Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Rhett
She’s such a tiny little thing barely coming up to my shoulder. In fact, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t come up that far. Even though I am focused on her it hasn’t escaped my attention that everyone in the room is looking at us as we spin around the floor. Most people know who I am…and that I have never danced with anybody at one of the parties.
“You want to get out of here? Maybe grab something to eat?” She looks up at me with round eyes full of questions even I don’t have the answers to. “I promise you won’t be murdered or end up on one of those true crime shows. You can tell people where we will be if that makes it better.”
She starts to nibble on her lower lip and I have to fight the urge to grunt out a groan as I see her teeth sink into the plump flesh.
I try to explain why I want to get the hell out of here. “I don’t do well in places like this. It’s a little too…”
She gives me a wide smile that seems to light up the whole room, “People-y?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly it.” Sort of. I also don’t want an audience while I’m trying to woo this angel into spending the rest of her life with me. I don’t want others to be involved in something that feels so intimate it should just be kept between the two of us.
“Um, okay.” I move us to the edge of the dance floor and watch while she tries to find her friend.
“Maybe you can text her.”
“She has my phone.”
“Use mine.” I tip my head, and she gives me a small nod as we exit the room. Once outside I hand her my phone already open on a new message screen. “Tell her we’re going to walk along the pier and stop at Redman’s for fries and shakes.”
“I love shakes.” She says, giving me another big smile before typing away and sending the message.
“They have the best in the world. Go ahead and put her contact information in there so you can text her again if you need to.”
She does as I ask so sweetly. I take her hand in mine and pull her out the door of the building. The guard on the door gives me a small wave as his mouth hangs open in disbelief at the fact I’m with someone. Once we are outside, I turn us so we can walk to the pier before I look down at her feet -which are just as tiny as the rest of her- and the heels she has on.
“Let’s take a cab.”
“Are you sure? It’s not very far.”
“There is no way in hell I’m letting you walk that far in those things knowing I could have done something to prevent all the pain I’m sure that will cause.”
She gives me a half smile before looking down herself. “I’m not really used to wearing them. Maybe a cab wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”
I easily hail us one and let her slide in first. She reaches into the top of her dress sending my eyebrows to my hairline. She finally fishes out a neatly folded rectangle of money before I stop her.
“Why don’t you keep that where you had it, and I’ll take care of everything.”
“Oh no! I couldn’t. I wouldn’t want you to think…well, to expect something because you pay for everything.”
“Wait, what?” I have a feeling I'm not going to like her answer.
“Well, some guys think if they…not that you are one of those guys, but…um,”
“Some guys think what?” She looks like she might not want to tell me, but I want to know who I have to kill for making my angel worry her bottom lip like she is doing now.
“They think if they pay for everything you should, um, put out for them. And I just didn’t want you to think…”
“Put out for them?”
She nods and drops her gaze to where her hands are clutched around the money.
“Has anyone ever done that to you?” I want names.
“Well, no. I don’t, um, date. Not that this is a date. Some of my friends have had it happen to them and one of them had it end badly. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s not like this is…that.”
Something she says catches my attention. She doesn’t date. Why?
“Why don’t you date?”