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“Drive safe,” he said.
“Yeah.”
He let go and she pulled the door shut.
Just before she went to pull away, he knocked on her window. She lowered it. “I have this feeling,” he said, “that you’re going to be really good at combat.”
The tightness in her throat eased up. She smiled and laughed under her breath.
Rhett smiled back and waited until she’d backed out before he headed off toward his Jeep. He had the tiniest limp to his step.
Constance took a shower, then faced herself in the steamy mirror, scissors in hand. She slid them back into the drawer, leaving her hair untouched, then ran her fingertips over her lips. Eyes closed, the scent of Rhett’s skin hit her, even though she’d showered.
She put on her pajamas, snapped off the light, slid under the covers and thought about that kiss. In hindsight, she couldn’t believe her nerve. It was as though she’d had no control over her body whatsoever. Or, maybe more rightly, for the first time in a long time, she’d had complete control over her body.
Constance didn’t know if Rhett had expected, wanted or enjoyed that kiss at all. But it made no difference. She’d given it to him, and she wasn’t taking it back.
Rhett lay awake in bed, reliving those last moments with Stanzi for as long as his sleepy mind would allow. He wanted to tell himself that he’d seen it coming, because Rhett didn’t like being caught off guard. He also wanted to tell himself that she’d taken him completely by surprise, because then he’d be excused from letting the kiss happen.
Neither one was true.
There were many places along the way Rhett could have prevented that kiss. He should’ve let her walk out the door, right after class. Her demeanor was stiff, if not cold, and she wanted to go. Yet, he persisted she stay. During their Combat session, he should’ve stood up as soon as she’d made her last strike. Rather than take her hand and draw her in closer, he should’ve said, “This is the part where you keep hitting soft targets, or you turn and run like hell.” That’s what he would’ve said to a class, or to any other woman training with him.
Instead of running like hell, she’d let him draw her closer.
Now he was left to lie alone in his bed, thinking about the strawberry scent of her hair, the feel of her soft lips against his own and her breath on his cheek.
Shit happens, and Rhett was no teenager. But gentle seduction hadn’t been on the menu for a long time. Even in his on-again, off-again with Katrina—an ex who was sort of an ex and sort of not?—their sex had become more like mutual masturbation than a connection of any kind between the two of them.
Despite the fact that Stanzi’s lips had done little more than brush gently over his, Rhett couldn’t remember the last time he’d been kissed like that.
Had he ever been kissed like that?
Stanzi’s kiss, in and of itself, was a delicious thing. It was delicate, sweet and promising. Genuine, like her personality. But what was even more dangerous waswhyshe’d kissed him.
Rhett didn’t actually know why.
But he’dfeltwhy.
The power behind that kiss had paralyzed him like dart venom. In that moment, Stanzi could have done anything—kiss him more passionately, slip her hand into his pants or even slit his throat—and he would’ve let her. That’s how good it felt.
And that wasn’t a place he was comfortable with.
His phone buzzed. Normally, once he was in bed, he didn’t touch his cell. He grappled for it on the nightstand and ended up knocking it to the floor. He cursed as he felt around for it, then clicked it open to reveal a text message.
It was from Angie. Letting him know they’d made it to the airport—her, the boys and Devon’s mom—and would be catching the red-eye home. Rhett blew out a sigh of disappointment. He didn’t realize just how much he’d been hoping the text was from Stanzi until it wasn’t. He typed back, told Angie to be safe and, as always, to let him know if she needed anything.
He clicked off the volume and slid the phone back to the nightstand. If the phone buzzed again, he didn’t want to hear it. He wanted to close his eyes, drift into hopefully dreamless sleep and make it to the morning.
As soon as his heavy lids shut, the kiss popped into his head. Rather than push it away, he embraced it. There were worse ways to fall asleep. Whether what came of that moment would be good or not, he couldn’t say. But that moment itself had been amazing.
Fuck it. Nothing else had to come of it, but he wasn’t going to insult the power of that kiss with wussy feelings like regret. Tonight, a beautiful woman had given him a beautiful thing.
No matter what happened, he was keeping it.
