Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Brynlee
Ichanged my outfit five times, changed my hair three, and fixed my makeup twice before Rhett showed up. And when he did, he complimented me and handed me wildflowers.
Something about Rhett makes me nervous in a way I’ve never felt before. Probably because I like him more than any man I’ve ever wanted to be with before. He awakens something deep inside that’s never been allowed to come to the surface until now.
“Can I ask you somethin’?” Rhett asks, shoving a forkful of casserole into his mouth. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Talking with his mouth full should disgust me, but I find it endearing. Like he wants to eat what I’ve made just as much as he wants to talk to me, and neither option can quite win.
“Go ahead,” I say, bracing myself. It’s rare for anything good to come after that type of opening.
“Are you single?”
I moved into this house to start fresh, and he doesn’t think I’m single? “Yes.”
“Sorry, I just wanted to check. I didn’t think any man would be in his right mind to let you drive out here by yourself, and I didn’t see a ring. But I also can’t wrap my head around someone not swoopin’ you up yet.”
“I was engaged, but I’m not anymore,” I admit. “My turn.”
“Shoot.”
Smiling, I tilt my head. “You said Clint, the electrician, was one of your brothers. How many siblings do you have?”
“I’m one of eight.”
I choke on my water. “You’re lying.”
“No, ma’am.”
“That’s officially the end of me hoping to have a small number of children in this town.”
“You can make that call,” Rhett says with a laugh. “But if you were my girl, I’d give you as many babies as you’d let me.”
If I was his girl. Does this mean he likes me? Or wants me to be his? It feels like flirting, but it also feels like normal conversation. “Is that right?”
“Hell, I would figure out how to make it work with seventeen kids.”
Coughing again, I hold my hand to my chest. “Seventeen? That’s like being pregnant for at least a decade straight. That’s how you get on TV shows. Which you need to support that many kids.”
He smiles at me. “I’m kiddin’. Sort of. I’m too old to have seventeen kids unless there were twins or triplets somewhere.”
“Do you mind if I ask how old you are?”
A shadow crosses his face. “Thirty-five.”
“That’s not old. I’m twenty-six, but I feel older.”
He tells me about one of his brothers, and I watch him coyly, taking in everything I can about him.
His hands are a little dirty, caked with grease he probably can’t get completely off his skin.
His biceps make my breathing hitch. They’re large but not from lifting weights.
It’s from manual work, and I like the idea he’s not a gym rat.
I’m fairly certain he doesn’t have a six-pack. In fact, I’m willing to bet he has a small layer of padding there instead, and I itch to reach out and pull up his shirt to see for sure.
The top three buttons of his shirt sit unbuttoned, and chest hair peeks up over the white undershirt he wears. A manly man. It doesn’t appear to be an excessive, burly mountain man amount of hair, but compared to Kevin, it’s vastly different from what I’m used to.
Kevin has a standing appointment to get waxed regularly. The only hair on his body is his head. His hair and eyebrows. Otherwise, he’s completely smooth, which required the same from me.
Rhett’s called me pretty a few times now, and he brought me flowers.
He offered to install a filtration system for me for free, and he keeps reminding me to call if I need anything.
Even with all of that, there’s an air of indifference about him, and I can’t tell if he’s just playing it cool or doesn’t really have any interest beyond friendship with me.
We haven’t talked about his relationship status. Is he waiting for me to ask? I know he’s not married, but that doesn’t mean he’s not dating someone. Or has his eye on a woman.
The conversation between us flows easily, and I like how it’s as though we’ve been friends for a lifetime while the butterflies still flap around.
I’ve never really been friends with a man before, and that may just be what was lacking from all of my past relationships.
I was picked because I fit well into their world, and they provided everything Mama wanted for me.
Wealth and a powerful family. There was always something missing for me, though.
The meal ends quicker than I’d like, and I clean up the kitchen while Rhett moves into the utility room to start the job he’s here to do.
It takes little time to clean up, which is a good thing because Rhett tells me he needs to turn off the water.
But once the leftovers are back in the fridge, I don’t have much left to do.
Maybe I can pretend I’m interested in what he’s doing. Even though I have very few mechanical skills, he might find it intriguing. A woman who wants to know what he does.
I lean against the doorframe, but Rhett says almost nothing. He puts together pipes and connecting mechanisms I couldn’t name to save my life, and follows the water lines currently hooked up to the water heater.
He continues his work, completely oblivious to me, and it gives me a chance to study him. I can’t stop the smile every time he curses under his breath. It comes out so quietly, like he’s trying to keep me from hearing him.
His button-down was already off when I walked to the utility room, and his T-shirt rides up his belly as he reaches far enough.
I was right. He doesn’t have a well-toned belly, but it’s not a beer gut.
