Page 57 of Fix You

Inwardly, I groaned. Between me and where the stuffing should go on the table was Rafe. Sucking in a ragged breath, I leaned over him. When he turned his head, it landed against my cleavage.

“Oh fuck. I’m sorry,” he apologized, jerking away as if he were on fire.

“It’s fine.”

“I didn’t realize you were there.”

“Seriously, it’s fine.”

When I finally dared to bring my eyes to him, my heart deflated.No, no, no!It was right there in both his horrified expression and his haunted eyes.

Rafe knew.

I don’t know how he knew, but he did.

Everything I’d feared I’d see in his face and in his eyes was right there in front of me, and it was even worse than I’d imagined it would be. As if he could read my thoughts, he murmured softly, “Maeve, I?—”

“I said it’s fine,” I snapped before whirling away from him. Tears stung my eyes as I hurried back into the kitchen.

“There’s just a few more things to take in,” Mam said.

Although he was far from the back door, I said, “Murphy’s wanting outside. I better take him out before he pees on one of the rugs.”

Mam opened her mouth to protest, but I ignored her. Grabbing Murphy up, I then bolted out the back door. As soon as the frigid air hit my lungs, I let the tears flow.

I’d been right about the reasons why Gianni and Leo hadn’t kissed me. Apparently, Rafe had shared my secret with them. I hoped, more than believed, he had done it out of protectiveness and not just to relate how he’d dodged a bullet with the broken and defiled Kavanaugh girl.

I patted the tears from my cheeks, desperately trying to salvage my makeup so no one would imagine I’d been crying. Turning my thoughts from Rafe, I closed my eyes and focused on the ocean. I sucked in a breath and held it for ten seconds before exhaling it slowly. I repeated the process several times before I realized I was good.

Picking up Murphy, I hurried up the backstairs. I grabbed the decanter of spiced wine we’d forgotten on the counter and headed into the dining room.

Mam glanced up from her seat next to Rafe. “Oh, you sweet thing. Thanks for preparing the mulled wine for me.”

I forced a smile to my lips as Mam gave me an excuse for being gone so long. “It was nothing.”

Callum smiled at me. “You’re just in time for us to say grace.”

I slid into my seat across from Mam, which unfortunately put me directly across from Rafe. As we bowed our heads, I felt Rafe’s stare on me. After returning thanks, Callum began to carve the turkey.

The food began to make its way around the table. Although my emotions had wiped my appetite, I still heaped the food on my plate. It was an easy distraction to keep my eyes off of Rafe. I also poured myself a large glass of wine and began taking long sips from it.

Since she’d worked so hard on the Italian side of her meal, I glanced down the table to smile at Caterina. “The ravioli is delicious.”

She threw me a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

“It’s not my usual Irish fare, but Maeve’s right. It is delicious,” Callum chimed in with a wink.

Holding up one of my mince pies, Gianni said, “While having Italian food is delicious, these are amazing.”

Before I could say anything, Mam replied, “Those are Maeve’s speciality.”

He grinned. “They’re out of this world. I think I’ll have to have them every year now.”

I laughed. “I’ll have to give you the recipe.”

Leandro snorted. “That’s cute considering he can barely boil water.”

Rolling his eyes, Gianni countered, “Like you can do any better,stronzo.”

---