He grinned. Little brother’s in love. Son of a bitch.
“Hey,” Fallon replied sleepily as she rolled over away from the wall to face him.
Rafe pulled off his socks and stood at the side of the bed. “Scoot over. I’m comin’ in.”
She laughed and pushed herself back, making a small wedge of space for him to slide into on the old twin bed.
“This bed is too small for the both of us.” She laughed again. “It’s too small for you even without me in it. There’s another one on the other side of the room, ya know,” she teased as she took it upon herself to lift his arm and curl her body up against his side.
“Babe, you’re fuckin’ crazy if you think I’m sleeping in this room with you without your body next to me.”
He felt her lips tighten into a smile on his chest as she wiggled her body, adjusting herself next to him until she was comfortable.
“So Leo’s okay?” she asked through a yawn.
“He’ll be okay once he fixes things with his girl.” Rafe encased her in his arms and started running circles with his thumb over her shoulder. “You and Tilly have a good time?”
“Yeah, she’s pretty wonderful.”
That was the damn truth—she’d have to be to put up with all of their crazy asses for all those years.
“She told me what you did for her,” she whispered. Rafe’s arms tensed around her. It wasn’t something he was proud of. Nor did he regret it—not for one single moment. He only regretted that Tilly witnessed it.
He knew he’d gone too far. But he didn’t stop because he’d almost killed the man. It was because if he would have killed him, the guilt would have eaten Tilly alive.
Seeing Tilly fear him, hearing her screams penetrate the dense roar that hummed inside his head, tortured him. He never wanted to see her look at him that way. Never wanted to see any woman look at him that way. The rage that was like a dormant beast lurking inside him had taken over, and it nearly ruined him.
Fallon pressed a light kiss to his chest and he relaxed. “He deserved it,” he whispered. “And I’d do it all over again if I had to.”
“I know. I’m not afraid of you, Rafe. Your heart’s in the right place, always.”
Grasping her chin between his fingers, he lifted her face to his so he could look into those honey-colored eyes, still vivid in the darkness. “I’m glad you came.”
“Me too.” She sighed. “But another part of me wishes I’d never met your family.”
Frowning, he weaved his fingers through her soft hair, sliding and tugging gently on the tufts of waves. “What? Why?”
“Because they’re amazing, Rafe. Because it makes me realize everything I already knew I never had,” she admitted. “You’re lucky to have them. To have a broken little brother who drinks away his heartache like another man I know”—her shoulder softly rolled into his accusingly—“and to have an entire family who’s there for him when he shows up wasted. You have a sister-in-law who loves you men like nothing I’ve ever seen, and a pretty amazing dad to top it off.
“I’m an only child. No siblings. It was just me and my parents. No relatives. Just us. My family was devoid of emotion. It never felt like this, Rafe. Like a family should. Love and joy. Playfulness and even fighting.
“I’ve never felt like this.”
Kissing the top of her head, Rafe pulled her in a little tighter.
“Every time I’m around you, you make me feel,” she continued. She kissed his chest again and scooted her body up so her face burrowed into the side of his neck. “I promised myself I would never give anyone the power to hurt me. I forged these walls to—”
“Keep people out?”
She shook her head. “No, to keep me from feeling. I wanted to retreat into the void I’d always run from. I didn’t want to hurt.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, baby. That won’t fuckin’ happen.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can try like hell.”
Her lips curled against his neck, smiling quickly before she kissed him, her mouth brushing over his jaw. “You make me feel, Rafe. And being here with you makes me feel a little more.”
Damn.
There it was, that little tightening in his chest that reminded him he was a fucking goner.
“A little more?” he asked.
She lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t play coy. It doesn’t suit you.”
His mouth twitched with an emerging smile and he softly ran the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip. “What if I told you I feel a little more too? That I think I might be falling in love with you?” he asked, the apparent need and sincerity in his own voice taking him by surprise.