RAFE'S LAIR (17 page)

Marcus held out his hand to Rafe. "Okay man, we'll back off a little. When you need us you'll let us know."

    "Finally. Now that you've kissed and made up, make the poor girl some damn food already. While you’re at it, make some for me. Having to deal with all of you wears me out and I'm still a growing boy so I have a healthy appetite. I need to keep my strength up to be the awesome demon that I am for you guys."

Rafe effectively ignored Ed and finished making Ava some
food. When he was finally done he brought it into her on a tray with a long stemmed red rose on it. Once he made it in the door to his room, he almost dropped the damn thing when he looked at his bed. Both girls were passed the fuck out and curled up against each other. He sighed. So much for being able to spend time with his mate and get to know her better tonight. He set the tray down on the night stand and pulled the covers over them, tucking them in. He kissed Ava's forehead one last time and whispered good night to her and that he loved her. He picked up his damn tray, with its damn sissy rose, turned around, and walked the fuck back out shutting the door behind him. He looked at the confused expressions on everybody's faces and just had to laugh at the irony of it.

    "They're both passed out cold." He told them and they all started laughing with him.

    "Looks like she gets to spend the night after all." Marcus said.

    "Not exactly what I had in mind asshole." Rafe said to him laughingly going bac
k into the kitchen.

                                  CHAPTER 26  

      Ava knew she wasn't in her own bed even before she opened her eyes. She sure as hell didn't have satin sheets, although she was thinking she was going to have to get some now. They felt wonderful. She looked over and saw Marie sprawled out face down in the pillows. She looked at the clock on the night stand and it said it was a little after eleven in the morning. Wow! She'd slept all freaking night! And she hadn't had any dreams that she could remember. This bed must be pretty damn good for her to be able to do that. She stretched and got up to go pee and get a drink.

After she was done in the bathroom, she found a shirt and athletic pants laying out on the chair in the corner. She s
ure as hell didn't want to keep this overly revealing dress on so she put the shirt on. It came all the way down to her knees and the arms hung several inches below her hands. She dug her hands out of the sleeves and buttoned up the shirt. When she got to the collar, she pulled it to her nose and inhaled the wonderful scent of the man who owned it, closing her eyes to savor him. She tried the pants, but they were too big and she couldn't tie them tight enough to keep them on her hips. Oh well the shirt would have to do.

She opened the door and peeked her head out to see if she could hear anyone. Seeing that the coast was clear, she padded out into the living room. The guy that'd carried her up here and owned the shirt now swallowing her was on the couch. He
had one of his arms thrown over his eyes and the other thrown behind him over the arm of the sofa. He was bare chested so she could see his tattoos running down his arm and up over his shoulder then up his neck. She couldn't tell where all they went and what exactly they were from where she stood, but she'd like to find out. No, no she wouldn't. She reminded herself.

That he was gorgeous wasn't even close to describing him. He was most definitely built liked he worked out a lot. She could tell because thank
fully she was wearing the shirt he had on the night before. She wasn't sure if he left it for her or not now that she looked at him, but she was glad he'd left it. He was still in the jeans he had on the night before and they looked like they hung low on his hips. Very sexy hips they were indeed. His feet were bare and she hated to admit even they were sexy too. There's just something wrong with a guy being that damn sexy that even his feet were.

He had one leg bent and his knee resting against the back of
the couch. The other leg was stretched out and his foot hung off the arm. He was so damn tall that the arm was digging into the middle of his calf. He looked kinda like a giant trying to sleep on a toddler bed. She was quite sure that wasn't too comfortable either and she felt bad that he was stuck sleeping on his couch while she and Marie had his comfortable bed. She was going to go back and wake Marie up so they could sneak out before he woke up, when he spoke to her in a gravely sleepy voice.

    "Good m
orning beautiful. How are you feeling?" Rafe said sitting up and scrubbing his face so he could look at his mate.

When his eyes landed on her he had to make himself remember how to
breathe. His little Ava was in the shirt he'd been wearing the night before and laid out for her to put on when she got up. He knew she wasn't comfortable in her dress and he really wanted to see her walking around his place in his clothes anyway. By giving her the one, he'd worn the night before she'd be covered in his scent and he wanted that even more. He hadn't thought they would be that big on her though. No problem it just made her look cute and petite.

