I tore away from Rhett and twisted around to facehim.“Uh—”
“She’s fine,” Rhett answeredforme.
Gathering my wits, I spun back to glare at him.“I’m perfectly capable of speaking formyself.”
I turned toward Carver one more time, straightening my hair as if that would somehow make me not look like I’d been two steps from begging Rhett to take me up against a wall in some darkcorner.
“I’m fine, Carver.No need to bealarmed.”
He nodded, his expression giving nothing away.“The car is this way, if you’d like to follow me.”He held out an arm todirectme.
“I’m taking her back to her place,” Rhettreplied.
His answer surprised me, and Carver’s attention jumped between us, finally landingonme.
“Ma’am?”
“You can meet us at the house.Thankyou.”
With a deferential nod, he stepped back.“Yes,ma’am.”
I twisted back to Rhett, but before I could open my mouth, he pinned me with his greenstare.
“You and I are going to have a talk.Let’sgo.”
“I get to have a say.I’m a freaking CEO.No one makes decisions for me,butme.”
Rhett’s eyes narrowed.“Not when your decisions put you in the middle of a meat market like you’re out trolling for a random reboundhookup.”
“So what if I had been?I’d be well within myrights!”
“Because I had you under me this morning, and I’ll be goddamned if you’re going to let someone else put his hands on you before we figurethisout.”
He guided me down the sidewalk, and I let him, because I was too busy processing hiswords.
“Figure what out?”I asked a few stepslater.
Rhett paused beside the Jeep.“Youandme.”
My mouth dropped open as he unlocked the door and lifted me to deposit me ontheseat.
Youandme.
Holy.Crap.
Rhett shut the door and rounded the hood to hop inside.I was struggling to catch up with the point whereyou and mehad become a thing when he pulled out of the spot and the Jeep rolledforward.
As Carver pulled out behind us, I mumbled, “I feel like I need a flowchart to keep up with what’shappeninghere.”
Rhett shot me a pointed look.“What’s happening here is I’m taking you home.You’re not going to Molly’s again without me.You want to rub up against a guy in a bar?It’s gonnabeme.”
“Did I misssomething?”
“What?”he asked, maneuvering the Jeep throughtraffic.
“This massive shift?You’ve gone from never noticing my existence to all of a sudden hauling me out of bars and kissing me.Yeah, a flowchart would behelpful.”
Rhett said nothing at that point, leaving an awkward silence that hung in the car until we hit the causeway over Lake Pontchartrain and toward myplace.