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If I’d come to her place today and had only gotten that, I would have been completely content. But it seemed it was my lucky day, because I’d gotten something a whole lot better instead.
I was just grateful I’d had the forethought to tell my parents it wasn’t likely I’d be able to make it over for dinner tonight. Since I didn’t know what Rhea’s intention was with inviting me over today, I figured it was better to play it safe and let my family know I wouldn’t be around ahead of time.
So, being here in Rhea’s bed now with her naked body pressed close and being held firmly in my arms after we’d just had all that we did, I hadn’t been expecting the words she’d just asked me.
She thought what happened between us had complicated things. I believed the opposite to be true. But since I wanted to ease whatever concerns or fears she had, I thought it was critical to not only reassure her of where I stood, but to also give her the chance to explain her position. “Not at all. What makes you say that?”
Rhea lifted her head from my chest, giving me the opportunity to see her beautiful face, and replied, “You’re supposed to be the enemy.”
I cocked a brow. “Do you really believe that?”
She shook her head slightly, her fingertips absentmindedly stroking over the skin on my chest. “I did for a while, but it’s become abundantly clear just how wrong I was.”
Though I was relieved to hear that, there was a question still nagging at me. “Do you regret what we just had?”
“Not at all. I loved everything about it,” she assured me, her voice almost sounding wounded that I could have considered she’d felt that way.
I smiled, relieved she felt the same about what we’d just shared as I did. “So, what makes you think we’ve complicated things?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m just worried that perhaps this step we’ve taken might lead you to believe that I’ll be more willing to negotiate on the land. I don’t like thinking we crossed this line and that might be in the back of your head,” she explained.
The arm I had wrapped around her back tightened, an attempt to reassure her. “Rhea, have you ever heard the phrase, never mix business with pleasure?”
A look of horror washed over her face as her body tensed and she squeaked, “Yeah.”
“I want you to know right now that this isn’t that for me. Not at all. I was serious when I told you earlier today not to worry about the land any longer, and I’m sorry for any strife it caused you and your family.”
Rhea’s body relaxed, melting into mine again. I loved feeling the weight of her against me like this. With her cheek resting against my chest again, she asked, “So, this is really just about the two of us for you?”
I allowed my fingertips to trace random patterns delicately over her skin. “For me, it wasn’t about anything other than you and the way I feel about you. And somewhere deep down, I’ve got to believe it was the same for you with me. I want to believe that’s what this was for you.”
She hesitated a beat, making me second guess myself. The silence lingered for so long, I grew more and more worried, and just when I was about to press her for a response, she said, “I hate that you could have the thought in your mind that it had anything to do with my ex.”
That was a relief. “I don’t want to push you to talk about something that might be so uncomfortable, but I’ve got to ask if this guy is somebody we need to be worried about.”
Rhea sighed. “He’s not anyone you need to be worried about when it comes to the two of us and the way we feel about one another. That’s about the only promise I can give you when it comes to him.”
I wanted her to be a bit more specific about what she meant when she referred to the two of us feeling the way we do about each other, but I didn’t think I’d get the answers I needed about her ex if I took us down that road first. So, I started with the one thing I knew wouldn’t distract me and have me wanting to go another round with her.
“Would you be okay with telling me what happened with the two of you that would lead him to think he’d get somewhere showing up at your place today?” I asked.
My hand rose on Rhea’s side as she inhaled deeply. I could only assume she was preparing herself to share some memories that were less than sweet. Following a long exhale, she did just that. “Tristan could be best described as a spoiled rich kid. I’d like to say it was something I could see from the start, but I hadn’t. His family has a coal mining business, and they make a lot of money. Tristan reaps all the benefits of his family’s business, but he doesn’t know what it’s like to work. When we first started dating, I was blind to that fact.”
She paused a moment to gather her thoughts. I continued to trace random patterns on her skin. “I don’t know if I was simply caught up in something new and willfully blind, or if he was just that good at hiding it. Either way, regardless of what he did day in and day out, his personal life was all about having a good time. And while I’m not some kind of workaholic or anything and like to enjoy myself in my downtime, Tristan was on another level. The longer we were together, the worse it became. His life was one big party, and I couldn’t keep up. I didn’t want to keep up.”
Rhea lifted her head from my chest to look at me. “I’ve always envisioned a life that kept me here on the farm, raising my own family one day. I didn’t grow up with millions of dollars like Tristan did, but I had everything I needed, everything that made me happy. I won’t lie and say that financial security isn’t important or that I never enjoyed a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant, but the excessive spending and relentless traveling that Tristan did was far too much. It wasn’t the life I wanted to live. After a while, probably longer than I should have waited, I expressed my concerns to Tristan. Sadly, he never seemed to take them seriously.”
A look of disappointment washed over her before she shook it off and continued, “Things ended between us a little over ten months ago after months and months of me trying to get him to understand I wasn’t interested in doing all the same things he was. Ever since I broke things off, he’s attempted to reach out to me. I answered a few calls in the beginning, but eventually realized that wasn’t helping. So, I stopped. He’d been calling me more regularly recently, and when he called my shop the other day, I never gave him the opportunity to speak. Maybe I should have, and we could have avoided this today.”
Rhea stopped speaking and searched my face. I couldn’t work out what she was thinking, but after she’d shared all she did, I thought it was probably wise for me to respond. “I should probably apologize,” I began. “I didn’t want to eavesdrop this afternoon, Rhea, but it was sort of unavoidable when I heard you getting worked up. I would have stayed out of it, but once he started making it seem like you weren’t good enough to have someone be with you for you, that he would be the best you’d ever have, I couldn’t hold myself back.”
A small smile spread across her face. “I was a bit shocked you’d jumped in when you did, but I’m not upset about it.”
I returned the smile as my hand moved from her hip toward her ass and cupped her there. “I’m happy to hear that. And maybe him showing up here today wasn’t ideal, but I’m glad it happened when I was with you. Not only because I don’t think he would have left when he did if I wasn’t here, but also because it made it impossible for me to continue hiding how I really feel about you.”
She dropped her gaze from mine briefly. That shy demeanor was such a stark contrast to the woman she’d shown me she was from the start. I squeezed her ass, a silent demand for her to look at me. When she did, I asked, “Why does that make you shy?”
In the position she was in, she did her best to shrug while she tipped her head to one side. “I don’t know. I guess I’m still in a bit of shock that we’re here right now, that you said what you did to Tristan about who you were.”
