“I thought the girls would get a kick out of it.” Wren waved her hands and shrugged. “Since you two aren’t a secret anymore.”
A jolt of adrenaline went through me. How did she know? Had she seen the image online and believed what was said? Was it the overnight? Rhys shot me a quelling stare, and I calmed my racing heart.
Oh. She meant the kids knew about me and Rhys in high school.
“Sure,” he said evenly. “I can bring it home.”
“I have a few more things in the office. Articles and such.” She rushed from the room. I stayed by the sink. He remained in place. Then he dragged his gaze down my body. I had on a long pleated skirt with a peasant blouse. The days were warm, but the nights could be chilly. I’d been having hot flashes all week when I remembered Rhys’s finger working inside me. The chill wouldn’t be an issue.
When he brushed his intense stare up my body, a needy wave of desire rippled over my skin.
“Here we go.” Wren entered the room. I dropped my eyes to the floor, my cheeks burning like I’d been caught scaling his body.
She set the papers in the box. The girls rushed in from the living room and pushed around Rhys like they sensed formerly forbidden loot.
“What’s this?” Bethany pulled out a photo of me and Rhys at our senior prom.
“That’s how you did your hair, Dad?” Bethany snickered.
“It was thicker then,” he grumbled.
“Helmet hair was the style,” I added.
“I did not follow trends,” he protested.
I pinched my fingers together. “Maybe a little.”
He pointed at the photo. “If I wore my hair like that, it’s because you wanted it that way.”
Laughing, I drifted closer to the box.
“Look at his face!” Hannah exclaimed. A clean-shaven Rhys scowled at the camera. One would think we’d had an awful night or argued right before the pictures, but that was his normal expression. Serious. He was only slightly softer now, but he hadn’t been when I’d first arrived.
For the next hour, we pored over articles Wren had saved for him from the county paper. A few were from theBozeman Daily Chronicle, and she’d printed some Associated Press articles. I checked the years. The clippings stopped after the funeral. When he’d met Kirstin.
The sloppy joes congealed in my belly. This box was a time capsule of us. There was a beginning and there was an end. Not much different than now. There was an end coming. Then I would return to Nashville and Rhys would meet someone else and this box would go back in storage.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Rhys
I entered the house and kicked the screen door shut behind me. My guest was on her way, but I didn’t know if she’d bypass the turnoff and keep going. Would she be the smart one?
Just in case we were both leaving our brains behind, I’d parked outside and left the garage door open for her. I didn’t need the goddamn mailman noticing her car in my driveway in the morning.
I set the box of old pictures and articles on the table. I stood next to it, humbled that Wren had thought to save it. I’d brought it to her and Dad, unable to explain why I couldn’t throw it out when Kirstin had demanded it gone. Wren had taken plenty of pictures from when I was a kid that didn’t include June. I’d kept all those and the girls had pored through them over the years.
I tugged at the collar of the long-sleevedshirt I was wearing, then I just tugged it over my head and draped it over a chair. Damn thing chafed.
Was this really happening?
June’s car pulled in.
Fuck yes.
A few moments later, she entered, that skirt swirling around her ankles. “Thanks for giving me the garage.” Her gaze raked over my bare chest. “Getting started without me?”
All the lust I’d been keeping a tight lid on bubbled over. Desire flooded my veins and blood went straight for my dick. “You’ve been a goddamn tease in that skirt all night.” I ripped the fly of my jeans open. Lust rippled under my skin, but I wasn’t going to jump on her. The pressure would drive me nuts, yet there would be no rushing tonight. I was taking my time with this woman.
