Page 77 of Against The Tide

Rhett threads his hand with mine at my reply, aware that I am not okay. The last thing I want right now is to be separated from Iris, but she’s asleep and she’s safe, and I won’t put a dampener on her happiness to feel better about myself.

“Get some rest, Avery. It’s going to be okay.”

Trembling, I hang up. I have no idea if it’s because I’m frozen to the core or whether it’s the adrenaline of the confrontation I had with Carl wearing off, but my legs won’t be able to hold me up much longer with how violently I’m shivering.

Without a single word, Rhett deftly sweeps me up into his arms, carrying me up to my bedroom where he puts me back on my feet. He holds me as he peppers kisses into my dripping hair.

“You are not a whore,” he grits into my hair. “And I don’t ever want to hear you say that word in reference to yourself ever again. You understand?”

I nod, holding on to him as tight as I can, given I am debilitated from how cold I am and all the emotions running rampant inside me.

“Good.”

Rubbing my back with one hand, he guides me into the en suite, flipping on the walk-in shower so that it’s pelting down as hard as the rain outside. Except the steam is so hot that it starts to thaw me.

“He said he was going to kill me,” I murmur while I watch him hang a fresh towel over the heater. “And now he has a gun.”

Raw panic assaults me. It’s as though I’m a breath away from the surface of the water, but I just can’t break it.

“Sweetheart.” He tips my chin up with his hands cradling my face. “He’s not going to hurt you ever again. I told you that already, and I meant it. Nobody hurts you ever again. I promise.”

The promise is sweet, and I wish that it was as easy as it sounds from his lips, but the reality is that it’s not something he can keep.

“I’m not going anywhere, Avery, and I’m always going to jump in front of anyone or anything that comes for you and Iris.”

I nod, choosing to ignore the voices that tell me it’s impossible for it to be true. That he can’t protect me without bringing harm to himself.

“I know you want to save me, Doc, but I can’t be the reason you are hurt…or worse.”

The words are enough to suffocate me, and at the thought, tears flood my eyes.

“I’ve made worse choices,” he tells me. “In fact, it’ll be the best one I’ve ever made.”

Unable to reply, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull myself up onto my tiptoes to press my lips to his. I’m not sure how you can love someone when you’re broken, but I love Rhett Reynolds with every last shattered piece of me.

There is no part of him I don’t want, even the ones that have the ability to decimate me. I want every cell of his being as badly as I want him to possess mine.

“Rhett.” I murmur his name over his lips as his hands meander down to my hips. With his stare holding mine, I breathe him in. “I want you to make me yours.”

“You are mine,” he rasps as my back finds the shower wall and the warm spray rains down on us, hotter and hotter with the attack of his mouth on mine. Low and deep groans vibrate through me, making me shudder with the stroke of his hands down to the hem of my dress and back up my thighs.

Fingertips trace over my soaked underwear. Over and over, lightly at first, until a wayward whimper pushes past my lips.

“You’re so fucking wet,” he grits out with a hand cupping my ass to tilt me to him as he sucks and nips down my neck. “I want to taste you, every precious inch of you. I want to eat your pussy until you beg me to stop,” he continues, fingertip pressing at my entrance.

I wish he would delve beneath my panties. Touch my skin. That he would fill me with his fingers. Peering down the length of our bodies, I grasp the skirt of my dress and drag it up with one hand so that I can watch him. The sight makes me shiver as I twist my other hand in his shirt.

Rhett strokes over the flat between my hips with his thumb while his fingers continue tracing over my underwear. A light tease again.

“Do you like watching me touch you?” he asks, studying me as he continues stroking over my underwear.

“Yes.”

“Does it turn you on?”

“Mhmm…” My moan quivers when his thumbnail scratches over my clit at the same time as his finger slips beneath my panties.

“Does it make you crave me like I crave you?”