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 Kendoll. 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. Adatenight. “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.
