32 #2
When the doorbell rang, she didn't bother to lift her head. She wasn't expecting anyone, and if Mel had some sort of delivery scheduled then hell with it. They could come back. Or not. Rhett didn't give a rat's ass. After a few beats of silence, the bell rang again.
"Go away," she muttered. The last thing she needed was to have to deal with whoever was on the other side of the door. If she ignored it, they'd go away.
But they didn't. The bell rang twice more in quick succession, and Rhett's head snapped up.
All the rage and frustration and pain and fear came together in a hot, heavy ball in her chest, and she slammed the water bottle onto the counter.
She stalked out of the kitchen and into the foyer.
Someone in the hall was about to have a very bad day.
Eager to let her unseen intruder have it with both barrels, she yanked open the door, ready to let loose with some of the finest cussing ever heard in Texas. But when she saw Rhys standing in the hall, everything came to a complete halt.
His gaze swept her face, and his own expression fell. "Oh, Christ, you've already heard."
At the sound of his voice her paralysis broke. She hurled herself at him and wound her arms around his neck in a death grip.
"Oh, baby. Don't," he murmured into her hair. "Everything's all right."
Wordless, she shook her head and pressed herself tighter against him. She breathed in the scent of chocolate and rum, felt his breath against the skin of her cheek, and the strength of his arms around her, and she never wanted to move again. Ever.
"Come on, let's go inside." Rhys attempted to remove her arms from around his neck, but she locked them tighter. Letting him go was not an option. He finally settled for walking her backward into the condo until he could close the door behind him.
"All right, then. Come here." He gathered her close and just held her. "Rhett, I'm fine."
After an indeterminate amount of time passed, Rhett started to relax. The soft words he murmured and the brush of his lips against her hair and cheek brought a measure of calm. She buried her face in his hair and took a deep breath.
"Drew?"
"He's got a deep bruise on his bicep, but he'll be fine," he assured her. "Don't worry about Drew."
"And Terry?"
Rhys huffed out a short laugh. "You really don't need to worry about T. He's more than fine. He's running round with this big bandage on his arm, showing it off to anyone who looks sideways at him. It's not bad, honestly. The bullet barely even grazed him."
Rhett stopped in the act of rubbing her cheek against his hair.
Now that she knew for a certainty that the people she loved weren't badly hurt, another emotion pushed its way to the forefront.
Outrage. She swiped the tears from her face with one hand and untangled herself from Rhys's arms. Her breathing grew agitated as she took a step back, and she looked up at him from under lowered brows.
"Rhett?" His expression became concerned. "What's the matter?"
"The matter? What's the matter?" She put the flat of her hand against his chest and shoved. "I'll tell you what's the matter, Rhys James Collinsworth. You are the biggest idiot in the world, that's what's the matter."
"Um." Eyes wide, he appeared completely baffled.
"You have got to stop treating me like this.
" Her voice grew louder with each word as her earlier fear channeled itself into anger.
"What did I ever do to you to deserve this kind of shit?
I have been in the fires of the lowest circle of hell since I left L.A.
, but do you care? No! I get some cryptic text from you that had me thinking that you're through with me.
Then I hear that some guy came after you with a gun intending to kill you, and here I am stuck in Dallas thinking you don't care about me, and I almost lost my goddamned mind.
And I'm sick and tired of it, do you hear me? "
"Rhett—”
"I'm not finished." She pointed a finger at his chest. "What do you think I am?
Some inanimate object that only comes to life when you're around?
Well, I'm not. I'm a person, Rhys, and you don't treat people like that.
Especially not people you're supposed to care about, people who care about you.
I don't know what kind of women you've dated who let you steamroll over their feelings, but I'm not like that.
I refuse to put up with this kind of treatment anymore, damn it. "
"Rhett, please." He stepped closer and took her by the shoulders.
"There's something I need to tell you, and I didn't want to do it over the telephone.
" Some emotion made his eyes even bluer, and he held her gaze with what seemed like desperation.
"It had to be face to face, and I don't mean over a video call. It had to be in person."
Rhett crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, you're here now, in person. What's so all-fired important that you had to leave me hanging? Are you breaking up with me? Because if you are, then all that hugging and shit is a really cruel way to start off."
"Christ, Rhett, I'm not breaking up with you." He gave her a tender smile. "I love you."
All the fight went out of her like someone punctured her with a pin. Her anger and pain drained out with a rush, and she stared at him in shock. She'd convinced herself he'd come back to call it off for good, but there he was telling her he loved her.
"You could've told me that on the phone," she finally said in a small voice.
A small smile touched his lips. "And miss seeing that expression on your face? Not a chance."
"Oh, God, Rhys. I love you, too," she said before throwing herself into his arms again.
The most relieved-sounding sigh she'd ever heard blew into her hair. "Even though I'm the biggest idiot in the world?"
She nodded against his shoulder. "Maybe because you are." All of a sudden she was on fire with a blazing happiness, a joy too deep for words. "But you're my idiot."
"All yours," he whispered.
Rhett lifted her head and framed his face with her hands. "My too beautiful to be believed, wild, sex on legs, smokin' hot, romantic idiot."
"Think you still want me?"
It thrilled her to the tips of her toes that he didn't even bother to protest her description. Rhys James was in the house, and her heart responded by attempting to pound its way out of her chest.
"I want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my life."
And taking him by the hand, she led him toward her bedroom.