“Is Ms. Lewis home yet?”
“Who do you think I’m talking to, Ellis?”
“Roscoe,” she replies without missing a beat, making me laugh.
I stand from my porch, wine in hand, and cross the yard, Rhonan’s eyes trailing me the entire time. I can feel my lips quirk to the side as he tracks my movements, his gaze making heat pool low in my belly until I’m only a few inches from him on the other side of the fence.
“Hey, there,” I say, our gazes still locked.
His eyes dip down to my lips before he speaks. “Hey.”
“Ms. Lewis?” Ellis asks, her silhouette visible through the slats in the fence.
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Can I play with Roscoe?”
My dog claws at the fence when he hears her. I peer down at him. “What do you say, boy? You wanna go play with Ellis?” Roscoe barks in response. I turn to face Rhonan and shrug. “I think he’s made his choice loud and clear.”
Rhonan tosses his head to the side. “Meet me at the gate.”
As I walk into Rhonan’s backyard, my arm brushes his chest. Roscoe takes off toward Ellis and her laughter fills the air, but Rhonan grips my hand before I can walk away from him.
His nose drags along the column of my throat. “Fuck, you look gorgeous.”
“Thank you,” I say, feeling warmth bloom across my cheeks.
“How have you been?” His nose moves to my hair now.
“Good.”
“That’s good.”
“Rhonan…” I warn softly, though I don’t pull away.
“I need your number, Vienna.” He leans back and our eyes meet.
“Okay…”
“I realized after I left your house the other night that I don’t have it. I’d have asked for it sooner, but I was working all weekend.”
Realization dawns on me that his silence over the past few days was probably due to both of those factors.
“Oh.”
He toys with my bottom lip. “Yeah. Oh.”
Nodding, I watch him take his phone from his pocket and then I rattle off my number to him, feeling my phone vibrate as he calls me. “There. Now we can text like other adults in this century do.”
I chuckle as he releases me and then secures the gate behind us, leading me up the deck to the chairs. “You know, I didn’t think you were home tonight either. I didn’t see your truck in the driveway.”
“Keeping tabs on me?”
“No,” I lie. “I am just observant.”
Rhonan shrugs, but there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. “Joanne took my truck tonight. Her car was making a funny sound, so we’re taking it to Dilynne’s garage in the morning.”
Taking my seat, I stare up at him. “I see.”
