After starting the car, I drove back through Denver. I would deal with Devon, but first…first, I needed to let off some steam.
He didn’t come back that night. I waited for him. I didn’t know why I did, but I waited. As I sat out on the big couch with the ginormous TV, I wanted to go to the den where I was more at ease, but I was scared I would miss him.
Not that I was worried about him or anything. I didn’t know what he did, but it was obvious it was shady shit. You would look at him and think he was a businessman, and then you would look back for a second, a more lingering glance, and you would realise that he wasn’t making deals in the boardroom. The man made his deals by more physical means than shuffling papers.
He didn’t come back.
I fell asleep on the couch, and even when I woke with the morning daylight glowing through the window, I knew he wasn’t here. He wouldn’t have walked past me to ascend the stairs. I would have received some smart remark or insult, and I would question why the hell I waited. I rolled over and groaned as I stretched out the kinks in my back and neck from sleeping on the stupid couch.
Standing, I rolled my neck on my shoulders as I checked the time. Raphe said I would be able to go back to the bistro. I knew I wasn’t able to leave the penthouse, so he had to be coming back for me, didn’t he?
Or was this one of his things...I wouldn’t put it past him. He was an emotionless bastard. It was after nine, and I hadn’t realised I would have slept so long. I swayed between making breakfast or showering. When I decided to shower and was making my way to the stairs, I stopped when I heard the front door open.
Turning in surprise, I watched Raphe walk into the penthouse. He hesitated for a moment before he closed the door behind him. “Are they yesterday’s clothes?”
“Yeah, aren’t yours?”
Raphe considered me for a moment. “I’ve been out all night. What’s your excuse?” He walked past me and began to go upstairs.
“Fell asleep on the couch,” I mumbled as I followed him. I was not looking at his ass. It was just unfortunate I was eye level with it as he went up in front of me. I followed him down the hall, past my bedroom to his room. As he opened the door, he looked at me in question. I stared blankly back at him, I thought I saw his lip twitch upwards before he walked into his room.
He tossed his suit jacket on the bed before he turned to look at me. As he unbuttoned his cuffs, Raphe waited. “As much as I’m enjoying your silence, Devon, is it possible for you to tell me what you want? Or am I supposed to guess?”
“What?” I suddenly realised I had been just standing here gawking at him, loitering like a stalker. “I need you to give me the finger.”
“You bored of your own already?” he asked as he bent down to unlace his shoes.
“What?” And then I realised what I had said. Embarrassment scorched my cheeks, and I wanted to run to my room. “Oh God, no!” My hands were on my cheeks in horror. “I mean finger access!”
Raphe straightened and looked at me, his mouth definitely hooked up in a half smile this time. “That’s what I asked.”
“You’re a dick!” I cried. “I need access to the door so I can go to work.” I almost stomped my foot. I was not proud of the fact. “You said I could return to work.”
“There’s a slight change in plan.”
“No!” I stepped forward into his room as he tossed his gun carelessly onto the dresser and then turned his back to me and took off his black shirt. The long scratches on his back made me falter. I wasn’t an idiot, I knew how he got them. “Um, you said…” I couldn’t finish. It shouldn’t bother me. It was weird that it did bother me, but the fact he had been out all night with a woman, it was affecting me.
Raphe turned back to face me, and my eyes dropped to his abs. Jesus H Christ, how did he look like that? His pants settled low on his hips. I didn’t notice they had until that moment when I saw the edge of the V and those deliciously cut abs. His chest was broad, which surprised me, because he didn’t have the beefcake physique, but my good Lord, he was ripped. His arms were hard sinewy muscles, leaving no doubt how much strength he had. Which I knew, I had been on the receiving end of that grip too many times.
“You were saying?”
“You were with a woman?” Holy shit, Devon!
“Jealous?” He smirked at me, and I hated myself that I had asked.
“Of course not.” My face flushed again. “I was just confused.”
“About?”
“Who was it?” Why was I asking that? I didn’t care.
