Chapter 32
RHETT
A few hours after we arrive home from my birthday dinner, I’m in Noah’s studio. I glance around and scrub a hand over my bearded cheek. The night I first saw the love of my life again, I’d lost my motherfucking shit, rage and despair and grief taking the wheel as I crashed hard.
It’s taking a very long time to repair the damage I did, but it’ll be worth it.
She’s worth it. I’ve found solace in making everything just right for her again.
In the first hours and days after our arrival home, I had no idea if or when Noah would emerge from the darkness, and fixing her studio was something tangible I could do.
I haven’t decided when I’ll show it to her, because don’t know if she’s ready or what her response will be.
Squatting down, I run my fingers over the rough spot in the hardwood that got damaged when I threw one thing after another to the floor.
I’ve sanded down the gouge I made and repaired it as best I can for now.
Maybe someday I’ll replace the section that took the worst of my temper.
For now, it’ll be an ever-present reminder of everything I almost let slip through my fingers. And maybe that’s a good thing to have.
I lift my gaze to the wall. Replacing the vintage guitars I’d destroyed that night had cost a pretty penny.
But losing her? That would have cost me my sanity.
Letting her go never should have been an option.
I love her more now than I did even then.
My heart expands in my chest. She feels the same.
I know it. The truth is hovering in the air around us, waiting for the day when we can express it in words as well as our actions.
Seeing her in this house, in my space, and how well she still fits into my life, well, it’s everything. I will probably always ache for the years we lost, but none of that matters if I have her in my arms. Safe. Cherished.
Rubbing a hand over my tired face, I close my eyes and let this bit of happiness wash over me, because I still have work to do. Removing Bradley from Noah’s life—avenging her and protecting her from any further hurt—will be happening soon.
With a heaved breath, I open my eyes and jolt with awareness.
The other half of my heart stands absolutely still in the doorway.
The sight of her takes my fucking breath away.
She wears nothing but one of my T-shirts, and I greedily drink her in from bare feet to the confusion etching lines in her forehead.
“Rhett? What—? What’s this?” she breathes out, her stunned gaze locked on me.
My mouth hitches up on one side as I stand and brush my hands over jean-clad thighs.
I’m not certain what I should say or that anything is necessary.
She slowly steps into the room, lips parting gently as she takes it in.
Her hands reverently touch the sound equipment panel, then the mic, eyes drifting to the framed photos of her on stage singing her heart out and pouring her soul into the music.
Her gaze lingers on a framed setlist from her first gig—the same one I’d sent crashing to the floor in my anguish after telling her to go back to LA.
Never should have done that. My chest tightens as she inspects a chip in the console where I’d slammed a gorgeous vintage guitar, and she turns her head to peer at me.
“You know, Sage and I wondered the other day what was locked up in here. This is the last thing I expected.” Her hand shakes as she brings it to her face, fingers rubbing over her lips as she sighs.
I slowly exhale, steadying myself. My tongue slips out to dampen my lips. “I wanted it to be perfect for you. If you ever returned to me.”
She swallows. “Did you think I would?”
I incline my head, my gaze holding hers. Those beautiful eyes are the only whiskey I ever want to drown in again. “I hoped.”
Her lips tremble a bit, but a smile breaks free as she nods, planting herself on the console to the side of all the complicated switches and dials.
“Maybe it’s time we talk about that, Rhett.
” The arch of her brows calls to me, and I rest my hand on the back of the chair, spinning it around before taking a seat.
I cross my arms over my chest, watching her.
Teeth scrape over a plush lip, then burrow in.
With a slight smirk, I roll the chair closer, placing myself between bare legs.
There’s a hitch in her breath as my fingertips skim from ankles to calves.
“I hoped you’d be back because despite the miles between us, I never stopped loving you.
” I trace the backs of her knees, then upward, reveling in the softness of her skin, her warmth.
She blinks rapidly, chest dipping with her next exhale.
“I spent so many nights wondering if chasing the career I wanted would be worth it, only to realize I’d left the bigger, more important part of my dream behind.
” Squeezing her eyes shut for a few seconds, she finally nods, almost as if reassuring herself, then finds me again.
“But as you know, things didn’t go quite as planned, and I had to figure out how to get myself clear of it.
” Her voice is rough. “I was always going to come back.”
At those words, relief floods through me, and I drag in a breath, letting my hands roam over silky thighs, dip under the hem of my shirt, and find her completely bare. Fuuuck. I grasp her hips, allowing my fingers to sink in. I’m never letting go again.
The reminder of the circumstances that kept her from coming home, and the man I mean to make pay for hurting her, will only focus my energy in a direction it doesn’t need to go tonight. I simply nod. “I was waiting for you.”
“I wasn’t certain you would be.” Her gaze briefly drops to the floor between us. “Wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d decided to move on.”
Fuck. I hate what this might do to her, but I refuse to lie.
“I tried. Thought it might help.” At the anguish in her eyes, words catch in my throat, and I scrub a hand through my hair.