It’s rather sexy. Especially when I catch sight of the dark hair visible, reminding me he’s a man and not some type of Ken doll.
Cuddling with him would be much more pleasurable than cuddling was with Kevin.
“Do you have plans tomorrow night?” Rhett asks, his eyes on me and pulling me from my daydream.
Tomorrow night is Friday night. A date night. “No, I don’t have plans. Why?”
He grunts, tightening something with a wrench he must’ve brought with him. I have a hammer and two screwdrivers. I can hang pictures and put together shelves, but that’s about as far as my handiness extends.
“Carter’s havin’ a birthday thing at the bar. He wants you to come with. You can meet, well, pretty much everyone in town.”
“The whole town will be there for Carter’s birthday?” This town must be close-knit.
Chuckling, he shakes his head. “Not specifically. But Friday’s the night everyone usually migrates to the bar. Pay day.”
His words finally sink in. Carter wanted him to invite me. It wasn’t Rhett’s idea. “I could probably clear my calendar. For Carter’s birthday,” I add. “Is it at the Town Hall bar?”
“You’ve already been there?”
The fumes from whatever glue he uses to link the pipes together makes me a little lightheaded, and I step back out of the room for a bit of fresh air. “I’ve driven by it when I went to the grocery store.”
Clanging makes me jump, and I worry he’s broken something. I need to shower before going out tomorrow night.
“Just fit in there, you bastard,” Rhett growls.
“Excuse me?”
“Sorry, I talk to the things I work on when they want to be difficult. Doesn’t do much, but it makes me feel better,” he says. He turns on the water and studies the pipes. “I don’t see any leaks.”
“Wait, you’re done?”
He turns and smiles at me. It’s my favorite thing about him. That bright white smile with perfectly straight teeth contrasting with his dark beard. “Yep. Helps I did all the learning at my house a few months back. You should be good to go now, but if you have any issues, just give me a call.”
Disappointment fills me as he cleans up the area and walks the boxes out to the burn pile. It didn’t take nearly as long as I’d hoped it would, and I don’t like that he’ll be leaving soon. Leaving me alone. Again.
Rhett walks back inside and turns on the kitchen faucet, and it spurts a few times before forming a firm stream again. “You’ll probably have some of that as you turn on the faucets around the house. It’s just air workin’ its way out of the lines.”
Grabbing his tools, he walks back outside and sets them in the bed of his truck.
I step onto the porch, unsure what to do.
Asking me to marry him right here wasn’t what I expected, but I’ve never had to work this hard with a man before.
Why won’t he just ask me out? Men out here must not be as direct as city men.
“If you want, I can swing by and pick you up on my way to the bar. That way, you’ll show up with someone you know before gettin’ bombarded by everyone.”
“Bombarded?” I ask. The idea of being thrust into the spotlight doesn’t sit well with me.
“You’re a city girl new to town. Plus, you’re the prettiest thing we’ve had around here in decades. Unfortunately, that’s goin’ to draw everyone’s interest. Until they get used to you.”
That doesn’t provide much comfort at all, but at least Rhett’s offering to take me. It’s almost like a date. Or is it one? “That sounds good, I guess. What should I wear to something like this?”
“You can wear whatever you want. Most people just wear jeans and a T-shirt. The girls tend to wear skirts or dresses, but that’s probably more to do with the heat than dressin’ up. Nothin’ formal.”
I immediately look down at my dress. “Do I dress too formally?”
“No, Brynlee,” Rhett says. He smiles at me as I look up. “You look good. Most of the women give up tryin’ to impress anyone unless they’re newly single. Not that it takes much to impress us, if I’m bein’ honest. You’re a breath of fresh air.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re flirting with me.”
He just continues smiling and opens his pickup door. “I’ll swing by around seven-thirty tomorrow. Does that work for you?”
Frustrated, I nod. “That sounds fine. Hey, Rhett?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
His eyebrows lift as his smile drops. “What?”
“I just… I don’t want to upset your girlfriend, if you have one, by occupying all your time. Or going to Carter’s birthday thing tomorrow.”
“No girlfriend. Trust me, when I’m with someone, there’s never a question about it.”
Okay, so he’s single. And that sounded flirtatious, but I still can’t tell if he’s just being nice.
Does he like me, or is he just being neighborly?
Is he taking pity on the poor city girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing out here in the country?
In the city, men would have made their intentions clear by now.
“See you tomorrow, Brynlee. Have a good night, and let me know if you have any water problems.”
I wave as he climbs into his pickup and drives away. Yes, Rhett Dillon has me more confused than ever. He’s playing a game I don’t understand the rules to yet, and it’s unfair. It’s not fair at all.