His knowing look made me look away. When I looked back, his eyes were running over my body slowly. “Why are you confused?” he asked me again, his eyes piercing through my defences.
My tongue darted out to wet my lips. I needed a drink, that was all. Changing the subject was not deflecting, it was moving on past an uncomfortable topic. “I want to go to work.”
“You said.” His hand slipped into his pocket as he waited. He just stood there, shirtless, one hand in his pocket, all casual like the cover of a romance book or an aftershave commercial. “Why has that confused you?” His eyes were dancing with amusement, and I hated him more than I usually did.
“I need you to give me the finger access to the doors. Like before.” What I needed was to stop staring at his body, that’s what I needed, and to stop saying finger to him all the time.
“No.”
My eyes flew to his, and I met those cool arctic eyes with fury. “Why? You said—”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t return to work, Devon. I said I’m not giving you access to here.”
“Oh.” Well, how was I supposed to get back in? “Why?” I could feel my hope rising. “You’re letting me go?”
“Don’t be stupid. We’re moving.”
“We are?” I looked at him in confusion as I fought my disappointment. “Wait…we are?”
“You ask too many questions. You have work soon, don’t you?” At my nod, he looked pointedly behind me to the door. “I need a shower, you definitely need a shower, you look like you’ve been on the streets again.”
Complete asshole.
“Why don’t we continue this fascinating conversation downstairs when we’re both showered?” he suggested.
“I can go to work?” My feet weren’t budging until he confirmed it.
“I don’t appreciate being made to repeat myself.”
“Fine.” I turned on my heel and left him. Infuriating dick. I half ran to my own shower and hurriedly tossed all my clothes in the hamper before tying my hair up so I didn’t need to get it wet. He wasn’t slipping out again without me beside him.
Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting on the couch again, ready and waiting for Raphe. He came down the stairs, carrying his suit jacket, which I was sure was a different suit, but it looked exactly the same. Black suit, black shirt, perfect hair, and perfect designer stubble. He was wearing a gun holster, and the Glock was comfortably resting in its place, like it belonged. I had never been comfortable around guns, and the fact he looked like he slept with his didn’t put me any more at ease.
“You ready?” he asked me casually as he walked past me.
“Yes.” I hurriedly stood as I watched him enter the kitchen area.
“You eat?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Oh my God! “I haven’t had time.”
Raphe cast a glance my way and then dismissed me as he took two bottles of water from the fridge. “Tell Levi to feed you when you get to the bistro.”
“No.” I shook my head horrified at the thought of demanding food from Levi.
“You want me to ask him?” Raphe asked as he took a drink from his bottle of water.
“I’ll eat during the day.”
“Liar.” Raphe tossed me the other bottle of water as he made his way to the door. “Hurry up,” he ordered over his shoulder as I stood like an idiot. He opened the door, and I ran to catch the door before it closed behind him,
somehow knowing if it closed, he wasn’t coming back in for me.
Standing beside him as we waited for the elevator, I saw his mouth was hooked again at the corner. He was laughing at me. Bastard. I looked past him in surprise when the other penthouse door opened, and when I glanced at Raphe, I saw his face was blank, his stare hard on the elevator doors as if willing them to open.
The most beautiful redheaded woman I’d ever seen stood in the foyer, looking at Raphe…looking at me. Raphe glanced at me once, and I saw his eyes run over me before he returned his look to the elevator. The way he looked at me I could only assume it was with disappointment.
A guy followed behind her, his curious stare also on me as the redhead walked over to us. Skinny jeans, an emerald green silk blouse, and an expensive-looking jacket hung casually over her arm. Her black stiletto-heeled ankle boots looked lethal. I wouldn’t have walked one inch in those boots, whereas she looked like she could line dance in them.
“My my my,” she spoke to Raphe in amusement. “Doing the walk of shame?”
