Page 25

Carys couldn’t believe how badly she missed Rafi.

The big, tall, sometimes grumpy, sometimes charming man had gotten under her defenses and wiggled into her heart.

She smiled faintly at that imagery as she walked down the street to her usual coffee shop to meet Andi.

When her phone buzzed, she glanced at the caller and saw that it was Rafi.

Answering it, she paused and looked around, admiring the view of the river. It had rained the previous night, so the current was murky and faster than usual as the runoff came down from the hills surrounding the city.

“What’s up?” Carys asked, smiling and feeling a bubble of happiness rising in her chest.

“I just landed. Are you available for dinner tonight?”

Carys’s smile widened. “Just dinner?” she teased.

Rafi groaned. “Everything is on the table!”

“Figuratively? Or literally?”

He laughed. “You know that I’m going to have to do you on the table tonight now that you’ve put that image in my head.”

Carys laughed and spun around, leaning her hip against the metal railing that separated pedestrians from the rushing river below. “Oh, I doubt that. You’re a possessive man.”

“I am. And you’re going to wear those black boots with the heels,” he commanded, his voice turning husky. “But what does that have to do with me taking you on the dining room table? Maybe with a bit of melted chocolate that I’ll have to clean off with my tongue.”

Carys gasped, closing her eyes at the thought of him licking chocolate off of her. And her returning the favor. Good grief, his imagination had no limits.

“Rafi!” she gasped, turning so that others wouldn’t see the blush warming her cheeks. “Don’t say things like that.”

He chuckled knowingly. “You started it, habibi . Tell me where you are. I want to see you right now. I don’t think I can wait until tonight.”

Carys groaned, closing her eyes as she leaned her head back slightly. “I’m meeting someone for coffee.”

“Your friend?”

“Yeah.” She glanced at her watch. “Actually, I’d better hurry or I’ll be late. I’ll see you later?”

“When? What time? Tell me where you are now and I’ll come pick you up after you finish having coffee.”

She smiled, charmed by his eagerness. “I don’t know how long I’ll be. How about if I text you after?”

“Deal. I’ll see you soon, habibi .”

Carys still had no idea what that term meant, but it sounded like an endearment so she was going to take it as one. After tucking her phone back into her purse, Carys headed down the pathway, excited to tell Andi about Rafi.

She’d just rounded a bend in the pathway when she spotted Andi. But her friend wasn’t looking in her direction. Carys lifted her hand, about to try to get Andi’s attention when a tall, muscular man walked into her line of sight.

Rafi? Why was Rafi here? Wasn’t he at the airport? Hadn’t he just landed? How had he…?

Carys froze with horror when Rafi hurried to Andi and lifted her into his arms. A moment later, he kissed her in a way that…

other people were turning their heads away as the passionate kiss continued.

And Andi, her best friend in the whole world, was kissing Rafi back!

Rafi’s hands moved down Andi’s back and…

and then he cupped her butt, bringing Andi’s hips into closer contact with his groin!

Carys knew that move! Carys had been the recipient of just such a move several times in the past! She’d loved it when Rafi had been so ravenous for her that he’d picked her up just like that!

But now…now…Carys stared in horror, feeling her body go numb. Andi…and Rafi? How…how was that possible? Her best friend and the man she loved? No, this couldn’t be happening!

But it was. Rafi was kissing her best friend and Andi was clearly enjoying it. Andi seemed to know Rafi. Intimately from the way her hands were diving into his hair.

What dimension of hell was this? How could her friend betray Carys in such a vile way?

However, Carys hadn’t ever told Andi who she’d been seeing. Andi had mentioned seeing a guy, but she’d been so secretive about her relationship. Carys had never considered the possibility that Andi was seeing the same man as Carys!

After several minutes of the intense make-out session, the couple stopped, but they didn’t pull apart.

Andi looked so right, so comfortable in Rafi’s arms. Her best friend…

well, former best friend…looked happy and in love.

