Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Fuck, I needed that.” I press my forehead to his stomach, then press a kiss to his softening dick.
“I can’t believe you just came on your kitchen floor,” he says all serious, and I can’t help smiling.
I know he’s particular about things, and I don’t want it to bother him, so I say, “I’ll clean it up.”
I ease away from him and stand, but he says, “I’ll do it. I know it mostly bothers me.”
“Nope. I promise you I’m not the type to leave cum in my kitchen.”
“Yeah, but it’s because of me that we have to do it right this second. Plus…I want to do things for you.” He walks around me, pulls up his clothes, goes to the sink, and washes his hands.
My gaze doesn’t leave him, firmly on his back as I pull up my jeans, leaving them unbuttoned and unzipped while he gets paper towels wet.
Rhett takes two trips back and forth, making sure he gets it all taken care of, and I just…stare at him, liking him moving around in my space. Hell, just liking him.
“What?” he asks, throwing away the towels.
“Nothing.” I’m falling too hard, too fast. I have no idea if this can go anywhere, and the last thing I want is to get hurt, but I don’t know that I can stop myself either.
I definitely don’t want to end what we’re doing out of fear.
“You’re looking at me strangely.”
“I guess I’m strange.” I lean in, unable to keep my lips off him, and kiss him again. Rhett opens for me, not seeming to mind that he’s tasting himself on me. “You hungry?”
Rhett nods, then presses his lips to mine again. I fucking love when Rhett kisses me first, when he moves to touch me in any way first. It feels like a gift, like he’s giving me another piece of him.
I pick up his shirt and hand it over, and then we wash our hands to start prepping dinner.
“Okay, you’re in charge, Rhett. Tell me what to do.”
He grins. This big man, who can come off as so standoffish, is excited about this.
“We use Italian sausage. Some people use ground beef. I brought both in case you like one better than the other.”
“You didn’t have to bring both, Rhett. I’ll eat anything. You’re too sweet, you know that?”
He grabs supplies from the fridge. “Not many people would call me that.”
“Well, they’re idiots who don’t know you like I do. Use the sausage.”
He nods. “I’m not sure about that. I feel like I’m nicer than I used to be.” He gets a skillet and a pan for the noodles.
“I don’t believe that. You had your reasons, and now you’re getting past them. Maybe it’s all the good sex.” I wink, and he chuckles.
“Maybe you’re right.”
Rhett gets the sausage going while I fill the pan with water and get it on the stove to boil.
“Are either of your parents Italian?” I ask.
“My mom’s mom was. Her parents passed away before I was born.”
“Aunts? Uncles?”
Rhett shakes his head as he grabs a spatula and breaks up the meat. “I wonder sometimes, if that’s why she stayed with him. If it’s because she had no family and felt alone.”
Rhett doesn’t offer things about his personal life freely, and usually it’s after some prompting. Fear wrestles around in my gut. I don’t want to say the wrong thing and ruin this moment, but I’d like to learn more about him, and I think Rhett wants that too.
“Did he physically abuse—”
“No. Not that. Never that. And in his own way, he loved her—as much as Gregory Swift can love anyone who’s not himself. He loved her more than he ever loved us. He had us for her and, well, because he wanted people to control.”
My hands tighten into fists, and I feel…I feel like I let him down somehow. Like the whole fucking town let Rhett down, Morgan, East, and Ella too. How did we not know? How did he traumatize his kids so much yet the town adored him? The town still adores him.
“He was the hardest on you?”
“No. The easiest,” Rhett replies, voice husky with pain.
I don’t believe that, not at all, but I do think he was different with Rhett.
“He hated East. In his mind, he ruined their perfect world. Life was a lot easier to manage when it was just me, Morgan, and Mom. I always did what he said, and Morgan made Mom happy.”
“You made her happy too.” I might not have known her, but I believe that.
Rhett shrugs. “Anyway, it was the worst for East because he never even got the chance to have Mom, and then lost Ella. East had a hard time, and Gregory never let him forget that he thought it was East’s fault and that he thought East was weak. With Morgan, he tried to control him, but I think he saw that Morgan wouldn’t be as easy as me, so he started to pit us against each other, would use me to upset Morgan and use him to make me jealous. He always told Morgan he was too soft, gave him shit about Dusty, tried his best to make him hate me because again, Morgan had Mom before she died, and I would then only have him.”