“I live here,” Raphe said coldly. “It’s only a walk of shame from someone else’s house.” He looked her over with contempt. “Surely you would know that? You’ve woken up on your back in a bed that isn’t yours so many times now, isn’t that why they call it a Katwalk of shame?”
I didn’t understand the barb, but it was obvious there was one, as her eyes narrowed with hate while she glared at him and then looked at me with disdain. “Christ, you were scraping the barrel with this one. What are you even wearing?” she asked me, and I fought myself not to dip my head or apologise.
The elevator doors opened, and Raphe’s hand on the small of my back propelled me inside. Much to my discomfort, he didn’t remove it inside, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“Seriously?” she snorted as she flicked her red wavy hair over her shoulder. My hand moved to move my own hair self-consciously from her perusal, but I felt Raphe press his fingers into my back in warning, and my hand stilled.
“So.” She turned to me with a brittle smile. “Did he fuck you all night?”
My eyes widened so much I wondered if they had popped out of their sockets, because I was sure I was having a cartoon character moment where my eyeballs were on stalks. I couldn’t believe she asked me that. “I’m sorry?”
“I’m sure you are,” she scoffed as she looked at her perfectly manicured hands before she looked back at me. Stepping closer, she examined my neck, and I shrank back into Raphe, who didn’t move but remained an immovable force behind me. “You don’t seem to have bruises.” She glanced at Raphe who remained silent, although his fingers were now hooked into the back of my jeans. “You lose your kink?” she asked him. “Or was she just no good?”
Hello? I’m right here!
Raphe ignored her, which seemed to infuriate her. Her hand reached out to pull at my shirt, and she gave a yelp of surprise when Raphe caught her wrist and twisted her arm away from me. With a slight shove, he thrust her into the arms of the guy with her. The elevator reached the underground parking, and Raphe pushed me out of the cart and towards the cars.
“Keep walking and don’t react,” he told me as he walked me quickly to his car. I saw for the first time it was a Jaguar. The man beside me was like a lethal jungle cat, so it made sense his car would be too. When we got to the car, he held the door open for me, and I couldn’t help but meet the outraged look of the woman. I didn’t know how, but I think he just managed to piss her off again. Well, I knew how, he had a knack for pissing you off to the point of apoplexy.
Raphe slid smoothly in beside me, and unperturbed, he started the engine. “That is why you are not to return to the penthouse,” he told me as we pulled out into Denver traffic.
“She your ex?” I asked. Raphe harrumphed or snorted—with him, it was difficult to say. “Is that a no?” I turned in my seat to look at him properly.
He glanced my way before turning his attention back to the road and the traffic. “It’s more a none-of-your-business.”
“She seems nice,” I said as I watched him. Raphe looked at me again as we stopped at lights, and he raised a brow.
“She is, she’s warm and welcoming.”
“Like a volcano?” I muttered as I remembered her harsh words.
This time he did huff out a laugh. “Something like that.”
“So, where am I to go after work?” I asked, changing the subject. “Back to the shelter? I don’t think they’ll let me stay there if I’m not working there,” I said as I stared at my hands.
“Who were you with in Phoenix?”
My head snapped up to look at him. We were on a side street close to the bistro, I realised. “I was alone.”
“Bullshit.”
“Excuse me?”
“When was the last time you had sex?”
Holy shit, what? “What?” I knew I was frowning. How did I even answer that? Why was he asking?
“You left Lance in a coma, and there were troubles in the relationship before you wrecked a car with him in it.” Raphe turned to look at me, his eyes glancing over me. “You’re not a bad looking woman, you have sexual desire,” he said with a smug look on his face, “as I’ve heard. You’re telling me in four years, no one’s been between those legs?”
“Why is this relevant?” I shifted in my seat. “And how the hell is it any of your business?”
“Because women who are running scared look for a big bad protector.” Raphe leaned forward and held my startled gaze with a steady unyielding glare. “Who were you with in Phoenix?”
“I was alone.”
“Liar,” he breathed as he leaned in closer.
