Page 75 of It Takes Three To Tango

“Baby?” I noticed this has slipped in a few times.

“Well, you call meniño,and I’m older than you, so surely you must be baby. . . but in truth, I like it,” he says, a smile lighting up his face.

“I love it,” I say, tucking my head into his shoulder. “I’ve never been anyone’s baby before.”

He holds me tight in his arms, and my world, which has been spinning out of control, finally starts to slow enough for the nausea to subside, but it’s still off-kilter.

I allow Rafe enough time to get to his room and start unpacking before I bring up the elephant in the room—or rather, who definitelyisn’tin the room.

I sit on his bed and hold a pillow to me, hugging it for comfort.

“What are we going to do about Con?”

He pauses in his unpacking. “Still nothing from him?”

“No. Why didn’t he want us?” It comes out as a wail.

Something twists in his face, and he looks like he’s about to crumble. Rafe climbs onto the bed and lies next to me. His eyes are wet, which accentuates the gold flecks in them, lending them a fragile beauty. He looks up at me.

“Flo, I don’t understand it,” he says. I let go of the pillow and lay beside him. He reaches out and traces my face with his fingers.

“I love you, Flo, in all the ways Con described and more. I hated every minute of being away from you. But while half my heart is full like a meadow of blooming flowers, the other half feels empty and desolate.” He pauses, and I catch hishand in mine. Turning it over, I press a kiss on his wrist.He loves me,he loves me,rings through my brain.

“I remember the exact moment I discovered I was in love with you,” I whisper, trailing kisses across the palm of his hand. “That day in Park Güell, the realisation hit me so hard I nearly fell over.”

“I thought you just stumbled.” He smiles at the memory.

“That was me falling for you,” I murmur, leaning down to kiss his beautiful lips.

“I’m sorry,” he says when I release him. “This is all my fault. I wanted to taste everything, sample the world. If I hadn’t?—”

“No.” I stop him. “At first, I might have been reluctant to want to share you. I won’t lie about that.” I see his brow crease slightly that he might have caused me pain, and I want to kiss it away. “But I liked Con, a lot. So it was my decision to let him in. That grew in a different way. There was no arrow to the heart, but it was more like a nurtured plant. And now... and now ...” I gulp, trying to stop the tears that have never been far from the surface all week. If I let them go, it’s going to be ugly. “Now it feels like I’m missing a limb. And all the time, I keep thinking I should have told him how I felt—like I should’ve told you. Maybe then he wouldn’t have left.” I press my eyes shut and lie on my side. Rafe shifts slightly to lie facing me. As I open my eyes, he touches his forehead to mine. We just look at each other, our sadness mingling in a combined grief. Neither of us moves, not willing to break this moment, not knowing what to do next, or how to move past this.

Then Rafe blinks. “Do you hear something?” he whispers.

I strain, listening carefully, and hear the unmistakable sound of a guitar and a voice I’d recognise anywhere.

We sit up, trying to work out where it’s coming from. Rafe makes it out of the door a fraction before me, but it’s neck andneck down the stairs as we race through the house and wrench the front door open.

Constantin is standing there with his guitar, singing Enrique Iglesias’s “Somebody’s Me.”

He finishes the song and takes a deep breath. His face is creased like he’s in pain.

“That was my apology song. I’m ... I’m so sorry. You two are so good together and I thought... you would be better off without me. That you don’t need me. ButIneedyouand if it’s not too late...”

Rafe goes to move, but I catch hold of his arm. Anger mixes with the relief that Constantin wants to come back.

“You’re going to make me beg, aren’t you?” Constantin asks.

“It’s very tempting, but it’s not about that, Con. Right at the start of this relationship, we agreed to communicate. So we didn’t get hurt. That wasn’t just about who could kiss or fuck who, it was abouteverything.And you hurt us, Con, in here.” I thump my chest for emphasis. “You should’ve talked to us. If you had doubts, you should’ve said something instead of running away.”

“Yes, Wis said I stuck my head up my arse.”

“Well, he’s right. You hurt us all. I don’t know, Con. I don’t know if I can go through that again.”

His face drops as he takes in what I’m saying. But if he wants to come back, he has to fight for this.For us.

“I’m so sorry. I fell into an old pattern. I know that’s not good enough. I can see that now. Please let me back. Please. I promise you both it won’t happen again.”

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