Chapter 7 Rhett
seven
Rhett
“Charlotte, you look even more beautiful than I remember.” The scowl she throws my way would make a lesser man back down, but not me. I’m here to win the woman of my dreams back. “I missed you.” I reach for her hand, then pull back when I see her flinch just like a skittish horse.
“I don’t have all day for your bull shit, Rhett.
Speak your peace so we can both get back to living our lives apart.
” The sadness in her eyes doesn’t match the bite of her words, and I wonder how deeply I hurt her by leaving her without waking her up and either taking her with me or at least telling her I’d return.
“I fucked up. I wish I could make all the pain from the last four weeks go away, but I can’t.”
“Who said I’m in pain? If you remember correctly, I was the one who only wanted one night with you.
” I begin to see the cracks in her tough girl act by the way her shoulders drop, making me want to wrap my arms around her and tell her I’ll never leave her again.
But I don’t have the right, at least not yet.
“I know, but I made a promise to you that night.” I pause, waiting for the confusion to clear from her eyes, but it never does.
“I promised to teach you how to ride a horse. I came to see you today to settle that promise.” It’s not much to cling onto, but I hope it’s enough for her wounded pride to accept and let me spend more time with her.
“Really, Rhett. Don’t you think that’s a waste of time? Besides, maybe I’ve moved on and my new boyfriend won’t appreciate my old fuck buddy teaching me how to ride.” She crosses her arms over her chest and juts her chin in the air—my beautiful, stubborn cowgirl.
The pain in her voice hits me right in the heart, but at least there's passion behind her words and not indifference. I can work with even a small amount of emotion.
“Come on. Let me do this for you.”
Reluctantly, she agrees. Uncrossing her arms, she follows close behind as I lead her to my truck, the Mountain Man Challenge long forgotten, not that it was ever my main focus.
We ride in silence to my ranch. It isn’t until we reach the main road leading to my house that she perks up, her eyes taking in all the scenery around her.
When we pull in front of my house, she finally speaks.
“You have a beautiful home.” She sighs, and I want to tell her it’s all hers—everything I have is hers for the taking.
“Thank you.” Proceeding with caution, I jump out of my truck, jog around to her side, and open the door for her.
“This way.” I press my luck and take her hand, lacing my fingers with hers.
She doesn’t pull away, so I take it as a small victory as I lead her to the barn where my horses are waiting for us.
“This is Jilly Bean." I pet the horse's nose in the stall in front of us. “And that guy over there is Brutus.” I nod toward the next stall. “They are the reason I was in Cherry Blossom Falls that night. I was supposed to pick them up then, but the owner had a family emergency and postponed the pickup until the next morning. He sent me a text early that next morning saying he only had a small window of time when he was available for me to pick up the horses. I didn’t want to wake you up since we had been up most of the night.” She blushes at my words as if she’s remembering why we were up all night. “I thought I would get back to the hotel before you woke up. But when I got back, you were gone. I searched for you for four weeks, going back to Cherry Blossom Falls every chance I had to look for you, but no one would tell me where you were, and I didn’t know your last name or your phone number.”
“How did you find me then?”
“After four weeks of dead ends, Delores finally took pity on me and told me you’d been in my hometown this whole time.” I lift her hand to my lips and kiss it. “I think it was fate.”
Charlotte shakes her head, and my heart sinks. I’m too late--she can’t forgive me. “It wasn’t fate, it was Grandma Betty Sue.” She drops my hand and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling my lips down to hers for a kiss.
“I love you, Rhett.” She whispers against my lips.
“I love you, too, Charlotte.” I scoop her up into my arms and carry her to my house, where I spend the rest of the day showing her how much I missed her and that I will never let her go.