Page 3 of When You're Home
Rhett groaned in protest but reached over on the bedside table to give her what she wanted. He tossed her the phone without unlocking the screen. She knew his passcode by heart.
“I feel like I should be insulted that you’d rather play on my phone than let me play with you,” he teased. He kept his tone light, but he was curious. He still didn’t understand what she was doing.
“Oh, we’ll be resuming the regularly scheduled programming momentarily,” she informed him with a salacious smile. “But I just had an idea about how we could make this work, and I need to set it up now before you can fight me on it.” She stared intently at his phone for a minute before continuing. “You, Everhett Wheeler, are about to venture into the world of online dating.”
“What?” he groaned. It was his turn to push up off the sheets and join her at the head of the bed. “What the hell, Tori? I don’t want to do any of that swipe right shit.” He made a half-assed attempt at reaching over and grabbing his phone from her hand, but she swatted him away.
“No worries. You don’t have to do a thing. I’ll set it all up for you. We both know I can probably make you sound better anyways.” She stuck her tongue out playfully. Rhett shifted closer and pressed his mouth against hers. She squealed in surprise from the contact but pulled away quickly to focus on her task.
“Tori, I’m serious. I don’t think I want to do this.”
“Well, do you want to dothis?” she asked him pointedly.
He knew what “this” meant. He nodded without missing a beat.
“Then you need to date other people. I feel like this could be the best of both worlds, Rhett. I don’t want to be your girlfriend or be in a relationship with you,” she explained.
“Ouch.”
“No, not ouch. There’s no point in being in a relationship with an expiration date. I won’t do it. This wouldn’t have worked a few years ago, but we’re older now. I think we can handle hooking up without getting too attached. Here’s the deal: we can be together when you’re home if you find someone else to be with when you’re at school.”
A few beats passed as he processed her proposal. He didn’t like anything about the idea except for the fact that it meant he got to keep sleeping with her.
“Tori, this is ridiculous,” he protested. He needed to find a flaw in her plan. “You can’t really expect me to try to date someone else then come home and be with you? There’s got to be an easier way.”
“Fine,” she clipped. “If you think this is ridiculous and you don’t want to do it, then we aren’t doing this.” He knew that tone. She was digging her heels in now. Any hope for an alternative plan had officially vanished.
“Tori,” he half-heartedly protested again, but he already knew he was going to follow her lead. She had given him an opening. Granted, it was a paper-thin pseudo-opening that came with strings attached, but it was still an opening. It was more than she had given him in the last two and a half years, and he wanted her any way he could have her.
“Fine,” he relented.
“Fine?”
“Yeah, fine. I accept your ridiculous terms. I’ll find someone to date, or hell, I’ll find lots of people to date, if it means we can be together whenever I’m home.”
“You have to follow through, Rhett.” Her words were solemn, the look in her eyes pleading for him to take her seriously. Her sincerity surprised him. He wondered if maybe she was worried about more than just him getting attached if they kept hooking up when he was in Hampton.
“I will, I promise.I wouldn’t lie to you, beautiful. You know that.”
“Then you’ve got yourself a deal, Wheeler.” She smirked, her expression playful once again.
“Hey, just a heads-up. I’ve got a lot of trips home planned for the rest of this semester.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
Rhett couldn’t believe this was happening. Leave it to Tori to shock the shit out of him. He hadn’t expected this turn of events, but he wasn’t mad about it, either. Well, maybe he was a little mad about having to date someone else, but he could deal with that later. He was already trying to think through his schedule and figure out when he could come home next.Before his thoughts could wander too far, another idea presented itself in his mind. The idea quickly blossomed into a desire that took root in the deepest part of his soul. He didn’t know if he could even suggest it without revealing his truth, but he knew he had to try.
“Hey, I’ve got my own idea for your consideration,” he proposed, reaching over to twirl a strand of her hair. She was still typing on his phone, her nose scrunched up slightly as she peered at the small screen.
“What’s that?” she asked without looking up from the device.
“Let’s both get tested before we’re together again so we don’t have to use condoms.”
Tori looked up from the small screen, bewilderment etched on her face. Rhett held his breath as she processed his suggestion. He knew what he was asking, but he didn’t care if she saw through him to the heart of his request. If he could only have her sometimes and on her terms, he wanted to be as close to her as possible. He wanted as much of her as she was willing to give. After another breath, her whole face illuminated with a smile.
“Oh, you definitely have yourself a deal.”
Hell. Yes.
