Because Of Love

“Ah, ah,” she said with a shake of her head and a wag of her finger. “I’m not changing again. You get one pass on my wardrobe, no more.”

Rafe wordlessly glared at her, making his feelings about the subject much known. Talia had to hold herself back from sticking her tongue out at him to annoy him further. She walked towards the front door, her boho bag slung over her shoulder and snickered at a pouting peeved Rafe.

His hand shot up and grabbed her by the upper arm, Talia gasped as he brought her to a complete stop.

“Not so fast,” he said, reaching for the coat closet door with his free hand. He opened the door, released her and grabbed her long black overcoat with a jerk that the hanger rattled in the enclosed space in protest. He pushed the door closed with his fingers, then held the coat open in front of her with a raised brow. The man just refused to lose.

But then again, in her petty need to whine, she’d forgotten about being warm and almost froze her big butt off.

Refusing to show him how right he was about the coat, she jutted her chin up in defiance, then dragged her feet as she turned around in a show of reluctance and speared her hands into the armholes.

Rafe settled the coat over her shoulders, then his hands slid down to her upper arms where he squeezed and then said a little too smugly, “Now we can leave.”

She spun on her heels and headed to the door, her chin still in the air before she came to an abrupt stop again.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” She rushed back in and to the kitchen. She reached for the outer drawer of the counter and pulled out her trusty sidekick.

“What’s that?” Rafe asked over her shoulder as she pulled the drawer shut.

She turned, careful not to bump into him and held up the blue grey cylinder. “This?”

He nodded.

“An inhaler,” she answered, dropping it into her bag.

“Why do you have it?”

“I’m asthmatic,” she said, as she walked past him to the door.

She expected some questions but he remained silent. Maybe he just didn’t understand what that was. It was a good thing, kind of. Some people tended to go straight to panic mode like she would start suffocating right in front of them at any second.

Just as she reached for the door knob, he grabbed it, his black leather arm stretching past her to turn it. He stopped her from moving with one hand on her shoulder as he swung the door open. He then shifted it to her lower back and ushered her out. When she reached for the door again, he took that hand in his, pulled on it gently until she stood behind him then he pulled the door closed. He inserted the key, turned it to lock, checked to be sure it was locked then began walking down the hallway towards the elevator, tagging her behind him. Talia stared at the back of his head surprised. She watched as his medium length hair, with a bump at the ends, bounced gently with each step he took and wondered what spell was cast on him in that shower. Rafe was a gentleman for sure, but not that much of a gentleman. Normally, once he was ready-he was always ready before her, including the time he spends doing his hair-he would wait by the door, phone pressed to the ear as he talked with Enzo or someone from the head office in Italy and she would have to open and lock it. Even in the elevator he would just stand and stare at the closed doors until she got there to press the button. Press. The. Button. One time, she had been tempted to ask him if his hands were working, but those morning phone calls he had were usually so tense, she didn’t want to be at the receiving end of that stress. When they came back home from work, she was always the first one in, granted she was too tired at that time to squabble about being his doorman.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

This attention was new-normal to everyone else but new to them. Rafael DeLuca was used to having doors opened for him, clearly, so him being this considerate, it was weird and she kinda liked it.

“What?” he asked once they got to the elevator.

He didn’t look at her but he must have felt her eyes on him. He pressed the button and she had to hold back the laugh bursting to pop. The doors dinged open and they stepped in. She stood beside him and watched to see if he would-yes, again, he pressed the button!

The start of a giggle escaped her mouth and she quickly rolled her lips in to hold the rest back.

When he turned to her, she quickly looked to the side, pretending to read the notice pasted on the wall with a shake of her head. When the elevator dinged and opened to the basement parking, hand still in his, he led her out and they walked to where the car was parked. Relief washed over her again at the sight of the Jeep Cherokee. Gone was the flashy, noisy Ferrari that always made her duck every time she drove it out or back home. A time or two, she had wanted to stop it at the corner and push it the rest of the way. It was practically a moving billboard announcing she was shaking up with money. Or she’d become a kept woman to a married man going through a midlife crisis. She was surprised Mrs. King hadn’t come knocking over the noise that thing made, but then again, she probably had her ear against the wall trying to listen in for some gossip she could share during her cat lady meetings.

When she brought the subject up, he didn’t much care. Why would he? It wasn’t like nosey Mrs. King had his mother’s phone number on speed dial. So it was either get rid of the Ferrari or move out. The Ferrari was booted out and she was afraid the Cadillac Escalade would be the replacement but she got ahead of that and came up with a compromise. One that wouldn’t draw too much attention in her neighborhood and still meet Rafe’s luxurious high standards, and that was how the Ferrari got traded in for the slick black Jeep Cherokee with all black interior and leather seats. The heated seats and steering wheel were major pluses as the coming Winter had already begun to make its presence known and she was the one who did all-not most-all the driving. Winter in Boston was no joke. It wasn’t lost on her that Christmas was fast approaching too just she refused to let herself think about that. Too many unsettled strong emotions came with that thought.