Page 135 of Fix You

Squeezing his hand, I replied, “What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing.”

I widened my eyes at him. “But–”

His jaw clenched as he turned away from me. “I don’t know how things were done in your family, but in mine, women aren’t privy to business matters.”

I gasped at his words while fury swirled within me. “You better turn the fuck around and look at me when you say something like that!” I demanded.

Rafe froze, his shoulders slumping slightly. When he turned around, however, there was no regret in his face.

I hopped off the mattress to stand in front of him. Jabbing a finger at him, I said, “Let’s get something straight. I wasn’t questioning any of your business deals. I was questioning what you were going to do to protect yourself.”

“Maeve, I can’t do this with you right now.” At my huff of frustration, he added, “I have to go see about my business now. We’ll talk when I get back.”

As he started to walk away, I countered, “If I’m still here.”

Whirling back around, Rafe grabbed me by the back of my neck. At my squeak of alarm, he jerked me to him before slamming his lips on mine. His arms shot around my waist to grab my ass. I moaned into his mouth.

Any thoughts of leaving him evaporated with his possessive kiss.

When he pulled back to stare down at me with eyes glittering with both lust and desperation, he said, “Don’t you dare leave me, Maeve.”

Even though I was not really planning on leaving him, I still shot back, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

The raging storm in Rafe’s eyes rolled away and was replaced with a pleading look. “Please don’t ever leave me.” His hand came up to cup my cheek. As his thumb rubbed over my bottom lip, he said, “I can’t do all this without you.”

My heart fluttered in my chest at his words. “I won’t.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes.”

“I hope so. Because shit isn’t going to calm down anytime soon.”

“We’ll weather this storm together,” I assured him.

He started to kiss me again when his phone rang. “I’ve gotta go.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Raphael

Two Weeks Later

While I was personally the happiest I’d ever been in my life, my professional life had gone up in flames in more ways than one.

The fire at Inferno hadn’t been a total surprise. That night after I’d come home from dinner with Maeve, I realized that Edoardo was going to strike at me or more specifically at Inferno. The realization came after I’d found a matchbook from the club stuck in the door of my penthouse. How the hell someone had gotten not only into my building, but in my private elevator was disturbing on so many levels.

Finding the matchbook was why I hadn’t gone to bed when Maeve asked me to. I went to my home office and started making calls for added protection. Apparently, the bomb was set earlier in the evening, and the added men didn’t help. Regretfully, I’d lost a bouncer in the explosion as well as the damage to the employee entrance.

Due to the location, we didn’t have to close for more than two days. I paid extra to have crews working around the clock to fix the charred employee area. I beefed up on security as well including bomb sniffing dogs. The new protection sent a direct hit to my profit margins.

Caruso had remained eerily silent. But he still found ways to fuck with me. The engagement party had been unceremoniously postponed. Not canceled, but postponed.

Regardless of the stunt he’d pulled at the club, I wasn’t backing down or accepting defeat. I would marry Maeve just as soon as her semester was over.

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