The Secret Sister Read Online Free PDF

passed out. She’d had no idea why the other girls talked as if he was so good in bed. She hadn’t been impressed. But she could hardly blame him for the disappointment she’d experienced. She’d offered herself up to be used; it wasn’t as though he’d come on to her .
    â€œIt has nothing to do with your...performance. I deserved what I got.”
    He winced.
    â€œIt wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d had any clue about sex,” she clarified, “but you know how the movies romanticize everything. My expectations were too high, that’s all.”
    â€œWait a second.” He stepped closer, close enough that she could smell his cologne. “Are you serious?” he whispered. “That was your first time?”
    â€œWe’re talking about the distant past,” she said. “None of it matters anymore.”
    He raked his fingers through his hair. “I honestly don’t remember you telling me you were a virgin.”
    Why were they even discussing this? “Because I didn’t ,” she said, her voice as hushed as his. “I was too busy trying to act experienced—like I was eighteen. Anyway, you were so drunk I’m surprised you remembered me at all. I was actually hoping you wouldn’t.”
    â€œWell, shit,” he said. “Now I wish you didn’t remember me, either. I don’t want to be the guy who ruined your first time. No wonder you won’t go out with me.”
    â€œ I ruined my first time. I was hoping for too much.”
    â€œSomehow that only makes it worse,” he said dryly.
    The toilet flushed, and she sent him a warning look. “Keith’s coming back.”
    â€œAm I doing something wrong?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t want him badgering me about getting out and dating again. I’m not interested in...in a relationship,” she said, and went back to inspecting the kitchen.
    After that, Rafe seemed pensive, but he waited patiently for her to finish roaming through the house.
    â€œThis isn’t too bad,” she told Keith when she returned to the living room where he’d been chatting with Rafe. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.” There’d be real peace here and not the memories she’d experience in her mother’s home. She needed a “cave” to crawl into, a neutral place to call her own. Even better if that place had the positive associations of Smuggler’s Cove.
    â€œMaisey, come on,” Keith said. “You can’t be serious.”
    â€œI’m absolutely serious. I could throw a few rugs on the floor, use the bar near the kitchen window to eat and put a mattress and a chest of drawers in the bedroom. I won’t need much to get by.”
    Keith rolled his eyes. “Just come home and get it over with. You won’t last two weeks here. Why would you want to be by yourself, anyway, after everything you’ve been through? You were by yourself in New York. If that’s what you wanted, you could’ve stayed there.”
    She preferred not to include Rafe in anything too personal, but Keith didn’t seem to have the same reservations. “This is different from the city. I can hear the sea, which reminds me of all the times I played here as a child. And, despite the hurricane damage, Smuggler’s Cove seems...safe in a way no other place does.” She turned to Rafe. “Mr. Romero, would you mind if I moved in? I could fix it up to the best of my ability until you’re ready to start on it. And then I could relocate to a different unit.”
    â€œI’m sure we can work something out,” he said, but his words were clipped and he was no longer smiling.
    â€œSee?” She looked at Keith. “Mr....”
    â€œAt least call me Rafe,” he broke in.
    â€œOkay.” Thanks to the humidity, she was beginning to perspire. She pulled her hair up to get it off her neck. “Rafe