Page 61 of Until It Was Real

This is stupid. This is a mistake. I dig my phone out of my jeans pocket – intent on messaging Rhett to say I changed my mind – but my finger hesitates over the send button. I made an agreement. I need to stick to it.

“You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet,” Sadie says.

I stop pacing to point to the floor. “Really? You’re worried about this carpet?”

She wags her finger at me. “Nope. We’re not discussing the carpet.”

I give her my back to stare out of the window. I have a sneaking suspicion I know what she wants to discuss and I’m not interested.

“You’re going to ignore me when I know you can hear me?”

“Yep.”

She giggles. “This is fun. Way more fun than when my sister, Scarlett, fell in love with Weston.”

She told me all about how her older sister ended up trapped in a log cabin with a police officer during a snowstorm this past Christmas. Scarlett hated Weston because he teased her in high school, but somehow, they fell in love during the time they spent together.

“This is not a love story.”

“Did you tell Rhett it’s not a love story?”

I told him entirely too much about my past. I thought he’d run in the other direction. Instead, he offered to pay off my debts – no, thank you, I don’t need a man to save me – and asked me out.

I tried to resist him. I truly did. But when he yelled at his brothers in defense of me, I caved. The crack in my walls blew wide open and I said yes before I had the chance to grab some mortar and fix my fortifications.

“I’ll answer your question if you tell me why you race to the mailbox whenever the mail is delivered.”

She frowns. I knew she wouldn’t answer my question. When she gets a letter, she rushes to the restroom and locks the door behind her to read it.

“Where are you going?” she asks instead.

All my anxiety comes rushing back, and I wring my hands together. “I don’t know.”

All I know is he said to dress casually and not to bring a purse. My mind is whirling with possibilities. Or, rather, the lack of possibilities. What do you do on a date in jeans? How come I’m not allowed to bring my purse?

Rhett’s SUV turns into the parking lot of theMermaid Moteland I hurry toward the entrance.

Sadie whistles. “That is some vehicle.”

“What do you mean? It’s an SUV. There are tons of them on the island.”

She snorts. “But very few of them cost as much as most people earn in a year.”

Great. Something else to worry about. Rhett is wealthy. How could I have forgotten? My boss is a billionaire and they’re brothers.

“Have fun!” Sadie hollers as I rush outside.

Rhett frowns as he walks toward me. “I wanted to be a gentleman and pick you up at your door.”

“I’ll let you open the car door,” I offer.

“You drive a hard bargain, Havoc.” He opens the door, but when I try to climb inside the vehicle, he grasps my hips and helps me up. Then, he leans over me to fasten my seatbelt.

“I could have climbed inside on my own.”

He tweaks my nose. “But now you didn’t need to.”

He shuts the door before I have a chance to respond.

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