Erin McCarthy - Full Throttle

Hell if she knew. “I guess we dance. And we live together. And tomorrow we have a wedding reception.”

Rhett’s thumb rubbed over her bottom lip. “So pragmatic. Where’s the romance, darlin’?”

That made her grin back at him, relieved that he knew her so well already that he was lightening the mood. That he was allowing her to steer this conversation. “Read a novel,” she told him. “You’re barking up the wrong tree if you want a gushy girl.”

“Oh, I think I can get you to gush a little . . . you get more romantic in bed than you realize.”

“I wasn’t aware that begging was romantic,” she said wryly.

But Rhett shook his head. “That’s not what I was referring to. I was thinking more about the way your eyes darken and your skin flushes and the way your fingers trace my face like you can’t quite believe I’m real.”

It was true. She did all that. And she blushed anew to realize that he was so aware of her and her reactions. “Sometimes I wonder if you are real,” she whispered. “Sometimes I think that I’m going to wake up with the clock rewound and find none of the last two weeks has happened.”

“How would that make you feel?”

“Heartbroken,” she told him truthfully.

“Me, too.” His green eyes were shiny with sincerity.

A tap on her arm made Shawn jump. She glanced over and saw Eve and Nolan watching them in amusement.

“You do know you’re slow dancing to nothing, don’t you? The music stopped sixty seconds ago.”

Oh, Lord, she was right. The dance floor was completely empty except for them.

“But the rhythm of my heart is beating like a drum,” Rhett said, deadpan.

Shawn lost it, laughter spilling out. That was such a Rhett comeback, and she loved it.

Nolan shook his head. “Bro, my hat is off to you. You managed to find the one woman in the world who doesn’t think you’re a freak.”

RHETT opened the back door of Harley’s car for Shawn and eyed his wife’s backside as she climbed in.

“I saw that,” Eve told him, sliding past him to follow Shawn into the car.

“I don’t care,” he told her with an unrepentant grin. “And why aren’t you going with Nolan? Not that I don’t enjoy your presence thoroughly, but I would think you’d want to go home with your husband.”

“He has to drive Jared home. He’s shit-faced. I’m dead on my feet, so I’ll get back faster this way.”

“So Harley’s dropping you first, then us?”

“Yes. It’s on the way,” she said defensively.

It was a toss-up whether it was or not, but Rhett didn’t care to argue. He was damn happy. Happy as a dead pig in the sunshine. So he just smiled at her and got in the car. “Switch seats with me, Eve. I want to sit next to Shawn.”

“Kiss my butt,” was her reply. “You can fondle her later. I’m not climbing over the top of you so you can sit next to her. God, so high school.”

“You are tired,” he commented. That was a bit sharp even for Eve.

“I’m exhausted. I drank just enough to dance like a fool, but not enough to not feel the crash. So don’t piss me off or I’ll cream your corn.”

“I’m not afraid of you, big talker.” Rhett leaned around her to talk to Shawn, intentionally getting his elbow in Eve’s face. “Baby, I hope we don’t need to be anywhere first thing tomorrow because I’m not ready for sleeping yet. I’ve got at least two hours in me.”

“Gross,” was Charity’s opinion from the front passenger seat.

He just laughed. Shawn smiled at him, bundled up in her coat. Eve pinched his arm.

“Move it,” she said.

Settling back, he found himself feeling very conversational. “So Harley, you’re quiet up there. Did you have fun?”

“It was fine,” was Harley’s clipped reply from the front seat.

Charity snorted.

“Wrong question, hon,” Shawn told him in a warning voice.

Was it wrong that he was more interested in the fact that Shawn had called him “hon” than whatever was bothering Harley?

The thought guilted him into saying, “I’m sorry, Harley. Didn’t mean to poke a sore spot.”

“I didn’t know you were crushing on him,” Charity exploded at her sister. “If you would actually share something with me once in a while, I wouldn’t have kissed him. You know, it’s really very hurtful that you won’t let me in, Harley. I tell you everything .”

“Wait, so this is my fault?” Harley asked in shock, taking a turn a little hard and running them over the curb.

“Maybe I should drive,” Rhett suggested. “Were you drinking, Harley?”

“No. I cut myself off three hours ago because that’s what I do,” Harley said. “I am the driver and the wallflower while Charity gets drunk and dances half-naked with the guy she totally knew I was into!”

“I’m out,” Rhett said, turning to Eve. “I can’t do the girl-fight thing.”

“Don’t look at me,” Eve said, shrugging. “My suggestion to arm wrestle it out isn’t really practical at the moment.”

But Shawn had it under control. She was already leaning forward, murmuring to the twins, reassuring Harley that Charity had not known about the guy and suggesting to Charity that if she wanted her sister to confide in her, she should consider allowing her a word in edgewise on occasion.

Rhett leaned against the window and watched her sort the whole mess out in a matter of minutes. After they pulled into Eve’s apartment complex and Harley parked the car, there were tears and hugs and apologies, and then suddenly all was okay. It was, in his eyes, as miraculous as Moses parting the Nile.

“That’s why I leave this stuff to her,” Eve told him. “See you tomorrow with my happy face on.” She gave him a smile and got out of the car after he opened the door and stood up to let her pass.

“Thanks. Shawn is pretty amazing, isn’t she?”

“I’m glad to see you realize it,” she told him. Then with a wave to her girlfriends, Eve went into the apartment building she and Nolan had recently moved into after the sale of her condo, and Rhett waited to make sure the door firmly closed behind her.

“Eve’s in. We can roll.” And with his sister-in-law safely home, he could cuddle with his wife. His wife. That’s right.

She came willingly when he urged her to tuck in up against his side.

“I’m freezing still,” she said. “It must be thirty degrees out tonight. I know I can always count on you to warm me up.”

He moved his eyebrows up and down.

She laughed. “Well, yeah, there’s that, but what I really meant was that you radiate heat all the time. Your body temperature must be ten degrees higher than most people.”

“I think I would be dead if that were the case.”

Shawn rolled her eyes. “Smart-ass.”

He really enjoyed that Shawn was perfectly comfortable giving him shit. It was one of the things he loved about her.

Love. Funny how that very small, unexpected word could change everything. Rhett bent over and murmured in her ear, “I love you.”

Shawn started and gazed up at him. Her eyes were wide in the dark backseat of Harley’s car, but they were open and honest. “I love you, too.”

What more could a man ask for? Nothing, as far as Rhett was concerned.

When they went inside and kicked off their shoes and hung up their jackets, Rhett loved the way Shawn waited for him at the top of the kitchen landing, her hand out for his.

There was no question in her eyes.

She knew he was going to make love to her. She knew that whatever he did to her, he would put her pleasure first, that she would be satisfied. The way she let him lead her down the hallway, the way she waited in the doorway for him to undress her, the way she kissed him with a deep fervor and abandonment, satisfied Rhett in return. He had never known that he could be this happy, that the restless agitation that had burned inside him would be eased by Shawn’s open affection and perfect willingness to submit to his aggressive desires.