He chuckled, shaking his head. “Sorry, baby. It doesn’t work that way. We can fuck and fuck but if you still have feelings for my boy...” His jaw clenched. “I don’t know if I can continue this, knowing you still want Brady.”
“What?” I shot to my feet. “No. Please. We’ve only just started sleeping together. We—he’s with Cam anyway. I could never come between them. I wouldn’t do that.”
“We haven’t slept together, Shane.” Rhett rose to his full height. “We fucked.” He closed that space between us, the scent of his cologne sending a shiver down my spine. “We fucked hard. It was fucking delicious too.” He tilted his head. “But I can’t compete with him.”
“I don’t have feelings for him. Not like that.” I didn’t. Did I?
“It’s not me you have to convince.” Rhett cupped the back of my neck and placed a soft peck on my forehead. “You need to convince yourself. Until then, we can’t move forward.”
He released me and gave me a sad smile before leaving my office. Once I was alone, I slumped down into my chair. My throat burned, my eyes welling with tears at what he had said. I never thought I would ever become this emotional over the guy but clearly, what he said had registered something inside of me.
What the hell was I going to do?
ELEVEN
Rhett
I never thought thatwalking away from Shane would hurt as much as it did. It wasn’t like we were dating or had been sleeping together for long. But there was something about him I couldn’t shake. I thought one night with him would help curb my craving but it only intensified these feelings. I wanted more out of this. I didn’t want just sex. Not anymore.
That attraction for him had always been there. It wasn’t like I was much older anyway. I ended up getting Brady’s mom pregnant when we were in high school. Her parents weren’t happy, seeing as she had just turned sixteen. But when he was born, that anger and disappointment was long forgotten as we stared at his chubby little face. I had never loved something as much since.
When I rejoined Manny and Kyle, they were talking about a football game. I had watched it with them but at the moment, I couldn’t remember a single thing about the game. And that had been a couple of days ago.
“You good, Rhett?” Manny asked, taking a long swig of his beer.
“I…” I looked around us, my muscles twitching over my bones. “I think I’m gonna head out.”
“Really? Why?” both of them asked at the same time.
“Got some work to do back at the bar.” I threw a twenty on the table, muttered a goodbye, and left Coffee Beans & Love.
When I was out in the cool evening air, the downtown surrounding me was bustling with people. It was Saturday night and early, so they were probably going out for dinner or to a bar.
“Are you leaving because of me?”
I stumbled over my feet, almost falling flat on my face. When I composed myself, I turned around to find Shane standing at the entrance to the alley between the buildings.
“No. I’m leaving because I have work to do.”
“Right.” Shane came toward me, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Did you want to go on a date? With me?”
I stared at him. “Why?”
He grunted, rolling his eyes. “I know you think I still have feelings for Brady. I’m not going to say I don’t because I really don’t know how I feel. But right now, I want to go on a date. We can go see a movie, pig out on popcorn and other junk food.” He looked down at his phone. “There’s some movies starting in half an hour.” He walked past me and stopped about a foot away. “I don’t expect anything else to happen tonight. I just want to see a movie with a guy I happen to like.”
“We’re not fucking tonight.” If we were going to go on a date, it would be just that. Sex could make it dangerous for us, especially when I saw the way he looked at my son. He still longed for him, and I was man enough to admit that it made me jealous.
“That’s fine.” Shane shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I just want to hang out with you. Sex doesn’t have to be on the table.”
“Okay.” I nodded, closing the distance between us. “Any good movies playing?”
“There’s a few,” he answered, his eyes twinkling that I agreed to go see a movie with him. “What are you interested in seeing?”
“I’m willing to see anything really.”As long as I get to spend time with youwent unsaid.
Going on a date with Shane was something that I never thought would actually happen. I had meantwhatI said when I told him that I didn’t want to have sex tonight. We needed to move forward. And sex wouldn’t help that.
“There’s some really good action movies out right now,” Shane said, pulling me from my thoughts.
