“Why did you never tell me any of this before?” I asked. “I could have…I could have handled it, especially since it finally explained how the two of you got together.”
My father stared out of the window of my hospital room, his eyes a little distant.
“I was afraid. You didn’t know, so I didn’t need to see the sadness in your eyes whenever you thought about it. I saw it in Patrick and Ian’s eyes sometimes, and each time it was like a knife had been thrust into my heart. You already had your mother’s death looming over you—who was I to give you more to be sad about concerning her?”
I understood it, I really did, and yet still I wished I had known. Then it suddenly occurred to me.
“Rafe knew, didn’t he?”
“Only recently. Only after the break-in of your apartment. I saw the theft of your photo for what it was, and I would have been a fool not to inform the man defending you.”
“That explains…so much.”
“Please don’t blame him for not telling you, Kirsten,” my dad implored. “Your brothers and I weren’t exactly friendly when we told him not to tell you. Rafe will have felt like it was not his place to tell you about matters that concerned the O’Leary family.”
I sighed. “I know. I get it. He’s too honorable.”
“Not so honorable as to resist the urge to sneak in through your window, it seems.”
I threw a pillow at my father’s face. “Not fair. Had I been allowed to stay in my apartment, he’d have never had to do it.”
He laughed. “Just so long as he uses a door next time, I don’t care.”
That’s how Rafe found us, laughing and making jibes at each other as if nothing terrible whatsoever had happened over the past few weeks.
He rushed to my side, embracing me despite my father being present. “You’re awake,” he mumbled into my hair. “You’re awake. Thank God.”
I pulled away slightly to kiss him. “As if you were going to get rid of me that easily.”
Rafe let out a garbled noise, halfway between a cry and a laugh. “Only you could joke about this so easily.”
And then I remembered something that decidedly couldn’t be joked about and my face grew pale. “Rafe. Is Dean…”
“He’s fine, Kirsten,” he soothed, smiling warmly down at me. “Well, as fine as a man who was shot twice can be. Luckily, neither bullet hit any major organs—a miracle, really. He’s recovering well if you want to go and see him.”
“Yes. Now,” I said, getting up immediately, though I swayed a little in doing so. Both Rafe and my father helped me stay upright.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, my love?” my father asked. “Maybe get some more rest first.”
I stared at him levelly. “If it weren’t for Dean, you wouldn’t have known what was going on so quickly,” I said, though nobody had told me whether he’d ever managed to tip Rafe off. Given how quickly everyone found me, and the look on Rafe’s face confirming my suspicions, there was no doubt in my mind what Dean had done. “He took two bullets for me. I can take a little light-headedness in order to thank him.”
My father seemed thoroughly proud by my decision. “Then I’ll come with you. It seems I have just as much reason to thank the man, if not more.”
So my father came with me to Dean’s room, Rafe taking me by the hand and showing us both the way. When we reached the room, a young, attractive nurse was flirting outrageously with Dean, who was politely chuckling along with whatever joke the nurse said.
As soon as Dean saw me and his eyes lit up with genuine delight, it suddenly became clear to me just how superficial the charm was he used as armor against getting close to anyone else the whole time I’d known him. I decided I would force him to rectify that. He’d said himself he would get over me. It was only fair he gave other women a real chance to get to know him.
“O’Leary, you look awful,” Dean joked as I sat down on his bed, tears in my eyes. Dean looked haggard and pale though just a little color returned to his cheeks when he saw me.
“You look pretty shitty yourself, Boss. How are the bullet holes?”
“Feeling very much like bullet holes, but I’ll live. Is this your father?” he asked, glancing over my shoulder.
My father stepped forward and shook Dean’s hand as I moved out of the way. “I hear I owe you an immeasurable debt.”
“I don’t suppose Kirsten can pay it off by working for me for free?”
“Shut up, Dean,” I cut in, rolling my eyes.
He laughed and then grew serious. “There is no debt, Mr. O’Leary. I did what I did of my own choosing. I’d do it again. You can plainly see your daughter means a lot to me.”
My father glanced at Dean and then at Rafe.
“Rafe, I never knew you had such intimidating competition.”
Dean winced. “Ah, no, he doesn’t. Kirsten turned me down flat. The broken heart hurts more than the bullet holes.”
“Shut up, Dean,” I repeated, though I was laughing.
“In all honesty,” Dean continued, “I was never truly in the race, but that’s okay. I only hope not to lose Kirsten as a friend and colleague. She’s indispensable to the clinic.”
“You know I’m not going nowhere,” I replied, smiling. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Rafe freeze a little, so I gave his hand a squeeze before reaching over and hugging Dean. “I need to talk to Rafe, but I’ll see you later.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
When we reached my hospital room once more, my father excused himself to call my brothers and let them know I’d woken up.
Rafe sat down on the chair a few feet from my bed. He looked at me with doubt and uncertainty in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried and confused.
“I’m so sorry, Kirsten.”
“You sound like my father. I’m done with the apologies.”
“I should have told you everything.”
“Yeah, you should have, but you didn’t. I understand why, so it’s okay. I’m—okay. I think. So stop being sorry.”
