Fix You (The Irish Rogues #3)

Chapter Twenty-Six Maeve

A fter Rafe bent me over the railing of his penthousebalcony and took me hard and fast, I needed another shower. Even though it was dark outside, we’d run the risk of being seen by his neighbors.

Of course, that part made it even hotter.

Once we were cleaned up, I put on a slinky green dress I’d thrown in my luggage at the last minute. Since dating Rafe, it seemed like my entire wardrobe had turned emerald since he was such a fan of me in green. When I came out of the bathroom, Rafe did a double take at the sight of me.

I grinned as I glanced down at myself. “Like it?”

He wolf-whistled. “It’s pure sin.”

“That fits since it reminded me of the dress Michelle Pfieffer wore in Scarface .”

Rafe threw his head back with a laugh. “You know Scarface , but you don’t know Tony Soprano?”

“The boys were kinda obsessed with that movie growing up. I saw it when I was way too young.” With a grin, I said, “I think the Sopranos was outlawed in the house since it dealt with Italians.”

“Ah, so you guys could watch movies about Cuban drug lords but not Italian mafia families?”

“Exactly.”

He grinned. “And look how far you’ve come–in love with an Italian mobster.”

“I’m sure my father would be so proud,” I mused.

Rafe’s expression darkened. “What I would give to be able to resurrect that bastard and torture him for weeks.”

“I wish you could as well.”

Leaning over, Rafe bestowed a gentle kiss on my cheek. “Let’s leave the ghosts of the past where they belong and go eat.”

“I’d like that a lot.”

After a decadent six course dinner at Jean-Georges in Central Park, we started to go for a night-cap at Inferno. But as soon as we got in the SUV, the day caught up with me, and I fell asleep with my head against Rafe’s shoulder.

When I woke up, he was carrying me out of the car into the building. “You could have woken me up,” I protested drowsily.

“I like you in my arms,” he replied as we swept into the elevator. Milos followed behind us.

When we reached the penthouse, Rafe took me into the bedroom. As he eased the zipper on my dress down, I fought to keep awake. Once my dress was off, Rafe left me in my panties and pulled the blanket over me. “No, come to bed,” I murmured as I burrowed into the pillow.

“I’ve got a few things to take care of first.”

Since I was too tired to argue with him, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me over.

I awoke to the sound of Rafe’s phone ringing. “Too. fucking. early,” he muttered before he cut it off. Although he fell right back asleep, the phone continued to ring. Worry vibrated through me. Of all the times I’d been with him, he’d never gotten a call in the middle of the night.

Reaching over him, I grabbed the phone. At the sight of Leandro’s name, I answered it. “Hello?”

Silence greeted me. “Maeve?”

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

“I really need to talk to Rafe. Now .”

Icy fear ran down my spine. “Okay. I’ll wake him.”

After nudging Rafe, I said, “Wake up. It’s Leo.”

With a grunt, he ground his fist into his eyes. “Tell him I'll call him in the morning.”

“No. He says he has to talk to you now.”

“Fine,” he grumbled as I handed the phone to him. “This better be fucking good.”

When Leo started speaking frantically, Rafe shot straight up in bed. “Are you sure?” At Leo’s response, he grimaced. “I’ll be right there.”

After he hung up the phone, he whirled out of bed. “Rafe, what’s happened?”

“Inferno is on fire.”

My hand flew to my throat. “Oh my God.” As Rafe jumped into his pants, I asked, “Do they know what caused it?”

He paused while buttoning his pants. “Firebomb at the employee entrance.”

As my stomach clenched, I fought the urge to throw up. “Someone was sending a message to you,” I said softly.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

When Rafe reached for his shirt, I asked, “You don’t think–”

“No. It wasn’t Callum.”

A relieved breath whooshed from my body. But then I realized there was still a question of who it could be. It didn’t take long for me to form a name in my mind. “Caruso,” I murmured.

Nodding, Rafe replied, “When I spoke to him earlier, he didn’t take the news well about calling off the engagement.”

“That’s why you threw your phone.”

“Yes.”

After wrapping the sheet around me, I slid over to the edge of the mattress. As Callum grabbed his phone, I reached out to stop him. “What did he say?”

“Nothing that you need to worry about.”

“Rafe, he tried to kill you tonight,” I argued.

With a shake of his head, he countered, “Tonight was about making a statement.”

Squeezing his hand, I replied, “What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing.”

I widened my eyes at him. “But–”

His jaw clenched as he turned away from me. “I don’t know how things were done in your family, but in mine, women aren’t privy to business matters.”

I gasped at his words while fury swirled within me. “You better turn the fuck around and look at me when you say something like that!” I demanded.

Rafe froze, his shoulders slumping slightly. When he turned around, however, there was no regret in his face.

I hopped off the mattress to stand in front of him. Jabbing a finger at him, I said, “Let’s get something straight. I wasn’t questioning any of your business deals. I was questioning what you were going to do to protect yourself.”

“Maeve, I can’t do this with you right now.” At my huff of frustration, he added, “I have to go see about my business now. We’ll talk when I get back.”

As he started to walk away, I countered, “If I’m still here.”

Whirling back around, Rafe grabbed me by the back of my neck. At my squeak of alarm, he jerked me to him before slamming his lips on mine. His arms shot around my waist to grab my ass. I moaned into his mouth.

Any thoughts of leaving him evaporated with his possessive kiss.

When he pulled back to stare down at me with eyes glittering with both lust and desperation, he said, “Don’t you dare leave me, Maeve.”

Even though I was not really planning on leaving him, I still shot back, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

The raging storm in Rafe’s eyes rolled away and was replaced with a pleading look. “Please don’t ever leave me.” His hand came up to cup my cheek. As his thumb rubbed over my bottom lip, he said, “I can’t do all this without you.”

My heart fluttered in my chest at his words. “I won’t.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes.”

“I hope so. Because shit isn’t going to calm down anytime soon.”

“We’ll weather this storm together,” I assured him.

He started to kiss me again when his phone rang. “I’ve gotta go.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”