by A. M. Wilson
I’m about to step under the heavenly spray when my phone vibrates with Rhett’s reply.
Rhett: Monday.
His one-word response sends a slight pang through me. I hope the run-in this morning didn’t change his opinion of me. As soon as the thought comes, a follow-up text vibrates the phone in my hand and chases it away.
Rhett: Still have the taste of you on my tongue. Have a good weekend, Rosie.
18
Rhett
I parallel park across the street from Calypso’s just before five on Monday night, wanting to kick my own ass for being here. I don’t know why I agreed to come. My knowledge of how relationships work is severely limited, judging by the fact I’ve had exactly one, and it ended in heartbreak. After this weekend, I don’t know if Evie and I are supposed to slap a label on ourselves or continue to draw a line at friends with benefits. And this feels strangely like a dinner to meet the parents.
Except her parents are dead, so I get the protective older brother instead.
The side of me that agreed to come is the side that wants to be there for her. That guy who would part with any reasonable dollar amount to help her situation. That guy under the spell of a curvy beauty and fantastic blow jobs and incredible wit. I’d probably walk across a pit of fire to experience more of those things.
The guy who’s in his thirties and remembers the last time he let a woman get too close is the one that wants to ditch this charade and keep us strictly friends.
My cell vibrates with a text, distracting me from the clusterfuck of thoughts. Speak of the damn devil in red horns and an expensive dress. Nora’s name pops up on the screen. If she didn’t have my son, I’d ignore her shoddy attempts at conversation.
Nora: Can you meet? I’m ready to agree to your terms.
Not this shit again. I pocket my phone without responding. She already knows my answer. The pressure is mounting for her because we finally have a date on the judge's calendar. I can’t wait for this to end.
The sounds of a busy bar assault my ears the moment the door swings open. I hold it with my back to let a group of stumbling girls giggle their way past. By the leaning into one another and shrill noise, I’d say they’re well on their way to a drunken evening even though it’s only five o’clock. As I wait to pass, I scan the crowd, easily spotting Evie’s gorgeous curls at a table near the back.
A hand clamps on my wrist. “Hey there, handsome.”
I don’t spare the owner a glance as I pry the fingers from my body. “Don’t touch me.”
“What a dick.” Her scoff reaches my ears.
The group blocking the door clears, and I continue by without offering a response. The current beneath my skin settles into a continuous buzz while my eyes remain glued across the room. I make my way there without a care for the people around me. My trajectory is set. Damn whoever steps in my way.
Her brother sees me first and fixates a scowl on his face. Seeing him without the blinding tint of rage, I notice the similarities between the siblings. Their eyes are the same round shape with thick eyelashes, and they have the same chin. Evie’s face is rounder and full, where her brother’s is sharp and angular.
Noticing her partner’s look, the other woman at the table follows the direction of his gaze to me. Her eyes pop comically wide. I hope that’s a sign of approval and not one that she’s about to talk Evie into running far away from me.
Evie must finally take notice of the others’ expressions because she turns fully in her chair. Our eyes lock across the crowded room. A shy smile curves her lips. Her tongue makes an appearance by swiping across her lower lip, and now I’m fighting against getting hard. Images of her on her knees with my cock in her mouth suddenly occupy my mind.
I grin back and approach the table, pausing at a respectable distance. “Hey. I hope I’m not late.”
“Not at all,” Evie answers. “You can sit.”
“Do you want me to grab a round first?” I offer the group. Money is still tight, but I can’t stifle who I am. Some might say I throw my money around, but I prefer to be generous with the people I care about. Unlike my ex-wife, my spending comes without conditions.
“That’d be awesome,” the woman across from Evie responds.
“Hey, I’m Rhett Senova.” I step closer and offer my hand.
She shakes my hand. “Caiti Harris. I’m the sister-in-law, but we’re as close as real siblings.”
“Nice to meet you.” I drop her hand and move to the brother. “We haven’t met officially. I’m Rhett.”
“Eric,” he grunts and squeezes my hand briefly. Not in a douche way. I get the impression he’s not thrilled to meet me. If we have any hope of getting him off Evie’s back, we’ll have to change that.
I take everyone’s order and return a few minutes later with a tray of drinks. After handing them to their owners, I take the empty chair next to Evie and toss my arm casually over the back. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, but the move feels natural for the situation.
“So what brings you to Arrow Creek?” I ask before I savor that first smooth sip of whiskey after a long day.
“Someone wouldn’t tell me where she was staying, so once I got the name, I had to come check out the place,” Eric answers. “Glad I did too.”
Evie relaxes back and keeps a hand wrapped around her glass. “I’m not a child anymore. You don’t need to look after me.”
“Did she show you around yet?” I trail my gaze through the faces at the table.
“We went on a beautiful hike today,” Caiti answers first. Probably to keep her husband from spouting more sarcastic remarks. “It was incredible. Evie said you brought her there first.”
I look at the woman on my right side and grin. “I did.”
“It was okay,” Eric puts in and slings back his own whiskey.
“Eric,” Caiti hisses followed by his grunt of pain. If she kicked him beneath the table, I like her already.