“If you don’t want to be with me after all of this, I—”
“Okay, stop right there,” I interrupted, finally understanding why he was looking at me the way he was. “Are you breaking up with me?”
Rafe stared at me, surprised. “You said you were going to stay in Vegas and work at the Collins Vet Clinic.”
“And?”
“So you…don’t want to leave anymore?”
“Why should that have anything to do with me and you? When I wanted to run, I wanted to run from my problems. But they’re sorted out. There’s no barrier for us to be together now. Rafe—I love you. I love you so much, but I love my job too, and despite it all, I love this city. I don’t want to leave if I really don’t have to.”
Relief washed over Rafe’s face. “Would you still want to be with me if I weren’t a lawyer?”
I blinked at him, nonplussed. “Huh?”
“I just—I realized with this case, I don’t want to defend bastards like Feldman. It’s not so far-flung an idea to think I’ll have more than a few clients just like him. I don’t think I have it in me to set them free. Your case was hard enough, and you were completely innocent. Not to mention the person I love most in the world.”
I blushed at the sentiment, then smiled. “Rafe, you could be an unemployed lazy ass for all I care. You certainly have the family money for it. I just want you to be happy. Can you be happy staying in Vegas with me?”
Rafe left the chair to sit by my side on the bed. He took my hands in his.
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Then maybe we should start looking at alternative career options for you.”
“I thought you said I could be a lazy ass?”
“I changed my mind. That would be awful.”
“What a cruel woman.”
I laughed. Rafe gently kissed me, and I happily reciprocated.
“I love you, Rafe.”
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“I love you, too.”
Despite the pain in my ankle, and despite the memories of the past few weeks still sitting fresh in my mind, I felt a wave of excitement wash over me.
Maybe my life with Rafe Wilde could really begin.
After all, it was all I’d ever wanted.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“So Gemma said she really liked you.”
“Ah, she was too…uptight.”
“Dean, you said the same thing about Emma last week.”
“Well—she was.”
“Meredith was too laid back?”
“Exactly.”
“Dean,” I sighed, taking a swig of coffee as I did so, “your standards are impossible. How did you ever fall for Kirsten in the first place? It doesn’t seem like she’d have made the cut.”
“Rude,” Kirsten called over from the coffee maker in the kitchen of the Collins Vet Clinic. I was sitting at the table with Dean, having brought along the lunch Kirsten had forgotten.
I had quit the law firm, and it was as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I had celebrated the feeling of finally having a break—an easy, stress-free break I’d filled with matchmaking for Dean.
After everything that had happened, I’d discovered to my surprise the two of us actually got along. It was a friendship that had come straight out of left field, and Kirsten still hadn’t gotten used to it.
Let’s face it—I needed some new friends. After the stress and long hours of my law-oriented life, the only genuine friend I seemed to have left was Ian. We were back on good terms. Being unemployed made me realize just how much I’d relied on the man for social company.
I had a lot to fix about my life, so I’d started with making a new friend. So much for not bothering Kirsten at work because I had nothing else to do.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. The story of Jane O’Leary, as well as what had happened to Kirsten, shed new light on what I could do with my law degree. I’d been providing law advice at the local woman’s shelter for free, to the point where I attracted a job offer to do exactly what I was doing but actually get paid. It didn’t pay much, but I didn’t need much. I had Kirsten, and she was enough
I intended to take them up on it soon. Just not right now.
In a month or two, maybe. For now, I was enjoying taking some time for myself and Kirsten, taking her to the movies or to the casino or simply staying in, bingeing television shows and cooking her dinner—something I never found time to do for myself, let alone for anyone else. Turned out I was great at it, and Kirsten delighted in getting to eat good food without eating out all the time.
Dean groaned. “Not that I don’t appreciate the effort you’re putting into this, Rafe, but maybe give me a week or two without dates. This old man is exhausted.”
“Dean, you’re thirty-nine next week, not seventy,” Kirsten interjected as she sat down beside us, tearing hungrily into her sandwich when I handed it to her.
“You used to enjoy telling me I was old.”
“That was before you nearly died. I think that requires some niceness from me.”
“How magnanimous of you. Well, in return, I can be nice too. Take the afternoon off.”
Kirsten stared at Dean. “You’re willingly giving me a free afternoon?”
Dean glanced at me. “Just take him with you. Go do something, anything, to keep him from setting me up with another girl he knew from college.”
Kirsten laughed as I spluttered in indignation, getting up from her seat to grab her denim jacket from the coatroom attached to the kitchen. “You don’t need to tell me twice I have a free afternoon. Come on, Rafe. Let’s head back to my place.”
The eyebrow Kirsten raised told me all I needed to know. We were out of the clinic in under ten seconds as Dean chuckled behind us.
I had a better idea than going back to Kirsten’s apartment. I’d picked her up in the Audi Quattro, having grown attached to the car. She looked at me, confused, as I drove in the completely wrong direction.
“Where are we going, Rafe?” she asked.
“You’ll see.”
When we reached the city limits, Kirsten frowned.
“You’re not kidnapping me, are you?”
