Page 82 of Just What She Needed

Rhett shook her head with a smile as she sat down. "Don't worry," she told him. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

EVEN THOUGH THEY were both showered and dressed by late morning, they couldn't seem to get out of the bed. It was like they were both trying to make up for lost time, to erase the months of silence and hurt by refusing to be separated even for an instant. Rhett snuggled closer to Rhys's chest, loving the way his arms tightened around her and the brush of his lips across her hair.

"I'm glad you're coming to San Francisco with us," he murmured. "You should stay and go to Portland, too."

"Really?" A shy excitement made her tingle. "You'd let me tag along?"

His chest vibrated with laughter against her cheek. "Damn straight, Beautiful. Then on to Seattle, and then Vancouver."

"Oh." Disappointment wiped out the tingle. "I can't go to Canada. I don't have a passport, and I'm pretty sure I can't get one in three days."

"That's something you'll have to remedy. You'll definitely need one when I take you to England."

It took a moment for the words to sink in and make an impression on her brain, but when they did, she sat up and looked at him in shock. "You're taking me to England?"

"Yeah." He grinned and tapped her nose. "We can't stay in Texas all the time, right?"

And the tingle was back, only this time it was more like lightning bolts of bliss. "You're coming back to Dallas?"

"That's where you are, so that's where I'll be." He put his hand behind her head and pulled her forward until he could press tender, scorching kisses on her mouth. "I want to be where you are. I want us to be together whenever it's possible. I hate being away from you."

"I hate it, too," she whispered just before Rhys deepened the kiss and blotted all words from her head.

Rhett gave herself over to him, reveling in the touch of his lips on hers, the welcome intrusion of his tongue, the warmth of his hands on her cheeks. Inside her something long-buried broke open, and she almost sobbed at the delicious heat that swept through her. She'd fought against it for so long, and refused to let it out, especially when she thought she lost him. But now that she was with him again, she couldn't deny it. She was in love with him. Just when it happened, she couldn't be sure, but the moment she laid eyes on him the night before, she'd begun to acknowledge it. Now she embraced it as tightly as she was embracing him, and it rocked through her with the strength of an 8.5 magnitude earthquake. She loved him.

Something must have alerted Rhys to a change in her. Maybe it was the way she kissed him back, maybe the feel of her arms around his neck was different, or maybe it came out of her skin like rays of burning sun. But somehow, he knew something was changed, because he drew back and looked at her, a question in those dark blue eyes. After a moment, the question faded to be replaced by certainty. He pulled in a deep breath and started to smile.

"What is it, baby?"

Her own lips curved into a trembling smile. "Rhys, I—"

The ringtone of his cell phone interrupted the moment, and she remembered that day at the piano when Ross called at a very inopportune moment. She felt relief that day since things had been moving so fast. Now she was tempted to grab the phone and fling it out the window.

"Ignore it," Rhys said. "What were you going to say?"

Rhett shook her head. The moment was ruined, and she'd have to wait to tell him how she felt. "No, see who it is. I'll wait."

His sigh was distinctly irritated as he leaned over to check the phone's screen. As he got a good look at it, he stiffened.

"Jesus, it's Sienna. She hasn't spoken to me since August."

Lips tight, Rhett sat back on the bed. Was the kid clairvoyant or something? It was almost like she knew what she was interrupting by calling her father at this moment. Through narrowed eyes she watched the indecision flit over Rhys's face.

"Well, answer it," she finally said. "If she's calling after all this time she must want to talk to you."

After the briefest hesitation, Rhys swiped his finger across the screen and put the phone to his ear. "Hello, Sienna." He fell silent as he listened to whatever his daughter was saying, nodding as though the kid could see him. "I know. I know, sweetheart, and I understand."

A tendril of dread snaked it way into Rhett's chest and coiled itself around her heart. He knew? He understood? Was he back to condoning Sienna's behavior? Unwilling to listen to anymore placating nonsense, she extricated herself from where she sat between his legs and went into the adjoining bathroom. She removed her bottles of shampoo and conditioner from the shower and dried them with the towel she used for her hair. As she put them and the other few things scattered about into her toiletries bag, she listened to the rise and fall of Rhys's voice. Though she couldn't hear the words, she could tell by the sound that he was pacing around the bedroom as he talked to his daughter. His tones were not the stern and reasonable ones she wanted to hear, either.

Damn it, were they ever going to be able to get past this? Rhett knew that Sienna was a pawn being played in Hayley's twisted game of revenge, but the girl was old enough to know better. Shoot, when Rhett was Sienna's age, she was a wife and mother and held down a full-time job to boot. Her own mother would have backhanded her into Tarrant County if she even tried to pull a stunt like Sienna's. Not that she would have tried, even though she had good reason to given that she and Mel had been used as pawns in their parents' divorce.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the silence in the bedroom. Either Sienna was really giving her father an earful, or the call had ended. Rhett closed the bag and carried it with her into the other room.

Rhys stood in front of the window, looking out into Drew's sloping back yard. His hands were braced on the sill, and something about his posture caused the dread around Rhett's heart to squeeze a bit tighter.

"Everything okay?"

"I don't know. Maybe." He straightened and turned to face her. "There's been a bit of a change in plans, though."