by Lindsey Hart
“Yeah?” Rhett’s left brow nearly shot to the sky. “It felt like we had some pretty good chemistry back there.”
“Just because you’re good with your tongue doesn’t make us compatible. It doesn’t mean anything will work and clearly, we like different things. Clearly, we’re comfortable with different things. I’m not your type. Plain and simple.”
Rhett growled low in his throat. “Would you stop telling me what my type is? Last time I checked I’m the only one who could decide what I do and don’t like and let me tell you, I like you, Bella. I thought that was clear, being that I flew halfway across the country and sat down and got a permanent fucking tattoo just so I could talk to you again.”
“You could have just stalked me to find out my address and come and rang the bell.”
“Would you have answered?”
“Definitely not.”
“Well then…”
“So, you like me, but you don’t like the head I give? I’m too dirty for you. Clearly.” Bella moved her hands to her hips. She stared Rhett down and he stared back at her. “I don’t need to play coy until I get what I want, because I don’t have a hidden agenda. I’m not like the other women you’ve been with and I’m sure as hell not a bit like my sister.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Rhett’s mouth dropped open incredulously. “No, let me get this straight. You think that I think that it’s a bad thing. That you aren’t afraid to go after what you want? That you don’t play games?”
He slowly shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end in a spot near the back. It isn’t cute. He’s not cute. That damn hair sticking up isn’t cute. Nothing about him is cute. Don’t give in. Stay strong.
Slowly, she nodded.
“Come on, Bella. I’m standing out here, nude, in the middle of a field. There’s currently a mosquito biting my ass and probably ten more where that came from on my back. Can we please just go back to the car? I promise that I like you. I like everything about you. I- I definitely liked what you were doing. I just- maybe I’m the shy one. Maybe I really think a guy should be a gentleman and maybe, it’s been a hell of a long time- if ever- that someone offered to do that for me and maybe I just- maybe… is it okay for a guy to be the uncomfortable one? The shy one? The one that wants to wait a little bit before we do absolutely everything? Is that alright with you or should I just hand you my man-card right here and my balls in a bag?”
Bella’s stomach tightened. Okay, maybe she’d been a little too quick to take offense. Maybe she was too used to guys who honestly were just assholes. Guys who wanted to use her. Guys who manipulated her. Guys who screwed with her head and heart.
Maybe she was just so fucking jaded she wasn’t cut out for this dating bullshit.
Especially not with a guy like Rhett. Because he really was too nice, and he’d already been through hell and back with her sister. Bella honestly had no idea what he was even doing standing there.
She glanced back to the car. “You left the door open. The light is on. I bet it’s full of mosquitoes by now. It won’t be much of a refuge.”
“We could always take our chances with the house.”
“Ha, no.”
Rhett sighed. “Will you at least let me drive you home?”
“Naked?”
Rhett snorted. “I don’t know about that. I’ll probably get dressed first so I don’t get arrested.”
“And so that your bandage is covered up. I hate to tell you, but it’s actually leaking plasma and blood and goo down your leg right now.” Bella glanced to the edge of the bandage, where, sure enough, their little extracurricular activities had disturbed the tape around the edges and the wound was leaking. That was nothing new. Hers always did that unless the shop had those second skin bandages that they basically taped on. Those things were wicked to take off after though and she much preferred the leaky bandages.
“Oh- my- god.” Rhett paused and it was pretty funny, him standing there, bent over, inspecting his leg, butt fucking nude.
It was even funnier that he was right. He did have a mosquito drinking right from one tight ass cheek. God help her, she was right earlier when she said she wanted to bite that ass. He had a delicious looking ass. It was perfectly round and so hard that the person who made up the quarter bouncing saying was probably looking at an ass just like it when they’d made it up. Or tried it.
Bella wasn’t sure what was wrong with her. She had zero control or resistance when it came to Rhett. He was also the last person she should ever have considered doing half the things she’d done with. She should have dropped him off at his house right after the whole church fiasco. She should never, ever have seen his dick. Not then. Not now. She shouldn’t want to see it tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. Because that implied commitment and she’d learned a long time ago that she and the big C didn’t mix. She’d tried it. More than once. It. Didn’t. Work. EVER.
“It won’t work, you know,” she started, but her voice was softer. She already knew she was talking herself out of her own words. “My mom. She would kill me. My dad would be ashamed. My sisters would have my head. They would all assume exactly what you said. That this is just for some kind of twisted form of revenge. Me solidifying, forever, my black sheep identity. Then, there’s your mom. There’s everyone we know. There’s the fact we don’t live in the same city. There’s also the whole point of opposites definitely do not attract. Or if they do, they don’t work out. We’re way too different.”
Rhett slowly straightened. Bella did her best to keep her eyes trained on his face. “And here I thought I was just coming here for closure.” His slow smile told her that he wasn’t serious.
“You usually find closure by banging people?”
“I don’t know,” Rhett confessed. “I’ve never tried it.”
