“I never loved Victoria. I’ve never loved any woman, but that’s changing as we speak,” Rhett said, tossing me a casual grin that made my heart stop.
Jesus. This guy was dangerous. My heart was struggling to beat normally. “Right, whatever. You should know I’m onto the Hill Crest summer game… finding an adoring local girl to screw around before returning to real life. I’ve never been involved in it before, and I don’t plan on starting now.”
“I agreed not to ask questions, so I won’t right now, but we will be coming back to that statement. If you want to know why I bought Hill Crest, just ask.”
“Okay, fine. Why?”
“Because of my father.”
Whatever answer I’d been expecting, that wasn’t it.
“Your father? Aren’t you super old to be doing things for your father’s approval?”
Rhett let out a bark of laughter. He nodded ruefully. “You’re absolutely right, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference. We’ve never gotten along. My father doesn’t think I have my priorities in order these days, but truthfully, nothing I’ve ever done has been good enough for him.”
“You made yourself a billionaire,” I pointed out.
Rhett shrugged. “According to my father, there’s more to life than money, though that certainly doesn’t explain why I never saw him growing up. He lived at the office, so I guess I can be grateful this criticism is a new one.”
I couldn’t get my head around it. “So instead of being proud of his billionaire son, a man with a consecutive three-year run in Forbes rich list covers, he finds fault?”
Rhett gave me an appreciative look. “Have you been looking me up, Chloe?”
I flushed, feeling exposed. “I thought that was common knowledge,” I blustered, and Rhett chuckled. “Anyway, why did your father want you to buy the club?”
“It was important to him. He’s been a lifelong member and has good memories there, I guess. Maybe he wanted to preserve his local legacy? I don’t know. He wanted me to do it, and in a truly pathetic way, I wanted to impress him, so I bought out Burke Blakely and promised to turn it around.”
“It's not pathetic to want to impress your parents. It’s hardwired, I think.”
“Maybe so. Despite loving the club and being friends with Burke Blakely, my father didn’t approve of Victoria, even from a young age. In the spirit of complete honesty, we dated in our early twenties. It lasted a couple of months and was done. A couple of months, twenty years ago.”
“Christ, I forgot how old you are,” I muttered, making Rhett laugh. “Anyway, it looks like she hasn’t got the message.”
“That’s not my problem,” Rhett said in a dismissive tone that made me shiver.
“That’s cold. I wouldn’t want to be someone you turned your back on,” I murmured and jumped when a warm hand came to rest on mine.
“You won’t be, Chloe. Never.”
“Right. What else does your crystal ball say? Don’t forget to give me the winning lotto numbers when you have a chance. No one can say never about the future,” I muttered, pulling my hand gently away from his. His skin was too warm, and his hand too heavy. It reminded me of earlier, and I couldn’t afford to fall into that delicious memory right now.
Rhett let my hand go without a fight, and a part of me was disappointed. Then he spoke and cheered me right back up. “I decide my future. Me. It’s not chance, or fate, or anything unknowable. Everything in my life that matters to me, I’ve made happen.”
We drew up outside the trailer park. It wasn’t a horrible one. Most of the trailers there had been in place for decades, with the same families living in them. I was comfortable there, and most importantly, I owned mine outright, so my bills were low. Rhett was silent as I directed him to the side of the small track that led through the heart of the park.
“This is me,” I said and turned to him, meeting his gaze. I wanted to see what he had to say about the girl he was seducing and the different worlds we lived in.
His eyes were scanning the trailer. “Are you going to invite me in?”
“Not a chance. If you think it looks crappy from the outside, you won’t survive the inside,” I quipped, though the casual tone cost me.
Rhett moved his eyes from his thorough inspection of the trailer and turned to me, resting an arm around the back of my seat. “I think you’re underestimating how badly I want to finish what we started, Chloe. When you’re in a room, I don’t see anything else.”
Okay, that was good to hear but too smooth at the same time. I folded my arms across my chest to give myself some strength to resist this man. “That’s such a player line. You think I haven’t heard them all? This isn’t my first summer at Hill Crest.”
“Tell me who hit on you, and I’ll have their memberships revoked tonight,” Rhett growled, looking pissed off.
“That’s a great way to turn the club membership around. Don’t forget, you have to impress daddy,” I snapped before I could think how rude that was. I immediately cringed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”