by Ray, Marika
Rhett made a strangled sound while his hand reached up, stopping an inch away from my straining nipple. I hadn’t realized she was straining, but looking down, there she was, popping out to say hello at the most unfortunate time, or maybe she was just pissed that she’d essentially had a Band-Aid ripped from her sensitive skin. The tension in the room melted away and reformed as sexual tension coiling in my belly. All I could think about was Rhett closing that one-inch gap and brushing his fingertips across my sensitive skin. I swallowed thickly.
Instead, he backed away and handed me the sticker bra while keeping his gaze trained across the room.
“Just slap it on and let’s get out of here.”
I grabbed it out of his hand, my eye roll covering for how sexually frustrated I was by his refusal to touch me. “That’s not how it works.” I shoved it in my pocket and went to grab my purse from the table in the room by the front door. Leftie was bouncing like she wanted out of my blouse, which felt super awkward. I was not a no-bra kind of girl. Especially awkward when I saw John tilt his head and stare at my chest like he was trying to figure out what was amiss. Rhett must have seen him too as he rushed to join me, keeping me pressed up against him as we let ourselves out the front door.
“I don’t know what the hell a sticker bra is, but I’m thinking I could have used it for my fire hose. You were holding out on me,” Rhett cracked a joke as we walked to the car. I snorted but quickly sobered.
“Not exactly a good time to say our goodbyes,” I muttered. “I’m telling you, these rich people are crazy…”
Rhett pulled open the passenger door for me. “I’ll call Jasper tomorrow and check in on him. Crazy, but sad too, you know?”
He closed the door, rounded the hood, and slid into his seat, pausing after he started the car. He stared out the windshield, as did I. I was lost in my own thoughts. Finding out your significant other had cheated on you was painful. I’d been in Jasper’s shoes, and though there’d been no baby, there was still that same shock and devastation. The shattering of trust cuts you where you least expect it. My heart went out to him.
This was exactly why I didn’t hang out with wacky wealthy people. And this was exactly why I didn’t want to get into a real relationship again. People always let you down and broke your trust. As much as I wanted more nights talking and making out by the firepit—and I definitely wanted the crotch rocket in Rhett’s tight pants—I had to stay away for my own good.
I’d already learned my lesson with the O’Donnell brothers.
I didn’t need to learn it again.
19
Rhett
“Do you think we came off okay?” I rubbed a towel through my hair, shamelessly flexing my abs, knowing Gabby would be staring at me. She tended to do that when I walked around without my shirt, so I found more frequent ways to be shirtless.
The season premiere of Desperate Househusbands had aired last night and all of us couples had gotten together to watch it at Lavender and John’s house in the hills of Coto de Caza. The tension in the air had been palpable. Jasper kept to the back of the room, nursing a bottomless scotch the whole night. Kitty seemed a shell of the woman she’d been, crying softly into her tissue every time the camera showed her and Jasper back in their happier days. We all walked on eggshells, hoping the fireworks of our last get-together didn’t spark into a blazing inferno.
“Yeah, I totally think so.” Just like I’d called it, Gabby was staring at my abs, her hands still absentmindedly turning the pages of the newspaper as she sat in the recliner in our master bedroom. I was actually surprised she still sat there after I’d announced I was taking a shower.
She’d been distant the last few days. Not only had we not kissed again, even for the cameras, but she’d completely pulled away from me in every way that mattered. I baited her repeatedly but couldn’t get her to banter back and forth with me like I’d become accustomed to. It was like she’d dialed down her personality and all she had left for me was a surface version of herself.
I fucking hated it.
My hand went to the knot in the towel around my waist and for a brief moment, I almost considered taking it off, full Monty style, just to get a reaction out of her. At the last second, I discarded the idea, wanting Gabby’s heart and mind more than her body. Yep. I turned into that guy. Brought to my knees by a woman who didn’t even want me back.
“What are you doing today?” I asked instead, heading to the dresser to grab a pair of workout shorts and a T-shirt.
“Um…” Gabby blinked a few times, her cheeks heating, before she looked down at the newspaper like the secret to happiness was written there. “I, uh, just planned a day to relax. My article for Monday is already written, so I’m going to indulge in some reading today after I go see Lily-Marie and the kiddos. You?”
I stepped into my boxers, pulling them on under the towel, like I’d done a million times after surfing. Her eyes fluttered up to my legs and then back down to her paper. Aha! Not as cool and collected as she’d like me to believe. She liked me. She just had some crazy idea in her head about not wanting to want me. I’d have to figure out what it was and disabuse her of that notion.
“Well, I’m meeting the guys for tennis, followed by lunch, and then I’ll be home. I rescheduled our dinner reservations from the night Loni was born to tonight. Seven o’clock okay for you?”
Gabby winced and I had to stop her before she tried to excuse her way out of dinner with me.
“Elle texted me, super excited to see you again. She’s really looking forward to us coming in tonight.” I whipped the towel off, now decent with my shorts on. Gabby’s eyes flickered up again, clearly wanting to look, even if she was trying to rein them in. Enjoying her struggle, I took my time pulling my shirt on.
