“Don’t tell me that you’re here for another tattoo, because I know for a fact no one has a cancellation today.”
Finally, his tongue unglued from the roof of his mouth. “I’m not here for a tattoo. I’m here for you.”
Those beautiful eyes widened a fraction more. “No. You can’t be here for me. I already told you that I don’t want you.”
“I know what you said,” Rhett admitted. “But I don’t think you mean it. Not the deep down, straight from your gut kind of meaning it.”
Bella’s lips parted for a fraction of time before she was able to recover and force out a rebuttal. “No. Of course I meant it.”
“Here’s the thing. I don’t think you do. I think you’re scared. I’m scared. We’re both scared. We were both doing it wrong. So wrong. I don’t know that we can do it right. It might be a disaster. It might turn into a huge shit-sandwich. I don’t know. Neither of us does. What I do know is that ever since I met you, I’ve had this feeling that I’ve finally got it right. Like, not in the way everyone thinks I should, but in the way that I’ve always needed to. I’ve never had that before. I never had it before you and then you said you didn’t want to give it a chance and I lost it. I want it back. I want you back. I want all of it back.”
“There- there are…” Bella’s throat bobbed as she swallowed hard, but even Rhett could tell that her tough façade was cracking.
“Yeah. I know all about the reasons we shouldn’t do this. But I also know that there is one really good reason to do it.”
“What’s- what’s that?”
Rhett’s heart nearly burst from the way Bella was looking at him, with her eyes all big and doe-like. His heart felt like it was ready to burst. Literally. His chest hurt so bad he nearly reached down to massage the spot.
“That I feel like this could be great. I mean, really, really good. Like if we gave it a chance, we might not even hate each other years from now kind of good. I have something when I’m with you. I feel- whole. I don’t know, Bella, I’m shit at this. I don’t explain my feelings. Half the time I don’t even think about them.”
“That would explain why you were with my sister for so long.”
Rhett swallowed hard. “Being with Sarah for so long showed me exactly what I don’t want. It showed me all the things I was doing wrong. I don’t feel any of that with you. I feel exactly the opposite. Like this might be a disaster, but it will be one epic, amazing, gorgeous kind of disaster. Like the kitchen after you’ve just baked a five-course meal that was so fucking good no one needs to eat for a month again. That kind of disaster. The kind that is totally, undoubtedly, amazingly, epically, emphatically, worth it.”
“That’s a lot of words for someone that says he can’t express himself.”
“I may have consulted a thesaurus right before I came in here. On my phone of course. Not the real paper kind.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” A small smile broke through and Rhett felt like the sun had just come out after one hell of a rainstorm. Or a shit-storm. Back to that.
“I don’t either.” He leaned across the counter and Bella leaned forward a few inches. They were less than a foot away. “I seriously don’t either. Just give me a chance. I don’t care about the money. Our families will come around. I know my mom will and yours already doesn’t like you, so what’s the big deal?”
That ghost of a smile bloomed into a full-on radiant grin and Rhett’s chest just about imploded. His groin was also getting in on that imploding, or rather, exploding action.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I know. I know I am. I’m not afraid to be ridiculous or look like an idiot if it means that you’ll have dinner with me. That you’ll keep having dinner with me. That you’ll give me a chance. I don’t want to change you. I don’t want you to change. My mom will love you because she’ll see that you just want me, not my money. Oddly enough, she never liked Sarah.”
“I like your mom more already,” Bella laughed.
“It sucks without you, Bel. We might not be like everyone else, but that’s okay. I’ve always been okay with that. I just want to be me, and I want the me with you. I don’t want you to give up your independence or your wit or who you are. I just want to make it more fun for you. I want to be there for you. To have your back. If you never want to be spoiled or take a dollar from me, that’s fine by me. We don’t have to do anything the traditional way. We can take our time and just enjoy it.”