When the Sun Comes Out

Chapter 8 ~ Tae

At first, when had Rhett walked into the house with his mother there, Taylor had felt bad. As the day went on, and he'd tormented her a little more with each given moment, her sympathy diminished.

Now, sitting in the shotgun seat of his pickup, she didn't feel bad for him at all. She was still mad about his comment from earlier.

She knew that she had been stripped from her wet clothes the day that he had found her sick, but she didn't process, or realize, what that actually meant.

She couldn't get it out of her mind now, though. And Rhett, he was as proud of himself as ever. He sat on the other side of the cab, behind the wheel, whistling off tune to the classic country songs on the radio.

"Would you stop acting so arrogant?" she snipped.

Rhett snickered.

"Oh, Tae, so sassy," he said.

Tae had rolled the window down and had her hand sticking out, enjoying the rare sunshine for this season. She knew she needed to ask Rhett about how to get clothes, but she was still embarrassed.

Rhett had gotten quiet, and it was a bit unnerving. She was afraid to break it.

Rhett finally broke the silence, turning down the radio.

"You know the real reason your shirt got ripped?" he asked her.

And my shirt! I forgot about that! her inner self yelled.

"How?" she asked, mad about the fact that, yes, he had ripped her shirt.

"Well, I'm not very good at undressing women with my eyes closed, Tae," he said softly.

She turned to him so quickly that her head spun. She was still having dizzy spells every once in a while.

"What?" she screeched.

He had just said, not even an hour ago, that he'd seen her nude. Now he was saying his eyes were closed? The man was so confusing.

"I only said that earlier to get you worked up. I was still trying to get back at you for lying to my mother," he said chuckling.

"Say what now?" she said again.

She couldn't believe it. So, she did still have a tiny piece of her dignity then.

"You heard me, Taylor. So yes, I am sorry for your shirt. It was an accident. Speaking of, that's why I wanted to take a drive to town," he said.

She wanted to stop listening now. She knew what was coming, he was going to offer to buy her clothes. She didn't want to hear it. She was not going to take a handout from him.

Looking over at him, she was about to tell him this, when he held his hand up.

"Oh no, you don't. I can see the smoke coming out of your ears from over here. Don't even start it with me, Taylor Houston," he said giving her a stern look.

She went to start again, but he beat her to it.

"Just listen to me for a minute before you go on one of your sassy Tae rants," he said smiling at her.

She seemed to always get distracted when he brought out that smile. His dimple peeked out at her, and she forgot what she was arguing with him about.

Yeah, that would be Taylor's weakness. Rhett's charmer smile. He knew what he was doing with it too, but she was fine with it. As long as he continued to smile at her like that, she wouldn't complain.

"Okay, so I know you're not going to let me pay for your clothes, so here's our deal. You get everything you need today to stay at my house for a couple of weeks, and then, this first week that you work as cook, there will be no pay? How does that sound?" he asked her.