“Hey Rhett, all we’re saying is that maybe you should slow down a little, think about this girl. You’ve never spoken about a girl with us before. There has to be something special about this one if you’re telling us about her,” Owen said, with his face expressing concern.
I sat back down on the couch with a thump and clutched the glass in my hand tightly.
“Sure, I’ll think about it, but really, I was just telling you guys because I thought we could laugh about it,” I said and let out another nervous laugh.
“What is there to laugh about?” Hunter asked and I glared at him.
“Jesus! When did you guys get so corny?” I said and took a relatively large sip of my whiskey.
“We’re getting older man, we’re pushing thirty. And if you meet someone you really like, you shouldn’t take it lightly,” Owen said and I shook my head. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. They didn’t even know the half of it yet.
“This has nothing to do with age, Owen. And we can stop talking about it now, she doesn’t want to see me ever again,” I said to them and slammed down the glass on the coffee table in front of me. I realized that I had my jaw clenched, my mind was swimming with images of Heidi. That kiss we shared by the harbor. How much I wished I had her in my arms just then. How sad she looked when she saw Jake. Heidi, Heidi, Heidi. She was all I could think about, and she had forbidden me from ever seeing her again. And if I wanted what was best for her, I should be keeping my distance from her anyway.
She had no idea what kind of man I was. The kind of crimes I was capable of.
“Alright. Let’s talk about something else then,” Hunter snapped me out of my thoughts and I reached for a slice of pizza. I was suddenly very hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, other than a croissant and an ice cream.
Chapter Seventeen
Heidi
“You slept with someone?!” Lucia nearly shrieked it out, and some of the white wine from her glass spilled onto my new, leather couch.
She was practically the only friend I had in Brunswick, and sometimes I invited her over to my place for some wine and leftover cake from the café. I wouldn’t have considered her to be a close friend, but she was the only person in town who I could freely talk to.
“Keep your voice down!” I hissed and Lucia gave out a laugh.
“Who’s going to hear us? Is he in your apartment now?” she cocked an eyebrow and took a deep sip of her wine. I tucked my legs in under myself as I settled back on the couch. It was good to relieve some of the weight off my shoulders. I was hoping that maybe telling Lucia would help me feel a little better.
“No he isn’t, obviously…and why are you so surprised?” I asked, knotting my brows together.
She shrugged her shoulders and looked at me.
“I don’t know…you just didn’t give me the vibes of being someone who’d sleep around,” she said.
“I haven’t been sleeping around!” I hissed at her again. “It was just the one guy in my whole year of being here in Brunswick!” I added and Lucia laughed.
“I wasn’t judging you, don’t worry. So, who is he anyway?” she asked and I dropped my gaze to the glass of wine in my hand.
“I can’t tell you that. This is a small town,” I said and Lucia peered at me from her end of the couch.
“And are you implying that I’ll gossip about you?” she asked and I threw my head back and pressed my eyes close.
“I just don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said, letting out a sigh.
“But you brought it up so clearly you do,” she suggested and I lowered my face back to look at her.
“I just wanted to get it off my chest,” I said and she smiled.
“Heidi…it really isn’t a big deal you know. Sleeping with a stranger doesn’t turn you into a criminal or…” she let the words fade because we both knew what she was talking about.
“I know that! Of course it doesn’t and I have no judgements regarding people who do sleep around. It’s just that I don’t do it,” I said and I caught her looking at me with narrowed eyes.
“You sound like my mom,” she said and blurted out laughing again.
My cheeks were flushing to a deep red because I knew she was right. This no one-night-stand rule of mine was very old fashioned. But the fact that I had broken the rule for Rhett meant a great deal to me and I didn’t expect anyone else to understand.
“So, that’s all there is to it?” Lucia asked as I reached for the bottle of wine and poured some more into my glass.
“All there is to what?” I asked and she tipped her head to the side.
“That’s all you have for me? That you’ve slept with someone?” she said and I let out a huge sigh.
“Kind of…and also, I think I like him,” I said and buried my mouth in the wine glass. I didn’t want to look up at her. When I did, I could see the look of excitement in her eyes.
“You like him like you like him like him?” she asked, a big smile forming on her face.
“There are too many likes in that sentence for me to follow,” I told her and Lucia shook her head and ignored my joke.
“You like him…as in this could turn into something else?” she asked and I shook my head and looked away from her.
“No, because he doesn’t do relationships,” I said to her and Lucia sank back on the couch, looking defeated.
“Men can be such bastards sometimes,” she said bitterly and drank from her glass.
“To be fair, he never led me on. It was a spur of the moment thing. It wasn’t like he charmed me into bed with promises and then left me standing at the altar,” I said. Now it was me who was forcing the smiles and laughs. Lucia looked offended, for me.
“Yeah but they are so quick to dismiss anything else. Like they don’t even want to give us a chance,” she said and I realized that this conversation was more than just about me. I had hit a nerve. Lucia was the one looking away now, keeping her eyes on her lap.