His shirt literally swallowed her up. The damn thing looked monstrous on her. He couldn't even see her hands cause the sleev
es hung down a good six inches past her fingertips. It was so long the hem was almost passed her knees. She looked like she was wearing a tent and he loved it. She looked even more delicate than she already was draped in his shirt. He knew he'd love the way she looked in his stuff, but he hadn't thought he would love it so much that's all he'd want her to wear from now on.

Her silky long legs were bare. He'd laid out some pants for her too, and judging by the shirt, they were way too big and wouldn't stay o
n. Well that so didn't break his heart one bit. Hell it made him even happier cause he got the pleasure of seeing her sexy legs. He let his eyes slowly travel down her bare legs to her tiny little toes that were painted a bright pink. Damn even her toes looked so freaking cute. He could spend an entire week exploring those pink little toes before he made his slow journey up her sexy legs to explore the rest of her.

She'd taken her hair down at some point in the night and it now tumbled all around her should
ers in a wild mass of waves. She looked so damned adorable in his shirt that was ten times too big for her and her hair a wild halo around her from sleeping on it. She hadn't brushed it yet and he didn't want her to ever, he wanted her to stay just like that. His mouth had gone dry from the vision she made standing there in the door to his room so soft and mussed from sleep. He couldn't wait for her (looking just like this) to be the first thing he saw every night when he woke.

He wanted to scoop her into h
is arms and carry her right back to bed and slowly strip her out of his shirt. He would have given anything to have been in that bed with her when she first opened those baby blues. She would have given him that soft shy little smile she was now, but that mass of wild waves would have been spread out on his pillows instead of tumbling around her shoulders. She reached up to tuck an errant wave behind her ear and had to find her hand in his shirt sleeve first. He jumped up and came to her so he could do it for her. Anything just to be able to touch her.

    "Here beautiful, let me help." He whispered to her as he reached up and tucked it behind her ear.

    "Oh uh thanks." She barely squeaked out.

Ava wouldn't look up at Rafe; she couldn't and still keep brea
thing. She didn't know what she should do or say really. She had promised Marie that she would get to know him and stop hiding because she was scared. She really didn't think the guy would physically hurt her, but she knew for a fact he was very dangerous to her heart and emotions. Not to mention she didn't buy the reason he gave her about why she was dreaming of him one bit. There was no way in hell she would have not noticed this guy no matter where she saw him. She hadn’t been this interested in anyone in a long time. Hell she'd never been this interested in anyone period.

Rafe let his hand caress down Ava's soft cheek after he tucked away her hair for her. He absolutely loved how shallow her breathing was from that little amount of contact. He couldn't r
esist leaning down to give her a feather light kiss on her other cheek. Her soft little hands lifted to his chest and she had to struggle to get them out of the sleeves. She wasn't having any luck so he brought his hands up to help her. He wanted to feel them skin to skin. When he'd managed to free them, he pushed them flat onto his chest and covered them with his. They both shuddered at the contact.

    "Ava, baby I'm dying to kiss you again. Will you let me beautiful? Lift your head up to me baby, meet me half way and let me taste you again." Rafe cooed to her.

He could feel her fingers curling against his chest. Her soft rapid breaths were blowing against his bare skin. He wanted her to lean in, kiss his heart, and then lick her way up to his mouth. He could hear her heart pounding in her chest just like his. She was just as affected as he was and he loved it.

    "Come here baby, bring me those swee
t lips. That's it."

Ava whimpered as she lifted up to meet Rafe's lips for his kiss. She had to lift up onto her toes to reach him even as he was leaning down further to her. She felt his lips glide across hers as he spoke the last words against her mouth
right before he really kissed her. It wasn't like the soft kisses he'd been giving her. No, he took her mouth with his and all she could do was fall into him and hold on while she kissed him back with everything she had.

