Red Hot Rebel - Olivia Hayle Page 0,83

my lips, nerves dancing down my spine. “Yes, he did.”

Another noncommittal sound, another glance over my shoulder. But I have him. So I take a step closer and wonder if I’m wildly overstepping the mark, or if I’m doing my job as a buffer, whatever that truly means. I’m not sure Rhys knows either.

“He’s brilliant. He took me sailing this morning, actually, for the first time.”

“And he docked all right?”

“He did, yes.”

Rhys’s father rolls his shoulders back, giving me a nod. The tense press of his lips has softened somewhat. “Good of you to come with him,” he tells me.

I don’t think he’s referring to sailing.

“It’s a wonderful party,” I say. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” He steps past me, shaking his head. “Although after forty, one should really stop counting. Enjoy yourself.”

I release a shaky breath after he’s gone. Rhys finds me not long after, raising an eyebrow at me, so like his father. But the concern in his voice is all his.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes, yes. Absolutely.”

He puts a hand on my low back and kisses my forehead. “Come,” he tells me. “The oysters really are amazing.”

It’s late when we finally make it to his sister’s house, located right next door to the cottage we’re staying in, to play cards with his siblings.

They’re all there, the ones I know and the ones I don’t. Rhys’s youngest brother Parker endures a few good-natured jabs about having bought the town’s yacht club. Internally, I marvel at that, how casually it’s mentioned. Like an ice tray of oysters in the middle of the summer heat, their wealth is obvious and understated.

“You’re supposed to get out of the town you grew up in,” Rhys tells him. “Not find more reasons to stay.”

Parker grumbles good-naturedly at that, but Henry’s the one who raises his glass to salute his youngest brother. “Don’t listen to Rhys,” he says. “If you never try at anything, you can never fail, but that’s not a way to live.”

Rhys gives a hoarse laugh at the jab, but I don’t join in, gazing between the brothers instead.

Lily and Faye return from upstairs, where they’ve checked on Lily’s son. Jamie, he’s called, though I’ve yet to meet him. He’d been asleep when we’d returned to the house.

“All good,” she tells her husband and perches on the armrest of his chair. “Now, if you’re all ready, I’m planning to crush you in cards.”

Her brothers groan at that, but Faye and Hayden laugh. “It is her turn,” her husband adds.

“And I’m in a crushing mood,” Lily declares.

She wins two of the four rounds, in the end, so she is declared the winner. Rhys wins the other and Faye the final, raising her non-alcoholic mojito high.

They wave us goodbye and toss see you laters over their shoulders when Rhys and I leave, the night sky dark above us. They’d given me more than a few curious glances, but no one had asked about our relationship outright. I wonder if they’d not dared to, or if he’d instructed them not to.

My eyelids feel heavy with sleep and my bones loose with the drink, but I’m not ready to go to sleep yet. No, not when the waves crashing against the beach beckon.

Rhys laughs when I tell him. “You’ve had too much champagne.”

“And you’ve had too much whiskey. See? We can all make pointless accusations.” I pull him across the street and onto the beach, pulling off my shoes and sinking my feet into the cool sand. The waves lap against the shore like a lover’s touch, the summer air warm against my skin.

This town is aptly named.

Yet another place I’ve now seen, even if it isn’t as far away as Kenya or Australia. But watching the full moon above us and listening to the ocean close by, I’m not sure it’s any less impressive because it’s close to home.

I sink down into the sand cross-legged. “Come on,” I tell him. “Sit with me.”

He sinks down without protest, long legs stretched out in front of him and his feet in a pair of worn boat shoes. “Not a desert in Kenya,” he comments.

“Close enough,” I say and let a handful of sand trickle down my fingers. “Your entire family is great. I get how you can be adventurous and travel, when you have this to come back to.”

“I’ve recently come to that realization as well.” He lies back on the sand, looking up at the sky. “The stars are out. Remember the ones we saw in Kenya?”

“Yes.” I