Page 205 of Nobody Told Me Thrift Shops Sell Stolen Dragon Heirlooms

Rafe took me upstairs.

His rooms were not rooms so much as a private apartment tucked into one wing of the estate. A sitting area with low bookshelves and deep chairs. A bedroom visible through open double doors. A fireplace already lit. A desk with neat stacks of work that made me want to knock one pile slightly crooked just to see if he loved me enough to survive it.

Loved.

The word landed before I could stop it.

I stood in the middle of his sitting room, borrowed sweater too soft against my skin, hair still smelling faintly of smoke, and realized I was tired of pretending I didn’t know where this had gone.

Rafe closed the door behind us.

He stood there for a moment, giving me space, giving me choice, being so careful it hurt.

“Quinn,” he said.

I turned.

His face was calmer than mine felt, but his eyes were not. His restraint was there, because it was part of him, because wanting didn’t make him careless. But it was no longer a wall.

It was a hand held open.

“You can sleep here,” he said. “Alone, if you want. I can take the sitting room. Or another room entirely.”

“Rafe.”

“And if tonight was too much⁠—”

“It was.”

He stopped.

I walked toward him. “It was too much. All of it. The robbery, the fire, Luke, watching you get hurt, kissing you in a gallery while property values suffered.”

His mouth twitched.

I kept going because if I stopped, I would lose my nerve. “But this part doesn’t feel like too much.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth.

My whole body noticed.

“What does it feel like?” he asked.

I reached for him. My hands settled against his chest. His heart was steady under my palms. Mine was not.

“Like I’m done pretending I’m not in love with you.”

The words came out soft and plain.

His breath changed, and he didn’t move for a beat. Then his hands found my waist, careful even now, even with the whole room tilting.

“Say that again,” he said.

I swallowed. “I’m in love with you.”

The emotion that moved across his face nearly broke me. It wasn’t surprise. Rafe had known. Some part of him had known for longer than either of us had been brave enough to admit.

It was fear.