And Rafi seemed to be equally engaged. Andi leaned against Rafi, her fingers twirling in Rafi’s hair while his hands rested on the small of her back.

The two of them looked like a scene out of a romantic movie. Rafi was so tall and muscular while Andi was shorter, beautiful with her dark hair and warm smile.

They were in love, she suddenly realized. Rafi and Andi were obviously madly in love!

But just a few minutes ago, Carys would have sworn Rafi was in love with her. Just five minutes ago, Carys would have declared her feelings for Rafi with absolute confidence that he felt the same way.

Her confidence had clearly been misplaced, she thought and turned away from the happy couple. The happy couple that was currently shattering her heart.

Only moments ago, she’d felt a bubbling, happy sensation in her chest. Now she felt as if someone had placed a fifty pound weight on her shoulders.

It was difficult to get her feet to cooperate.

She struggled to walk as the heaviness permeated her very bones.

This…this was a pain unlike any she’d experienced before.

It was worse than the day her father had walked out of her childhood kitchen after calmly explaining that he was moving with his new wife to Arizona.

It was similar to the day she’d had to bury her mother.

Those moments in her life hadn’t been her fault.

This…trusting Rafi, believing that he was worthy of her trust…

made everything so much worse. Because she knew better.

Carys knew not to trust men because they always left.

They wouldn’t stay around for the long haul, when things got tough or when other opportunities presented themselves.

Carys slowly walked back to her apartment, not bothering with the subway.

She didn’t want to go into the bowels of the city.

She worried she’d be smothered if she had to go underground.

Not just in these feelings of anger and betrayal, but because of how stupid she felt. Stupid and gullible and…manipulated!

When Carys let herself into her apartment, there was a hint of a scent that she didn’t recognize. But instead of looking for the source of the aroma, she walked into her bedroom, laid down in her bed and pulled the covers over herself.

For a long time, she didn’t move. The tears didn’t come, but the image of Rafi walking toward her friend kept replaying in her head. Rafi pulling her best friend into his arms and kissing her. Rafi laughing at whatever Andi had said and Andi looking up at Rafi with a worshipful smile.

She hated Andi at this moment. Yeah, Carys knew that it wasn’t fair to blame her.

Her best friend couldn’t have known what was going on with Carys.

Andi had been so excited to tell Carys about the new guy she’d been dating.

But Andi had kept the man’s name a secret, something about how they were working together.

Carys understood now, since they worked for the same company, but in different departments and different offices.

Her company owned four different buildings around the Philadelphia area.

She just hadn’t known that Rafi was traveling between all four of them.

For some stupid reason, she’d assumed that he was mainly working out of the office she was located in.

Damn it, she’d made too many assumptions!

She’d assumed Rafi was only interested in her.

She’d assumed that he was working out of her office.

She’d assumed that the trips he’d made around the world had been business related – not for visits to see his other girlfriend.

She’d assumed that he cared for her. She’d assumed that… that…!

The tears finally came. They burned hot and salty over her cheeks, stinging her skin like acid.

They started silently, but eventually, as the pain of Rafi’s betrayal, his lies, and his cheating ways hit her, the tears morphed into racking sobs that tore at her throat.

She hugged a pillow against her chest, trying to stop the sobbing but unable to suppress her heartbreak.

At some point, she fell asleep. Carys wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but woke up when she heard an unexpected sound.

Was that a knock on her door? Carys paused, listening hard.

She wasn’t going to answer the door, but she wanted to know if the person would knock again.

She didn’t have a plan, but if she did, it would be something along the lines of remaining very still so that the person didn’t realize that she was here.

But there was only silence. Just like in her heart.

Carys fell asleep again. It was Saturday and she didn’t care what was happening in the world because right now, her world had ended. She pulled the blanket tighter over her and let sleep take over.

At some point, she woke up in the middle of the night. Peeking out from the mound of blankets and pillows, she looked around. It felt as if…! Was someone in her apartment?

No! That was impossible! She must have imagined the sound of the door closing.