Chapter 55

I continued to keep my distance from Rafe, basically out of self-preservation. He was unsure around me now, which made it easy to stay away. I gave him space. No matter what, I didn’t want him to feel so uncomfortable in my company that I jeopardized his relationship with Serge.

I also didn’t want to consider what my best friend had theorized, but the thing was, I had thought about it in the past. And now, there was the kiss. Watching this new, uncertain Rafe, who no longer made lame “woman” jokes and was mostly tongue-tied in my presence, had me at a loss. I figured I’d enduredenough pain and trauma in my life to not have to deal with this, too.

But damn it, my conscience kept bugging me to help Rafe, if only because I knew how difficult it was to come out of the closet, even in this brave new world. And here he was, a man heading toward forty and holding a highly visible position in town. Rafe was deathly afraid of repercussions, if he went public,and I understood his fear. Crap.