Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Seeing the sympathy in Rafe’s expression made my stomach knot. “Star, I’m sorry you went through that.”
“I’m fine,” I told him breezily. “I have a very thick skin because of it. Thankfully for you, or I might never have agreed to this.”
I’d meant it as a joke, but Rafe looked stricken. “If I acted like some jackass bully, I am very sorry.”
Oh wow. I swallowed hard at how sincere he sounded. “You didn’t. You weren’t particularly nice, but it wasn’t as bad as that, and you’ve apologized already. Let’s just move on.”
Rafe stared at me as if he were trying to read every line in my body.
“Dessert?” I broke the strained silence.
My shoulders slumped with relief when he agreed. “Today’s my cheat day, so why not?”
“Cheat day?”
He shrugged. “I only have one day a week when I can eat junk food. The rest of the week, I treat food as fuel and my body as a machine that needs the right kind of fuel to function.”
My eyes swept over his impressive arms and shoulders, and I cleared my throat. “I can see that. You don’t expect that from me, right?”
Rafe’s lips twitched. “Why would I think I had any right over what you do with your body?”
“Good answer, Whitman.”
We’d just decided to share dessert when a male voice called out my name.
I turned in my chair as a figure approached us, and, as the lights above us illuminated him, I smiled. “Hey, Misha.”
Good-looking and rangy, Misha reminded me of a cowboy even though he was born and raised on Staten Island. His lean but strong physique was outfitted in his usual uniform of plaid shirt tucked into jeans, ending in cowboy boots.
He leaned down to press a kiss to the corner of my mouth, a little too close to my lips to be honest, considering it would appear to the casual observer that I was on a date. I noted his gaze flick to Rafe before he looked at me with a grin. “Damn, you get more beautiful every day.”
Did I mention Misha was the biggest flirt in the world? I rolled my eyes. “How many women have you said that to today?”
“Just you.” He winked and settled his hand on my shoulder as he stared at Rafe. “Hey, man.”
Rafe stared up at him without smiling. “Hey.”
“This is Rafe.” I hurried to introduce them. “Rafe, this is my friend Misha.”
When Rafe said no more but just stared stonily at him, Misha lost some of his cockiness and removed his hand from my shoulder. “Anyway, nice to see you, Star. Call me sometime.”
I murmured a noncommittal “Have a good one” because I had no intention of calling him, and turned back to Rafe.
He was still annoyingly expressionless. “Friend?”
“We casually dated.”
Rafe curled his lip at the thought.
I frowned. “What?”
“Nothing . . .” He contemplated me. Then he said, “I suppose we should discuss past relationships. That’s something couples do and something we would know. My mom has already asked me to divulge information about your past relationships after you came across as a commitment-phobe at dinner.”
There was censure in his tone and I suddenly realized that from his point of view, I’d screwed up. I was supposed to be deceiving his family into believing this was a serious relationship. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
He nodded. “It’s fine. Like I said before, it’s fixable.”
“I’ve never been in a serious relationship. Maybe we should lie about that too.”
Rafe contemplated this. “Never?”
“I’m not a serious-relationship person. I told you . . . I don’t like the idea of being tied down. Metaphorically speaking.”
His gaze was curious. “And physically speaking?”
I shrugged mysteriously. That was for my lovers to know. “Do I need to make up a past fake relationship too? Rafe?”
Whatever thoughts were in his head cleared as his eyes unglazed and he sat back with a little cough. “What?”
“Fake relationship from the past?”
“Um . . . right. His name was Misha.” He flicked a hand in the direction Misha had walked away. “You dated for three years and broke up because he dressed like a cowboy and cheated on you.”
Amusement built inside me. “I have to add the cowboy thing?”
“Frankly, Pippa would see that as enough reason for you to break up with him.”
I threw my head back in laughter and when I finally stopped, I found him staring at me in a way that made my breath catch. “A lot of women like the cowboy thing, you know.”
“You?” he asked with an intensity that made the electricity spark between us.
“Been there, done that,” I assured him.
“Dessert?” The server’s voice cut through the sudden tension at our table.
Rafe met her eyes but didn’t linger on her pretty face as he ordered. “A slice of the chocolate fudge cake. Two forks, please.”
“Sure thing.”
Feeling suddenly agitated and not wanting to deep dive into why, I quizzed him, “What about you?”