“Did it work this time?”
“I don’t know that either. Because we haven’t banged yet.”
Bella tried to think of another witty comeback. She tried to think of another reason why it wouldn’t work. Another way to turn Rhett down and send him packing. So that she’d never have to see him again. So that she could stop thinking about him.
Except it didn’t work. She was horrified to find that she did want to see him again. She didn’t want to send him packing, and she knew there was no way she’d stop thinking about him. Ever.
Somehow, someway, he was already under her skin. There was something about him that stood out. That she didn’t want to let go of.
“Well… er- we can go back to your hotel room and uh- put some salve on those bites and wash out that tattoo and put your leg up.”
“That’s all?” Rhett held out his hand, a gesture of peace or some shit. Bella wasn’t actually sure, because he was naked, and still insanely hard, and it was impossible to tell what the gesture really meant.
“Well… maybe we can bang and see if we find closure. Or whatever. See if it works.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then it doesn’t. At least we tried. We can decide where we want to go from there.”
Bella didn’t want to do it. She didn’t want to step forward and put her hand in Rhett’s. She didn’t want to trust him or open up her heart to him or to anyone, to risk getting hurt again. And she was pretty sure that they were destined for a bad ending. You couldn’t date- er well- do anything really, with your sister’s ex-fiancé and have that shit work out.
She stepped forward and set her hand in Rhett’s outstretched palm anyway.
She’d never been overly smart when it came to men… naked men… with sad, soulful eyes and muscles of steel. No, she wasn’t smart at all.
CHAPTER 14
Rhett
Itchy, sore, and irritated, Rhett was pretty damn glad when he pulled up to his hotel. He was even more relieved to walk into his room. All he wanted was to sprawl out on the bed, relax for a second, and pretend the last hour of silence in the car- and everything before that- hadn
’t happened.
Bella was there. That was a good sign. She hadn’t changed her mind and demanded to be driven back to her place.
But honestly, what was a little humiliation in the long run? And a few bug bites? And a permanent tattoo that took up his whole thigh and ached like a bitch. Okay, the last two would pass. They were just uncomfortable at the moment.
“You know, I managed to get away without a single bite. They must not have liked my blood,” Bella said, as though she could read his mind, and she probably could, given that he’d plunked down on the edge of the bed and was currently trying to scratch his back raw. A task made all that much more impossible by the fact that he couldn’t seem to reach any of the spots that itched.
“You’re lucky.”
She took pity on him and sat down beside him. “Here. Let me help.”
“Thanks.”
Her nails above his t-shirt felt like heaven. Seriously. His cock had deflated on the way home, but it kicked back to life and went right back to siphoning all the blood out of his brain again. Or maybe that was the mosquitoes he had to blame for that. Either way, something wasn’t processing right again.
“I should probably warn you that when that tattoo starts healing, it’s going to feel a hundred times worse than it does now. Not as sore or burning or throbbing or whatever it’s doing at the moment-”
“It’s doing all of those at the moment.”
“Yeah. It can be a bitch after.”
“I’m not sure why anyone gets these things. But anyway, tell me what you were going to say about how it gets worse.”
“Oh.” Bella went on itching his back lightly and he leaned into it. The madness from the itch started to leave his system as she worked her magic. “That. Yeah, well when it starts healing, like really healing, it will likely peel and then it just gets so itchy. Like you want to tear your leg off and eat it for breakfast just so it stops itching itchy.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah. It’s annoying. The healing part is the worst part of getting them I think. I can live with the pain but the healing just gets worse and worse the more tattoos you end up getting.”
“Why would you do that to yourself?”
“Honestly…” Bella hesitated. Her nails stopped their trail for a second before they resumed their light perusal of his back. “I guess it’s a kind of therapy at first. Or maybe people just like the art or something. Or they’re curious. For me, it was definitely therapy. I wanted some pain. I thought this was the best way.”
“What do you mean you wanted some pain?”
Her nails stopped again. “I don’t know you well enough to talk about that. Just- I guess, I don’t really want to get into it, but I will say that sometimes shit hurts and life hurts and uh- it gets to be a lot to deal with and I know that I take things in and dwell on them and I feel things really deeply, and sometimes, the only way to get them out is through physical crap. Like going for a long run or working out really hard or- through tattoos. I was just interested in them at first. I liked the way they looked, and I thought that girls who had them were pretty badass. I never wanted bad ones. Like, I always wanted the art to be good. I cared about that way more. Then I couldn’t stop. I enjoy it. I got to be good friends with the artists who I went to. I liked meeting people that way. Making friends who had common interests and were a little fucked up too. Artsy people usually are, you know.”
“Er… I guess so.” Rhett figured he knew what she was talking about. He wasn’t an artist though, so he wasn’t exactly sure he truly got it. He didn’t profess to know what it felt like to want to hurt yourself and not know how to get it out or deal with things in a different way. He’d never really felt like that. Except for his wedding. When he took all that pain and rage and hurt and bottled it, or rather, drank it away, and then he’d done something physical about it alright.
