Page 61 of Barbed Wire Fences
“Thank you for saying that. You’ve always seen me in a way I don’t think anyone else ever has,” I whisper, my face tilting up to see his.
His eyes soften, and he nods. “I’ve always seen you, Jael. Even when you thought I wasn’t looking. I saw you.”
There’s a weight to those words, a quiet honesty that threatens to undo me. I nod back, not trusting myself to say more. Rhett’s eyes study mine, searching and pleading.
“Will you stay, please? I’d hate for all this food to go to waste.”
A small smile pulls at my lips because I know I will. I need to stop running from him and run towards this. Whatever this is that’s always been between us.
“Yeah,” I say softly. “Let’s go eat.”
Chapter 18 – Jael
The rest of our first date is spent laughing and catching up on the years that we missed. Though the conversation never comes back to Christopher, I finally get a chance to work into the discussion my questions around who he’s dated over the past decade.
“No one was ever serious.” He says it so simply and honestly.
“Okay, but I still want to know. Was it anyone I knew?” I beg teasingly as I pop another sliced strawberry into my mouth and savor the sweetness of it. We’re still sitting at his kitchen island with him across from me as if he’s trying to keep some space between us. “God, why do they taste like this? Did you bathe them in sugar?”
He grins. “They’re from Regan’s new garden she started at the old Mayberry Manor. The produce she grows mostly goes to the Whitewood Creek Brewery and Restaurant, but she sells it occasionally at a farm stand on their property. Lawson has his son Beckham out there working the stand, earning some extra dollars. Good way to keep him busy during the summer.”
I nod and take a bite into a blueberry this time. It’s just as good. Sweet and fresh like it was picked straight off the vine and into this plate. A soft moan escapes from my lips as the juices spill down my chin. Rhett’s gaze drops there for a moment before his eyes lift back to mine and when they do, they’re heated.
He clears his throat. “If you really want to know about my past, there was Katy when I was twenty-one.”
“Katy? Was she in our class at school?”
He nods. “She ended up going to the community college with me. Got her certification in welding.”
“Wow, that’s intense.”
“She was intense. Super smart but a bit wild in the bedroom.”
I put my hands up because I shouldn’t have asked. Maybe I’m not ready to hear this. “Say no more.”
He grins. “Ah, now you don’t want to hear about my sex life?”
“I’d rather not.”
He chuckles. “Seems only fair given I’ve had to hear about yours.”
“I haven’t said anything about my sex life.”
He hums quietly and rubs at the scruff on his chin but doesn’t say anything more.
I pop another strawberry into my mouth. “Okay, so who else?”
“No one else was more than one date except for Penelope.”
“Who’s that?”
“A teacher at the elementary school.”
I pause my chewing because this girl sounds recent. “When was the last time you went out with her?”
He thinks for a moment, and I can tell he’s considering what to tell me. “The same night that you and Owen went to the football game.”
“Oh…wow.”
