matchmaker? Kiss and make up?”
“No, I—” My face went up in flames as my anger grew. “He asked me to dance, I said yes. I didn’t know you didn’t like him. Well, I did to a degree, but I didn’t know why.”
He lifted a brow, his jaw set as he looked over me. “I saw the look you gave me when he told you. I saw that fucking look.”
“So, I looked at you?” I asked, baffled. “You screwed a man’s fiancée and I’m the bad guy?”
Rafe gripped my hand and led me off the dance floor. Andy was waiting with my purse.
“Take her home,” he hissed and Andy nodded.
“What?” I asked, confused. “No,” I protested as Rafe began to walk out of the ballroom. Andy followed close on my heels as I went after him. I caught up with him in the parking lot.
“The hell he will, Rafe. You brought me. You’re taking me home!”
Rafe stopped in his tracks, his keys in his hand as Andy spoke up. “Alice, doll, listen to me. It’s no problem.” I glared at Andy and turned my attention back to Rafe. I circled his stiff body and faced him head on.
“Alice,” Rafe insisted, “just let Andy take you home.”
“No.”
“Fine, get in,” he said, pushing past me and opening the door.
“Night, Andy,” I whispered with irritation as I climbed in.
“Rafe,” Andy said slowly with a warning in his voice.
“Fuck this,” he said as he climbed in and ripped off his tie.
Minutes later, the wind whipping through the Jeep, I kept my eyes on him, undeterred. He was furious. In our time together, I’d never seen anything close to this kind of anger.
“This is your baggage, Rafe, and I haven’t even said a word about it. You’re so pissed off and blind right now you can’t even see it.”
He laughed at me in mock. “So tell me what you think of me now.”
“The same darned thing I thought of you an hour ago. And I think you’re a total jerk for what you did then and how you’re acting right now!”
Rafe turned into my complex at warp speed. “Don’t endanger my life because you’re an idiot!” I screamed as the Jeep skidded to a stop.
“I see it now. You aren’t a poor sport; you’re a total, volcanic moron! Cabron!” I hissed as I exited the Jeep a good half a mile from my condo. There was no way I was hanging around to watch him implode.
I heard a curse then a mutter as the Jeep sped up beside me. “He had his fucking hands all over you!”
“Over exaggeration,” I yelled back as he slowly rolled next to me in his Jeep.
“You were fucking judging me!”
“I was effin’ dancing with your teammate! And what you did to him was horrible, really horrible!”
“I didn’t know she was his!”
“Doesn’t help your cause, Rafe,” I said as I stopped to look at him. “Did she have a ring on her finger?” His silence was deafening. “You’re guilty.”
“And who the hell are you to judge?”
“Oh, please, you’re pissed because I’m right.”
Rafe cursed, put the Jeep in gear, and made a sudden turn to leave on the narrow drive. I continued to walk as close to the sparse streetlamps that echoed between the palm trees. It was a warm night and I was already sweating. I heard the Jeep brake again as Rafe backed up next to me and kept it in reverse.
I walked on as I tried to ignore him, but the whole thing was suddenly becoming more comical. I heard Rafe grumble next to me as he followed me down the narrow path to my complex in reverse. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
“I let him beat the shit out of me in Savannah.”
“Good!”
“I thought you might say that.” I glanced over at him and he was grinning from ear to ear. I clamped my mouth closed as I stared ahead. “I haven’t been that pissed in a long time, Alice.”
“Well, good for you, a breakthrough. The Neanderthals will be pleased to have their leader back.”
I heard his chuckle as he continued to slowly drive next to me. I could physically feel the tension start to leave us. A car moved past him narrowly and slowed to look at us. I was sure we were a spectacle.
“Get in the Jeep, baby, and let me tell you I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Alice, please.”
“No,” I huffed at the mid-mark, determined to make it back to my condo on heels that would scar me.
“Alice...Goddamn