“There’s no moving on from you, Noah. Not for me.
” I shake my head. “It didn’t take me long to figure out I’d never get over you. ”
I return my gaze to hers, then glance around the room.
“This house? It’s all I had left of you.
” My heart thrums in my chest, anxious to tell her everything.
Her stomach dips as I run my hand over it, then trail a path that has my thumbs skimming along the underside of her breasts.
“Being here—making it the home you wanted—gave me hope that one day we might have the life we’d dreamed about. ”
Her smile is tremulous as she stares into my eyes. “Do you still want that with me?”
Jesus Christ, woman. “Yes. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.” I heave out a sigh. “What would you have done if I had found someone new?”
She slowly shakes her head, leaning into my touch as I cup the swell of one breast and flick my thumb over a taut nipple with the other, resulting in a whimpering gasp falling from her lips.
“Honestly?” She draws in a breath. “It would’ve killed me.
But I would have accepted it because your happiness and well-being is all that ever mattered to me.
I know that was hard to see.” She bites down on her lip, moaning a bit as I pinch her nipple between thumb and finger.
“I made the wrong decision. And now everything is a mess.”
I clear my throat, refusing to talk about the bastard who tried to dim my starlet’s light. “We’ll figure it out, Noah. Together. Like we were always meant to be. Do you still want me?”
She laughs, tears springing to her eyes and making them shine.
“That’s a stupid question, Rhett Rivers.
I want you now more than ever. Need you more than air.
” Her face crumples. “But can you forgive me for doing this to us?” Chest quaking with emotion, she leans in and runs her fingers along my jaw.
I’m off that seat in no time flat, catching her face between my hands as I tip it up to mine. With a hungry growl, I lower my lips to hers. “You’re embedded inside me. You’ll always be there.”
“My heart led me back to you.” Her voice is husky as she pushes her hands into my hair and tugs me closer. Need pulses through my veins as our lips meet. I savor her taste, devouring every tiny noise.
Desperation to make up for lost time hits like a lightning strike.
I won’t ever get enough. I bend her backward, lips skimming down her throat, seeking out the flutter of her pulse, nipping, sucking.
The other night, I’d been careful. Gentle.
But now, memories of the way we used to be crash over me.
Her thighs wrap around my hips, and she lets out a needy moan.
My fingers skate along the back of her thigh, until I’ve got a handful of her ass.
I groan, squeezing the firm flesh as I bury my face against her neck, leaving sucking, wet kisses there.
Her nimble hands undo my buckle and unfasten my jeans as her back arches.
The rip of my zipper coming down fills the room, and she shoves my pants over my hips.
Between us, my cock bobs heavily, and as I press her back on the console, she braces herself on one elbow.
Gripping my erection with the other hand, she strokes me as she nips at my lips, biting, teasing, and making me groan with untethered desire.
“You want it right here?”
She smirks, hooking her legs beneath my ass and dragging me closer as I pull my shirt over her head, baring her to me.
Fuck. I exhale hard, my heart ramming around in my chest. She brings my cock to her entrance, rubbing it through her arousal.
Looking down at us, the sight of what she’s doing nearly makes me come on the spot.
She knows what she does to me. There’s a glint of naughtiness in her eyes as she torments me with how close I am to being engulfed inside her sweet, sweet heat.
Blood rages through my veins. I throb everywhere, the need to be inside her again so overwhelming, I throw my head back with a growl of anticipation.
Noah pants through parted lips, rubbing the head of my leaking cock up and down over her clit.
Her breasts bounce with each breath, nipples straining toward me.
I bend, laving my tongue over one, circling the pebbled skin until she whimpers and shakes.
She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, this girl of mine coming undone on top of the fancy fucking equipment I bought for her.
“You’re killin’ me, Starlet.”
On a sexy moan, she shoots me a wicked smile, grasping my neck.
She claims my lips with hers as she notches my cock at her entrance and uses her legs to pull me close.
I sink deep, groaning at the way her pussy contracts around me.
Licking inside her mouth, I coax her into a dizzying battle—one where there are no losers.
“Oh god,” Noah gasps as I ease almost all the way out of her, only to slide right back in.
Where I fuckin’ belong. With a grunt of satisfaction, I cradle her head with one hand and grasp her hip with the other.
Pleasure races down my spine as my girl winds her limbs around me, coming along for the ride.
My balls grow heavy as I thrust inside her body, losing my mind at how good we feel together, how right.
“Fuck, I missed this.” The growled words reverberate through my chest.
My starlet holds my head with both hands, staring into my eyes, and our mouths collide again, tongues chasing as we careen toward the edge of oblivion. “Rhett,” she gasps my name against my lips. “Harder, cowboy.”
Her words send fire shooting through my blood, robbing my sanity.
My breath heaves from me. “I’ll give you anything you ask for.
Everything. I’m yours.” Two strokes of my cock later, we explode together in a chaotic tangle of limbs and heat, the slap of skin-on-skin and our moans of rapture, the only music being made in this room tonight.