I shook my head, starting to get pissed. “No. I made a calculated decision that the drama it would evoke wouldn’t be worth the hassle, so I told Heath I was hiring security out of a generalized concern, and he bought it. No one gives me the third degree about my decisions anymore, and no one else can tell when I’m lying.”

“You need to be more careful.”

My gaze darted to the mirror to find Carver splitting his attention between us and the road.

I jerked my head in his direction. “I’m being careful, hence the driver with a gun and hand-to-hand combat skills.”

“Who the hell are you, and what happened to Ariel?”

I laughed in disbelief. “She grew up and made a boatload of money when no one was paying attention.”

Apparently, I didn’t regulate my tone appropriately because Heath jerked against my side.

“What? What’s going on? What’d I miss?”

“Nothing. We’re taking you home.”

I rattled off his address to Carver, who had cleared the traffic in the Quarter. Gentilly wasn’t all that far geographically from the estate I was renting on Lake Pontchartrain, but it was light years away in economic terms. The middle-class families in the neighborhood where I grew up would go for a Sunday drive by posh weekend places like mine and wonder what it was like to live that life.

But I didn’t have to wonder anymore. It was my life.

As we closed in on Heath’s house, only a half mile or so away from where Rhett’s parents’ home exploded days before, Heath shook off some of his drunken stupor and spoke to Rhett.

“Dude, I’m sorry. My dad took the pullout in the den. I don’t have a spare bed for you.”

Rhett cursed under his breath. “My shit’s at my hotel anyway. I can grab a cab over there.”

Heath leaned on me, shoving me tighter against Rhett’s side. “Nah, dude. That’s too big of a pain. Go stay with Flounder. She’s probably got like seventeen bedrooms in that mansion she’s staying in. If Dad wasn’t so against change, I would’ve insisted he stay with her.”

Rhett stiffened. “It’s fine. I’ll take a cab back downtown to the hotel.”

“Ari, tell him you don’t mind, or this stubborn asshole is going to be standing in front of my house waiting for a cab for a half hour.”

What could I say except, “You can stay at my place. I have plenty of extra room.”

I took Rhett’s grunt for an affirmative answer, but he remained stiff for the rest of the ride, even after we dropped Heath off at his place and I slid over to the spot he’d vacated.

Carver checked the backseat, and for the first time, I wondered why I didn’t insist on sitting in the front instead of being squashed between Rhett and Heath.

Oh, wait, that’s right. I was close to my former crush who smells like fantasies and dreams, and my brain stopped functioning normally. Silly me.

When Carver pulled up to my house’s fenced entrance moments later, he punched in the code. Rhett watched with interest as the gate slid open to reveal the well-lit colossus of a house.

Carver parked in the garage and opened the door for me to step out. Rhett opened his own door and followed us silently into the house.

“Do you require anything else this evening, Ms. Sampson?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you. Have a good night.”

Carver retreated to the garage where he stayed in one of the two apartments above the eight-stalled monstrosity. Heath exaggerated when he said this place had seventeen bedrooms. There were only twelve, including the two garage apartments.

“You have changed. A lot.”

Rhett’s voice came from behind me as I walked into the kitchen and dropped my purse on the counter.

I wrestled with that comment. It was true to a certain extent, but I wasn’t about to get into a drunken introspective discussion.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” I answered simply.

“Ms. Sampson, is there anything else you require this evening?” Rhett’s attempt at mimicking Carver’s tone came off sounding hollow.

I spun on my heel. “At least I’m taking precautions and not being stupid. Because if I weren’t, I’m sure you’d be lecturing me about my personal safety right now instead.”

Surprisingly, a deep chuckle filled the room as Rhett’s whole body shook with laughter. “Fuck, you’re probably right. I’m sorry, Red. It’s been a shit day, topping off a shit week, a shit month, and a shit year. It’s not personal. I’m just being a dick.”

At the word dick, it took everything I had to keep my eyes from dropping to his crotch. Again.

Instead, I plastered a sincere smile on my face. “You get a pass, hotshot. I’m sorry. I wish . . . I wish none of it had ever happened. I wish I could turn back time and fix it all for you before it went wrong.”

His chin dropped to his chest, hiding his eyes. He lifted it after a few beats. “I believe you. Out of every person I know, you’re one of the few who would move heaven and earth to save me from that.”

For long moments, we both stood frozen in my kitchen, staring at each other. I didn’t know how to respond, but Rhett saved me by turning to survey the house.

“So, which of the seventeen bedrooms do I get?”

I knew what I wanted to say.

Mine.

But we both knew that would never happen.

9

Rhett

You’d think I would have learned my lesson by now when it came to drinking, but last night it was either tip too many back with my friends, or drown myself alone in shame, regret, and whiskey. There was plenty of time for that, though. I’d be carrying this with me for years to come.

I rolled over on crisp white sheets I didn’t recognize, my head pounding and my mouth dry. Where the hell am I?

I cracked open my eyes, hoping like hell there was no stranger beside me, but it was empty. Not even a wild red mane of hair on the pillow.

Where the hell did that thought come from?

I knew better than to let myself think about things that would never happen. Ari was so high above me, she might as well be in a different stratosphere now.

Wait a minute. For as long as I could remember, I’d told myself Ari was off-limits because she was my best friend’s little sister. When had my thinking changed?