But that probably wasn’t really what Bella was talking about. And he’d liked it…
Or maybe it was.
“And then I got so many and got to know so many people so well. When one shop turned their receptionist into their apprentice, I got offered a job. I was just working at a plumbing heating company and it was bullshit and I was doing waitressing on the side and I hated that too, so I was really happy to be doing something that I actually liked. And it was way easier to get tattoos and now, I at least get a discount.”
Rhett was glad that Bella’s tone was still light. She wasn’t pissed off like he thought she was on the drive home. Maybe it was just easier for them both to be silent after the awkward as hell exchange in the field.
He still couldn’t believe he stood out there naked.
He’d never done anything like that in his life.
“Don’t worry. Once this one heals, you’ll probably think you never want another and then one day you’ll see this piece of art you really love or you’ll get all inspired and you’ll be back for another before you know it.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Bella jumped up behind him and plopped back down at his side. She winked at him. “Never say never.” He liked that her playful side was back, and he actually breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t perma-hate him for the misunderstanding in the car. He was still baffled, but then again, he was a guy. Maybe he just didn’t get it. Maybe he’d never fully understand. He was okay with that. He just didn’t want her to be mad at him.
He glanced at her arms, at the ink swirling around. One sleeve was black ink, the other was color. The black sleeve looked like a whole thing while the other arm was little tattoos and large tattoos that weren’t interconnected to each other.
“Would you tell me what they mean?” He indicated the ink he could see at the moment.
Bella winked again. “Nope. That’s way too personal. Although…” she pointed at a squid taking down a ship. “That one I got because I liked it. Actually, most of the things on this arm I got because I liked them. I saw something similar and had people draw their version of it for me.” She pointed to a red and purple rose. “I like this one. I mean, I have lots of roses, but I like this one best. And this one…” she moved her hand up and indicated a unicorn and a doughnut. “I seriously got these just because I saw them online and thought they were super funny and cute. And random. That’s it. No story behind those ones. Don’t ask me about my sleeve though. Like, for years, and I doubt we’ll make it that long, so I’m sure I’m safe.”
“Never say never. You might be surprised.” He parroted a version of her earlier words back to her.
“Seriously, I doubt it. But let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about closure.”
“What if I don’t want closure? What if I want to have sex with you and I want it to be good and I know it will be because it was the first time, and I want it again and again and I don’t want it to end or ever be over.”
“That’s not closure at all then.”
“I guess I changed my mind.”
“Or you’re going against your better judgment, just like I am. Like I did when I agreed to get in that car with you knowing full well how it was going to end up.”
“I screwed that up. I’m sorry.”
Instead of getting mad at him, Bella’s lips quirked up. “I might have some hang-ups from assholes in the past. I don’t want to talk about it. Ever. Maybe I have some hang-ups about this too, given who you are. Given that I don’t do this. Date. Be with people. Ever. I thought I’d take a break since it never worked out in the past. I’m sorry I got offended far too easily and stalked off like a crazy person. I mean, most people probably think I’m crazy because what normal woman gets this many tattoos, but really, I’m pretty normal. Even if I am the black sheep of my family. I feel like doing the opposite of what they want is more normal than not.”
“I’m not going to argue you with you there. I spent seven years as a part of that family. I was glad to get out.”
“Yet you’re here with me.”
“You’re different.”
“What if I’m not?”
“You are.”
“You don’t know that.”
Rhett shifted. Bella sat frozen. She didn’t pull away when he brought his hand up and caressed her cheek. She was warm, her skin as soft as velvet. His hands weren’t rough, but he felt like they were rough next to her. “You are.”
She didn’t protest when he brought his face close to hers. She closed her eyes and parted her lips in invitation. That was all he needed. He was done talking. It was easy to forget about the car, about the field, about the silent drive home, and get right back to where they were before when his lips met hers.
That instant chemistry was back, the buzz that ripped through his veins, the high that he was constantly riding. She was like a drug. The best drug. He wanted more. He never wanted to stop. He kissed her, explored her mouth, took his time, started up the fire that ravaged his bloodstream and consumed his entire existence. He lost himself in her.
When he pulled away, her eyes flickered open. They were both breathing heavily. She’d said she thought it wouldn’t work. That they had no chemistry. That this was supposed to be a form of closure, but she wasn’t looking at him like that. Instead, there was warmth in her gaze and something equally as warm and soft flooded his chest.
It felt a little like- like a crush. Like he was back in high school and Bella was that unattainable bad girl that moms warned their sons to stay away from. Of course, he was drawn to her like a beacon, but it was only because he knew that underneath those layers of wit and humor, she’d been hurt before. Just like he had. Because they weren’t high school kids with their first crush. They were adults who had been out in the real world for a long time. Long enough to get jaded. To become afraid. To build up walls.