Chapter 18 #2
“Your brother will never know what kind of football career he could’ve had, but in terms of second career, he landed in a pretty good spot. Same for Rhys.”
“You’re right, Arianne. When Rhys lost his fame status, he thought it was over for him. Nothing would ever measure up to that defining one-hit. The massive success of SCORE proved him wrong.” I try hard not to gush.
“Hence, why he can now afford a membership at an exclusive sex club.”
Arianne and I laugh.
Leave it to Phoebe to come to that conclusion.
“I guess so,” I say.
“Speaking of kinky hangouts, I’m totally adding Dark Compulsion to my bucket list.” Phoebe claps.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but you’ll need a black American Express card to pay for the membership,” Arianne says.
“We can always use hers?” Phoebe points at me.
My head whips in her direction. “Hell no. Rhys would kill me.”
When Rhys handed me the card on Friday, I nearly passed out.
“I’m okay with him killing you as long as I get the membership,” Phoebe says.
I play-punch her arm. “Hey, I thought we were friends?”
“We are, but I’m dying to know what happens at that club,” she says. “If you have to be a casualty, so be it.”
I roll my eyes. “Let’s keep the game going.”
“Well, it so happens your head is on the chopping block next,” Phoebe says, grinning from ear to ear.
I hand her the iPad.
Phoebe scrolls through the list of questions from a quirky article she found on the internet. “Truth or dare?”
“Hold on, I need liquid courage for this.” I take a quick sip of my drink. It’s a lot more fun to drink pina coladas amongst friends. I drop my glass on the table and ready myself. “Okay, hit me.”
“I already asked you a question,” Phoebe says.
“Oh yeah. Hit me again.”
“What’s the sexiest thing someone has ever said to you?” Phoebe meets my gaze.
You’re fucking perfect to me.
I don’t have to give it a second thought, but I never get to voice it because my phone rings.
If it isn’t the sweet talker…
“It’s Rhys.” My gaze bounces from Phoebe to Arianne. “I’ll take it. After all, I should thank him for allowing me to spend all his money.”
They laugh.
“While you’re at it, can you talk to him about my membership at Dark Compulsion?” Phoebe points an animated finger over her head.
“You’re crazy.”
“No, persistent.”
“That, too.” I answer Rhys’s call. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
I get up and gesture to my new friends I’ll be outside.
They nod.
“Am I calling at a bad time?”
“No.” I step in the backyard and close the side door behind me. “This is good.”
I got a text from him last night, but this is the first time we’ve talked since yesterday afternoon. When he suggested a sleepover at Phoebe’s, I jumped at the chance—anything to avoid the uncomfortable vibe that’s settled between us.
“How was day two of shopping?”
“You mean, my ten-hour whirlwind cash-spending extravaganza?”
“That answer scares the shit out of me.”
I laugh. “Don’t worry. If I reach the limit on your American Express Black, I’ll be forced to stop.”
“There is no limit.”
“Oops.”
He groans.
“Kidding.”
“You had me worried there.”
“Just keeping you on your toes,” I say.
He chuckles.
“No one pestered you?”
That was my big concern.
“No. No one recognized me. I went incognito today. I used a baseball cap to hide my face, and I asked Phoebe and Arianne to call me by my middle name, Eve, instead of Keira. Small things that make a big difference.”
“Good,” he says.
“Funny, there was a time, that’s all I wanted—to be recognized—now, I want the complete opposite.”
“You just need time to ease back into it.”
“I’ll be skittish for a while.”
“There’s no rush. You’re back at Phoebe’s?” He changes the subject.
“I am.”
“What are you girls up to?”
“We were going to go out to a salsa club, but we’re pooped from running around,” I say. “We decided to stay in. We’ve been drinking and playing truth or dare.”
“God save us all.”
I ponder for a fraction of a second before diving right in… liquid courage and all.
“Have you been avoiding me all week, Rhys?”
Silence.
I answer for him. “You have been avoiding me.”