“It would have been better if he didn’t spend the entire time hounding me about my living arrangements. Still a beautiful day for a hike, nonetheless.” Evie’s response quells the bickering. She reaches discreetly beneath the table and squeezes my thigh.
Not helping the dick situation. I hide a groan by sipping my drink.
“Hey, sorry for the wait. Are you guys wanting to order food tonight?” Dane, the bartender, stops by our table and picks up the discarded drink tray.
“Busy night, huh? Enough for you to come out from behind the bar.” I make small talk with my friend.
He slings his white towel over his shoulder and holds the circular tray in front of his abdomen. “I had one waitress call out, and another’s out on maternity leave. I’m lucky I have two bar trainees tonight, or I’d be swamped.” His gaze scans the table again.
“Sorry to hear that. I think we’re interested in some food and another round.”
Dane pulls out a notepad, and we take turns giving our orders. He leaves with the promise to return shortly with the new drinks.
As soon as he’s out of earshot, Eric leans forward. “Sounds like he needs some help. Maybe you should put the cleaning business on hold and come work here. Steady wage and tips.”
Ah, fuck. He can’t leave well enough alone. Evie straightens from chatting with Caiti.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you to come visit,” she snaps.
Eric shoves his finger across the table in her direction. “No, you didn’t want me to come visit because you’re harboring a bunch of shitty secrets.”
“Eric!” Caiti interjects, but the sibling pair ignores her.
“That too! Because I know exactly how you’d react.”
“You have one second to get that finger out of her face,” I state, deadly calm and serious. The table falls quiet.
“I don’t even know who the fuck you are. Don’t tell me what to do,” Eric barks back, thoroughly drawing the attention of the patrons around us.
“Girls, why don’t you take yo
ur drinks to the patio for some fresh air,” I suggest while looking Eric straight in the eye.
“You don’t get to order my wife and my sister around.” He tries again to dominate the situation, but he doesn’t realize he’s falling way short.
I turn my head slightly to catch Evie’s eye as she quietly watches the exchange from beside me. “Evie. Outside, yeah?”
A look of contemplation crosses her face for only a second before she nods. “C’mon, Cait.” The legs of her chair scrape across the floor.
“Since when do you take orders? You would have put Tate in his place if he told you what to do.” Eric keeps at his sister, pushing my irritation to a boiling point. My skin grows uncomfortably tight at the need to do something physical.
Evie flips her hair over her shoulder as she glares at her brother. “I’m taking a well-advised suggestion. Until you can back off, I don’t want to talk to you.” She stalks off with Caiti close behind.
Eric’s glass clanks against the table. “Say what you need to say.” He leans over the dark-stained wood separating us, forearms resting on the edge, and rotates his glass between both hands. He carries the look of a defeated man.
“I get it.”
“Get what?” He finally looks me in the eye, man to man.
“The need to protect her.” I instantly raise both hands with my palms facing him before he can bite out a retort. “Obviously, she’s not my sister. But I can understand, appreciate even, why you’d hop a plane and fly ten hours straight to check out her new place.”
“I’m not sure you do.”
“I don’t have a sister, no, and I haven’t lost my parents.”
His gaze slides away, and he takes a hefty swallow while I resume.
“You have to understand that she’s not alone here. I’m looking out for her.”
“I don’t mean to be a dick when I say I’m not sure a guy who looks like you is the type I want looking out for my sister.”
“And I don’t mean to be a dick when I say that it’s not up to you to decide what that type of man should look like. You do need to try to get that I don’t want anything to hurt her, and that includes me.”
He rakes a hand through his hair. “You look like a screw ’em and leave ’em type.”
I grunt a humorless laugh. “That’s not any of your business, but Evie’s a grown woman. She can decide what she wants in her life.”
“She looks like a grown woman, sure, but when she hauls ass halfway across the country on a whim and doesn’t tell anyone where she is, that’s not the actions of a responsible adult.”
“She’s shown more maturity in her little finger than you’ve shown since I met you. I’m not sure you’re the expert on adult responsibilities.”
He shrugs. “Touché.”
“Look.” I straighten and pick up my glass. “You don’t know me. I get that. I’ve also spent nearly every day of the past few weeks with Evie, so I’d like to think I’m getting to know her pretty well. I’m sure you know trying to force her to come with you isn’t going to bode well for your relationship. She wants to make this work on her own.”
Eric studies the room in silence. I hope he’s mulling over my words rather than ignoring them.
I push harder.
“The first day Evie got here, she got the attention of a sleazy trucker.”
Eric’s gaze snaps to mine, and his jaw clenches.
“A few days after that, he cornered her while she went to take a shower. She fended him off with her dog and her knife in an impressive show of strength.”
“You telling me this means I’m getting her out of here tonight. I hope you know that.”
I shake my head, knowing Evie would never let that happen. What’s comical is that he thinks she would.
“What I’m getting around to saying is that I went back when she was at work and roughed him up a little. Let him know what would happen if he crossed paths with her again.”
“So you have anger issues.”
