Beautifully Decadent (Beautifully Damaged Book 3) (32 page)

It was late, hours after round two and three. We’d fallen asleep but Rafe wasn’t sleeping now. His body was tense, primed.

“Rafe?”

It was only then that I heard Loki growling from his spot at the foot of the bed. “The silent perimeter alarm has been tripped.”

Lifting my head, I saw the lights on the panel. He climbed from bed, grabbed his jeans and pulled them on. “Stay here. The cops will be here any minute, a call goes to dispatch when the alarm is tripped.”

“Shouldn’t you stay here too?” Fear was pushing back exhaustion. If people were in the house, Rafe shouldn’t be confronting the intruders, should he? What if they had guns?

He reached for a baseball bat he had next to his bed, his expression scary when he looked back at me. “Stay here.”

“Okay.”

He disappeared, my heart moved into my throat as I strained my ears to hear what was happening beyond the door. It felt like eternity before I heard the sound of sirens coming from down the street. A few minutes later, Rafe returned.

“Whoever it was, they’re gone now.”

Unease and irritation moved through me. “Do you think it was Melody?”

He did, by the dark look that swept his face. “Probably. Hopefully the camera caught something.”

“You have cameras outside?”

“Yeah on the gates, the entrances to the main house, the barn and the carriage house.”

He placed the bat against the wall before settling on the bed next to me. “The cops are going to be here any second, you might want to dress.”

I’d forgotten I was naked, too worried about him to care.

Running his finger along my jaw, his eyes tracking the motion before they lifted to mine. “One of these days I will actually get you to dinner.”

“What we did was so much better than dinner.”

The slight smile that curved his mouth nearly melted my heart. “Agreed.”

The doorbell had Rafe’s expression switching from tender to dangerous. “If you’d rather go back to sleep, I won’t be long.”

“I’d like to stay here.”

“Okay.” He kissed me again before he started from the room.

“Rafe.”

He stopped at the door and looked back at me. “Yeah.”

“Wake me when you come back.”

Hungry was how he looked now. “Absolutely.”

“Did the camera get anything?” Lucien asked the following day and though I heard him, my thoughts were on Avery and last night. God she was sweet, every inch of her. I couldn’t get enough. Craved her, a hunger I couldn’t seem to appease. She’d left earlier for work and the sight of her pulling down my drive had me feeling almost primitive. And as fantastic as the sex had been, it wasn’t the sex that had wrangled my heart like a cowboy roping in a steer. It was Avery—that guileless, witty and sweet woman who had absolutely no idea of her appeal.

“Earth to Rafe.”

Pulling a hand through my hair, I turned to Lucien who had that look; the bastard missed nothing.

“Sorry I missed Avery this morning.”

Fishing for info, I wasn’t about to make it easy for him. “The cameras didn’t get anything. Whoever it was knew where the cameras were positioned, even the angles, so clearly they’d been here before to case the place.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Lucien wasn’t teasing now.

“I think it was Melody.”

I hadn’t seen that dark expression on Lucien in a while. “Why do you say that?”

“She visited Avery at work the other day and asked her for the codes. And Avery mentioned she’d seen Melody at my gates a few weeks back, trying to get onto my property when I wasn’t home.”

“What the fuck for?”

I didn’t answer, knew Lucien wasn’t really asking since it was pretty obvious what Melody was after.

“You ended that.”

“Yeah, but Melody is apparently not on board.”

“You need to handle that shit.”

“I know; I’m working on it.”

“Does Avery know about the attempted break in?”

“Yeah.”

“It was close to three in the morning, right?”

Nosey bastard. “Yeah.”

“I guess it was the sirens that woke her.”

“You’re sounding more like your wife, you know that, right?”

“Just curious how your tenant heard about the break in.”

“Well, you can remain curious.”

“All the answer I need. We’re all going to Allegro on Saturday to hear Kyle’s band.”

“We’ll be there.”

“
We.
I like hearing that, brother.” Not as much as I liked saying it. Lucien headed for the door after placing his mug in the sink. “I need to get to work. Call me if you need me.”

“Will do.”

I had work too, and as much as I wanted to spend the day in my workshop thinking about all the things I planned on doing to Avery when I got her back in my bed, first I had to handle Melody. “Fucking hell.”

This had been a mistake. Reasoning with someone who wasn’t reasonable made about as much sense as banging your fucking head into a wall. My brilliant plan, confront Melody in person and tell her to back off. Somehow I thought face-to-face would have more impact. Clearly banging my head against the wall might be in order to jar my brain into working. As soon as she opened the door, she threw herself at me. I swear to God, she turned into an octopus because there were way more than four limbs wrapped around me. Prying myself loose took time and all the while Melody was attempting to eat me whole. Christ.

“I knew you’d come around.”

Finally breaking free, I moved as far from her as possible. When she made a move toward me, I put my hand out and snarled. “Stay over there.”