“Let’s get on a video call.”
My stomach twists in a knot at his suggestion.
Shit.
I should’ve kept my big mouth shut.
“Okay,” I say.
A second later, his handsome face fills the screen. “Your hair hasn’t changed.”
“Tomorrow is spa and hair day.”
“Got it.”
We stare at each other for a beat.
“Aren’t you going to answer my question?”
His lips twist. “I was avoiding you.”
I hang my head in defeat.
“You did nothing wrong. It’s all on me,” he says. “There’s something between us.”
He’s going to let me down gently.
“Okay,” I say.
“Okay?” He looks offended.
“What do you expect me to say? I don’t know where this conversation is going.”
“Fair enough. I’m the one who called.” He pauses. “Last Sunday, after the bike ride––”
“I shouldn’t have flashed you. I’m sorry.”
I hide my face in my hand.
Another rejection.
“I’m not sorry.”
I lift my eyes up to the screen. “You’re not?”
“I’m not,” he says. “My only regret is not manning up.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not going to rehash the past, because we’re in the here and now.”
That was German to me.
“I was thinking we should go out for dinner tomorrow night.”
Dinner?
That’s not what I expected.
The flicker of hope dies, and my heart sinks again.
“That sounds good,” I say, incapable of mustering an ounce of enthusiasm.
“Since we live together, it’s easy to do things backwards…”
I frown my confusion. “I don’t follow.”
“I want to take you out on a proper date before we explore what’s been playing out between us since you arrived.”
I’m pretty sure I misheard him.
“A date?”
“A date.”
“As in a date-date?”
“Yes. As in a man taking out a woman he’s unreasonably attracted to for a nice meal at a fancy restaurant.”
My heart climbs into my throat.
“Are you shitting me right now?”
“Okay, that’s not the reaction I was expecting,” he says. “Perhaps I was reading into things––”
“Don’t you dare back out, Rhys Hartford. You know exactly how I feel about you.” I pause to catch my breath. My heart is beating so fast. “But this is–– I mean–– Holy shit–– Just, wow.”
He bursts out laughing. “I’ve been thinking––”
“And for the record, I like how you think.”
His glacier-blue eyes meet mine, and I swear my pussy flutters.
“What am I going to do with you, dimples?”
Keep me.
“I can keep avoiding you or we can dive in with both feet.”
“I vote for the latter.”
I’m so elated, I could fly.
His grin is epic. “We’re on the same page.”
I worry my bottom lip, debating if I should ask the question burning my tongue. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth when it comes to this man, and I don’t want to ruin this perfect moment.
He narrows his gaze. “What is it?”
“What about Noah? He’s still my big brother, and that’s always been a deterrent for you.”
“Not anymore.”
“It’s not?”
“This isn’t about Noah and me… this is about us.” The lust radiating from his eyes is so searing hot, it could set my body ablaze. “If you want to go out on a date with me, that’s all that matters—”
“I want to go out on a date with you. I’ve been waiting my whole life to go out on a date with you. I’m fucking excited to go out on a date with you.”
He laughs his head off.
“Seriously though, should we tell my brother?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Okay.”
I can finally put years of repressed emotion behind me.
He flashes me an arresting smile.
“What?”
“You’ve always had this strange effect on me, Keira. On one hand, I want to fuck you senseless. On the other, I want to protect you from guys… even me. I no longer have to be torn or feel guilty for having inappropriate fantasies about you.”
I’m paralyzed in a stupor.
“You fantasize about me?” I croak when my brain kicks into gear again.
He nods.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
A hot flush of heat crawls up my neck and my cheeks burst into flames. My pulse hammers in my neck and I squeeze my thighs together, trying hard to suppress the sweet ache growing between my legs.
“There’s nothing stopping me now. I gave myself permission to have what I want… and that’s you, dimples.”
His confession is so enormous it wrings the air from my lungs. I stare at him as my lips part in an O.
I’ll never forget this defining moment for as long as I live.