“There were no promises made. It was foolish of me to think that there was even a possibility of something else. I don’t hold anything against him,” I said in a soft voice, and when Lucia looked up at me, I saw that her eyes were watery now.
“You’re lucky. I wish I could forgive as easily too,” she said.
I bent down and placed my glass of wine on the floor and then shifted so that I was sitting right beside her on the couch.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked her and she looked up at me and sniffled loudly.
“It’s the same old story. We met at a club, had a great time and then kept meeting up for quickies all over town. I thought that eventually he was going to fall for me the way I was falling for him, but I was only dreaming,” she said and I reached for her hands. She let me hold her hands and I looked at her encouragingly.
“How long has it been?” I asked her and a fat tear rolled down Lucia’s cheek, which she ignored.
“A couple of months…a year maybe, I don’t know. I’ve stopped counting. But I go meet him every time he calls. It’s like I’m addicted to him or something,” Lucia said and I felt my heart stop for a moment. That was the last thing I wanted, to be addicted to Rhett.
Chapter Eighteen
Rhett
I was working on the accounts for the company when the phone in my pocket rang. I answered without looking.
“Yeah,” I said, distractedly.
“Rhett, I’m still waiting,” I recognized Massimo’s voice instantly.
“Fuck off Massimo. You can’t sponge off me forever!” I stood up from my chair with a jerk, and I heard him laughing.
“I can if you value your reputation in this town, in fact, all over the country” I heard him say and I gritted my teeth.
“You’re going to regret threatening me,” I barked into the phone, but Massimo was still laughing.
“What will you do to me, Rhett? Make me disappear, add murder to your list of crimes?” he said and I clenched my jaw, trying t
o keep my rage under control. This was my place of work!
“I refuse to be threatened by you all my life,” I said and hung up. The phone in my hand went flying and it hit the wall and crashed to the floor. I gritted my teeth and covered my face with my hands and muffled a stiff groan. This Massimo problem wasn’t just going to disappear, but I definitely didn’t want to give him more money. By the looks of it, he wasn’t going to stop threatening me…not for all his life. And I didn’t want this to hang over my head for all of mine.
In my rage, I swung my hands across my desk and all the files and papers fell on the floor, along with pen stands and my laptop and it made a loud crashing sound. I was standing with my head in my hands, my face red with anger, cursing Massimo under my breath when there was a soft knock on my door.
Hunter entered without waiting for me to respond. He stopped when he saw the pile of mess on the floor, and looked up at me.
“Just give me a few minutes alone, Hunter,” I said to him, but he walked up closer to me.
“You have to tell me what’s going on with you, Rhett!” Hunter’s voice was firm and he placed his hands on my shoulders and gave me a quick shake.
“Nothing. I was just having a few frustrating moments with the accounts, that’s all,” I said, avoiding his eyes but Hunter was peering into my face.
“Call her, man. Just call her,” he said in a quieter voice and I knotted my brows at him. I knew he was talking about Heidi, but I was confused because he had read my mind. That was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to speak to Heidi. For some reason, it felt like she would be able to make it all okay.
“Just leave me alone,” I said and jerked myself away from him and went back to my desk. The last thing I wanted to do was admit to my friends that a woman was messing with my mind. I was supposed to be in control, to always be rational…this kind of behavior didn’t become me.
I heard Hunter let out a deep sigh. He was studying me and then his eyes fell on my broken cellphone by the wall.
“You need to do something about her before she takes over your life,” Hunter said and I shook my head at him.
“What are you even talking about? What do you know about a woman taking over your life?” I asked him and Hunter shrugged and pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants. I had a feeling that Hunter too might have been going through the same thing with someone else. I wanted to ask him because I wanted to be a good friend to him. But at the moment, my mind was too wrecked for me to be there for him, which was another thing to feel guilty about.
“Just sayin’,” Hunter said and then turned and walked out of my office. I stared after him and then at the shut door after which my face was in my hands again.
It wasn’t Heidi, it was Massimo who was taking over my life. Threatening everything I had built here, the secure lifestyle that I had managed to provide for my mother, the education and career that I made possible for my brother. Everything could be ruined if the truth about my past came out in the open. Even if I wasn’t charged with an actual crime, I wouldn’t be able to live in Brunswick any longer and my interview with Fortune Magazine would be considered a fraud. Nothing would be the same anymore. And most of all, I would never stand a chance with Heidi.
Just the thought of her made me weak in my knees and I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming. It had been two days since I last saw her, and if it wasn’t Massimo I was worrying about, it was Heidi who I was thinking about.
I wanted to get to know her, talk to her…make love to her. No other woman had ever even come close to making me feel the way I was feeling about Heidi. It was insanity. I didn’t know what it was. All I knew was that Hunter was right, I needed to do something about it. Give myself another chance because I sure as Hell wouldn’t be able to keep my distance from her for too long.
If something was bothering me, I always turned to sex with beautiful women to clear my mind. That was exactly what Heidi was, in the beginning…but now I knew that I wanted nobody else but her. It was only with Heidi that I felt at peace and able to forget everything else.