“Why? We’ll have so much more fun close and naked.”

“We’re not getting naked.”

She pouted; had I ever thought that was sexy? I might need to have my head examined. Luckily for me I knew a brain surgeon. “Was it you last night who tried to break into my place?”

Her reaction didn’t seem feigned; she looked truly surprised which was followed quickly with disdain. “What? Break into your place? Like I have nothing better to do?”

Now she was pissing me off. “Seriously? You went to Avery, while she was working, and demanded the codes, but you think I’m stretching by making the assumption you tried to gain access another way?”

A direct hit, calling bullshit on her nonchalance; the woman could technically be brought up on charges of harassment, maybe even stalking. And still she tossed out attitude. “I didn’t come to your house last night.”

“We’re over. You know that. Why the hell did you go to Avery for the codes?”

Belligerent was the best way to describe her expression. “Because I thought if you found me in your bed, naked, and we fucked, you’d realize what a mistake you’d made.”

“Is that the same reason you tried to fill her head with bullshit?”

“She told you that, did she? You have her trained well.”

I could not believe I had ever found this woman attractive. “I’m going to be as clear on this as I can be. We’re over. There is nothing you have that I want. And if you ever again bother Avery at work, or attempt to spew your brand of bullshit, we’re going to have a serious fucking problem. A few words in the right ears and you’ll be denied access to all the hot spots in town.”

She paled even as temper sparked in her eyes. There was one thing she liked more than me and that was seeing and being seen. “Are you threatening me?”

“No, not a threat a warning.”

“For her? I cannot believe you tossed me aside for that fat bitch.”

I never had the urge to hurt a woman, but I had it now. Rage had my body going still, my hands fisting. “Be very careful Melody or I’ll forget you’re a woman.”

Fear flashed in her eyes, but she tried to save face when she said, “You had all this and you’re settling for her. Talk about trading down.”

“And that is all this is about. You don’t give a shit about me. You just can’t stand that I ended it.”

I had to leave because the urge to toss her over her balcony was becoming far too tempting. Reaching the door, I pulled it open. Looking over my shoulder, whatever I saw in her completely escaped me now.

“For the record, you’re just a pretty cunt who gives great head. I didn’t trade down. I hit the fucking jackpot.”

I tried and failed to get some work done, too pissed with Melody to focus. She paid more attention to me now than she had when we were dating. The classic case of a spoiled child wanting what she couldn’t have. And if my relationship with her wasn’t case in point on how I’d been going through the motions. Hell, I hadn’t even worked up the effort to break it off with her, a woman I didn’t even really like. And I’d still be living like that had it not been for a feisty pastry chef riding into my life in her god-awful car. Speaking of which, she was home, her car had a distinct—in serious need of a tune-up—sound. I stepped outside to greet her. She looked tired, and it didn’t help that I had kept her awake for most of the night. Not that I didn’t intend to keep her awake tonight, but I was enough of a gentleman to feel badly about it. Watching her body move was like art in motion: graceful and alluring and completely unconsciously done.

As soon as she saw me, a smile spread over her face. “Hey.” She said as she swung her bag over her shoulder.

Walking right into her, I yanked her close and kissed her, sweeping her mouth with my tongue because honestly, I was jonesing for a fix. With the way she kissed me back, I wasn’t the only one. “How was your night?”

She didn’t immediately answer as her tongue ran over her lower lip, licking my taste off.

“Keep doing that and we’re missing dinner again.”

I could tell she didn’t have a problem with that. Her voice was husky when she finally answered. “I had an excellent evening, even more so after that kiss.” Her eyes twinkled knowing what she was doing to me. She continued, “We tried something different, a chocolate tray paired with dessert wine. It was a huge success and Tina, my one sous chef, has mastered the art of tempering chocolate.”

She cared, really cared about the people that worked with her. Some would feel threatened, even going so far as to hold back what they knew so the student didn’t become the master, but not Avery. She not only led with her heart and went all in but from what I’d seen, that philosophy carried into every facet of her life. “They’re lucky they have a boss like you.”

She looked adorably confused. “Why?”

“You care.”

“I do, that’s true. It’s easy, though, because they’re great.”

Humble too. “I’ve made some spaghetti and meatballs and a salad. Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

“It’s done, so whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now.”

Taking her bag from her, I reached for her hand. “Then let’s feed you.”

Dropping her bag in the mudroom, I moved to the cabinets for the plates.

“There’s wine in the rack if you want some.”

“I’d love a glass.”

“Get me one too?”

“Okay.” She surveyed my wine, selecting a hearty burgundy before washing her hands and uncorking the bottle. While she poured the wine, I plated our food. Settling across the island from her, she held her glass up to me. “To dinner, finally.”

She really was a goof. Her first mouthful of spaghetti had her eyes rolling into the back of her head. “You made this?”