She nodded vigorously, closed the newspaper, and rushed out of the room saying she had to grab some breakfast.
Gabby always said she wasn’t a quitter, but neither was I. I’d get through to her eventually. I just knew it.
* * *
I pulled up to the country club, my cameraman beside me giving me the hairy eyeball.
“Relax, Paul. I’ll valet it. Just call it an early birthday present.”
He still didn’t thank me for not parking down the steep hill and making him walk, but I knew he liked me.
“You can shoot me from any side. All my sides are my good side.” I winked at him and he snorted, clearly unimpressed. He was a man of few words, but that was okay because I had many.
“You ever film a Wimbledon match?”
No answer.
“Get ready to be impressed. I’ve even been working on my grunt. All the tennis greats have a distinctive grunt. Ready?” I grunted loudly, the noise making him jump and shake his head.
There was a line to get to the valet. I happened to glance at the guy three cars ahead of me walking away from his car and throwing his keys to the valet while his back was to me. My insides froze. I squinted, trying to look through the cars and people in my line of sight. All I could make out was a dark head of hair bobbing its way into the country club.
I would have bet my life that was Hewitt.
Which made zero sense. What would he be doing here? And what were the odds he’d be here the same time I was?
A knock on the window made me jump.
“Sir?” The valet was waiting for me to exit my car.
I rushed to get out and nearly ran into the lobby, glancing left and right to see if I could spot Hewitt. Paul huffed his way behind me, probably wondering what my deal was.
“Rhett! Glad you could make it.” John came out of nowhere and clapped me on the back. “Heads-up: Jasper knows his way around a tennis court and he’s a little pissed off right now, so keep an eye on him.”
I pulled my focus back from the mysterious man who could have been my half-brother but was probably only my overactive imagination. “Aren’t we playing partners?”
John’s greasy smile didn’t make me feel at ease. “Jas
per and I are always partners. You’ll pair up with Frank.”
I couldn’t really picture Frank playing tennis. “Has he ever played before?”
“Nope!” John started laughing and walked out of the lobby, leaving me and Paul to trail after him.
Great. Today would be another embarrassing athletic display where Rhett loses on national television. When we got to our reserved court, Jasper had a white headband and two wristbands on, along with an all white outfit that seemed a little snug, even considering how tight my own pants had been the other night.
“Hey, Jasper. I hear you’re going to mop the floor with us.”
In answer, he merely hopped from foot to foot and then swung his racket, the thing whistling through the air as it narrowly missed my face. I jumped back, thinking about John’s warning. Good Lord, Lord Jasper was a little unstable.
Frank ambled onto the court in long pants and a sweatshirt. I was already hot just standing there in my shorts while the morning sun beat down on us. Thankfully I’d remembered to put sunscreen on my sensitive skin.
“Dude, you gonna be okay in sweats?” I didn’t really want my partner to die of heat exhaustion before we got our asses handed to us by Jasper and John.
Frank gave me two air pistols and then took off his sweatshirt, revealing a tank top below. The goats must be super heavy because he was sporting a surprising amount of muscle.
“You been working out, Frankie?”
He laughed and shrugged like he was embarrassed. But maybe I had that all wrong as in the next second, he leaned down dramatically and grabbed the front of his pants. In one quick tug, he had them flying off, the snaps down the sides giving way. John cheered and Frank took a bow, now in a pair of shorts that reminded me of the ’80s trend making its way back. The shorts were bright pink and a little on the short side, showing off Frank’s long, tan, hairy legs.
“Oh, good. You’ll have good range of motion in those bad boys.” Always have to look at the bright side.
“Damn right, Everett. Now let’s do this thing.” Frank grinned from ear to ear. He was an odd thing, that was for sure.
After we found some loner rackets for Frank and me, we started playing, realizing quickly we didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning a match against Jasper and John. But we kept the conversation light, focusing on playing as well as we could and enjoying some time together.
Jasper finally opened up between serves and talked about how things were going with Kitty. He was angry, understandably so. He and Kitty had finally talked the night before and tried to work out their differences to see if they could salvage their marriage. John gave him good advice about needing to go to couples therapy.
When the sweat had soaked through Jasper’s industrial headband, we called it a day and headed to the restaurant on-site. We sat down and guzzled the ice water before trying to keep up the conversation. The cameramen hovered around us, but at this point, they didn’t seem intrusive. I was so used to them by now, I didn’t even mind.
“You know, you and Kitty should spend some time with my goats,” Frank blurted out randomly.
Jasper’s forehead wrinkled. “Why’s that?”
Frank nodded solemnly. “They have a way of reigniting a primal fire. Why do you think Natalia and I are so happy?” With that truth bomb dropped like a fart in church, he tore off a slice of bread from the basket and began to eat.
I shook my head. Every time I thought these guys might be normal, one of them had to do something so bizarre I questioned whether they were in touch with reality at all. Magical goats healing marriages? Get the fuck outta here, La la land.
20
Rhett
I pulled out the chair for Gabby, my jaw clenching as she swept her skirt to the side and had a seat, letting me push her closer to the white linen tablecloth covering the table at Austin and Elle’s restaurant. They’d reserved their best table, tucked into the corner, hidden by potted plants, yet boasting an ocean view that took your breath away.
