Page 62 of Four Dates and A Forever
“If I remember correctly, when it comes to the bedroom, you’re the chatty one. In fact, you liked to call me babe. Actually, you’d scream ‘Oh babe.’ ‘Yes, babe.’ ‘Harder, babe—’”
She smothered his mouth with her hands. “I did not.”
“Number two. Honesty. Remember?” He kissed the inside of her palm and when she moved to pull away, he took her hand in his. “And I like it when you call me babe.”
She liked it too. She also liked how his eyes would go soft when she called him that—soft like moon-eyes. “Okay, but only in the bedroom. I don’t want anyone else to know about us.”
“Does that make me your dirty little secret?”
“We’re each other’s secret. The last thing I want is to answer more questions about relationships ending.” She went serious. “I want this thing between us to be fun and freeing and I can’t do that if, when this ends, a line of people will want all the juicy details. I went through that once, I don’t want a replay.”
“I’d never do anything to hurt you, including sharing private moments between us,” he said softly. “However, if we’re being honest, I need to tell you that my brothers already know.”
She groaned. “How?”
A boyish grin spread across his face. “I may or may not have let our weekend slip years ago, so when my brother Gage found out we were living together, he put two and two together. By now I’m sure it’s blown through my entire family tree.”
“We’re not living together. We’re sharing space. And yourwholefamily?”
“Probably even the bad apples. It’s the downside of having a big family.”
“Are there upsides?” she found herself asking.
His smile said it all. It was bright and nostalgic and carried an emotion she’d never known. Being an only child had its perks but mainly it just left her feeling lonely. When her dad walked out, her mom buried herself in work, leaving Harriet to raise Elsie. And she loved her grandmother fiercely, but Harriet couldn’t be all things all the time.
“More than I can count. Like pointing out when you’re too dumb to acknowledge what’s right in front of you.”
Note to self: avoid Rhett’s family at all costs. If their BS meters were that attuned, she didn’t want to be anywhere near them. Because then they’d see that, no matter how casual she was playing this, Elsiewascrushing hard. And she needed to know upfront how he felt about her.
“What’s right in front of you?”
“You.” He leaned in and ran his lips over the outer shell of her ear. “I like you, Red.” He gave a little nip to her lobe. “I liked you back then and I like you now. And I’m okay with keeping things between us quiet so long as there’s anus.”
A thrill raced through her, sparking a chain reaction of warm fuzzies and something more complicated that she wasn’t willing to dissect at the moment. Something that could jeopardize their no-strings agreement.
“I like you too.”A lot. “Which brings me to the fifth and final rule. No sleepovers. After we, well you know, then we go to our respective beds.”
He looked around the room as if cataloguing every flat surface, wall, and nook that was still in play and her toes curled. “Does that eliminate morning sex?”
She quivered at the thought. Oh, how she enjoyed morning sex. It was lazy and languid and, with Rhett, it was a religious experience.
“You can climb into bed with me in the morning, but once we’re done there’s no lingering.”
He trailed a finger down her neck to the start of her cleavage. “You like it when I linger. And, this being an equal opportunity situation, what if I wantyouto climb intomybed?”
Her heart sank and every reason that this was a problem started to bubble to the surface. “I won’t ever go in that bed again,” she whispered, humiliation igniting in her belly. “He brought other women here, in our bed, and I just can’t—”
Rhett brushed a gentle kiss over her lips. “Your bed it is.”
That was it. No questions asked, no further explanation needed. Just a simple acknowledgement of how bad Axel’s betrayal had been.
“Thank you.”
He tipped her chin. “He’s an idiot, Els. He was lucky to have you and a fool to lose you.”
Her heart shifted in her chest. Logically she knew this, knew that it wasn’t her fault. But sometimes the betrayal went so deep it was hard to look in the mirror and not question her part in what had transpired over the past few years. Wonder why she was so easy to walk away from. To lie to and hide things from. Which was why her last rule was the most important.
“There’s one more thing.”
