Page 88 of Just What She Needed

"The matter? What's the matter?" She put the flat of her hand against his chest and shoved. "I'll tell you what's the matter, Rhys James Collinsworth. You are the biggest idiot in the world, that's what's the matter."

"Um." Eyes wide, he appeared completely baffled.

"You have got to stop treating me like this." Her voice grew louder with each word as her earlier fear channeled itself into anger. "What did I ever do to you to deserve this kind of shit? I have been in the fires of the lowest circle of hell since I left L.A., but do you care? No! I get some cryptic text from you that had me thinking that you're through with me. Then I hear that some guy came after you with a gun intending to kill you, and here I am stuck in Dallas thinking you don't care about me, and I almost lost my goddamned mind. And I'm sick and tired of it, do you hear me?"

"Rhett—”

"I'm not finished." She pointed a finger at his chest. "What do you think I am? Some inanimate object that only comes to life when you're around? Well, I'm not. I'm a person, Rhys, and you don't treat people like that. Especially not people you're supposed to care about, people who care about you. I don't know what kind of women you've dated who let you steamroll over their feelings, but I'm not like that. I refuse to put up with this kind of treatment anymore, damn it."

"Rhett, please." He stepped closer and took her by the shoulders. "There's something I need to tell you, and I didn't want to do it over the telephone." Some emotion made his eyes even bluer, and he held her gaze with what seemed like desperation. "It had to be face to face, and I don't mean over a video call. It had to be in person."

Rhett crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, you're here now, in person. What's so all-fired important that you had to leave me hanging? Are you breaking up with me? Because if you are, then all that hugging and shit is a really cruel way to start off."

"Christ, Rhett, I'm not breaking up with you." He gave her a tender smile. "I love you."

All the fight went out of her like someone punctured her with a pin. Her anger and pain drained out with a rush, and she stared at him in shock. She'd convinced herself he'd come back to call it off for good, but there he was telling her he loved her.

"You could've told me that on the phone," she finally said in a small voice.

A small smile touched his lips. "And miss seeing that expression on your face? Not a chance."

"Oh, God, Rhys. I love you, too," she said before throwing herself into his arms again.

The most relieved-sounding sigh she'd ever heard blew into her hair. "Even though I'm the biggest idiot in the world?"

She nodded against his shoulder. "Maybe because you are." All of a sudden she was on fire with a blazing happiness, a joy too deep for words. "But you're my idiot."

"All yours," he whispered.

Rhett lifted her head and framed his face with her hands. "My too beautiful to be believed, wild, sex on legs, smokin' hot, romantic idiot."

"Think you still want me?"

It thrilled her to the tips of her toes that he didn't even bother to protest her description. Rhys James was in the house, and her heart responded by attempting to pound its way out of her chest.

"I want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my life."

And taking him by the hand, she led him toward her bedroom.

33

A good thing never ends.—Mick Jagger

“What time is it?"

Rhett rolled her head on the pillow until the LED display of her alarm clock came into view. "Twelve-thirty. Why?"

Rhys threw an arm and a leg over her body and snuggled closer. "Feel like taking a ride?"

"I thought I just did." Closing her eyes, Rhett sighed in contentment as Rhys's lips curved into a smile against her neck.

"Mm. Yes, you did. But there's something I want to show you."

"I thought you just did."

Laughing, Rhys rose up and leaned over her, his hair like a sun-streaked curtain around them. "Come on, love. I've been keeping this secret for a while now, and while we've actually got some extra time I want to show it to you."

She couldn't help but smile at his excitement. "And this involves a car ride? But that would mean getting out of this bed and into a shower."