Page 110 of Rhodes

“But—”

"Don’t,” I cut him off. I don’t want to hear his “buts.” My voice is wrecked from crying. "Every person in my life decides what I need. Don’t do that to me.”

Something crosses his face. It's there and gone, and I am too wrung out to chase it.

“Stop being careful with me."

“Okay, Tallulah.”

He takes my hand and starts walking toward his bedroom. We go in and pass the bed toward the bathroom.

“I told you to take me to bed.”

"You've got mascara down your face, your nose is red, and you've been crying into my shirt for twenty minutes."

"Way to make a girl feel desirable." I pull myself up and sit on the bathroom counter.

His mouth twitches, but it doesn't turn into a smile. "You are desirable." His thumb catches under my chin. “Shower with me?”

I nod. Rhodes reaches into the shower and turns the water on, then tests it with his hand. For several seconds, we let the silence sit.

Steam starts gathering against the glass, softening the edges of the room. Then he comes back to me. His hand comes up around the back of my neck, and this time when he kisses me, there is nothing careful about it.

I open for him and pull him closer until his hips hit the counter between my knees. The kiss turns rough fast, his mouth taking mine while my fingers get into his hair. All the noise in my head narrows down to this one thing I can understand.

I tug at the hem of his shirt. He breaks the kiss long enough to pull it over his head, and I get my hands on him before the fabric clears his wrists.

“Don’t stop there,” I say.

"You’re demanding as hell."

“You’ve known that forever.” I bite his bottom lip.

He laughs against my mouth, and something inside me finally gives me enough reprieve to breathe. Then he stops and stares at me.

My stomach tightens. "What?"

His thumb moves once along my waist. "You're beautiful."

"No."

His brows pull together. “No, what? You don’t know how beautiful you are, Tallulah Maybank.”

"Don’t say nice things to me right now."

“Why not?”

“Because I want rough, and not careful.”

That finally gets the smile. “I can give you rough.”

He kisses me before I can say anything else. Then he slowly unbuttons my shirt, taking off one shoulder at a time, before unclasping my bra from behind.

His hands are on me again, and I stop thinking about my father. I stop thinking about Grandbank and Wilkins and frozen permits and twenty acres of land I might not be able to save.

Rhodes slides me off the counter, pulls my shorts down, and walks me backward toward the shower. Just before we get in, he pushes his pants down and kicks them to the side.

He steps in first to check the water and pulls me with him. The first spray hits my shoulders, hot enough to make me suck in a breath. He reaches around me and adjusts it.