He munched on the wheat toast and took a sip of coffee before answering.
“How much did Gloria tell you?”
Cassie gave him a knowing glance. “Everything. At least what she knew and could piece together, that is.”
She handed him a tall glass of orange juice. “Drink this. You’re probably still dehydrated.”
Rhett followed her orders, draining the glass, hoping to buy some time. But as he looked at Cassie, he knew he could only be honest with her. She would never hold back on him. He owed her the same—even if it did put him in a bad light.
He set down the empty glass, picking up a strip of bacon in one hand and taking her hand with his other.
“I guess you could tell how upset I was at the funeral.” He inhaled the bacon in two bites and waited for the wrath of Cassie to drop.
Her brows raised a good inch. “You mean the part about leaving the business? Or the part where you abandoned me both physically and emotionally without looking back?” She frowned at him, dropping her sarcastic tone. “Rhett, you vanished. You could’ve been lying dead in a ditch and I wouldn’t have known. In fact, you practically were.”
Cassie pulled her hand from his. “I care about you, Corrigan. A lot. But I’ve got to know it’s a two-way street. I don’t trust easily or often. I learned a long time ago not to wear my heart on my sleeve because the world always stomps on you.”
He winced. “Okay. I deserve that one.” He reached for her hand again and captured it in his, entwining his fingers through hers.
“I acted like a first-class fuck-up, okay? I admit it. I stormed out of there, angry at the world, totally selfish. I drove around aimlessly, feeling sorry for myself. Why was I still here and Zak dead? He had his whole life in front of him. He loved doing what he did but it wasn’t enough.”
Rhett picked up the tray and moved it aside. He pulled Cassie next to him, his arm around her shoulders, holding her close.
“Then my little pity party took a turn for the worse. I drove by some dive and wheeled into the parking lot. Went in and had a lot of drinks. I mean a lot. So many I can’t begin to remember.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I felt sorry for Zak because he wanted you and I was lucky enough to have beaten him to you. I felt sorry for me because the world thinks I have everything I could ever need or want in a career, and most of the time I’m empty inside. I’m bored with what I do. I’m typecast. I wanted it all to go away—the press junkets and gift baskets and mediocre scripts.”
Rhett looked into Cassie’s eyes. “Everything but you, Cassie Carroll. You’ve become my world. I can’t believe I put you through hell worrying about me.”
His arm tightened around her. “Can you forgive me for being such a selfish Hollywood bastard?”
“I’ll think about it.” She smiled. “Of course, I do my best thinking—”
Rhett cut her off with a kiss, long and deep.
When he finally broke the kiss, he murmured in her ear, “If you’re going to think, I better give you something to think about.”
She sighed as he nibbled on her ear, her hands tightening on his shoulders. Rhett moved to the slender column of her throat, taking long minutes there before working his way down. His fingers pushed the buttons through the holes of her white oxford shirt and then slipped it from her shoulders.
“Hmm. You did that in record time, Mr. Expert. Or should I say Mr. Sexpert?”
Rhett cupped her breasts, kneading them, enjoying her little sighs of contentment before he unfastened her bra and tossed it aside.
“Baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
Cassie moaned as Rhett’s warm mouth touched her breast, his tongue dancing in circles around her nipple. Every stroke brought a new shiver, a new rush of emotion. Her fingers pushed into his hair, clenching and unclenching as his tongue and hands worked their magic.
Somehow, she found herself without any clothes on, Rhett stretched above her like a chiseled Greek god. She’d always laughed at stories back in high school of girls losing their heads, couples who said they got carried away and didn’t know what they were doing.
Little Cassie Carroll from Waco, Texas now counted herself a member of that club. Rhett Corrigan drove every coherent thought from her mind. She found herself caught up in a physical wanting, an emotional needing, that only this man could fill.
Perched above her, Rhett cradled her face in his hands.
“I love you, Cassie. I always will.”
And then he drove into her and caused all thought to cease.
◆◆◆
Cassie slowly came back to earth, her limbs entwined in Rhett’s, not knowing where she ended and he began.
And realized that was a good thing.
No—a great thing.
Rhett nuzzled her temple, his lips scorching a path across her cheek and to her mouth. Oh, this man could kiss. If anyone asked what heaven was like, she would immediately respond that it was being kissed senseless by Rhett Corrigan.
He reached and pulled the sheet over them as he brought his arms around her. Cassie knew pure safety and comfort in that moment.
“Am I forgiven?”
She looked up at him. “Only if you’ll do that every day.”
“For the rest of our lives.”
She bit her lip. She wondered if this was merely pillow talk or if Rhett was serious about this forever thing.
“What’s wrong?”
This was getting scary. Rhett could read her like a book. No one had ever gotten inside her head the way he did.
She shrugged. “Nothing. I just wondered if this was a good time to hit you up for a raise,” she said flippantly, not wanting him to guess what was really on her mind. “Or an end of the year bonus. You know, for all my emotional stress and suffering, Corrigan.”
Rhett’s eyes searched hers. “I am truly sorry for being an ass, Cassie.” He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “I am very serious about our future together.”
She tried to move away but he wouldn’t let her put any distance between them.
“Rhett, you don’t have to make empty promises to me. We’ve only known each other—”
“We do know each other, sweetheart. I knew more after being around you one day than I have some people I’ve known for years.” He kissed her again, lingering a moment, causing desire to ripple through her.
“I can’t imagine my day without you in it, Cassie. I want to wake up next to you until both our hair has turned white. Or fallen out. Until our kids have their own kids. I want to take you to Italy and tour the vineyards there. I want to run on the beach at Maui together and salsa dance in Spain. I want us to sail around the world.”
“Rhett, that sounds so grand.”
He placed his hand over her heart. “I want the little things, too. The assembly line in the morning as we make sandwiches for the kids’ school lunches. Staying up until three in the morning, bleary-eyed, as we read instructions on how to put a bicycle or doll house together before the little buggers come down and catch us at it and cry because there’s no Santa Claus.”
Cassie placed her hand over Rhett’s. “What you’re describing is so . . . normal. Rhett, your life is so not normal. You leave for months on end for location shoots. Photographers document your every move in public, from sipping a latte to putting change in a parking meter.”