Chapter Nineteen
Heidi
The café had been closed for about forty-five minutes, and I had just finished making the new, white chocolate, cheesecake recipe I was trying out. I’d put the cake tin in the oven for baking, and I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. The kitchen looked a complete mess, so it would mean that I’d be spending at least another half an hour clearing and cleaning before actually leaving for home.
There was a loud knock on the glass door outside, just when I was washing my hands. My heart leapt immediately because I couldn’t think of anybody else except Rhett who might turn up here at this hour.
Wiping my hands on my apron, I walked out of the kitchen, aware of how messy I looked. I was wearing flour and sugar covered clothes, with a bandana tied to my head to keep the curls back.
He was standing on the other side in his usual black leather jacket, but he was wearing it over dark pants and a blue shirt. He had come over directly from work.
I unlocked the door and swung it open to stand there and stare at him with my eyes widened and feeling a little afraid. I was hoping that I wouldn’t see him again, not until I was safely over him at least.
“Hi,” I said in a quiet voice and I noticed how Rhett’s blue eyes sparkled wildly in the dim light of the falling evening.
“Hi yourself,” he said and I watched him studying me covered with cake ingredients.
“I smell baking,” he said and stepped into the dark café and I closed the door behind him, my heart still racing at a mile per minute.
“Rhett…you weren’t supposed to come here. We weren’t supposed to see each other,” I said to him and folded my arms over my breasts. He turned to look at me, keeping a distance of a few feet between our bodies.
“I’m sorry about that. I was passing by and saw the lights on in your kitchen and got curious about what you were making,” he said and I saw him force a smile on his face.
I stared at him, because I could tell that he was lying.
“Alright. I came here on purpose. How are you?” he said in a milder voice and I bit down on my lip.
“I’m good…but you don’t need to know that,” I said, aware of the effect that he was having on my body already.
Rhett hung his head down for a moment, and then looked back up at me. There was a new expression on his face that I hadn’t seen before. He almost looked shy.
“Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?” he asked and my mouth fell open. I was unable to hide my surprise.
“This wasn’t what we discussed,” I said, trying to sound firm.
“I know, but I thought that maybe we should give it a shot. This dating thing,” he said, and let out a nervous, loud laugh. My cheeks were burning up and I was feeling giddy…this was the last thing I’d expected him to say, but he would never know exactly how happy he made me at that moment.
“We don’t have to do anything else…it’s just dinner,” he said quickly and our gazes met. Another thing I didn’t expect him to say, not after how authoritative he had been when we did have sex. He had come across as a man who knew what he wanted and always got it. Now he seemed to be a shy teenager trying to ask a girl out for prom.
“Where?” I said and a new excitement entered Rhett’s eyes.
“My place. I’ll send you a car,” he said and I blushed again and tucked in a curl behind my ear.
“That won’t be necessary. If you give me your address, I’ll drive myself there,” I said, my breath catching a little in my throat. Had Rhett Larkin just invited me to dinner? Just for a meal? Did he actually say that he wanted to date me?
I watched him as he fished out a business card from his wallet, and then a pen and wrote down his home address on the back of it. When he stretched it out to me, I had to take a few steps towards him to grab it from him.
“Thank you for agreeing to this Heidi. I know I haven’t been behaving
like the ideal man for you,” he said and I gulped. Our eyes were still locked together and it was becoming very difficult for me to breathe or say anything.
“I’ll see you tomorrow…at eight?” I said and he nodded his head.
“That cake smells delicious. Let me know when you add it to your menu, I’ll definitely be stopping by,” he said and brushed past me to walk back to the door. When he did, I got a whiff of his masculine cologne and just a graze of his warmth against my bare arms…it was all enough to make me reel and I had to actually reach out for the back of a chair for support.
Rhett stepped outside. The bell on top of the door tinkled and I watched him walking away, crossing the road…he turned back and even in the distance I could tell that he was smiling at me.
Still breathless and heavy headed, I walked up to the door and turned the lock. These past two days since I last saw him had been torture. I hadn’t been able to think about anything else but him and how he made me feel when he was around me.
And now he had invited me to dinner! What was I going to wear? What was I going to do? It was my turn to feel like a giddy teenager getting ready for prom. First things first, I’d need to go shopping.
***
My hands were still shaking a little as I climbed up the stone steps towards the enormous, red, front door of Rhett’s mansion. He lived in a mansion! There was just no other way to describe it. A beautiful, marble fountain had greeted me at the end of the pebbled driveway and I had parked my car next to it.
His house appeared to be two-storied with large arches and painted in whitewash-white with a brick-red roof on top. There were palm trees flanking the entrance and a manicured lawn at the front next to the driveway. I still had no idea how huge the grounds at the back were, but judging by the size of his mansion…it had to be big.
Rhett opened the door, just as I was about to knock and he stood before me, in a sharp black suit, a white shirt and a rich silk, red tie. His hair was its usual dark, spiky self, his blue eyes were sparkling and his jaws and chin were perfectly chiseled. I was floored all over again.
Touch Me Page 6
