“I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me,” he said, rolling on to his side and propping his head in his palm as he looked down at me.
He’d just worn his boxer briefs to bed and his nakedness was messing with my mind. Sleep rumpled Rhett was seriously hot. No wonder I’d always bailed before sunrise. If I hadn’t, I may have never wanted to leave.
I tipped my head to look at him out of the corner of my eye. “So, um, you said something about making this your home base. What does that mean, exactly?”
Looking amused, he said, “What’s wrong? Are you afraid I’ll crowd you?”
“No.” Did I have the guts to tell him my plan? “Actually, I was kind of hoping you would stay here for a while.”
He laughed, tapping his palm against his ear. “Hold on a second. Did I hear you right? You, the girl who breaks out in hives every time I invite her to sleep over is suggesting… what, exactly? That I move in with you?”
I pursed my lips, trying to suppress my annoyance. Bickering was kind of our thing, but if I wanted him to uproot his whole life to be my bodyguard, I had to play nice. “Yes.” I inhaled deeply, opting to go for broke. “And since we’re going to be living together… how about you pretend to be my fiancée?”
His jaw dropped before he closed his eyes briefly. “Come again.”
I couldn’t blame the poor guy for being stunned. I was the biggest commitment-phobe on the planet. Even the idea of a fake engagement made my tummy plunge like I’d just come off the tilt-a-whirl. I blamed my issues on my parents’ dysfunctional marriage and bitter divorce. But since they were the best of friends now, and my brother had found the love of his life, Gia thought I was just using that as a cop-out.
“Just think about it,” I said, rolling over to face him. “I think we could totally sell it, Rhett. Dave knew you and I have had an on-again, off-again, thing for years—”
“You tell other guys about me?” he asked, sounding surprised.
Now I felt stupid. He clearly didn’t tell other girls about me. “It just, uh, came up in conversation. He asked if I’d ever had a relationship—”
He chuckled. “Not sure sex every four or five months can be called a relationship, babe.”
“Really?” I rolled my eyes. “Wait ‘til you hit fifty. According to my mom you’ll be lucky if you get it that often.”
He grimaced. “I really don’t need to hear about your mom’s sex life.”
“Neither did I, but you know she’s big on over-sharing.” It was weird how well he knew my family and friends. Kind of unnerving, if I let myself dwell on it too long. “Anyhow, the point is it would be easy to sell you as my boyfriend, since we have so much history. But I think an engagement sends a stronger message, don’t you?”
He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about right now.”
“Dave isn’t going to back off unless he believes there is zero chance of us getting back together,” I said, bringing my thumb and forefinger together to emphasize my point. “And what better way to send that message than by letting him think that I’ve moved on. With you.”
He studied me for a minute. “You do know this is crazy, right?”
“Believe me, I never thought I’d be in a situation where I’d even have to consider this, but I’ll be honest, Rhett. I’m kind of desperate.”
“Gee, thanks.”
I patted his chest. Ugh, why’d he have to be so muscular? His skin so tanned and smooth? And that cologne he wore made me want to lick him all over. “Don’t take it personally. You know being engaged to any guy would make me want to hurl.”
He laughed, rolling on to his back. “Yeah, I know.” He stared at the ceiling for a minute before he asked, “So, how would this work?”
I’d given this a lot of thought, and I was sure I’d covered all the bases. “Well, like I said, you could move in here with me.”
“I know I suggested that, but my house is a lot bigger, and there are security gates.”
“True, but if we’re trying to build a case against him wouldn’t it be easier to prove if we were here?” It’s not like we’d even see him if he was parked across the street at Rhett’s house. All the homes in his neighbourhood were on a few acres. “He wouldn’t come up to the door at your place and we wouldn’t know if he was parked across the street—”
“Right now I’m weighing your safety against building a case and I’m thinking I care a hell of a lot more about keeping you safe than seeing this asshole behind bars. Not that I wouldn’t like to—”
“I hear what you’re saying, believe me.” And I loved that he was putting my safety first, but I didn’t want to go on feeling like a prisoner forever. I wanted this guy locked up, or at least no longer a threat to me. “But if he drives me out of my own home, he’ll feel like he won.”
“True.” He seemed to consider the options before he said, “Tell me more about this fake engagement.”
“Well, we wouldn’t have to do all that much to convince people. My brother already knows that we mess around and my parents think we’ve been in a covert relationship for years.”
