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And she was as stubborn as they came. Fuck, she was feisty.
Or, well, she’d been that way with me.
Because when I first saw her in her shop, she’d had another patron there. And Rhea had been smiling. Pleasant, even.
Of course, I hadn’t initially realized she was who she was—I’d anticipated meeting with the matron of the family. Rhea was not that at all, and when I first learned who she was, I’d foolishly told myself this could turn out to be more fun than I thought. Why wouldn’t I want to work closely with this beautiful woman?
Unfortunately, Rhea being as obstinate as she was quickly shot down any of the positive feelings I had about being the one responsible for handling this for my family.
But I couldn’t deny that when I thought about the way she looked and combined that with her sassy personality, it was quite the turn-on. It made me think, even for just a few brief moments, that it’d be worth forgetting all about the work I had to do, just so I could focus on getting into her good graces for an entirely different reason.
Too bad that attraction was only one-sided.
Things might not have been going as smoothly as I had anticipated from the start, but at least I had a reason to hope now. At least I’d convinced her to take this run with me today.
Fortunately, I was quickly learning how Rhea worked, and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to use that to my advantage.
I got out of my car as soon as she parked, and I started moving in her direction.
“Good morning, Rhea,” I greeted her with a smile on my face.
She did not return the smile. “Wyatt.”
Just that one word was all it took. I did not need to like the way this woman said my name, but there was nothing I could do about it. I certainly wasn’t going to tell her to stop and ruin any of the progress I’d made regarding her willingness to be in the same vicinity as me. “Are you ready to try something different today?”
Rhea offered me a look of indifference. “I didn’t really need to prepare myself for this. I run every day, and I’m sure this is going to be fine.”
She was so determined. I wondered if she was like this all the time, or if she was merely acting like this as a response to me, a hope that she might be able to push me away.
Not wanting her to think she was succeeding in doing that, if it had been her plan, I grinned. “I’m glad to hear that. I can’t wait to see what you think when we finish. If you need to take a break at all while we’re running, just let me know.”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted.
I sent her a look that I hoped indicated I was looking forward to seeing her prove that to me.
Without hesitating, we made our way over to the entrance to the hiking trails. I looked down at Rhea one last time, and after getting a nod from her, we took off. As was the case yesterday, we ran together in silence, our pace steady. Admittedly, since my strides were normally longer than hers, I’d learned how to shorten that stride slightly while reducing my speed just a touch. That kept us running side by side.
At first, everything had been going just as I had expected. There was nothing to indicate to me that Rhea wouldn’t be able to prove she’d have no problem keeping up.
But then it changed.
While she didn’t make any move to tell me she was struggling and was refusing to say anything about it to me, I noticed. I could hear her breathing a bit heavier, and she grunted a few times through the discomfort she was feeling.
I loved seeing the fire and determination in her, realizing it was something I’d likely need to contend with moving forward with my business plans. Of course, at the same time, I recognized her resolve was precisely the reason I’d need that much more patience, because it wasn’t going to be easy to get her to a place where she’d start to break down those barriers.
Feeling a sense of fondness for her, loving that drive she had, I didn’t want to make this miserable for her. So, I decided to ease her struggle by slowing down just a touch.
It was just what she needed.
The grunts faded, and her labored breathing had evened out.
Though it had bothered me a bit that she had insisted she didn’t want us talking to one another, I was beginning to see a bright side to it. Without probably even realizing it, Rhea was giving me the opportunity to pick up on all the other things—the way her body moved when she had to run ahead of me whenever the trail narrowed, the sound of her breathing, and her unwavering stubbornness.
I was enjoying every bit of it, and I found myself looking forward to learning more about her.
But as much as I was learning to enjoy the silence on the runs, I would have been lying if I said that by the time we made it back to where we started, I wasn’t eager to be able to have a few words with her.
“What did you think?” I asked her.
