AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was giving me a perfect in to make a move, but I needed to do the opposite of that, or I was going to lose that Maui sunset beach wedding.
Against every desire of my beating heart, I stood and stretched my arms into the air.
Rhett looked up at me. “What’s happening?”
“I need sleep.Youneed to get to sleep. You’re the one with the early morning show tomorrow.”
“I’m also the one who has a makeup artist with a talent for covering shadows under my eyes.”
His praise warmed me. I couldn’t help but feel it. Was Rhett a lonely flirt, or did he really want me to stay?
No, Beth. Don’t overanalyze. Go to bed.
I listened to my smarter inner voice that—unsurprisingly—sounded exactly like Charlie. “And a makeup artist with the same early wake-up call tomorrow.”
Rhett followed me to the door. I opened it, and he pinched the hem of my shirt sleeve. It was as if he’d hit a button that froze me in place. Come on, inner-voice Charlie. Tell me what to do here, because all I wanted was to turn around and slide my hand up Rhett’s chest. I tipped my head back to look at him.
“I’m going to sound dramatic,” Rhett said, his voice low. His blue eyes pierced me. “But what you did tonight is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Thank you.”
Nicest thingsever? All I did was bring the man some food. “Are you sure the lobster hasn’t just gone to your head?”
His mouth ticked into a smile, that delicious dimple making an appearance. “Maybe it has.”
“How did the rest of your date with Karina go?”
His smile turned a little stiff, and he broke the contact, dropping his hand. “About as well as expected.”
Not well, then? I didn’t know why I had to ruin our moment by bringing up the awful date. I stepped through the doorway. “Good night, Rhett.”
“Good night, Frenchy.”
Chapter Ten
I had big plans forNew York. We had extra days in the city so Rhett could do all the appearances Bridget had lined up, and I was going to steal a minute away to travel to the top of the Empire State Building, even if it meant leaving Rhett’s eyebrows to the mercy of an absent makeup artist.
Sleepless in Seattlehad always been my mom’s favorite movie, which meant I’d seen it many times. Maybe it was the young kid setting up his dad with a nice woman that made me fantasize about my mom finding a man to step in and replace my nonexistent dad, but I loved the movie every bit as much as she did. It set the desire in me at a young age to go to the very top of the Empire State Building at night. My mom had already texted me twice last week to ask if I wanted help booking a ticket and then again to ask if I’d secured my time slot. But I couldn’t get a ticket until I knew our work schedule.
Adalyn was sleeping now on the bed next to mine, which was fine because we didn’t have to be up for another ten minutes or so. Last night she had promised that there would be an evening event tomorrow, and I wouldn’t be needed after I got Rhett ready for it. I intended to book a ticket during the sunset hours if I could grab a spot and stay up there until the sun went all the way down.
Now I needed to book the ticket.
My phone opened to Instagram since I’d been on it recently. My thumb moved to swipe out of the app to the home screen so I could get on Safari, but I froze. The image that popped up on my feed was entirely unpleasant and equally gorgeous. Karina Bier’s arms were around Rhett’s waist while they stood on a cobblestone street in front of a brick building. The picture was obviously from their date a few days ago. Perhaps following their Italian dinner. Her head rested on his chest, and his arms fit around her perfectly.
But that wasn’t the part that hurt. That image could easily have been two friends hugging goodbye or a brother and sister who were happy to see each other. Anything completely platonic. No, the part that took my heart and ripped it into a million little pieces was Rhett’s eyes—they were closed. The soft smile tipping his lips up at the ends proved his contentment. He looked happy. Satisfied. Like he was holding the woman of his dreams in his arms.
It made me want to vomit.
I dropped my phone on the hotel blanket and stared at it, but that didn’t make the image disappear.
Okay, Beth, calm down and don’t overreact.I breathed in deeply and slowly. Thank you, internal Charlie voice.
There was a reason for the picture. There had to be. Especially after Rhett was so disappointed to have been paired with her on a date. With a bit of sleuthing, I could figure it out. I lifted my phone and tapped into the caption to make it bigger. It had been posted on Karina’s account with the words,Some people never fully leave.
Huh? Like you can’t get them to go home at the end of the night, or like they don’t leave your heart? The comments weren’t helpful. They were overwhelmingly supportive of what looked like a rekindled relationship between Rhett and his ex. I wanted to shake Adalyn awake and make her fill me in on every last detail of the dinner the night before.
But that would probably be showing my hand. So far, I’d managed to keep my Rhett obsession under wraps, and I couldn’t risk anyone figuring that out.
Focus on the things you can control, Beth. I swiped out of Instagram—but not before checking Rhett’s page, pleased to not find the same image posted from his account—and located the Empire State Building tickets site.