“No, I have protection issues that your sister seems to bring out in me. I don’t know what else I can say to convince you. If she has a problem, I’m going to take care of it.”
He drains his glass and pushes it to the center of the table. “What’s it to you? Why have you taken this strong liking to my sister?”
“I don’t have an answer to that. I do know that I’m going to do what I can to help her, but she’s doing a damn good job on her own. Which you’d see, if you’d take your head out of your own ass.”
“I don’t know why you think you can talk to me like that.”
“Because you think you can talk to her like this,” I fire back. My hand on my thigh curls into a fist. Not because I want to deck the guy, which I sort of do. All this talk heightens the tension in my body. I feel like I need to do something, and getting up and pacing isn’t an option right now. “She’s working hard. She doesn’t deserve your constant criticism.”
Dane interrupts with a fresh round. We pause the conversation while he deposits the drinks and whisks away the empties.
“Let’s pretend you’re right, and I put my trust in you.”
“Go on.”
Eric rubs his hand over his chin. “What do I get to do if you fuck with her?”
A chuckle escapes. This guy. Same feisty attitude as Evie, but he’s using it in all the wrong ways. “Tell me”—I rest an elbow on the table—“what you did to her ex when he fucked with her, hmm? It’s my understanding that he’s still your best friend.”
“She really told you everything,” he grumbles.
I snag my drink. “I don’t know if it’s everything, but like I said, I’ve spent nearly every day with her. She’s a pretty open book when she has a patient ear to listen.”
“What would you have done?”
“I don’t have a sister, and I probably don’t have the full story. From what I’ve heard, if anyone treated someone I care about like that, they’d be cut off.”
His shoe squeaks against the floor as he shifts uncomfortably. “Does that go for Evie? You’d protect her that much here?”
“I can’t predict the future. I personally have no intention of hurting her. She’s met some of my friends, and they seem to be forming their own bonds, so I don’t see a problem there. But if anyone else like that fucking trucker crosses her path, you better believe I’ll take care of it.”
“So do you think you’ll accept my apology for being a dick before the girls return?”
I laugh, actually feeling the mirth. “Done. I understand where you’re coming from, but you have to know you won’t get her to do much by bossing her around.”
“Don’t I know it.”
The sounds of chatter and music filter back into awareness, as if someone turned up the volume to the rest of the room, while a silence descends between the two of us.
“One more thing before they come back.”
“Go for it,” I reply easily, not intimidated in the slightest by his big brother act.
“What happens when your situation is over? Evie mentioned that you two met at the truck stop but wouldn’t give the details out of respect for your privacy. I’m not asking for that.” He waves his hand to brush the intrusion aside.
I cut him off. “If you’re asking if I’ll leave her to sleep in her car alone, the answer is I fucking hope not. We both know she doesn’t take orders or handouts easily, but if she isn’t on her feet when I get back on mine, I’m going to do whatever I can to at least get her a safe place to sleep.”
Eric sucks in sharply through his teeth. “Even if that means your bed, am I right?”
I catch his eye over the rim of my glass, raised to take a drink. “I didn’t say that,” I mutter and toss some back.
“I suppose I should be grateful,” he grunts.
“I’ll offer the gamut. Hotel room, spare bedroom, friend’s couch, first month’s rent. You and I both know she’ll only accept what she feels ready to accept, and there’s not a damn thing
we can do about it. All that to say, I suggest we drop this conversation now because I don’t feel too good discussing this with her brother behind her back. You asked your questions, and you’ve been given a wide range of answers.”
“Thanks. If you don’t mind, I’ll ask them to come back.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Food’s probably about ready, and I know she’s eager to see what you think.”
19
Evie
“First of all, he’s hot as hell, sister,” Caiti says as we relax on the patio. The cool air chases away the heated tension from arguing with my brother. “Secondly, Eric is absolutely going to kill you.”
“I don’t care.” I gaze off into the darkness beyond the parking lot and sip my crisp drink. The bite of vodka perfectly counteracts all the words crammed into my throat. If Eric hasn’t learned to chill before we come back, he’s going to get a damn piece of my mind. “He has no reason to.”
She scoffs. “Tell me with a straight face that you aren’t sleeping with Rhett.”
All I can manage is a quirk of my brow as I return my attention to her. “And that matters why?”
“It only matters that he’s treating you well, and my guess after seeing the two of you together, he is. But Eric isn’t going to like that you’re halfway across the world sharing a bed with a stranger.”
“We aren’t sharing a bed.”
“Excuse me, a back seat.” She leans forward and fires back. “I think it’s sexy and adventurous.” She tosses a curtain of dark hair over her shoulder and gives me big, flirty eyes. I can’t help but giggle for the first time tonight.
I bite my lip. “Sexy is one word for it. Though we’ve only hooked up once, and it was in a hotel room.” I leave out the incident in the front seat of his car. She doesn’t need all the wicked details.
Caiti rubs her two first fingers on her temples and closes her eyes. “I’m getting a message. I see a lot of hot, dirty sex in your near future.”
“Oh, shut up.” I shove one of her arms away with a silly grin.