Page 40 of Protected from Malice
It’s so incongruous to what I was thinking, it takes me a second to respond. “Sorry about what?”
“What I did. To the guy at the hotel.”
My brow wrinkles in confusion. “You mean stopping him from abducting me? From trying to kill you? Why would you be sorry about that?”
Rafe hesitates before sighing again. “Because I hurt him, Eden. I broke his fingers. His jaw. I threatened to kill him.”
I move a few feet towards him. “But you needed information. And he didn’t want to give it to you. Plus, he’d just broken into our hotel room. He had aknife, Rafe.”
“I know.” His smile is rueful. Grim. “I’m not sorry I did it. If I’d just turned him over to the police, he would have lawyered up. We might never have gotten the truth. We definitely wouldn’t have his phone. Or a number to trace.” He mutters a low curse. “Though I’d put money on it being a burner phone. All the fucking criminals are using them now.”
“I’m not sorry you did it either.” It’s the truth. Was it a little jarring to see Rafe like that, so intimidating and dangerous? Yes. But it didn’t scare me. I understood why he did it.
And actually, it was kind of sexy—Rafe all dark and intense as he defended me, his voice all growly and his eyes flashing with anger…
In hindsight, it makes me wonder how intense he’d be if we ever had sex. If his eyes would burn into me with a passion like nothing I’ve ever experienced. If he’d?—
“Are you feeling alright?” Rafe touches my cheek briefly before jerking his hand away. “You look flushed.”
Eeep.
“I feel fine,” I reply quickly, while silently commanding my cheeks to go back to normal.
He frowns.
“I’m not sick,” I amend. “And I’m not upset with you about what happened back at the hotel.”
“I didn’t want you to see that, though. Me being so violent. And it put you in a bad spot. You lied to the police to cover for me, for fuck’s sake.”
I move another foot closer. “You were protecting me, Rafe. And that guy… he deserved it. He deserved worse than what you did. And…”
“What?”
“I was glad you punched him. I was glad you broke his fingers. You weren’t the villain, Rafe. You were the hero.”
Rafe blinks at me.
He swallows hard.
“I’m not a hero, Eden,” he finally replies roughly. “Far from it.”
“Yes, you are.” I reach over to him and cover his hand with mine. “You were my hero. And nothing you say can convince me otherwise.”
An unreadable emotion moves across his face. “I don’t know about that.” His gaze slides to the window and back again. “So. Indy won’t be here until this evening at the earliest. And I’ve got a conference call with Cole and some of the other Blade and Arrow guys set up for noon. Which means we’ve got a few hours to kill. Do you want room service? Or we can check out the mini-bar. My treat.”
The thought of Indy’s arrival fills me with both anticipation and dread. Rafe called him the second the police left, filling him in on the basics, and after some yelling that was loud enough to hear across the room, Indy announced he was coming to Portland as soon as he could.
Then Indy talked to me, and the disappointment in his voice was almost worse than yelling. “Why didn’t you call me?” he asked. “I would have come right away if I had known you were in trouble.”
But how could I tell my older brother I was trying to protect him?
I want to see him, but I’m afraid to tell him the truth, too.
“Brain?” Rafe laces his fingers between mine and gives my hand a little squeeze. “I just want to help. Can I?”
“I don’t like tea.”
Wait. Why did I say that?
