Page 47 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. Two

“I love you both,” Oliver says as he pulls away.

Rhett kisses him again before murmuring, “I know. We’ll see you later.”

When Oliver turns to me, I kiss him. “Love you too, Ol. Text us if you need help.”

“I will.”

I hate watching him go. It’s one of the things I dislike most about our life—having to split up to get a job done. At least he won’t be far.

Once Oliver is out the door, I head into the kitchen area. As I go about making some coffee, I ask, “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Some. I woke up after a couple hours and started going through the audio from the bug Wren planted.” Rhett steps up to me, standing oddly close.

“Oh? Find anything of note?” I go through the cabinets until I find the mugs, pulling out two. I’d get three, but I doubt Wren will be up for a while.

“Ell, stop.” Rhett catches my wrist and spins me around to face him. He pins me against the counter, his hips pressing against mine.

“What…?”

“I’d like a proper good morning, that’s what.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world before tilting my chin up and kissing me.

Warmth floods my veins. There’s something about getting kissed by Rhett that leaves me feeling special. Right now, I bask in it, grabbing his hips and keeping him tightly against me. When he starts to pull back, I follow him, drawing the kiss out for another couple seconds.

I keep my eyes closed after we pull away, smiling. “That was nice.”

“Why are you acting surprised?”

Why is he surprised that I’m surprised?

Rhett isn’t the most physically affectionate person, and he knows it. The amount of touch he’s able to handle ebbs and flows, but he usually keeps to himself. I’m not used to good morning kisses and hugs from him. But, I suppose, this tracks for how Rhett’s been acting recently.

“You’ve just been more physically affectionate lately. I’m not used to it. I’m perfectly happy about it, of course.”

Relief overtakes his features. “I have been?”

“Yeah. You haven’t noticed?”

“Not…” He rubs the back of his neck, staring at the floor. “Not entirely.”

For a minute, we stand together silently, awkwardly.That’sa surprise for both of us. Awkwardness doesn’t often show up in our relationship these days.

Reaching behind me, Rhett pours our coffee. His free hand lingers on my waist as he does. And fuck, I love it.

“I should get back to Wren,” he says. “She hasn’t had any nightmares yet, which either means she won’t or one is still coming. I’d love to say it’ll probably be the former, but…”

I nod in understanding. During the time she’s been with us, I can count the nights she hasn’t had a nightmare on one hand.

“I’ll update the spreadsheet with a link to the doc I’m transcribing everything into.”

“Thanks.”

With one last kiss, Rhett heads back into the bedroom. I grab my laptop and set up at the kitchen table. By the time I have it on, Rhett’s already added the link. Sipping my coffee, I open the doc and immediately start scanning the text Rhett has typed out.

The conversations in the condo last night are nothing of note, and then there’s silence until around five in the morning. Rhett includes that there are a whole bunch of indecipherable noises, which is normal. At some point, though, Ludo speaks. He’s the only one talking, which makes me think he’s on the phone.

Ludo:Morning. Did you get the child? [laughs] Unlike me? Oh, this has nothing to do with sympathy. [pause] You’ll see. He’ll make an excellent backup plan if we need one. But we most likely won’t. Aubrey has taken a liking to Wren, so I’m sure they’ll be best friends by the end of the week. If the two of them bond, it’ll give me even more influence. [pause] Good, good. I’ll talk to you soon.

I narrow my eyes at the screen. That confirms my hunch. Ludo either wants or needs us close to him for some reason. Whatever is going on with this kid is concerning, especially since it seems like it’s somehow connected to us.