Page 80

Only after Rhiannon relaxed did Carmela look around to check for an audience. When there wasn’t any, she took her time slipping out of her and basking in the moment of connection.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Carmela said with a grin as she peppered Rhiannon’s exposed neck with soft kisses and inhaled the scent of her loose hair.

“Aren’t you excited to have a girlfriend like me? There’s a lot more of that in your future,” Rhiannon joked before kissing her lips.

“Girlfriend?” Carmela echoed.

Rhiannon, cheeks flushed and still breathless, sat back on Carmela’s lap to look at her better. Under the scrutiny, Carmela cleared her throat and pulled at the fabric of her robe to cover her bare chest.

“Yeah,” Rhiannon said after a beat, her eyes bright.

“Don’t you want to be my girlfriend?”

Carmela was torn between panic and delight. “I’m too old to be anybody’s girlfriend,” she decided. “I’m going to be forty in three days!”

Rhiannon cocked her head to one side. “So is that a no orrrrrr. . . .”

In the face of her adorably confused reaction, Carmela laughed as the heat that had been building low in her belly tangled with her racing heart and squeezed. Hard. “Are you really asking me?” she asked, her voice soft and hopeful.

The smile on Rhiannon’s full lips bloomed slowly but to devastating e ect. “Yeah . . . I’m really asking,” she replied as she toyed with the ends of Carmela’s loose hair.

With a fluttering stomach and a painfully dry mouth, Carmela nodded. “Okay.”

Rhiannon threw her head back and hooted before swooping forward and crashing into Carmela’s lips. Kissing her back with the same giddy surge in adrenaline, Carmela laughed despite her blurry vision and cold sweat.

“READY?” Carmela asked when she emerged from the bedroom in a

casual dress and sandals for what was supposed to be a relaxed dinner by the pool. Judging by how bad at establishing a low-key vibe the planner was, it would be more formal than advertised. Carmela didn’t care if she was underdressed. It was a warm night and she was sick of high heels.

“One second,” Rhiannon replied from her place on the couch. In white shorts and a loose top, she was the picture of a woman on a tropical vacation. “I’m texting my dad before he and my mom freak out and drive to the Keys because they haven’t gotten proof of life in six hours.”

Carmela sat on the opposite side of the couch to give her some privacy while she texted. “So you talk to them every single day?”

Nodding as she continued typing, there was no sign that Rhiannon had been exaggerating. “When I was up in Tally, it was more frequent. Now that I’m back and usually have dinner with them every night and co ee with my dad most mornings, it’s probably only twice a day.”

The casual way Rhiannon described the frequent contact was surprising. She couldn’t imagine a bond like that with anyone, much less her parents when they were alive.

“I’m surprised they don’t just track your cellphone,” she joked.

“They did, but my mom wasn’t convinced that meant I was okay,” Rhiannon explained without looking up from her phone.

Carmela laughed before realizing Rhiannon wasn’t kidding. “Doesn’t that su ocate you a little?”

Rhiannon shrugged. “Not usually. I know it’s lame, but I like my parents and my dad is the closest thing to a best friend I’ve ever had.”

The warm sincerity in Rhiannon voice made Carmela’s chest tighten. It was the most endearing thing she’d ever heard.

“But I’ve had to place boundaries on my mom or her anxiety will kill her. Once I lost my cell during my freshman year of college and wasn’t in the dorm when they called.”

Rhiannon leaned back and put her hand to her temple as if recalling an exceedingly stressful event. “My parents were on their way to Tallahassee, a six-hour drive mind you, and had alerted the police after I missed our usual nine o’clock call. The whole time all my mom could do was picture me dead in a ditch. I bet my sister was thrilled,” she added with a chuckle. “After that, we agreed that if I was busy, they would wait six hours before starting to worry that I hadn’t answered the phone. Even though I told them I was here with a gorgeous woman this week, I promised I would try to keep them updated on whether I was okay. I know it’s kind of child—”

Carmela couldn’t keep herself from lunging forward to kiss her.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what has that for?”

Rhiannon asked when Carmela released her lips.

There was no putting Carmela’s emotions into words, but Rhiannon’s beautiful relationship with her parents had overwhelmed her. She kissed Rhiannon again, happy that she’d been blessed with parents who not only loved her but liked and accepted her too.