Gabby had been quiet all day since I got home from tennis and quite frankly, I was done with it. If we were to go on pretending to be in a relationship, then we needed to at least be friendly to each other. If she didn’t want a real relationship, then I’d have to take her refusal and suck it up to finish the job I signed up for.
“Why’s Paul all the way over there?” Gabby craned her neck to see our cameraman on the far end of the restaurant, already noshing on a breadstick.
I sat down and smoothed the black napkin across my lap. “I paid him to give us some space tonight.”
Gabby’s gaze snapped to mine. “You can do that?”
I shrugged. “Apparently so. I think the unlimited breadsticks was more of an incentive, but he took my money too.”
Her expression turned guarded. “Why did you do that?”
I leaned my elbows on the table. “It seems to me like you and I need to have a heart-to-heart and we can’t do that with a camera in our faces.”
She bristled, her chin lifting in that way of hers that meant she was gearing up for an argument. I didn’t want to argue. I just wanted to come to an understanding.
Her red nails tapped out a rhythm on the table. I covered her hand with mine, wishing I could hold her hand anytime I wanted. “I don’t want to fight with you. I just want us to go back to being friends, the way we were. Laughing, sharing, being silly. I obviously pushed too hard too fast about wanting to date for real and it spooked you. I’m sorry for that.”
She sighed, her shoulders drooping. “Rhett. It’s not that. A big part of me would love to date you for real. Believe me.” Her cheeks heated and I wondered what all she meant by that comment. “But I have to be realistic. You love adventure and doing crazy things and I—well, I just don’t. I mean, I did love paddle boarding with you, but you have to force me to go. You need someone who loves adventure as much as you do. I’m kind of boring.”
Gabby laughed, but I couldn’t participate in her self-deprecation. How dare she talk about herself like that? She was so far from boring, I couldn’t even fathom where she got that idea. Before I could argue about that point, she went on.
“And then the whole Kitty thing reminded me I’m just not ready to trust someone again. I mean, I trusted Hew and look how that turned out. He had all these money issues with me, and I tried my hardest to not let it affect us and after all of that, he still cheated on me. Five years together and he just threw it away. Threw me away.” She shook her head, eyes shiny with unshed tears.
The sight of her tears and how hard she fought them back nearly killed me. I would take a bullet for this woman and here she was hung up on some guy who never even deserved her. I knew what it was like to seek approval from someone else, and oddly enough, I sought it from the same person who trampled on her self-esteem. The two of us were in a losing game. We were free of him, but we were still caught in his web.
I squeezed her hand while she blinked repeatedly, trying to compose herself.
“First of all, you’re not boring at all. Whoever told you that—and I can just about guess which twat waffle said it—should be slapped with a jellyfish. You don’t even see yourself, Gabby. You spend money with the ease of a wealthy person, but you have the heart of a hippie making friends everywhere you go. You laugh freely and loudly, but keep this self-doubt locked away deep inside you where no one can touch it or help you get free of it. You love fiercely—have you seen how obsessed your godchildren are with you?—yet you can’t believe that someone could love you that way in return. You’re multidimensional in a way that has me starstruck. You’re so far from boring, I can’t believe you swallowed that lie hook, line, and sinker.”
Gabby stared at me, completely motionless as I got worked up. Now that I unleashed, I couldn’t seem to stop. “You came on this show to stand up to your ex and prove you’d moved on. Why don’t you move on for real, Gabby? Forget faking it. Grab hold of your life and really move on. Think how much better you’ll feel knowing
you’re getting back on the horse for real. Whether you and I work out in the end is not the point. The point is that you need to truly let go of all the bullshit programming Hewitt left in your brain. We’ll figure it out together.”
The waiter came to the table with the bottle of champagne I’d ordered ahead of time, his look hesitant as if he felt the tension at the table. He set the bottle down after filling our glasses and backed away. I took the break for what it was and sat back in my chair, releasing Gabby’s hand. I couldn’t make this decision for her. She had to make it on her own. I’d said my piece.
She swallowed hard and looked at the waves hitting the sand right outside the window. I could practically see her arguing with herself in her own her head. She was so damn smart. I only prayed she saw the truth to my words.
“How did you do it?” she whispered, still not looking at me.
I frowned. “Do what?”
She brought her brown eyes back to me and I nearly rejoiced at the softening I saw in them. She was finally open and raw.
“Let go of all the things he told you. How did you get him out of your head?”
I laid my hand back on hers, absently stroking her soft skin. “I don’t know that I’ve fully succeeded in that arena. I’ve questioned everything he ever said about me. I know who I am. But there’s still a small part of me that seeks his approval, wishes for it.”
“If he came to you today and asked for your help, would you give it to him?”
Oh, how quickly the tables had turned. Now I was the one being scrutinized and found wanting. Her question terrified me, only because I knew the answer and knew it was the wrong one. As much as I wanted to be the man who stood on his own two feet and didn’t look to anyone else for my self-worth, I wouldn’t lie to her. She’d had enough of that.
“I’d probably say yes,” I whispered back.
She nodded, her eyes as sad as I felt.