AFTER WORK, CAMILE walked the short distance to her apartment while giving herself the pep talk of a lifetime. Before she could chicken out, she removed her phone from her bag and texted Anne: Are you home? If I drive out there can you unlock the gate and let me in without Rhys knowing? I need to talk to him.
In record time, she’d changed out of her work clothes. She perched on the edge of the sofa where she tried not to stare at her phone while she waited for Anne’s reply.
She waited less than two minutes: Yes! A million times yes. It’s about time. You two need to work this out. I am so over my brooding grump of a brother.
Camile responded: Thank you! But I don’t want you getting too excited. I’m not sure this is going to work.
Anne’s response made her chuckle despite her rapidly fraying confidence: Too late. Maybe wear your dance outfit? That always puts him in a good mood.
“CAMILE, HOW DID you get in?” Rhys asked roughly a half hour later, his gaze bouncing from the security screen to Anne, who was seated next to it, to Camile, and back to Anne. Ultimately, he directed his frown at Anne. “Never mind.”
Anne stood up. “You can apologize to me later for that glare. Willow and I are going into town for ice cream. Do you need anything?”
Eyes on Camile, Rhys shook his head.
Silence built, crowding the space between them while Anne crossed the room. If Camile hadn’t seen what she had outside when she’d pulled up, she might have bolted. The tension remained until they heard sounds indicating that Anne and Willow had gone out another door.
Then Rhys asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Why didn’t you call or text?”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t pick up or message me back. You didn’t respond to my last twelve messages.”
“That was before... Before things worked out.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “But this was too important to take a chance.”
“I see. What is it?”
“Why is Bobby’s taco truck parked in your driveway?”
He grimaced like he’d forgotten he’d parked it there. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Camile, I don’t want to discuss this with you.”
Confidence building, she walked closer. “Rhys, I know what that means, remember? I know that when you don’t want to lie, you opt not to say anything at all. Is that what you’re doing right now?”
A muscle ticked in his tightly flexed jaw. “Yes.”
“Are you the one who made Bobby’s lawsuit go away?”
“Camile, don’t—”
“Answer me, Rhys, please.” She could hear the edge of desperation in her tone and she didn’t care.
“Yes.”
A spark of hope flared bright and hot inside of her. Inhaling deeply, she tried to keep it tempered. Just because he’d done this for her didn’t mean...everything. Please, let it mean everything.
“Why did you do it? How did you manage it?”
“Because he was suing you for a million dollars. He wasn’t going to win but the legal bills and the stress would have crushed you. I found a way to make it go away and I did. Please don’t give me the lecture about how you don’t like people to help you. It’s done and I can’t take it back. The papers were signed.”
“Papers,” she repeated. “Is that what you were doing in Bailey’s office when Anne and I found you in the parking lot that day?”
“Yes.”
“So you did this when you were really angry and disappointed with me?”
“Yes, but—”
“Does that mean you still cared about me even after you found out about what Anne and I were doing?”
He winced a little and she knew he’d been dreading the question. But he answered it. “Camile, I’ve always cared about you. What you did with Anne didn’t change that, no matter how much I wished it had. My feelings don’t work like that. I don’t give them away easily but once I do I can’t just...shut them off.”
“Rhys, I love you.”
Squeezing his eyes shut, he dipped his chin and put a hand to his head like the words hurt him somehow. And that made her heart ache all over again.
Finally, with a troubled expression that she couldn’t read, he looked at her and stated, “That’s not possible.”
“Of course it’s possible,” she countered. “I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you ever since... I’m not sure when exactly, but definitely when you first called me sweetheart and took care of me when I was sick.”
“But you said... I asked you to spend time with me and you refused. Then Anne offered to pay you and you agreed. The only logical conclusion is that your motivation for dating me was financial compensation. I know you cared about me on some level, but that’s not enough for me.”
“Fine, okay. You want to figure this out logically. Then think about this. Think about the fun we’ve had together. I hung out with you all day at the scavenger hunt, and then at the wine tasting. We even had a great time on that date two years ago before it ended so tragically. To me, you are irresistible. At the scavenger hunt, I told you that I didn’t want to date you because my life was a mess—which wasn’t untrue. Being served with Bobby’s lawsuit seemed to underscore my point.
“But honestly, I was also terrified. You hadn’t told me about the reason you left me on that date, and I had misgivings about getting close. Although I was already falling for you. I didn’t want to be, but I was. Right after that, Anne told me about the custody suit. She gave me the perfect excuse to be with you without having to act based solely on my feelings. I told myself I needed to help you. But I wanted to do it. Because I love you, and I love Willow. Then, after you kissed me and we started dating for real, I wanted to tell you, I needed to tell you, but Anne talked me out of it. For a good reason—Willow.”
He was leaning against the cupboard, hands gripping the counter’s edge on either side of his hips.
She moved closer. His eyes searched hers and she knew he was looking for the truth he wanted to believe. She hoped he saw it soon.
She tried to help him along. “I’ll never lie to you again, Rhys, not even by omission, if that’s what you really want? Think carefully before you answer, though, because a little fudging of the truth might be a good thing once in a while.”
