Page 37 of Unravel Me

Mabel nudges my hand, insisting I keep petting her. Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I scratch her neck, my eyes drifting across the sprawling front yard.

I wish the city had views like this.

“Want a treat?” I tease, remembering I had one of the homemade biscuits in my pocket, hoping maybe she’d be around when I got here. Mabel lets out a howl, startling me. “Shh! You’re going to get me in trouble!” I hiss at her through a smile. I pull a treat from my pocket and break it in half, holding it up to see if she knows ‘sit’ and ‘paw’. She slaps her big paw hard in my palm, demanding I give her the homemade treat. I drop it in her mouth, and she swallows it whole, staring at me expectantly for another one.

“Good girl!” I coo, cupping her face in my hands.

“You know you’re creating a monster. She’s going to fall in love with you, might even try to follow you home,” Rhett teases from the ajar front door, where he stands with a beer loosely dangling from his fingers. I hadn’t even heard him come out.

I was still leaning down towards his dog when I glanced up. His hair is wet and messy, his skin bronzed and glowing under a white t-shirt, which makes his blue eyes shine.

“I can think of worse things,” I add, forgetting what we were even talking about. All I see is him.

“Ready to eat? I have it heating up in the oven now.”

“Yes!” I push myself off the porch swing, taking one more glance at the beautiful front yard. “It’s so peaceful out here. It reminds me of the summer camp my parents would ship me off to in upstate New York. Minus the drama that only teenage girls can manifest.”

Rhett chuckles, holding the door open for me.

“I think that’s a compliment.” I walk past him, smelling his pine body soap. “I can’t relate, though. I spent my summers collecting eggs from the coop on my Pawpaw’s farm and sneaking cigarettes behind the barn with my cousins. My summer smelled like barn animals.” He laughs, following me down the short hallway into the kitchen.

“Oh, we snuck our fair share of cigarettes. I was a very wild teenager,” I reply, turning over my shoulder to raise my eyebrows at him. “Hence the mandatory summer camps, so my mother didn’t have to track me down.”

“So, you have a wild streak in you?” Rhett rakes his eyes down my body, making me blush.

“I used to.”

Rhett brings the bottle of the beer up to his lips, pausing as his eyes hold mine. “You sure about that? I bet there’s still something wild in there.”

He tips the bottle back, and I watch the column of his throat shift as he swallows the amber liquid. Sucking my bottom lip in, I’m grateful for Mabel who pushes herself between Rhett and I.

But the little distraction doesn’t eradicate the way it feels to have Rhett's eyes on me.

With one glance, he lights me on fire, making me feel more alive, and more aware of the air around me than I’d felt in a lifetime.

Chapter twenty-one

Rhett

Iguess I could’ve been embarrassed I was sitting at my kitchen table, serving homemade barbecue my mom dropped off in a casserole dish to Audrey. I loved my mom; that wasn’t the issue.

But after Dad died, she started needing me more. She found so much joy in cooking, and with my work schedule, most days I forget to even eat, so she made it her mission to bring meals to me. I knew it was good for her to stay busy, so I relented. I also never intended to share a meal my mom made for me with a beautiful woman.

But hey, it’s better to just lay it all out as it is, right? No hiding shit.

And seeing Audrey sit across from me in my kitchen was stirring up things in me I dismissed years ago. She brought a lightness to this house I never thought I’d find.

But maybe I was getting ahead of myself.

“Please tell your mom this the best cornbread I’ve ever had.” Audrey's eyes rolled back in her head as she took another bite of the homemade meal, and I let out a breathy chuckle.

“I will.” I took another bite myself. “If I tell her I shared dinner with someone though, I highly doubt she’ll care about the taste of the food.”

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?” Audrey sets down her fork, her hazel eyes locking in on me.

“I think she’s beginning to worry that my only remaining friends are Mabel and Ky—who I’ll never be introducing you to, by the way. He knows too much about me and has no filter, which makes him a wild card,” I half joked.

“I like wild cards,” Audrey said, and I shook my head.