Page 39 of Forever in the Country

“Yeah, and I’ll make it clear that if he touches you again he’ll have a real hard time playin’ baseball in a cast.”

She throws her arms up in defeat. “You can’t say things like that. Do you even hear yourself?”

Fishing her house key from her purse, she slams it into the lock and pushes the door open so hard it bounces off the wall in the entryway. I follow her in, closing it behind me and letting the latch catch with a smallsnick.

“Sunshine, there’s not a man on this earth I won’t level to get to you.”

Her mouth drops open and then closes as she stares at me. I sit on the arm of the couch and wait. I think it’s finally starting to sink in that I’m not kidding. It really shouldn’t be a surprise—I’m not really known for my hilarity.

“I just don’t even know what to do with you right now.”

She starts pacing and when she gets close enough, I reach out and grab her arm, pulling her slowly to me.

“I know you’re mad,”—my hands rest on her hips as she stands between my legs, my eyelids falling shut as exhaustion settles over me—“but can I just hold you a while?”

When she doesn’t respond, I break a little more.

“I fucking missed you, Rhea.”

I missed her for weeks and months in the span of a few days and the ache is visceral.

“You said we were going to talk,” she says as her fingernails trail up and down the back of my neck.

“I’m not saying we won’t.”

She sighs. “It feels like…” I search her face, my chest tightening with each passing second she doesn’t speak. “It feels like you’re only here because I went to dinner with someone else.”

I push down the rage that bubbles inside me. Doubt. Uncertainty.

She hasn’t said she missed me.

She hasn’t said that being away from me for a couple of nights ripped her heart out of her chest the way it did mine.

“I thought…” I swallow hard. “I thought if I could get the shelter a little further along it would be easier to show you I can do this.”

“Do what?”

“Be with you.” She tries to pull back but I hold her tighter. “I want to be the man you want to be with—the man you need.”

“Why do you think that you’re not enough? Like you haven’t been this entire time? Reorganizing the spice rack at the bakery aside,” she says, adding a small bit of levity, “I just want you.”

“I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

“Right now I regret feelin’ like we wasted over eight months when we could have been doing this together.” I open my mouth to speak but she holds up her hand and shakes her head. “I’m exhausted and if I only have a couple of hours with you, then…”

She takes my hand and pulls me up as she walks backward to her bedroom. I’ve been in her house plenty of times but I’ve never been in here. It’s all warm tones and more pillows than should ever be allowed on a bed. The colors are in complete contrast to the bright ones in the rest of her place, but it fits.

It’s another side to her that’s beautiful and serene, and I do my best to soak it in before I have to leave her.

Toeing off my boots, I leave them by the door. She hasn’t moved, her eyes dragging down my body in a blatant perusal.

“Take your shirt off.”

“Sunshine.” It’s a warning, but she doesn’t back down.

“I want it.” Her lips tip up on the side. “Don’t get shy on me now. Besides,”—she shrugs one shoulder—“you’re going to be gone a whole week.” The faintest blush covers her cheeks, and I need no more encouragement before fisting the fabric on my back and pulling it over my head.

“Anything else?” I ask as I throw it at her. She shakes her head and nibbles on her bottom lip. “Go change,” I growl. She giggles and spins on her heel, her dress twirling around her.

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