11 #2
"Yeah, because navy blue immediately calls rainbows to mind.
And wasn't that the night he kept telling you were smokin' hot?
It's one thing for a guy to notice that you are, but when he tells you, especially more than once, you can rest assured that's the opening stanza of his mating call.
And all those texts while he was in Chicago?
Dig your head out of your ass, Rhett. He's been throwing signals at you like a Nolan Ryan no-hitter.
" Mel rose from the makeup bench and went into her closet.
"And then he gets you up there today to listen to the rain. I mean, how flippin' romantic is that?"
"Pretty flippin' romantic," Rhett muttered.
"You bet it is. Hey, come zip me up."
With a sigh, Rhett uncurled her legs from under her and slid from the end of Mel's bed.
Rhys's invitation today was romantic, and she responded by bolting from his condo like...
well, like Mel would from a marriage proposal.
She trudged into the closet and found her sister struggling with the bottom half of the zipper on a sundress in a melting shade of mint green.
This was a dress to make someone think of rainbows, not the staid number Rhett was wearing on Taco Night.
She brushed Mel's hands aside and zipped up the dress. "Why me, though?"
"You did not just say that." Mel bent and grabbed a pair of sandals from the shoe rack. "Why not you?"
"Oh, come on, Melanie. I'm not his type.
You saw his type that night at the nightclub, and I'm for sure as hell not her.
" Rhett picked up Mel's white cotton robe from where it had been dropped on the floor.
"I'd lay you odds the man has never even dated anyone under thirty.
Shoot, when he divorced Hayley Hamilton she was still in her late twenties.
He and his first wife divorced when she was barely out of her teens.
Of course, so was he but...In case you've forgotten, I'll be forty-three next month.
I don't want him to want me just because I'm...I don't know, convenient.
" She hung the robe on the hook on the back of the door and followed Mel back into the bedroom.
"How old is Rhys?" Mel sat on the end of the chaise lounge to buckle the straps of her sandals around her slim ankles. "And don't tell me you don't know because I know you do."
"Forty-eight." Unwilling to meet her sister's eyes, Rhett busied herself straightening Mel's makeup table.
"So maybe he's tired of the twenty-somethings with their silicone boobs and enthusiasm for the latest trends in music.
" Out of the corner of her eye, Rhett saw the air quotes Mel put around her last word.
"Look, he's been in Dallas for months now.
If he wanted one of them then he's had ample opportunity to go find one.
Or two. Or three. But, no, he's spent the past couple of weeks wooing you.
He's made it clear he finds you sexy and desirable and attractive and go ahead and insert your own adjective here as long as it's not 'not his type. ' Don't you want him, too?"
"Yes, I want him." Rhett moved aside as Mel picked up her hairbrush and ran it through her long, buttery-blonde hair.
"But it was overwhelming, okay? The last time anyone tried to 'woo' me—" She added her own air quotes to the word.
"I had just turned seventeen. Forgive me if I'm out of practice.
Plus, when he kissed me today he...Never mind. "
"You're not allowed a never mind." Mel pulled her hair into a ponytail and secured it with a clear elastic. "What?"
"I don't know." Uncomfortable, Rhett shrugged one shoulder. "When he kissed me he was Rhys James instead of Rhys Collinsworth."
"Okay, you've said something like that before. Are you trying to tell me the dude's got a split personality or something?"
"No, nothing like that. It's just..." Rhett waved her hands around as she searched for the right words. "I can't explain what I mean, but it's different. I feel comfortable with Rhys Collinsworth, but Rhys James..."
"Is a rock star," Mel finished for her. "Is that what it is?"
Rhett nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess that's it."
"Well, get over it." Finished with her hair, Mel turned to face her sister, arms crossed.
"You can't compartmentalize the man, Rhett.
He is who he is, and the guy who remembered you like the sound of rain is the same guy who makes your panties damp when he sings.
There's no 'James' and no 'Collinsworth.
' It's just Rhys. And if you can't handle that part of his life then you need to cut him loose and move on. "
Shame burned through her when she realized Mel was right. She had been putting different aspects of Rhys into neat, tidy compartments just to make herself comfortable. Was she that petty and small that she expected him to suppress part of himself just because she found it overwhelming? God!
"I'm such an idiot," she said in a small voice. "And a selfish one, too. How could I do something like that?"
A sympathetic smile replaced Mel's frown. "Hey, you've never met anyone like him before, okay? And you've been nuts about him since you were a kid. I guess you just had to find some way to deal with that in your head."
"But it's wrong. You said it, he is who he is." She pressed her lips together for a moment. "And I don't want to cut him loose."
"Then suck it up, buttercup, and accept all of him.
Because all of him appears to want you, Rain Man and Rock Star.
" Mel put a soft hand on her sister's cheek.
"I know it's been a long time for you, but you need to realize you're a beautiful woman and you've still got it going on.
And Rhys? He's a nice guy, Rhett. I mean, that thing with the rain today?
That was a pretty special thing to do." A sly smile lifted a corner of Mel's mouth. "And so was that kiss, right?"
An embarrassed little laugh shook Rhett's shoulders. "Yeah, it was pretty special."
With a last pat on Rhett's cheek, Mel crossed to the bed and picked up her handbag.
"Well, since you've given yourself time to think, you need to think about how you're going to let Rhys know the reason you hightailed it out of there today wasn't because you didn't like where things were going.
Don't give me that look. The guy's probably sitting up there thinking he's finally run into a woman who doesn't want him, and you need to figure out a way to let him know that's not the case. "
Rhett bit her lip in panic. "How do I do that?"
Mel shrugged. "Just put on some Rolling Stones and think about it. You're a woman who's hot over a man, right? You'll come up with a way."