This time Rafe laughed. Only Wright could pull off saying something like that. The dude was one of those hopeless romantics that women try to mold men into. Rafe liked to think he had a romantic side, that he knew how to woo and pander to a woman’s amorous needs. But Wright—he was one of those sensitive, corny, sentimental fucks who men like Rafe took notes from. “Care to elaborate?”
“I don’t know, man. She complements you. She’s beauty, you’re the beast. Don’t fucking know—you just fit.”
“Okay, thank you for that. Should I start calling you my fairy godmother?”
Carter joined Rafe in a laugh. Wright just shook his head and took a drink from his beer. “You two laugh . . .” he said, as if warning them.
“What are you goons laughing about?”
Rafe turned his head over his shoulder at the sound of Stella’s voice before she came into his peripheral vision and walked to Wright.
“Just trying to enlighten them on the ways of a woman, baby,” Wright answered as Stella leaned down and kissed him.
Fallon came to a stop behind him, and he reached his hand back for her. “Come here.”
She smiled knowingly and took his hand, and he pulled her around and onto his lap. Wright was right. She just fit. Her body contoured against his and it just felt right.
Three goddamn days. He’d been around her three days.
A warning signal was blaring in his ear, ricocheting off his eardrum and thwarting his mind. The last time he jumped headfirst he fell hard.
And he crashed.
But denying the way she felt in his arms was impossible. The sun had started setting behind the mountains and the evening chill skirted over them, causing Fallon to curl her legs over his thighs as she tucked herself in tighter on his lap. Her head nestled into the crook of his shoulder and his arms easily encased her. Yeah, there was no fucking denying it.
Fallon’s body shook above his as she laughed at something Stella said. He wasn’t paying attention; his thoughts were trying to shuffle through the reasons he should stand up and take Fallon home. The reasons he should chalk up their few nights together as a well-needed distraction and leave it at that. But he couldn’t find one. He couldn’t find one reason good enough to remove her soft body from his and end the night alone in his bed. And he’d be a fucking liar if he said he wanted to.
Christ.
“Oh, we’ll see about that. Right, Rafe?”
He regained attention with the sound of his name and blinked his eyes into focus. “Huh?” he asked Stella, who was obviously irritated by the looks of the scowl wrinkling her face.
Fallon huffed, feigning annoyance. “Apparently, she’s being dragged to a military redeployment ball and she’s mistaken her fondness for my company with the idea that I’ll be attending said ball.”
“Oh no, you’re going even if I have to find some young, eager private to take you.”
Rolling her eyes, Fallon shook her head.
“Looks like I better ask you to the ball before someone else beats me to it.”
“I don’t really think a military ball is my thing.”
“Well, it’s mandatory that I attend, and it would be a hell of a lot better if you were on my arm. I promise to make it worth your time. Plus, I look damn good in my dress uniform.”
“I don’t doubt that for one second.” Her eyes glassed over with a need he was becoming eager to fulfill.
“Then go with me. It’s in a few weeks.”
“You’d better go,” Stella threatened.
Rafe shook his head. That woman was something else. “You don’t have to tell me now, but just let it be known that I will persuade you in my favor.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
He pulled her in tight and kissed the top of her head as the gate in the fence opened up.
“Bridgette.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Fallon felt the muscles in Rafe’s arms stiffen around her. His breathing expanded his shoulders as he inhaled deep, steady breaths. Lifting her chin, she looked up at him. His square jaw with a sexy amount of stubble was now twitching above the tight muscles beneath. His flawed mouth was pressed in a firm line, and his glossy, inky eyes had dulled and hardened.
The crackling of the fire seemed to pop along with the quickening beat of Rafe’s heart. The palpable tension he was emitting had seeped into her skin. No one else seemed to be witnessing the man beneath her struggling to keep his emotions controlled, but then again, Fallon was an expert at the task. She was privy to the signs. Spending her entire life grappling beneath the emotions she suppressed, keeping a controlled facade for everyone, gave her an extensive amount of practice reading them. When she followed his gaze, she saw a beautiful woman who looked as though the air had been sucked from her lungs. Her eyes were wide and it was easy to see the hurt and jealousy that rolled through them like thunder. Then realization slashed Fallon’s flesh like the sting from an icy palm. And she knew—it was her. The one Rafe was trying to forget.