Page 64 of Where the Roses Bloom

Rhett was here. He had my back.

And even if he wasn’t…I knew where I was meant to be now. I knew exactly how to deal with this man.

Rhett hovered in the doorway behind me, still in his boxers, tense and scowling like he was ready to throw hands. But this wasn’t his fight.

“I’ve got this,” I told him without looking back.

Because I did.

Carter was driving a new car, some sleek black sedan that probably cost more than he could afford. I had to assume hispocketbook was totally out of whack; I’d always been the one to keep an eye on our finances, and he was reckless enough to throw money away if it felt good. He got out of the car as soon as I stepped out on the porch, ducking his head to grab something from the passenger seat.

He straightened with a bouquet of white lilies and pink carnations in his hand, looked me over, smiling like it was 2019 and I was still the girl waiting for him to grow up…

…then he froze when he actually saw what I looked like.

Half-naked, with a very angry, very muscular man standing behind me.

He hesitated, just for a breath, but I saw the flicker of surprise in his eyes—the way they darted to Rhett, to the house behind me, to my bare thighs. He hadn’t expected this…hadn’t expectedmelike this.

He’d thought no one wanted me. He’d really believed I was undesirable.

Carter was stuck up enough to think I would have spent years pining for him, but looking at him now…I had no idea why. I hadno ideawhy I’d waited so long for him to get his shit together.

“Willow,” he said, a fake smile sliding into place, holding out the bouquet like it was armor. “You look…damn. You look incredible.”

I didn’t take the flowers.

But Ididcross my arms…and let the silence stretch until he let the flowers fall to his side.

“You were hard to find,” he said.

“Did it occur to you that may have been on purpose?” I asked.

He frowned, chewing on his lip. “Guess…uh, guess not.”

“And how did you do it anyway?”

He shrugged. “Well…they didn’t make it easy in town. The librarian told me to get lost and the lady at the diner said I had nobusiness with ‘Rhett Ward’s woman.’ I’m uh…guessing you’re Rhett Ward?”

Rhett didn’t say anything.

Neither did I.

“I came to talk,” he said finally. “To clear the air. I figure we didn’t end things the way we should’ve and?—”

“—and what?” I cut in, my voice cool and flat. “You figured I’d be grateful to see you?”

Carter blinked, momentarily thrown. His mouth opened, then shut. The flowers dropped an inch in his hand. “I figured we could talk. That’s all. I—I didn’t handle things right, okay? I was scared. It was a mistake.”

“A mistake,” I repeated. “Which part, Carter? Lying to my face? Sleeping with her? Or getting her pregnant while you told me you didn’t think marriage and kids were in the cards for you?”

His face flushed. “It wasn’t like that.”

“No?” I tilted my head. “Because from where I’m standing, it wasexactlylike that.”

He took a step forward, and I stepped off the porch.

Met him right there in the grass, my bare legs still damp from where Rhett had been between them minutes earlier. I saw the flicker in Carter’s eyes when he looked again—really looked—and understood I hadn’t just moved on.