Page 50 of The Last Dance You Saved
“You’re not getting bit by anything but me.” It was a joke as well as a promise. He was trying to relax me, trying to make sure I could move.
He lifted the blanket more, and the snake slithered again, the beady eyes no longer directed at me but still too close. He could still shift. Could still strike.God, get a grip, Sadie, I told myself. It wasn’t like I hadn’t faced a rattler before. I’d come across plenty back home, especially hiking. You just moved away from each other, and everyone was fine.
Rafe must have seen something in my face that showed the shift in me, the moment my fear faded into determination, because he started counting aloud. “One. Two. Three.”
The quilt flew toward the snake, and I willed my body to rotate. I landed on all fours, knees and palms screaming in objection. The rattler’s tail was beating a furious rhythm as it fought with the cover. I flung myself backward, crawling farther away from the bed.
Rafe scooped the snake up tangled in both the quilt he’d thrown and the plain blue comforter I’d been lying on. He strode toward the door, sliding his feet into a pair of shiny black dress shoes. He yanked the door, and it swung fully open, slamming into the wall and making the entire cabin shake and shimmy before he disappeared into the night.
I scrambled for my dress, pulling it on and tying it with shaky fingers. I slipped my feet into my sandals and followed him into the darkness.
I was too late to see which direction he’d gone.
I pulled my phone from the pocket on the dress, turned on the flashlight, and spun it around. The nearest building was one of the stables. The one with the paddock where Fallon had performed this morning. God, was it really only this morning?
“Rafe?” I called out.
Nothing.
An engine caught, and lights flashed. He was in the Jeep we’d driven to the lake. He headed away from me, gravel and dust kicking up behind him.
I went back into the cabin and straight to the glass of bourbon he’d taken from me. I downed it in two large gulps and then poured myself another finger. The adrenaline crash left me shaking from head to toe, but the alcohol burned, coating my nerves. Instead of concentrating on what had almost happened, I focused on the alcohol, swirling it around in my mouth, tasting the layers and undertones.
By the time Rafe came back in, I was on my third glass, and my shaking had slowed. My mind was no longer seeing the rattler on repeat. But Rafe didn’t look like he’d had time to calm down. His face was a dark glower.
“You kill it?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Not its fault. I shook it out in a rock outcropping rarely visited by any of us.”
I was glad he hadn’t. We did the same any time one neared our ranch. They were an important part of the food chain. They were needed to keep the rodents under control, but it didn’t mean you kept them close enough to hurt you, a guest, or one of your animals.
He eyed the glass in my hand, crossed over to the table, and downed his before pouring himself a second glass as well. “How many have you had?”
“This is my third, but I think I’m entitled to one or two more.”
He sat in the rickety chair across the table from me and ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck.”
It tore a shaky laugh from me. “You can say that again.”
His eyes never met mine, but I could still see his expression. Grim and dangerous and furious. “If you’d been struck…” His throat bobbed.
“I wasn’t,” I said, trying to reassure us both.
The alcohol had slowed my tremors, but watching Rafe lift his glass to his lips, I could see they’d found a home in him. He’d abandoned his calm with the snake, and the idea of this man, this large force of nature, trembling because of what had almost happened, tore into me. But just like seeing him play with his daughter, getting to witness this utterly human side of him felt like a rare gift. Something very few people would ever see—Rafe Marquess undone.
I set my glass down, rose, and went to him. When I sat on his lap, he finally met my gaze, and I was taken aback by the regret I saw swimming in those chocolate depths. One of his hands went to my waist, and the other set the glass down in order to cup my cheek.
“You got caught in the middle of something that was meant for me.”
Shock winged through me. “What?”
“Don’t be dense. No way a rattler just slithered its way into my cabin, wound its way up the bedpost, and tucked itself under my pillow.”
The shaking that had pretty much disappeared from my body returned to match the tremble I felt in his. He was right. Someone had put the snake there. Someone had meant for it to strike Rafe. And what would have happened? Who would have heard him this far out? Would he have had time to get to a phone? To call for help?
“You need to leave,” he said. It wasn’t really a request. It was one of his mighty commands.
“Who would want to hurt you like this?” I asked, gripping his chin like he was fond of doing to mine.
