Page 67 of Where the Roses Bloom

I didn’t say anything.

Didn’t need to.

Rhett took another slow step forward and this time, his voice was calm. Quiet. Dangerous.

“Get. In. Your car.”

Carter didn’t argue. Not out loud.

But as he backed toward the sedan, he gave me one last look.

Not longing.

Not hurt.

Cold. Calculating.

Like he was memorizing the house. The yard. My face.

“Have a good life, Willow,” he said. “Hope he’s still around when it counts.”

Then he got in his car and peeled out of the driveway, tires spitting gravel as he drove out of my fucking life.

CHAPTER 23

Willow

The dust cloudsfrom Carter’s tires were still floating in the air on the driveway when I turned to Rhett and said, “I need you to fuck me. Right now.”

His jaw twitched like he was still waiting for the asshole to circle back and try something stupid. He watched the driveway like it might open up and spit out something worse—like he hadn’t already seen the worst of it in Carter’s eyes.

But me? I was done.

Good riddance to him. He could go die in a fire, for all I cared. Honestly, if the land swallowed him whole before he hit the county line, I wouldn’t shed a single tear.

Rhett still hadn’t moved, fists clenched at his sides, chest rising and falling hard and fast like he hadn’t taken a full breath since Carter called me a bitch. I could see it in him: the war between wanting to protect me and wanting to pick me up and carry me back to bed.

I walked right up to him and put my palms flat against his bare chest. His skin was warm and tight with tension, heart pounding.

“You’re still here,” I said. “He’s gone.”

“Not gone enough,” Rhett growled. “I should’ve?—”

“No,” I interrupted. “You did exactly what you needed to do. You didn’t let him lay a finger on me. You didn’t let him take up more space than he already has. And you didn’t swing first, which meansweget to keep our peace.”

His green eyes finally dropped to mine.

Still wild. Still feral.

Still so full of heat I could barely breathe.

“I wanna take care of you,” he rasped. “Make you forget he ever existed.”

“Then do it,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck so I could stand on tip-toe and brush my mouth against his. “Rhett…I know we’ve talked about it, but I want you to knock me up. I want you to get me pregnant right fucking now.”

For a second, Rhett just stared at me.

Like he hadn’t heard me right.