“Well, that’s great,” Rafe grumbled, stalking through the sleek, modern hotel suite he called home. The place was empty, of course, but tonight, it felt…desolate. Rafe had always preferred life in a hotel. It was easy. Uncomplicated. But tonight, it also felt…sterile.
His mind kept returning to Katie’s older house with its overstuffed furniture and creaky floors. There was a sense of continuity in that bungalow, as if the walls and floors themselves held the echoes of generations of laughter and tears.
His gaze swept the interior of his own home and for the first time in years, he found it lacking. Irritated with himself, he opened the sliding glass door to his terrace and stepped outside. The cold wind slapped at him and the roar of the ocean growled unceasingly. Streetlamps below threw yellowed circles of light onto the sidewalks and out on the beach. He spotted the dancing flames of campfires blazing in the fire rings.
“So,” he asked, “we still don’t have any idea which one of the family is the one who messed with Katie.”
“Nope,” Sean said. “Not a clue. And except for the married ones, it could be anyone.”
“This I know already.” Rafe shoved one hand through his hair and squinted into the cold sea breeze. His body was still humming from his time with Katie, and his mind was racing, trying to figure out how it had all gone to hell so damn fast.
He didn’t have an answer.
“I can ask around,” Sean offered.
“Never mind,” Rafe told him. “I’ll do the asking myself.”
“Fine,” Sean said, then asked, “Hey, did you get me some cookies?”
Rafe hung up, stuffed his phone into his pocket, then leaned both hands on the wrought-iron railing in front of him. He leaned into the wind, watched the black waves moving and shifting in the moonlight and promised himself that he would find out who had hurt Katie.
A few days later, Rafe was still simmering. He was getting nowhere fast with talking to his cousins. Amazing how many Kings took off during the summer. What the hell had happened to the family’s work ethic? But it wasn’t just the frustration of trying to find out which of his cousins he should pummel that was making him insane.
It was Katie herself. Until her, the only woman who’d ever turned her back on him was Leslie. And at least she had married him first.
“Everything okay here?”
Rafe buried his irritation, turned the electric sander off and faced Joe, the man pretending to be his boss. “Fine,” Rafe said shortly and moved the finished cabinet door to one side before grabbing up the next one in line. Sanding was hot, tedious work, so his mind had plenty of room to wander. Unfortunately, it continued to wander toward Katie.
The woman was making him insane and that had never happened before. Always in his life, Rafe was in charge. He did what he wanted when he wanted and didn’t much care about looking out for whoever might be in his way. Since Leslie, women were expendable in his world. Temporary. They came in, spent a few good hours with him; then they were gone, not even leaving behind a residual echo of their presence.
“Until now,” he muttered, removing the safety goggles and paper mask he wore to avoid inhaling all the sawdust flying around so thickly in the air.
Joe glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was close enough to overhear them. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I just came from talking to Katie and she’s wound so tight she’s giving off sparks.”
“Really?” Rafe hid a smile. Good to know he wasn’t the only one. She had managed to avoid talking to him the last few days, so he hadn’t known exactly how she was feeling until just this moment. It had about killed him to be here, so near to her every damn day, and not speak to her. Touch her. But he’d kept his distance because damned if he’d be the one to bend. He wanted her. She knew it. Let her come to him. She was, after all, the one who pushed him away to begin with. “She say anything?”
“She didn’t have to,” Joe told him. “The whole time I was talking to her about her new floor tiles, she kept looking out here at you.”
Also good to know, Rafe thought and hid a satisfied smile.
“What’s going on?”
Rafe slanted a hard look at Joe. He’d known the man for years. Trusted him. Considered him a friend, even. But that didn’t mean that he was interested in Joe’s opinion on this particular subject. “That’s none of your business, is it?”
The older man scrubbed one hand across the top of his balding head. “No, I guess it’s not. But I work for King Construction. I’ve got a good reputation with the company and with our clients.”
“You do,” Rafe said, keeping his voice down. “What’s your point?”
“I’ve known you a long time, Rafe, and I’m going to say that my business or not, I think you need to tell that girl who you really are.”
He snorted. “Not likely.”
Hell, she’d kicked him loose thinking he was Rafe Cole. If she knew he was actually a King, who knew what she’d do?
Joe huffed out an impatient breath. “She’s a nice woman and I don’t like the idea of lying to her. I’m sorry I suggested this bet in the first place.”
Rafe saw how uncomfortable Joe was and he was sorry for that. But he wasn’t telling Katie the truth. Not yet. Not until he’d made her see how much she wanted him. How much she liked him. Then he’d tell her that she was wrong about the King family and him specifically. And she’d have to admit that she had made a mistake.
“Look, Joe,” he said, “I’m sorry you’re in the middle of this, but we’re already too deep in the game to stop. There’s no changing the rules at this late date.”
“A game? Is that what this is?” Joe’s eyes narrowed and Rafe had the distinct impression that his contractor was about to defend Katie’s honor.
Well, there was no need.
“I don’t mean Katie is a game to me, so relax.”
The man’s pitbull expression eased a bit and Rafe kept talking.
“Don’t get all twisted up over this, Joe.” Rafe slapped one hand on the man’s shoulder. “We made the bet and I’m honoring it. As for telling Katie the truth, I’ll do that when the time’s right.”
“And when’s that?”
“Not now, for damn sure.” Rafe narrowed his own eyes in warning. “And don’t you tell her, either.”