Rafe had used up the last of his co
ntrol going slow allowing Ava to come to him. When he felt her lean into his chest for support as she went up on her toes to meet him, the last thread broke. He wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her flush against his body as he slanted his head and took her mouth the way he'd been needing to. Hard and deep. He cradled her head to his as he tasted her mouth. He felt her arms slide up his chest and wrap around his neck. She clung to him so sweetly bringing her fingers higher to burrow into his hair as she kissed him back just as desperately.

It literally took everything Rafe had to pull back from his Ava's sweet lips. He had to chuckle when she tried to lean up more to follow his retreat. He brushed her silky hair away from her face as he kept her fr
om tumbling into him. She had her eyes closed and her lips were swollen from his kiss. She hadn't been ready for their kiss to end either. He leaned down and kissed the side of her mouth, she immediately turned her head towards him seeking his mouth for more. He laughed against her mouth and gave her soft little kisses before he pulled back to look in her blue eyes.

    "Ah God sweet beautiful I have to stop now while I still can." Rafe said as he caressed her back. "Come over here baby. Let's sit you down
at the bar while I fix you breakfast."

Ava looked so adorably confused by his words that he laughed and leaned down to kiss her on her button nose.

    "You fell asleep before I could bring you dinner last night so I know you’re still hungry. Not to mention I can feel your tummy grumbling against mine." He said taking her hands and leading her toward the kitchen walking backward so he didn't have to stop looking at her. "You can keep me company while I cook. How bout that?"

Ava followed the guy who'd just blo
wn her mind with that kiss. She was thrown by the abrupt change and shook her head to gain some of her sense back. She pulled back stopping them half way across the living room.

    "That's okay, I'll just go wake up Marie and we'll get out of your way. I'm sure
you’re tired from having to sleep on the couch and would like to go get some rest in your own bed. Thank you for being so generous.... Ah... I'm sorry; I don't even know your name."

Ava just realized she'd been kissing this guy; she'd slept in his freaking bed. She looked down. She was wearing his damn shirt, and she didn't even know the man's name. This was so not like her. Had she been in her right frame of mind she would h
ave left the second she could form a coherent thought. The guy had stopped with her and he came closer crowding her space again. He put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face up to look at him.

Her first thought was he had the most amazing green ey
es. They were an emerald green that almost didn't look real. They were so bright, they practically glowed. He had an unconventionally handsome face. She apparently had a thing for guys with some facial hair, cause her last two boyfriends had goatee’s and so did this guy.

    "My name is Rafe and you are not in my way. Ava remember what I told you last night? Stop trying to run away and just let me take care of you."

Rafe was starting to get irritated again. Did he have like the plague or something? By the way Ava was constantly trying to run from him, he was starting to wonder what the hell was wrong with him. He knew she found him attractive, she couldn't not and still be his mate. But getting her to trust him was like pulling teeth. Hell at this point pulling out his teeth sounded less time consuming and less painful.

    "Ava tell me what is so bad about having breakfast with me? Do I smell bad? Maybe have boogers hanging out of my nose or something? I promise I don't have any coodies or anything."

Ava giggled and looked down at Rafe's chest. Rafe. She liked that name. She lifted her hands back to his chest and pet his heart. It fit him perfectly. He was devilish and could be scary as hell if he wanted to be. Yet he was so overly gentle with her and apparently was very playful too.

    "And if I do smell bad, then I'll take a quick shower. Not that big a deal." He said looking down at her hands.

Ava laughed again and shook her head.

    "No you don't smell bad, but you already know that."

Rafe bent his knees to lean a little lower to look at Ava. He put his hand over hers to still them on his chest to get her to look at him again.

    "Then I don't understand beautiful. What is so appalling that you can't stand to be around me?" Rafe asked her.

Ava finally looked back up at him with a little grin on her face.

    "There is nothing wrong with you that I know of. That's the point."

    "There has to be something wrong with me for you to want to hang out with me? That's a little prejudice don't you think?" Rafe said with a smirk.

Ava smacked him playfully on the chest laughing. She shook her head and looked up at him.

    "That is not what I meant and you know it. Had you not have cut me off and let me finish, I would have said. I don't know you so I can't say if there's something wrong with you. And I don't want you to keep going out of your way thinking you have to take care of me. I'm a grown woman and am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Now we've already inconvenienced you more than enough so please don't worry about doing anymore."