He scoffed at that and shook his head.
“No, I mean it! Like when you ask me if I think your jeans are too tight when you know you’ve put on a few pounds or if I want to spend the entire day at the military history museum—I will tell you the truth.”
He still didn’t respond, so she took one more step. It put her right into his space, and the sharp intake of his breath gave her a tremendous amount of satisfaction and a boost of confidence.
“Can I kiss you?” she asked, her eyes searching his. “Because I really want to kiss you right now.”
“Yes,” he said.
“Yes what? I’m not sure which question you’re answering right now.”
“Yes.” His voice was a gruff whisper fraught with emotion. “I want you to kiss me.” He swallowed, and added, “But what I want the most is for you to love me.”
Camile felt her heart clench so tightly inside her chest that for a moment she couldn’t breathe. She said, “I want to spend the rest of my life doing both of those things. You can trust me, Rhys. You know you can.” She slid her arms around him and pushed onto her toes to give him the kiss he wanted. Before she could manage it, he picked her up and turned with her, setting her on the counter where he’d been leaning.
One side of his mouth curved up as he said, “There, now you can kiss me properly.”
Clutching his shirt, she pulled him in close between her knees. “You got it,” she whispered, just before her lips found his. She kissed him and tried to convey all the meaning behind the words she’d already spoken. His arms went around her, and there was a hint of desperation in his embrace. Camile felt that, too, and then soon, thankfully, all the misery of the last week spent without him fell away. And she reveled in how much better it was without all the worries and distractions between them.
Rhys relaxed, too, and eventually he loosened his hold just enough to pull back and look at her. “You love me,” he whispered, and this time it was a statement, not a question. “Camile loves Rhys,” he added with a grin that nearly stopped her heart. Truly, the man was just completely gorgeous. “No one has ever loved me before. Not in a romantic way, I mean.”
“Rhys—”
“Shh.” He placed a finger over her lips and then removed it. “Don’t tell me it’s not true. I don’t mind because I’ve never wanted anyone’s love before, until you.”
“Oh my...” Leaning in, she rested her forehead against his chest. “There’s something to be said for this honesty of yours.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
She pulled back to smile at him. “But, see, I know better than to ever ask you how I look in my skinny jeans when I’ve been eating too many of your cookies and muffins.”
Rhys did his confused scowl. “Camile, you can always ask me that. It won’t matter to me. I will always love the way you look as long as you look at me with the same love in your eyes that’s there right now. I hope you can see it in mine because I love you, too. And I don’t want you to ever doubt my love for you. No matter what happens or how either one of us looks.”
“I...” Camile let out a little squeak and fisted both her hands in his shirt. “Rhys, that is so...romantic. Are you trying to kill me with these truths of yours?”
Looking extremely pleased with himself, he kissed her again.
“Okay, so now that we’ve cleared up the important details like how much you adore me and how much I love you, will you please tell me how you got Bobby to drop the lawsuit?”
“It was a simple matter of figuring out what he wanted,” Rhys explained without explaining.
“He wanted to sell his taco truck?” she asked with a doubtful head tip.
“No, he wanted money and revenge.”
“So, what, you gave him money?” That didn’t sit well with Camile. Despite the misery of it all, a part of her was looking forward to thoroughly exposing Bobby for the weasel she knew him to be.
“Of course not. I also wanted something.”
“Which was?” she prompted.
“Vengeance.”
“Vengeance?”
“Yes, for the way he treated you. For the way he treats women in general. And for Howard. I don’t have a staff at my disposal like our friend Harper, so I hired a private investigator. In addition to false advertising of his taco filling, Bobby has a history of sexual harassment. The PI found several women who were willing to testify—on tape. I told him if he didn’t drop the case immediately, I’d compile a YouTube mash-up of these women’s stories that would put your taco trashing to shame. I told him if he signed over his taco truck to a women’s charity and agreed to sensitivity training, the worst he’d have to contend with is a lawsuit from one or more of these women.”
“I’m guessing you were similarly as direct with Laura that day in the bowling alley?”
“I was. I won’t tolerate anyone speaking dishonestly about the woman I love.”
“Wow.” Camile chuckled. “I’m glad you’re on my side.”
“Yes, you are. And I’m glad you’re on mine. If it wasn’t for you and your suspicion about Heather, I’d still be fighting for Willow.”
“That’s true.” Camile did feel good about that.
“I love you. Will you tell me you love me one more time?”
“No, I will not tell you one more time,” she answered with a trace of drama in her tone. Bringing her hands up, she wound them around the back of his neck. “In the spirit of that Rhys McGrath honesty that I’ve come to cherish, I will be telling you at least a million more times.”
“You do realize that means you’ll have to tell me you love me fifty times a day for roughly fifty-four point seven years? Or a hundred times a day for—”
She cut him off with a quick kiss, and then pulled back enough to whisper, “I guess I better get started then, huh? I love you, Rhys.” And then kissed him again, and repeated, “I love you.”