His mama squeezed his knee. “That’s your daddy’s little stallion. So strong and brave.”
Her lips trembled, same way as Rhys’ heart.
And he remembered what his daddy said. That some people were made extra special and needed extra care. For people to stand up for them.
He knew that was his daddy now.
“Now, you get some sleep. You’ve got school in the mornin’.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He crawled under his covers, and he smiled up at his mama who smiled down at him.
His mama kissed his temple then moved out of his room, clicking off the light and casting his room in shadows.
He tossed in the heaviness of them. Like he no longer fit in his bed. Like the air was wrong.
From the weight in his chest? He guessed he should have known his daddy was never gonna smile again.
Twenty-Four
Maggie
Blinking into the dull morning light, my chest cracked wide open when I saw the blue eyes gazing back at me.
No defense, considering every guard I’d ever possessed had been obliterated last night. Laid at his feet.
“Hi.” His grumbly, raw voice welcomed me from the best sleep I’d ever had.
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip. “Hi,” I whispered.
My insides shivered.
I’d slept with Rhys.
Twice.
Redness raced. Streaking my skin. It wasn’t in shyness. It had everything to do with the way he was watching me from where he lay on his side about two feet away.
I got the sense that maybe he’d been doing it for a while.
Looking at me like he had woken to find a treasure he hadn’t expected in his bed.
Except I felt like the one who’d stumbled upon something spectacular.
Untouchable because he was so damn extraordinary.
His chest and shoulders bare.
His hair a mess.
Those blue, blue eyes so soft.
But it was that mouth wearing that smile that nearly did me in.
A smirk ticked up at the corner of it. “How’d you sleep?”
I moaned a little moan and snuggled deeper into the plush pillow. “Like a dream.”
His smirk widened. “Huh. Wonder why that could be?”
Joy crawled over me, filling my chest.
A lightness fell over us this morning that had never been there before.
“Hmm. I don’t know,” I mused playfully under my breath. “It might have something to do with this really hot guy who blew my mind last night.”
He quirked a teasing brow. “Hot guy, huh?”
“Really hot guy.” I laid it on thick, not even fighting the well of giddiness that bubbled inside.
“And who might this really hot guy be?”
“Oh…no one you’d know.”
“Don’t know him? Weird. I could have sworn it was my name you were screaming last night.”
“Oh, that’s right. I guess I was just blinded by the hotness and I forgot it was actually you.”
I squealed when Rhys suddenly reached out and grabbed me, rolling us until I was on top of him.
Without giving me a chance to orient to the new blissful sensation, he started tickling my sides.
My squeals turned to shrieking laughter, and there was no keeping quiet.
That well erupted.
Overflowed.
Happiness and hope.
“Forget me? Oh darlin’, you’re in trouble. Tell me you don’t just want me for this body.” He kept tickling me, and I was squirming all over, laughing and whining and trying to get away and not wanting to go anywhere. “I mean, I know I’m somethin’ to look at, but that’s just outright mean.”
Except he wasn’t upset at all.
Delight radiated from him. From his expression and those eyes and his beautiful spirit that consumed the space in the most magnificent way.
“I don’t know. It’s awfully distracting.”
He tickled me harder.
I squealed loudly.
And then we were both slowing, and I was gazing down at him and he was threading his fingers into my hair.
Gently.
Tenderly.
This good, good man.
“Last night was amazing, Rhys. The best night of my life. And I’m never going to forget it.”
His thumb traced my chin. “And I’m the luckiest bastard alive that I got to share it with you.”
“I think I’m pretty lucky, too.”
I didn’t wait for his face to blanch. For his self-reproach to take over.
I dropped a kiss to his mouth.
A little peck.
Still, he moaned, and the man was hard, and my stomach got all twisty and achy with need again.
I groaned in frustration. “I need to get up. Practice starts in thirty minutes, and Emily’s going to be wondering where I am.”
Rhys bucked up. “I can think of better ways to spend the day.”
Those hands splayed across my back before he spread them across my bottom, holding me tight.
This time I whimpered. “Rhys.”
He chuckled. “Get out of here before I try to convince you to stay in my bed all day.”
Oh, that convincing would be easy to do.
I rolled off him and started to climb from the bed.
Rhys caught me by the back of the neck, and he brought me down for a searing kiss.
Deep and long and so thorough I felt it to the tips of my toes.