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“Because it’s my name, and I like it.”
“Okay, @BethanyParker, tell me something else about yourself.”
“I was raised in Bellmead in the heart of Sonoma County, and I would rather live there than anywhere else in the world.”
“Yet you haven’t seen much of the world, because you and your mom chose to stay home on vacations.”
Apparently he’d been listening. That was attractive. “We always talked about the trips we were going to take together when I grew up, but we haven’t done any of them yet.”
“Why not?”
“Time? Money? The fact that she moved down to LA about five years ago? Because dreaming is better than reality.”
“Hmm.” He looked thoughtful. “What about me?”
“What about you?”
He stared at me for a beat, his blue eyes serious. “Was dreaming better than reality with me?”
My breath caught. “I’m still figuring that out.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Good to know. I have some convincing yet to do.”
I shook myself a little, breaking the foggy haze that had come over me as a result of his ridiculously mesmerizing gaze. I’d saidwhat? That he needed to prove himself as good as the men he played on screen? That couldn’t be farther from the truth. “No, you don’t. Everything I’ve learned about you in the last few weeks has only proven that reality is better than the dream.”
Everything aboutRhetthimself. I wasn’t counting his lifestyle or his power-wielding publicist.
“Better, huh?”
“Well, yeah. Like your real lips, for instance, are a thousand times softer than the paper version in the poster on my wall.” I grinned.
Rhett barked a laugh. “Your middle school self was really into my character, wasn’t she?”
“Psh. Who says she ever stopped?”
The robotic voice announced our stop, and Rhett stood. He took me by the hand and pulled me out of the train car and onto the platform. One person slowly milled past us to enter the train while we walked the length of the tunnel, but it was otherwise empty. My chest hummed with the odd feeling of new love, the blossoming that happened in the early stages. Which was weird, since my love for him was more aged than that.
The train started moving, whipping the air around us as it rushed on. Rhett came to an abrupt halt, sliding his hands around my waist and pulling me close while his lips crashed against mine. Heat flushed through me, and I gave in, curling my hands around the back of his neck and losing my fingers in the ends of his hair.
Rhett deepened the kiss, air whooshing around us from the disappearing train. It grew silent but for the racing of my pulse and steady thrum of my heart in my ears. When I needed to breathe again, I leaned back and noticed that his mustache was askew, and his hat knocked back a bit.
He righted his hat. “We should probably get moving,” he said, a little breathless.
“Wait.” I reached up and fixed the mustache, then pulled him down for one more quick kiss. He was as familiar to me as breathing and as comfortable as my favorite hot-pink joggers, but at the same time, he was fresh and exciting, like a brand-new dress.
My chest buzzed when Rhett slid his hand into mine, interlocking our fingers and pulling me toward the stairs that led up to Prince Street.
Warm air skittered over my skin, but I hardly felt anything. My heart was glowing like a neon pizza sign.
I had long since fallen for Rhett, but this was different.
Rhett was falling forme.
Chapter Seventeen
Miami was warm, breezy, andfull of money. The woman who won the date with Rhett paid more than both Miss New York and Miss Chicago had, and she wasyoung. Clearly daddy’s money had something to do with her win.
We all filed into two SUVs at the end of the date, and Chad blew out a breath from the front seat, his cheeks puffing.
