Page 26 of Rex's Honor
Louisa gasped.
“I didn’t mean it that way.” But she really had. Her frustration level was at the breaking point. One morecutest couplecomment, and she’d blow up like the Fourth of July.
“Are you sure about that?” Rex’s voice startled her, making her jump.
She looked over her shoulder. He leaned against the doorjamb sporting a pink button-down shirt, black slacks, and a pair of dark boat shoes. He’d always been the best dressed person in any room. Not to mention the hottest. Girls drooled over him, constantly trying to get him to notice them, but during all the years they dated, he never once turned his head.
He was a good boyfriend that way.
Actually, in every way.
“There he is.” His mother patted the chair next to her. “Judy poured a nice bottle of red. I can’t have any, but if I recall correctly, you had your father’s taste for wine.”
“I still do.” Rex sauntered across the room, eyeing her with a devilish twinkle in his eye like the night he’d taken her to a fancy restaurant and then made love to her on the beach, listening the waves crash against the sand.
She hated that look. It always meant he was up to no good.
“I also still hate your hair like this.” He snagged the clip holding her hair up before tugging at her ponytail.
“Ouch.” She balked, but he’d always been good at taking her hair out of an updo without pulling the strands out. “I can’t believe you just did that. It took an hour for me to get the right look, and how dare you be so bullish as to take it down.”
He tossed her accessories on the hutch on the other side of the room. “You knew I would, which is why you wore your hair that way.”
Louisa scowled. “Children. Stop your bickering.”
“I wore it that way because I don’t like eating my hair,” she said, trying to diffuse the situation. The last thing she wanted to do was upset his mother, though that was his doing, not hers.
He looped his arm over her chair, leaning in, his hot breath warming her skin. “You just wanted my fingers in it again,” he whispered, but not soft enough because his mother’s frown turned to a smile wider than the state of Texas.
He took his seat, keeping that stupid grin on his face.
When Louisa left the table, Tilly was going to lay into Rex. It was one thing to date for the benefit of his mother, but it was entirely another thing to turn it into a display at the dinner table.
“Stop it,” she said behind gritted teeth, kicking him under the table.
He took that as it was okay to pat her thigh.
She glared at him with a smile. “What’s for dinner tonight?” she asked, turning her attention to his mother.
“I had the cook make Rex’s favorite.” Louisa rang the bell on the table. A little old-fashioned, but the staff didn’t seem to mind. Besides, Louisa treated everyone with kindness and respect. She not only paid well and gave everyone generous bonuses and lots of time off, but she made them part of the family.
“Oh, I love blackened salmon,” his father said, raising his glass. “I’d like to make a toast.”
This should be rich.
She held her wine up, waiting to down it in one gulp.
“To family.” He lifted his arm higher.
“That’s it?” Louisa asked.
“I think that says it all,” Gerry said.
“I’ll drink to that.” She didn’t bother to clink with anyone. The tart red liquid burned as it flowed from her throat to her stomach. She wasn’t even sure if she actually swallowed, much less tasted anything. “I’m ready for another.”
Everyone at the table stared at her with a perfectly arched brow.
Thankfully, Rex filled her glass, though not as high as she would have liked, but really, she needed to slow down and get a grip. It was all just fake dating. She and Rex were over. They had one night to say their official goodbye. It wasn’t anything other than great sex. He’d made that perfectly clear.
