it came to looks and to boys.
“I wish you would have said something back then.” Janie squeezed her hand.
“Are you kidding me? I was so ashamed. I couldn’t have brought it up. I guess I felt like it could be true. Growing up in your shadow was pretty tough. Not only were you a cheerleader, ever popular with boys, but you were also smart.”
“Now hold on right there. You were the brainiac of the family. I had to really work for my grades.
You seemed to be able to soak knowledge in. I had to struggle to keep ahead of you in math.”
“I would have traded in some of my brains for your good looks.”
“You don’t need my looks, sweet sister. You have an amazing look of your own. Even with swollen eyes and a splotchy face.”
“Ugh. I can’t look.”
“No need to yet. You have your choice of tea bags or cucumbers for your eyes. If you don’t use the cucumbers, they’re going to be tonight’s fresh veg. It was the last cuke I had left.”
“Oh, Janie, what am I going to do?”
“You’re going to get dressed after resting your eyes and come down to family supper. We can talk next steps tomorrow after you’ve had a good night’s sleep. A couple more of those iced teas and you’ll be snoring away.”
“I don’t snore,” Kelly replied, picking up their longstanding debate.
“Oh yeah you do!”
* * *
Rafe eased into park in front of Janie’s house. Jeremy had been bouncing a bright red ball on the sidewalk but stopped at the sound of the parking car. Recognition lit his face as soon as Rafe stepped out of the car.
“Uncle Rafe! Uncle Rafe!” Jeremy yelled as he threw up the ball then made a mad dash for the street.
Rafe quickly stepped around the car and scooped up the charging dynamo.
“Uh,” Rafe groaned. “You’re getting to be a big boy.”
Jeremy beamed. “Mommy said I’m growing like a weed in her flowerbed. I’m going to be tall like you and Dad when I’m old.”
Rafe scrunched his face into a fake grimace. “Are you calling me old?” He proceeded to tickle the boy, who responded with a deep belly laugh. Rafe smiled for the first time in days. Nothing could bring a grin to his face like the hearty laughter of a child. He couldn’t help but to picture a different child with Kelly’s smile and his dark looks.
Rafe sobered. He had some serious making up to do or that would never happen.
“Is your Aunt Kelly at home?”
Jeremy lost his smile. “Yeah.”
“What’s the matter, son? Is she all right?” Rafe started to feel a great unease.