Page 9 of When You're Home
He turned away from her again, silently fuming. How dare she act so nonchalant about the stupid arrangement she had set for them. Tori knew damn well what would make him happy. He was happy right now, in this moment. Here. With her.
He hated the current state of their relationship, or lack therefore. The friends-with-benefits arrangement she had proposed three years ago was still going strong, but it never felt like enough for him. He had tread so lightly for so long, playing the game by Tori’s rules, doing whatever he could to keep her in his orbit. But now that he was in his final semester of his MBA program, he felt the imminent threat of an expiration date overshadowing what he wanted most in life.
“Are you hungry?” Rhett asked as he finished dressing, his mind still racing. He paused at the edge of the bed and looked over at her. Her gaze was even and steady. She knew he was frustrated, but she was letting him have his moment.
Rhett exhaled sharply. He was home now. She was here with him. He needed to switch gears if they were going to make the most of their time together today.
“Yes, I’m starving.” She smiled up at him, catching his hand and bringing his knuckles to her lips. He knew she was trying to soothe him, to silently smooth over the jagged edges of frustration radiating off his body. “Let’s get Jersey Bagels on the way to the Ledges.”
“You got it, beautiful.” Rhett felt an ache in his stomach that didn’t have anything to do with hunger. It was the familiar yearning that tended to creep in when he was alone with her. What he wouldn’t give to climb into bed and stay there all day, holding her, making love to her, just being with her.
She said she wanted him to be happy. All he wanted was her.
Chapter 5
Tori
“I’lltakeaplainbagel,lightlytoasted,withbutter,”TorirattledoffherusualorderovertheplexiglassdivideratJerseyBagels,“andhe’llhavetwoasiagocheesebagels,toasted,withplaincreamcheese.”ShefeltRhett’shandfindthesmallofherbackassheturnedonherheelandheadedtothebeveragecooler.
“What’s your pleasure?” she asked, biting down on her bottom lip while reaching for her favorite unsweetened iced tea. His eyes landed on her mouth and stayed there. He wordlessly lowered a hand between their bodies, letting his fingers brush against the front of her workout leggings. Tori stilled, not leaning into his touch but not pulling away, either, curious to see just how far he would try to take it. A single finger caught in the waistband of the black fabric and pulled, dipping into her pants and grazing the top of her underwear. Tori cast her eyes up to meet his and bit down on her bottom lip harder to prevent her face from giving anything else away. Her insides were quickly turning to molten lava, and he was barely touching her. Rhett let his finger linger there, teasing her, promising her what they would be doing later that day. He stood as still as a statue, pretending like he wasn’t responsible for the wanton heat rising up inside her. She couldn’t get enough of the way he looked at her, like she was all he wanted.
“Orange juice,” he finally answered, taking another step and closing the space between them. His hip bones pressed into her midsection as he aligned their bodies, sandwiching his hand in place while that one single finger continued to tease. She could feel the air crackling between them. He bowed his head low but stopped a few inches from her lips, instead letting the tip of his nose brush against hers. His hot, minty breath washed over her.
Tori made no effort to pull away—she felt the same desire to be physically connected to him right now. It was like each point of physical contact was a pinprick that released a bit of the pressure building up between them. She wasn’t sure how much longer this charade was going to go on, how much longer it would be before he told her the real reason why he was home, but she was grateful for his reassuring touches.
“Rhett Wheeler!!” A booming voice from across the room jerked them both out of their trance. Tori’s head snapped up in attention as she looked for the source of the voice. It was coming from a guy about their age whose neck was as thick as her thighs. She didn’t recognize him, meaning he was either someone Rhett knew from Archway Prep or Easton University.
Tori held her breath as she turned her back to Rhett, leaving him alone to make small talk with his friend. She grabbed his bottle of orange juice and headed to the end of the counter to pay. She smiled at the girl behind the register as she set down the bottles. Their bagels were already rolled up and sealed in a brown bag.
“Three bagels and these,” she confirmed, unzipping her wristlet to fish out her card.
“That’ll be $12.85,” the cashier replied, accepting the card and inserting it into the reader.
“So what’s going on with you now, man?” Tori overheard the meathead ask Rhett. She kept her ears perked, desperate for clues that would tell her if this guy was from school. Desperate, really, to know if he knew Chandler.
“Just finishing up my MBA at Easton. I graduate in May,” he replied. She exhaled a sigh of relief. This guy wasn’t from Easton, which meant he didn’t know Rhett had a girlfriend. It didn't matter whether he had seen any of their drink cooler shenanigans. They were safe.
“Hey, I’ve gotta go, but it was good running into you.” Rhett slapped his friend on the shoulder before walking away. He reached the checkout counter in three strides, right as she collected her debit card and grabbed their food.
“Let’s go,” he instructed, his voice an octave lower than normal. He placed his hand on her elbow as he guided her toward the exit. Did he think that was a close call, too?
He pushed the bagel shop door open and held it for her while pulling out his phone with his other hand. They walked to his car in silence. Tori felt her phone vibrate against her thigh as she opened the passenger door. She climbed into the bucket seat and reached for her seatbelt. The entire car shifted when Rhett lowered himself into his seat.
It was hard to believe he still drove this tiny thing after all these years. His parents had gifted him a new Audi for his sixteenth birthday. That car lasted six months before Rhett and his best friend, Jake, totaled it on Archway’s campus. Rhett wasn’t even supposed to be out that night, and he and Tori had been drinking a little before Jake called him for a ride. But Jake was in trouble, desperate really, and Rhett couldn’t not go to him. He made it to campus okay, but things went sideways when they tried to drive home. They were both hospitalized. Rhett had been hurt worse than Jake. The whole thing was a mess, and the boys should have gotten into more trouble than they did, but both their families had enough money and influence to make the situation go away. There was no legal trouble in the end, but there were still consequences.
Rhett’s dad refused to buy him another car. It was impossible for sixteen-year-old Rhett not to have access to a vehicle after experiencing that level of freedom for half a year. He took matters into his own hands and started working as a dishwasher at Clinton's Family Restaurant the week after the accident. Tori was hired as a server a few weeks later. By his seventeenth birthday, he had saved up enough cash to purchase a 1994 Honda Prelude that her dad promised to help him get up and running. They spent months working on the car together, mostly because Rhett had to go paycheck to paycheck to save enough for all the parts they needed.
He could have traded the Prelude in for a newer car by now, especially because he had access to his trust fund and was already working part time for his granddad’s company, but he just kept dumping money into the Prelude. She knew that working on the car with her dad gave him an excuse to come home to Hampton more often than necessary. The whole situation was very on-brand for Everhett Wheeler. He held onto things for as long as possible.He had never been good at letting go.
Tori placed both drinks in the cup holders before pulling out her phone. A notification at the top of the screen alerted her to the $12.85 he had just sent to her account.
“You know I can afford to buy bagels,” she snapped at him, annoyed but also impressed that he was attentive enough to know the total without having to ask.
Rhett stuck the key into the ignition and checked his mirrors as he put the car in reverse. “Nuh-uh.” He shook his head. “No way. We’re not going there, beautiful. You get to make a lot of rules for us, and I don’t say a word about them.”
Tori snickered.
“Well, not usually, anyways,” he amended. “I play by your rules, and I rarely question you. This is a hard line for me, though. We’re not going to argue about money this weekend,” he declared with finality. “Besides,” he added, softer. “I know you’re missing out on a lot of tips today because of me.”