I turned to exit the car. I wasn’t putting up with this shit. His hand grabbed my shoulder and turned me in the car before it encircled my throat. “You’ll answer me. You do not want me to find out on my own.”
“That’s why she checked my neck.” I let out a derisive laugh. “You like to choke your girls, Raphe? That get you off?”
He smiled dangerously at me before he let me go and sat back with a self-satisfied smirk. “As I said, you have sexual desires.”
“How?” I shook my head before I started again. “How is me knowing you’re a kinky fuck the same as me having sexual desires?”
“Because instead of struggling or screaming”—Raphe glanced at the people passing on the street—“your mind went straight to intimacy, your breathing picked up, and your skin became flushed.” His smirk returned. “You didn’t fight me, you didn’t protest…” Slowly, lazily, cool blue eyes traced over me, and I felt a rush of warmth over my skin. “You liked it, you like my hands on you.” Raphe leaned forward again, and I had to stop myself from leaning into him. “You had someone in Phoenix. Women like you always leave someone behind.” His hand came up and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Now tell me, were you running from what you left in Nevada when you ran again from Phoenix, or running from something, someone, new?”
“You don’t know me,” I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest. “You can make all the assumptions you want,” I said softly as I leaned into him, holding his gaze as I tipped my head up to look at him, hardly any space between us. He wanted to throw me off with his overwhelming physical presence? Well, two of us could play that game. “I was alone, and now I’m going to work. Alone, the way I prefer to be.”
Opening the car door, I forced myself to exit smoothly. I didn’t give a damn if he was there tonight when I finished. If he was, I would deal with it when I saw him again. I heard the smooth purr of the engine, and I knew he was gone. I took a moment to take a deep breath. I would never get used to the feeling of physical exertion I felt after dealing with him. He made me react like I had run a marathon, and all he did was have a conversation with me.
Fleetingly, my mind went to the thought of him with a woman. She had obviously enjoyed herself, as they weren’t defence scratches; he had pleasured her. I thought of my own poor attempts at getting off, and I exha
led long and slow. The thought of him working over me, under me, inside me was screwing with my head. Would he be as intense under the covers as he was in person? He was probably worse, I thought, as he would be so dominant. I didn’t think he had gentle in him. The fact the redhead had looked for marks on my neck told me he liked it rough. The image of Raphe over me, my legs wrapped around him as he held me pinned to the bed by my neck as he fucked me, made heat rise in my cheeks, and I clenched my legs together reflexively.
I had to stop this. I had to stop imagining him. However, as I walked into the bistro, tying my hair back to start work, I couldn’t stop the thought of lucky bitch as I tried to push Raphe’s tryst from my head. Was she a tryst? What if she was a permanent relationship? Is that where he disappeared to? Was he going home to his woman? Family? I had so many questions, I needed answers.
Did I?
I stopped with my hand on the double swinging doors to the kitchen as I thought about it. Why did I need answers? I didn’t want to know him. I wanted away from him. Far away from him. Actually why the hell was I standing here? Run. I needed to run.
“Devon?”
Levi stood behind me, looking at me and the door that I should be walking through. He was the opposite of Raphe, which was odd, as they were both blond, blue eyed and attractive. Levi looked approachable though; he looked kind, pleasant, human. Raphe looked like a…killer. He really did, and those eyes of his? He already had you bagged, tagged and forgotten.
You need to go and go now.
“Levi.” I smiled hesitantly. “I’m feeling sick.”
Levi’s look of question became one of alarm. “Sickness bug? You can’t be in my kitchen.” He strode forward as if to remove me from the doors himself.
“I know, I was coming to tell you,” I said as I stepped away.
“You could have called. Have you touched anything?” Levi asked me as he scanned his door as if he could see my germs.
“I don’t have a phone,” I mumbled as I stepped further back to the door. “Can I go home?” Home, I didn’t have that and hadn’t for a long time.
Beautifully Broken (The Denver Series Book 2) Page 20