I reach for my e-reader which is already waiting for me and fully charged. It makes me giggle softly under my breath.
As I look around the room, I realize there are little glimmers of me everywhere. I didn’t even realize I was invading Rhodes’s home. Honestly, I think he likes it because I’m sure he’s noticed and he hasn’t stopped me.
No, I think he’s been gently encouraging me to take up more space.
My soul settles as I relax back and let the feeling of being home, being right where I’m supposed to be, wrap around me. It’s not a feeling I’m used to at all.
As I start to read, I get lost in the romance between the two characters. I used to read romance with a feeling of yearning, with an edge of hopelessness which I figured I simply had to accept. To me, it was a future I wasn’t destined to have and would, maybe one day, settle for a good enough connection.
Now, I’m glad I never settled.
Because the connection I have with Rhodes is much more than good enough. It’s everything.
WhenRhodes sits down next to me, it startles me because I was lost in the sexy as hell scene. I blink at him a few times as my mind leaves the fantasy and is plunged into another one, but this time it’s my reality.
“You were lost in that story,” he teases, his eyes sparkling with mischievous interest. “Was it a good part?”
The way he wiggles his eyebrows at me has me giggling. He’s so fucking adorable.
“Maybe,” my voice is sly as I look over at him.
I practically melt into the couch when he pulls my feet into his lap and starts to massage them. The way Rhodes cares for me is so damn sweet.
He makes a humming sound, and I can’t tear my eyes away from him as I watch him focus on his task. It’s a heady feeling being caught in the intensity that is all him.
“I need to talk to you about something,” he starts and I can hear the note of hesitancy in his voice.
My heart seizes for a moment before it starts to pound in my chest. That’s not good, right? When someone you’re seeing, dating or whatever this is, tells you they have to talk. It’s a bad sign.
My breathing becomes shallow as I start to freak out. Before I can spiral too far, Rhodes grips my calf and gives a squeeze.
“It’s okay, Sweetheart,” he coos, “it’s nothing bad.” I take a few deep breaths and his mouth twists to the side. “Well,” he backpedals, “it’s not bad in terms of us.”
“Okay,” I breathe out.
He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I had the chance to go and check out the Old Mill after the McMinn Sheriff and his deputies had already cleared it. They did find evidence that the dog fighting ring was operating there, but they moved out in a hurry.”
Myshoulders slump with the news. If I hadn’t gone out there that night to see what was going on and Rhodes had been able to check it out, would the end result have been different? Would they have found the people responsible or, at least, those running it?
Guilt fills me and I look down at my e-reader even though I’m not really seeing the words on the screen. My vision blurs with tears, and I have to blink them back before they fall.
“Hey,” Rhodes’s voice is gentle as he grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger before tilting my head back up. His eyes search mine and I have to wonder if he can see the way guilt is making me regret my own damn actions. “What are you thinking?”
“If you didn’t need to rescue me that night then maybe you wouldn’t have missed an opportunity to find out who is behind all of this,” my words are small and far too soft.
Can he see my vulnerability and my worry? Can he see the weight of it all?
“No,” his voice is hard, unrelenting, “this is not your fault. The trash there looks fresh, but that’s relative. Fresh could have been days, weeks, maybe even a month. We have no way of knowing how long ago they were or how long they had stayed before moving on. This is not your fault,” he says it with such conviction.
“You don’t know for sure,” my voice breaks slightly.
“You don’t know it either,” he points out. “You can’t say for certain I would have found anything that night. It’s more than possible that I would have only found a few empty cages and the crude remnants of the dregs of society.”
As much as I hate to admit it, he has a point. I don’t have to like it.
“After talking to Lyons and a few Sheriffs of the surrounding counties, we’ve decided to pull back a little from the investigation.”
I shoot straight up from where I’m leaning back in the couch. “You’re giving up?”
