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“Oh, but I do. You think you can do whatever you want, have any man that you want, but you can’t, Catalina. You have a life here with your family. Responsibilities that only you can take care of. You can’t neglect us forever. You need to return home. Now.”
Cat blinked back tears and shook her head, feeling silly since Annalisa couldn’t see her do it. “I’m coming home Monday.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“I don’t have a choice. Monday will have to do,” Cat said, her voice growing weak as the tears threatened to take over completely.
“Leave now, Cat. March your butt down to the airport, buy the first ticket home and come back to us. You’ve proved your point, had your little taste of freedom. Now you need to come back here,” Annalisa demanded.
“Give me that.” Rafe appeared above her, wrenching the phone from her hand and hitting the End Call button on the bottom of the screen. “Quit listening to that horrendous cow before she has you dissolving into a puddle of tears and unable to get yourself back together.”
She choked on the sob that had lodged in her throat. Fear coursed through her. Would he send her away? At least then Annalisa would get her wish. “D-did you hear what she said?”
“I didn’t need to hear. I could see how she was trying to destroy you word by word just by watching when you spoke to her. Your face turned ghostly white and you still look like you’re going to cry.” He tossed the phone onto the couch where it landed beside her and settled in, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and gently pulling her against him. “She may be your sister, but she doesn’t have to be so damn abusive toward you.”
“She’s not abusive,” Cat automatically defended, ignoring the disbelieving snort that came from Rafe. “She’s under a tremendous amount of pressure, what with our father never around to help with the business. Everything involving the company tends to land on her shoulders and she’s been trying to straighten out the mess our father left behind for years. When I’m around, I’m a big help to that burden.”
“That’s wonderful. I commend both you and your sister for taking on such major responsibilities at such young ages, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a little time to yourself,” Rafe said, his gaze tender as he studied her.
“Annalisa never takes time for herself. She says she can’t afford to, especially not now.”
“I could give two shits what your sister says.” Rafe sounded infuriated—on her behalf. That realization sent what felt like a bazillion butterflies flapping away in her stomach. “Now come on. Pull yourself together and let’s go out for breakfast. We’ll need a big meal to fortify us for a long afternoon of shopping.”
“Oh, Rafe…”
“Don’t you ‘oh, Rafe’ me, Cat. You want this just as badly as I do. You need it, to help you forget.” He took her hand and pulled her to her feet, smoothing his thumb across the back of her hand. Her skin tingled from his fleeting touch. “I hate what I witnessed just now.”
She stared up at him, remaining silent. No one had ever defended her before. Nor had anyone ever seen just how cruel Annalisa could be toward her.
“I—I’m sorry you had to see our silly family fight. It won’t happen again, I promise.” She stood and started to walk away from him, ready to escape for at least a little while. But he went after her and grabbed a hold of her arm, keeping her there. With him.
“It wasn’t about the fight. It was how she berated you and insulted you and made you feel like a stupid, useless human being. I didn’t need to hear her to know that’s exactly what she was doing to you.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “No one should be talked to like that, least of all by your blood relative.”
“She’s an unhappy person,” Cat said, her voice small.
Rafe snorted. “I’ll say.”
“Part of that is my fault,” she said hurriedly. “I’m nothing but a burden to her. We all are.”
“Jesus.” Rafe yanked her to him, holding Cat in his arms, so close she could feel his delicious warmth seeping into her. “Don’t listen to her. You’re not her burden. She brings that all on herself. You can do and be whatever and whoever you want to be, Cat. Don’t you realize that?”
“I—I don’t know what I want to be. I thought I had everything all figured out. My entire life, I’d been told that someday I would be Mrs. Rafael Renaldi and that I would belong to you.” She laughed, but there was no humor behind it. “And then I foolishly asked to end it and you agreed. Now I’m nothing. Nobody. The forgotten daughter. The burdensome sister. I’m nothing,” she repeated.
“You’re something to me. Say the word, Cat. Say yes and we can be engaged once more. Hell, I’ll take you down to the courthouse this afternoon and we can handle this properly.” He squeezed his arms around her tight, pulling her in so close she was pressed intimately against his solid, hard body. “Forget what you thought you wanted and focus on me. On us. Be my bride once more, Cat. Say yes.”
