Mind fuzzy, his gaze met mine again, somehow inches closer than he was before. My sandals slipped from my fingers. His hand moved to my jaw like it belonged there. If he kept looking at me like that, I was sure I’d never fully recover.
“It seems that Easton wants something,” Rhett murmured, eyes dancing across my face.
“And Easton always gets what he wants,” I replied.
Then, as inevitable as the tide, his lips descended on mine.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rhett touched his forehead to mine as we parted, chest heaving. He brought me even closer. My free arm looped around his neck; somehow, his fingers found their way into my hair.
A shuddering breath blew past my lips. “That was…”
“Finally,” Rhett finished.
“Finally?”
He opened his mouth to reply, then shook his head and kissed me again. The sparks gave way to a brush fire. Whatever I had felt when he smiled at me was nothing compared to being swept up in his arms. Rhett Briggs kissed me like he meant to make leaving hurt.
With that thought, I broke away, offering a weak excuse about the water stretching close to our feet.
“I don’t care,” he started to say, tipping my face up to his once more.
Easton barked. Rhett sighed and traced his thumb over my bottom lip.
“If he sees another seagull, we might end up dragged out to sea,” I murmured.
Reluctantly disentangling his hand from my hair and our legs from the leash, we started back for Harbor Street. The sky had already dimmed to deep purples and blues as I pulled my cardigan close against the ocean breeze. A few people milled up and down Main Street, but most of the commotion came from Captain’s, which poured an orange glow onto the darkening sidewalk.
Under the flicker of the diner sign, Rhett turned to me with something insistent in his eyes when the door beside us swung open.
“How fortuitous. Hello, you two,” purred the voice of the last person I wanted to see.
“Claire,” Rhett began with a curt nod. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
She tossed glossy locks over her shoulders. “How would you? You seem to have turned off your phone.”
He swallowed, eyes darting from me to Claire. “I’ve been busy.”
“So I see,” she replied, shifting her attention to me with a predatory grin. “My, how the tides have changed since this morning.”
The sour taste of jealousy hit before the warmth of his kiss had even faded. As if knowing I had nothing to say, she didn’t wait for a reply, her steely gaze shooting back to him with raptorial accuracy.
“I came to see about the Founders’ Gala. You still haven’t RSVP’d, silly.” The last word dripped with a calculated amount of familiarity.
Rhett dragged a hand over his face. “I told you, Claire. I’m not going.”
And just like that, the stinging in my chest dulled. A tiny smile creeped onto my mouth as I watched him squint at her.
“Yes but, that wasbefore,” Claire replied without missing a beat. “I only assumed now that your parents are coming…”
The color drained from Rhett’s face. “My parents?”
“Well, you know how they love me. And they seemedquiteinterested to see what was occupying so much of your time.”
She didn’t even bother with a glance toward me, but I knew what she meant. Cheeks flaming, I hushed Easton as he whined to go home and poked his haunches until he sat.
“I know they’ll be eager to see you,” Claire added.
