Page 32 of Just What She Needed

"Yep. Also Steve and Neal, Bret and C.C., Lars and James, and even Bon and Angus."

Amusement turned into full-blown hilarity as Mel laughed so hard tears came to her eyes. "Bon and Angus? I'd imagine their advice would be to tell Rhys to take the highway to hell."

"Pretty much," Rhett giggled. "It was one of the few times in my life that music has let me down, and I was some kind of pissed off, too." She snickered along with her sister for a bit before she got herself under control. "Okay, serious now. I was lying there in bed. Thinking," she added with an arch look at Mel. "And about one o'clock this morning I realized what really freaked me out yesterday. I felt like I was cheating."

"Cheating?" After a moment of thought, Mel's blank look turned to one of incredulity. "On Todd?"

"Mm-hm." Rhett nodded. "Look, Mel, I was married for twenty-four years. That's almost a quarter of a century. Todd was it for me. I'm not saying I didn't admire other men, because that would be a lie. And yes, I even fantasized about other men sometimes when I was mad at Todd, or too tired to really want him. Or if I heard Rhys's voice on the radio." As she finally let that particular cat out of the bag, her face grew hot with a furious blush.

"You mean you..." Mel blinked. "You mean that even after your first time you kept fantasizing about Rhys?"

"Not every time." Disgruntled, Rhett crossed her arms over her chest. "But there were times over the years when I just couldn't get into it with Todd. And thinking about Rhys worked so well my first time, so...Oh, come on! Every woman does it, and you know it."

"You're right, we all do it. But this is a little odd." She waved her hand at the ceiling. "I mean he's right up there."

"Yes, he is. And yesterday I sat next to him and felt his leg against mine, and his breath on my neck, and his lips on mine." Rhett swallowed. "And it was real, and I didn't want him to stop. I knew things were going to progress, and I was going to let him make love to me. That's when that part of my mind started shrieking that I was cheating."

"But Rhett." Mel appeared flummoxed. "Todd's dead."

Lips twisted in exasperation, Rhett tilted her head. "Ya think? But Mel, yesterday was the first time I was even close to being with someone else. That part of me that was a married woman for so long was kind of...I don't know. Taken by surprise, I guess." She busied herself straightening the scattered newspapers so she wouldn't have to meet her sister's bemused gaze. "It just took some time to realize that I'm not betraying anyone if I'm with someone else."

"Hm. I never thought about that. So, it wasn't the whole Rhys James the Rock Star thing?"

Rhett looked up with a frown. "You're really fixated on that, you know?"

"I'm not fixated on it." An obstinate look tightened the skin over Mel's cheekbones. "But you've mentioned it more than once."

"Okay, there's a difference, all right? But I think it was my way of shifting the blame to him for something that was my problem." She focused on the papers again, squaring the edges and making sure the folds lined up. "I'm really ashamed of that."

"Hm." Mel picked the discarded Business section up off the floor. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"This is where you come in." Rhett glanced up through her lashes.

"Me?" For some reason, Mel appeared flustered. "What do you expect me to do?"

"Help me figure out how I'm going to talk to him."

Mel's answer was to glance at Rhett's cell phone on the table.

"I can't just call," Rhett protested. "Wouldn't that be too impersonal?"

An exaggerated rolling of the eyes accompanied Mel's shrug. "Then go up there."

"Yeah, I don't know how. You need a special card to get up to the penthouse."

"Well, if you think a phone call's impersonal, I guess texting is out."

"Be serious," Rhett pleaded. "I'm afraid I've blown it with him, and—"

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted, and she huffed out a breath of irritation. A glance at the screen wiped that out and brought a rush of heat that was immediately followed by chills.

"Oh, oh, oh," she breathed. "It's him."

"Who? Rhys?" Mel stood and leaned across the table to see the screen.

"No, Angus Young," Rhett snapped.

"One rock star at a time, little sister." An expectant look lifted Mel's brows. "Aren't you going to answer it?"