“Hardly. I just thought—maybe—we could live out part of the fantasy of running away? Just for an afternoon.”
“Well…what did you have in mind?”
I glanced pointedly at a hotel up ahead.
“That’s the first hotel out of the city limits. That was the extent of my plans.”
Kirsten grinned. “Sounds good to me.”
We checked into the hotel in a hurry, the two of us hardly able to keep our hands off each other.
When we reached the room, I barely gave Kirsten an opportunity to take off her jacket before I picked her up in my arms and carried her over to the bed, kissing her passionately as I did so.
She happily reciprocated, giggling as the two of us dropped onto the bed.
“You know, if we keep doing it at the rate we’re going, eventually you’ll be too exhausted to,” I joked as I unbuttoned her blouse and peeled it off her skin before undressing myself.
“Hardly. We’re making up for lost time. A lot of lost time.”
“I guess I could be okay with that.”
I didn’t think I’d ever get sick of seeing Kirsten in nothing but her underwear, yet I wanted her naked even more. It was all I could do to discard her bra before Kirsten pulled me back to her once more, crushing my lips against hers as her hands roamed freely across my skin.
Kirsten’s fingers pressed more insistently into my back as I kissed the hollow of her neck, following the line of her collarbone before gently nibbling on her left shoulder. She moaned. “Stop teasing me, Rafe…”
She brought my mouth back to hers with a demanding hand through my hair, then I gave in to my desire for the woman below me. When I entered her, she gasped in pleasure, then kissed me all the more passionately. The slow give and take of our lovemaking pulled sounds of pleasure from her I’d never tire of hearing. Our bodies were as perfectly matched as our souls.
Just like the first time we’d finally fallen into each other’s arms, we didn’t stop for a long time. It was only when a different kind of hunger took hold of me that Kirsten and I finally broke away from each other.
“Room service?” I suggested.
She laughed rather breathlessly. “What, no home cooking today?”
“I’d be somewhat impressed if I was able to cook inside a hotel room.”
“Fair point. Burgers, fries, and shakes?”
“Change the shakes out for beer, and you have yourself a deal.”
“Done,” she replied, picking up the phone by the bedside to order for us.
Then I pulled her back against my side, kissing along her spine as my arms wrapped around her waist.
“Think we have time for one more round before the food arrives?” I murmured into Kirsten’s ear. I was satisfied to feel her face heat back up.
“If the shower is big enough for two, then why not?”
Oh, I liked the sound of that. We could clean ourselves off and defile each other simultaneously. Ever the practical woman was Kirsten O’Leary.
“I love you,” I said as Kirsten captured my mouth once more.
“You, too, Rafe Wilde.”
We never made it to the shower.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I peeked into the chapel to find all the usual suspects. Funny to see the pews integrated with members from all mob factions. There were no sections for the Italians, the Irish, or the Russians. Even the Columbians were interspersed. Off to the side was Detective Peters, who sat with Faye’s FBI father. Never in my life would I have imagined a wedding like this. It was like housing cats and dogs in the same cage. It was doable but dangerous.
“You’re not supposed to be out here. What if Rafe sees you?” Katya looked in all directions before she pulled me back into the dressing room.
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“If Rafe sees me, I can guarantee we’ll be late to our own wedding. That man has quite the sexual appetite.”
Katya smiled. “All the Wilde men are animals in the bedroom.”
Faye walked up to place my veil on my head. “Amen to that.” She’d just found out they were expecting their first child.
“It’s a good thing I specialize in animals.” I turned to look at myself in the mirror. A tear ran down my cheek. It was part joy and part sadness. My mother should have been here on this day. And while I felt her physical absence, I also felt her spiritual presence. I’d taken her wedding photo to Faye and Katya’s bridal shop and had a similar gown custom made. On my head was my mother’s original veil, placed in storage for my wedding. As I stared at myself in the mirror, I saw how like her I was.
The stories everyone told were of a strong woman who loved fiercely. She was dedicated to her job and devoted to her family. I was told she had a wicked sense of humor that was tempered by her sweet side. I was still working on my sweet side.
“You look beautiful,” Faye said as she wiped the tear from her face.
“She’s passable,” Katya added with a smile on her face. She turned me around and looked at my ass. I waited for her to make a remark. She’d once told Faye she looked like Snow White but maybe she shouldn’t have eaten the seven dwarfs in one sitting. She was also self-deprecating when she claimed her own ass looked like two crackers in a paper sack. No one was off-limits to Katya, and I loved her for her boldness.
“Go ahead and say it.” We’d been practicing disparaging sisterly comments for weeks. Lord knows we had so much time to make up for. I had over two decades of torture to give her just to catch up. She was an overachiever and beat me to the punch line every time.
“Say what?” Katya asked innocently, but behind those blue eyes was a tigress waiting to strike. In truth, she was a kitten that hid behind the tough Russian persona she grew up with and hadn’t been able to shake. I loved her anyway.
“Whatever mean thing you’re going to say about my ass.”
“I was only going to say one day big butts will be in style and you can tell everyone you’ve had yours forever.” She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “But really, you look fabulous.”
Betting On Us (Wilde Love Book 3) Page 16