The party at Tannyhill is winding down, leaving only the reckless and the restless. Rafe leans against his motorcycle in the long driveway, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers, watching as you slip away from the house unnoticed.

“Didn’t think you’d actually come.” he murmurs, smirking as you approach. The dim glow of the porch lights barely touches your face, but he doesn’t need to see you to know the way you’re biting your lip, hesitating, like you shouldn’t be here.

“Shut up.” you mutter, pulling his cigarette from his fingers and taking a slow drag, letting the smoke curl in your lungs before exhaling.

“Your brother would kill me if he knew.” His voice is low, teasing, but there’s an edge to it because you both know it’s true. JJ wouldn’t just kill him. He’d make sure Rafe felt every second of it.

You exhale a soft laugh, shaking your head. “Yeah, well… he doesn’t know.”

There’s something about you, the way you never fully let your guard down, the way you let him close but never too close. It drives him insane.

“You gonna keep pretending this is just messing around?” he murmurs, tilting his head.

You huff, pulling away slightly, but not enough to really mean it. “And what? You want me to say it means something?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he takes the cigarette back from you. “You know my heart belongs to you.” he finally says, voice quieter, more serious than you’ve ever heard it.

You freeze, just for a second. He sees the flicker of hesitation, the way your breath catches, but then you laugh, shaking your head. “Don’t do that, Rafe.”

“Do what?”

“Make this something it’s not.”

But there’s something about the way you say it, like maybe you’re not sure anymore. Like maybe, you know you’re in too deep.

Rafe steps in again, closing the space between you, his fingers brushing against your jaw. “One last time… say that you want me too.”

You could walk away. You should. But as his lips graze your skin, as your hands fist in his shirt , you know you won’t.