Page 174 of Rhodes

“And I don’t want to go back to what we were. Sneaking around, hiding from Cooper, pretending none of it meant anything because there was always some reason we couldn’t deal with it.”

“I don’t want that either.”

I take a breath.

“But I do want to see what this is without all of that,” I finally say. His eyes stay on mine.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying maybe we date.”

He blinks exaggeratedly. “Date?”

“Yes. Like normal people.”

“I’ve heard of that.”

“Rhodes.”

“I’m kidding. I mean, I'm serious, but never mind.”

“Can we actually go out in public as a couple? I’m not promising you more than I know how to promise right now, and I’m not saying everything that happened is suddenly okay.”

“Yeah. I want that.” Then his mouth shifts. “You may regret it when Nero sends me to Houston three times in a month.”

“I can handle Houston. I think I trust you enough to try it the right way.”

Something shifts in his face. “Enough?”

I nod. “Enough.”

He exhales slowly. “I’ll take enough.”

“So you’d be open to that?”

“Tallulah, I would date you in a grocery store parking lot if that’s what you wanted.”

“That’s not exactly the romantic pitch you think it is.” I laugh, and the last of the tension in the room eases. Rhodes pushes away from the counter but stops before he gets close enough to touch me.

“Can I kiss you?”

That question gets me more than it should. I nod. “Yes. I'd like that.”

His hand settles at my waist, and I slide mine up around his neck. When we pull apart, he keeps his hand on my waist.

He stays there with his forehead against mine and his hand open at my waist, not pulling me in, not moving me anywhere. I understand he will stand exactly like this for as long as I let him. He’s waiting on me.

After a year of being handled by every person who claims to love me, the man who did the worst version of it is standing in his own kitchen, waiting to be told.

That undoes me faster than anything he has said tonight.

I get my fingers into his hair and pull his mouth back down to mine. This time I don’t let it stay careful. He makes a low sound in his throat that I have not heard in almost a year, and his hand closes hard at my waist. Then he lifts me like I weigh nothing and sets me on the counter I used to sit on to eat his eggs.

My knees fall open to make room for him because they have the answer before I do. He steps in between them and both of his hands land on my thighs. The calluses catch on my leggings in a way that makes me shiver.

"Tallulah." My name lands somewhere under my jaw. “I’ve missed you.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”