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“You won’t. You’ve already won them over with a dog and an extra set of hands.”
I crease my brows. “You can’t know that. They haven’t met my dog.”
His retort is silenced by the door swinging open.
“Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?”
Cami, my dog sitter, immediately holds out her hand to Ghost for a sniff before the gentle pit bull nudges her nose into her open palm. The sweet brunette brings her face closer for a slobbery doggy kiss.
“You two know each other,” Rhett states, not quite asking with an undercurrent of unease. What’s wrong with having met one of his friends already?
“She watched my dog while I met with a client.”
“And she’s the best dog ever! Even though she can’t hear me,” Cami coos and scratches beneath Ghost’s chin.
Rhett’s eyes meet mine for a silent beat before he cracks a smirk. “What’d I tell you?”
“I’m missing something,” Cami suddenly announces and rises from her crouch as she relieves me of the leash. “How do you two know each other?”
Rhett cocks his head, his smirk transforming into one full of sinful secrets. “It’s a small town. I thought I’d help her get familiar.”
“With what, your bed?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.”
My shoulders fall back as I stand tall at the implication. How dare he. Before I can say as much, Cami signals my dog to follow her and heads inside.
“I won’t keep you on the porch. We need all the hands we can get.”
Rhett moves to follow, but I snag his bicep in my hand. Shaking off how nice the rounded ball of hard muscle feels, I wait until I have his attention. Once again, his eyes meet mine, though this time, they’re guarded.
“What was that?”
A muscle twitches in his jaw. “It’s nothing.”
“Not nothing. Not when you make it seem like I’m just the current lay you didn’t have time to kick out of bed this morning. What was that?”
He flicks his attention to the open door and beyond. “I’ll share later.”
“Look at me.” I wait for him to return his wary gaze. “We’re all allowed to have secrets. I get that I stood on a mountain yesterday and bared more of mine than is probably normal, and I’m not asking you to do the same. But please don’t tarnish my character to people I’ve hardly met. It’s hurtful.”
Warm palms cup each of my elbows as his face falls into one of regret. Our bodies inch closer together on the small porch.
“My friends don’t know about where I’m staying, and I want to keep it that way until I sort my situation out. Rumors are that I make my home in many beds across town. It seemed like the easiest lie. I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how it’d make you feel or look to them. They’re used to me sleeping around.”
Brushing away the comment about many beds takes a surprising amount of willpower, considering he and I just met. I squeeze where my hand still rests. Seeing as I don’t want my own family to know where I am, I’d probably panic too.
“Apology accepted. Just don’t do it again. Cami’s been watching my dog for me, and I’d hate to lose that relationship because she thinks I’m just your flavor of the weekend.”
He tugs me closer and dips his head to level me with his gaze. “Never again. You have my word.”
The seriousness of his tone convinces me nearly as much as his handsome face. From this close, I can see the lines fanning from the corner of his eyes. His lower lip is slightly larger than the top one, but both are soft and kissable. The sharp line of his jaw entices me to run my fingers along it. Somehow, he still manages to keep his cheeks smooth of stubble while sleeping in his car and using a gas station bathroom.
He shakes both my elbows. “Let’s go. They’re probably already gossiping about us, and staying out here gives them more reasons not to stop.”
“Right,” I mumble, a little thrown off course. These past two days have packed an emotional punch, and it confuses the hell out o
f me. This across-country getaway is supposed to help me find myself, not find myself tied to someone else.
