Free Keeping Her Love by Tiger Hill

need to worry about keeping everyone satisfied.”
    Another questioning look shot his way.
    “Don’t look at me like that! Some selfishness would do you good. You can’t be nice all the time. Nothing would ever get done.”
    She laid back on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling. “I suppose you’re right. I can be a little too nice, can’t I?”
    Rhett joined her on the bed and crept up towards her. “It’s one of your best qualities, but also something that holds you back a bit. Don’t forget that you deserve to get the things you want in life. As long as you’re being as tactful as possible, it’s not wrong to want to spread your wings and do as you wish. Right?”
    This time her smile was gentle and at ease. “You’re right. It’s why I love you so much, Rhett—I feel like I can come to you with any problem on my mind, and you’ll be able to solve it right away.”
    “I do my best.”
    Her arms reached up to wrap around him, and they embraced side-by-side on the bed. They held each other for no longer than two minutes before an irritating voice was followed by footsteps.
    “Oooh! What are you two up to? No extra snuggling allowed, hehe!”
    Both of them let out a little groan. A new person was living with them temporarily—Tula’s cousin, Layla Peterson. She was rail-thin, wore trendy clothes with wild patterns, and had a thick set of braces on her teeth. She often sounded like she had a few marbles in her mouth, and her voice was otherwise as high as a parrot’s. Her parents were renovating half of their house, practically having bulldozed it down, and chose to live in an RV across the street. Layla, having a difficult time with the noise and close quarters to her snoring parents, had decided to inquire about living with her aunt and uncle. The house was already full, but being the kind and generous people Mr. and Mrs. Florian were, they offered her their large L-shaped couch to sleep on for the next six weeks.  
    Layla wasn’t a terrible person to live with, per say. She could be nosy and a bit authoritative about things a guest shouldn’t be, especially concerning how things were organized in the shared bathroom. She was also wedding crazy, a thing that didn’t necessarily bother Tula too much since she liked having someone to go over details with. There was one other particular thing about Layla—she was head-over-heels in love with Max. Max didn’t seem to exactly share the same sentiments as his teenage cousin, and had tried to ignore her since she had hit puberty. Even from the beginning, she hadn’t exactly concealed from ever-lasting love for the blond heartthrob who was five years her senior. She showered him with affection and syrupy prose, hoping to win him over every time she saw him. Every Christmas and Valentine’s Day, Max received a specially-signed card from her. He almost always threw the show of affection straight into the garbage.
    Rhett couldn’t blame the guy for throwing the stuff out and generally being a bit callous—from what he had been told, Max had made it as clear as possible to Layla that he wasn’t interested in a relationship of any kind. What else could he do besides outright yell at her? But in a way, Rhett admired Layla’s determination, however irritating it must have been for Max to go through it. Now that Layla was living at the house, Max had made himself very scarce.  
    Coming back to the present situation, the couple put a few inches between each other, not wanting rumors to fly around the house about inappropriate behavior happening. Tula had already gotten a warning from her father about the amount of attention she and Rhett had given each other during a steamy Friday night movie.  
    “Hi, Layla,” said Rhett in a flat tone.
    Layla stuck her tongue out at him in a playful manner. “Tula, I have a picture of the most beautiful wedding dress on the planet. I found it in a magazine that I picked up today at Fry’s. You have to come see it