The Romeo Arrangement

“What’s done is done. I knew she’d been having issues the last few years. Big part of the reason I quit the Army, so I could be around more, look in on her.” He shakes his head again. “Nobody saw it coming. I couldn’t believe it. Tobin, he…fuck.”

Breathless, I wait for more, but after the longest ten seconds of my life, I realize it’s not coming.

I wish I hadn’t asked.

Wish I hadn’t dragged him back to that pain.

He sounds so solemn, so wounded, so—I don’t know—lost?

“Here we are,” he says, his face brightening. “Home sweet home.”

I glance up, surprised to see the house. The miles went by in a blur, eaten up by our conversation.

He pulls up in front of the big garage and turns off the engine. “I’ll have to open the garage from inside. The remote’s in my truck.”

“I’ll do it.”

“No, darlin’, let me. You’ve had a long day.”

I have, and I question if I should go see Dad, but it’s going on one o’clock in the morning.

Jackie texted a couple of times while we were gone, letting me know that Dad was doing just fine. By ten o’clock, he’d been sleeping soundly after finishing dinner, a plate of chicken and dumplings brought by Tobin.

We walk in the front door together, and as we separate in the foyer, him to go to the garage and me to go up the winding staircase, I stop.

“Night, Ridge,” I call out. “And thanks again for…for everything.”

“Night, lady. Thanks for making our mission fun. I enjoyed myself for the first time since the snow.” He traps me with a gaze so honest, so grateful, I feel like we’re back on that stage.

I feel the illusion of us all over again.

Wow.

“Me, too.” My feet feel like they weigh a hundred pounds as I turn, treading up the steps.

It was a nice night, a break from the endless terror and chaos.

I just hope I didn’t spoil it by dredging up his past.

In my room, I take off the outfit I’d worn to town and put on a pair of loose-fitting shorts and a t-shirt.

It’s hard to avoid the remorse that comes down in an avalanche.

I knew his mother committed suicide. I’d read the speculation online.

So why did I need to hear it from him? Sure, the crapfest I’d overheard with Ridge and Bebe provoked plenty of questions.

But he’s busy doing all he can to save my life, and I repay him with a bad case of foot-in-mouth.

Shame.

Grabbing my toothbrush, I’m ready to rage-brush my teeth, only I can’t find any toothpaste. Possibly the one thing they forgot to stock my bathroom with, so I head across the hall.

Ridge stands in the hallway near the stairs. I consider running before he turns.

Too late.

The regret inside me glazes over. I’ve lived with so much, for so long, I don’t need more.

But the grin he flashes makes my knees weak.

If there’s any unresolved angst over our conversation and my nosy-as-hell questions, it’s sure not in his expression.

Even with my mind full of doubts, my body never left the dance floor where his kiss, his caress, his energy had me pressing my hips against his.

How could I forget the firmness, the thick bulge in his pants?

My eyes flick down his body. Dangerously close to that spot below the waist I desperately need to ignore.

“I, uh, toothpaste!” I sputter.

“Come again?” His smile gets wider and he steps closer.

Okay. I manage to pull my eyes up, meet his, and instantly feel the heat rushing to my face at the way he lifts a brow.

“There wasn’t any in the bathroom, so I went searching. Also…I’m sorry, Ridge.”

“For what?” he asks softly.

“Barfing up those questions in the truck, mostly,” I blurt out while I can still speak. “It wasn’t my place, snooping around in your life.”

It’s also not my place to be as wet as I was when we left Libations.

I haven’t forgotten that for a second.

Good Lord, I’ve never been so turned on by anyone. Not like this. It’s been years since I even had the time or energy to mess around, and dates were few and far between, mostly in college.

None of those boys ever came close to the Ridge Barnet treatment, the slow-burn sweetness he’d delivered tonight.

“You’re still twisted up over that? Grace, I don’t mind, I told you,” he says, stepping forward and stopping in front of me.

I wonder how long I can hold my breath so I don’t get a whiff of his aftershave.

“Doesn’t matter. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Everything you told me, it must’ve been rough, the kinda thing a person tries hard to forget.” I shake my head.

“You didn’t know, darlin’. It’s natural to be curious, especially when you read that crap online and I’m, well, me.” He reaches up, stroking his chin, torturing me without even knowing it as his fingers slide over his stubble. “I’m not even thinking about that shit anymore, to be honest.”