All Rhodes Lead Here

For someone who wasn’t used to being so loving, he really did say the sweetest things. And if I had ever doubted that I loved him, which I hadn’t, I knew then that I’d chosen right. Chosen best. There were going to be no mistakes here.
Not ever.

His gaze caught mine and held it, the lines on his forehead there and fierce. “I almost feel bad for the idiot.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Rhodes’s mouth and words softened. “I said almost.”

I really was totally in love with him. But the most surprising part was that the knowledge and acceptance of it brought no terror into my heart. None. Not a fragment of fear. Not a whisper of it.

If I liked kissing him this much with my mouth closed, how much would I like his tongue?

Amos nodded and took another sip. “Don’t tell him I told you, but you make him smile a lot.”

Rhodes’s gaze flicked to my mouth, and he let out a soft sigh through his nose, his words a hoarse whisper. “Nobody in their right mind would let you walk away from them. Not once and no way in hell twice, angel.”
My heart.
My limbs went numb.

“Come with us.”
“Are you asking me or telling me?” I whispered. “Because you’re whispering, but you’re still using your bossy voice.”
His mouth twisted, and he lowered his voice to reply, “Both?”

Frustration pulsed deep inside of my chest, but I tried not to focus on it too much. I’d tried to do the hike. And failed. But at least I’d tried.
Okay, that was a lie. I hated failing more than anything. All right, just about more than anything.

Finally aiming his body back up the trail toward me, he held out his hand.
I hesitated but set my forearm into his open palm, and I watched as some emotion I didn’t initially recognize slid over his face.
“I meant your backpack, angel. I’ll take it for you. The trail’s not wide enough for both of us to go down at the same time,” he said, his voice sounding oddly hoarse.

“Aurora.”
I looked at him over my shoulder.
His jaw was tight again. The lines across his forehead were back too. “You look beautiful,” Mr. Rhodes said in that careful, somber voice a heartbeat later. “He’s an idiot for looking at anyone else.”
I swear to God my heart just totally stopped beating for a second. Or three.