Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER TWELVE happy first day of work
❊❊❊
RAFE AND I exchanged a quick glance before both looking back at Sarah, her jaw falling almost to the floor.
"Rafe, what the fuck? Since when— my God!" she panicked, shielding her eyes.
"Sarah, it's not like that."
"Yes it is!" she squealed in disgust.
"No. No. Sarah, shut up." he sprung out of bed, allowing me to cover myself with the comforter.
"Why is she in your bed? Her, of all people?"
"I'm still here, y'know."
"Not the time." Rafe turned back to face me, his eyes widening as a sign for me to stay quiet.
"Listen, you didn't see anything, alright?" he resumed talking to Sarah.
"No, I freaking saw you macking it with a Pogue!"
"Sarah, she just spent the night. We don't have anyone working on the Druthers, remember? Well, she took the job." he placed his hands on their shoulders, causing her to take her hands away from her face.
"Since when did that job entail sleeping in your bed?"
Rafe's eyes met mine again, the eye contact making me understand just what he was asking. He obviously needed to tell his sister about my mom, and as long as it cleared both of our names, I was okay with it.
I nodded before he moved his focus back to the blonde girl, taking his hands off of her shoulders.
"Her mom's sick. She had to be moved up to Charleston, so she didn't have a safe place to stay. I was planning on telling Dad first, but here you are."
I watched Sarah's expression change immediately, noticing her regret for everything she had said before. Her eyes darted between me and her brother, still struggling to understand the length of the situation.
"I think I should leave."
"You think?" Rafe chuckled, shutting the door behind her.
My hands dropped the comforter I had wrapped around me, running them through my hair. I knew it was a risky move taking the job, but I had forgotten just how much the Cameron's disliked Pogues.
I kept my thoughts set on my mom, reassuring myself I had only been doing this for her, and no other reason. However dreadful the coming days would be, I had to stay strong for her- just like she did for me.
"Earth to Camille." his voice startled me, making my body jump. "Shit, didn't mean to scare you."
"Yeah, well, you did. I swear you're gonna be the death of me one day." I laughed at the last sentence, gathering my hair over my shoulder.
His blue eyes stared at me, analysing my movements. The skin on his cheeks gained a light rose hue, curving upwards into a short smirk. Suddenly, he angled his head downwards, tearing his focus away sharply. It looked as if something had bothered him, making me shift back into the headboard of his bed.
"Um, Ward probably still needs to talk to you." I attempted to save myself from the awkward situation.
"Yeah, I should probably—" he pointed to the bedroom door.
"Yeah."
I took a deep breath once the boy left, relieved to finally be alone. My head rested against the dark oak bed frame, unable to process what had happened in the brief span of me being awake.
After a long while of staring aimlessly at the ceiling, there was still no sign of Rafe. I was getting bored of simply sitting on the bed, so I got up in an attempt to look through the room.
I wasn't planning on going entirely through his stuff, still keeping my morals in check, but I wanted to find out more about him. If I was to sleep in his bed for the next few nights, the least I could do was get to know him.
My eyes travelled around the room, glueing to the sight of a novel on the top of his bedside table. I took the book into my hand, inspecting the front cover. I used to read a lot as a child, so the sight of any book made my heart race.
'Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare' was printed on the paperback cover of the book.
Never knew Rafe Cameron was a sucker for classic literature; I'd clearly learnt something new about him already.
I let my fingertips flick through the soft pages, noticing annotations in the margins of the text. The analysis of the book surprised me, making me aware of how smart Rafe actually was- seeing his private education pay off.
"Guess who just got you a job?" his voice came from behind me, my vision turning dark as his palms covered my eyes.
"Rafe!" I yelled in shock, dropping the book back onto the table.
"That'll teach you to not go through my stuff."
"You ever gonna stop scaring me?"
"Never. Your reaction is priceless every time."
"Great. Now, take your hands off my eyes."
"Hmm." I felt his face inch closer to my ear. "Gonna need a bit more convincing."
The feeling of his whisper travelled down my neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps. My neck was always a weak spot of mine, his breathing not making it any easier to deal with
"Rafe."
"Mhmm." he hummed melodically.
"Let go."
"What's the magic word?" the whisper sounded again, causing me to gain progressively less composure.
"Please, Rafe."
"What, am I making you nervous?"
My knees weakened at his words, realising that my lack of self control had only made him tease me more. I didn't know what had stepped into him, but worse, I didn't know why I wasn't completely repulsed by his actions.
He moved his left hand so that it was covering both of my eyes, tracing his free fingertips around the edge of my ear. His finger took the hair from the side of my face, moving it behind my ear so that more of my skin was exposed.
The imprint of his shirtless chest pressed against my back, my heart beat speeding up rapidly. His face moved towards the crook of my neck, making me melt at the feeling of his breaths on my skin.
"Rafe, stop." I exhaled, feeling my lower stomach start to tighten.
"You don't want me to."
He was right. No matter how wrong it was, I didn't want him to stop. However sinful his touch was, I was still hooked on it. His breath felt like a drug on my skin, causing me to lose all sense of focus.
I felt his hand lift away from my eyes, the rest of his body also retreating. My chest pumped up and down as I tried to regain my breathing, turning to face Rafe with a look of confusion.
"I've had my fun with you for now" he smirked. "Get changed, my dad wants to see you about the boat."
"What?" I questioned breathlessly.
"Happy first day of work, Camille. Better get used to how things go around here."
