Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
“Not yet, princess.” He winked at her. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Will you help us with this when you come back?”
“Of course,” he promised.
My heart melted because I knew it wasn’t an empty promise.
We left behind the noise of the main room, and Brodan pulled me down the hallway toward the front entrance. Just before the mistletoe, he opened a door and led us into an office. He shut the door quietly behind us and then took my glass from my hand and rested it on the desk with his. Pulse racing, I faced him, trying to maintain a calm expression.
“First things first. Why would you think you don’t deserve me?” he asked without preamble.
Damn it.
I knew he’d be a dog with a bone about that.
There was no point hedging. If the ache of longing inside me was anything to go by, I was already losing this battle to protect my heart from him.
“I’ve forgiven you for the way you treated me,” I said. “But I’m not sure I’ve forgiven myself for Arran. I thought I had. But I keep asking myself, every time he comes near me, how you can watch on and not remember that night and how it ruined us. I know you and I weren’t together, but you were my best friend, and I hurt you.”
He frowned deeply but stepped toward me to clasp my face in his hands. “For a start, I hurt you first. And second, when you told me what it was like for you that night, how it was just blankness until the moment I appeared, I felt nothing but sympathy for you. Because I’ve been there, and I know how scary that feeling is.”
Surprised, I asked, “What happened?”
He moved his hands from my face to my shoulders, then smoothed them down my arms to my hands to thread his fingers through mine. “A few years ago, when I got that note from Vanessa?”
I nodded for him to continue.
“Like I said, I spiraled. It was on the heels of Fergus’s psychotic break. I was drinking and partying a lot. Then one morning, I woke up and …” He gave me a wary look. “There were multiple naked strangers in the room. Women and men. And I couldn’t remember a fucking thing. But I was naked too.”
My hands tightened on his. “Brodan.”
“It scared the hell out of me. So I know what it feels like to black out on alcohol and not know what the fuck you’re doing. Side note, I got every sexual health check under the sun done after that, so no need to worry about our night together. As for yours and Arran’s night together … I’m not angry at you and Arran. Or jealous when you hug. Arran is head over heels for Ery, and I know you don’t feel that way about him. I don’t see that night as something you made happen. It was a night that happened to you. I’m just sorry that it did. I’m sorry it happened to us all.”
His compassion broke me.
Tugging on his hand, I wrenched open the door and gestured for him to follow me into the hall. He did so, his nose wrinkled in confusion.
I stood us beneath the mistletoe and stared up into his beautiful face. “The bet is off, Brodan. I don’t want to play games anymore. I just want you.”
Relief flooded his expression and was quickly followed by heated determination. He yanked me against his hard body, bending to reach me.
Then his hot mouth was on mine, and it felt like coming home.
29
Monroe
I didn’t know how I patiently got through the rest of the evening.
Brodan, as promised, helped Eilidh build some of her Lego. Walker took Sloane and Callie home because Callie was growing tired. By this point, Robyn, Lachlan, Arro, and Mac had left with their wee ones too. When Eilidh’s eyes drooped with tiredness, Regan told her it was time to get ready for bed. When she burst into tears, it reminded me of how young Eilidh really was. She was exhausted, but she didn’t want to stop playing with Uncle Brodan. I swear I melted into a puddle of goo as Brodan cuddled the long-legged child into his arms, soothing her as he carried her upstairs past a grateful Thane, who followed him up.
Between that and our heated kiss in the hallway, I knew I was ready.
Brodan didn’t know.
But he was about to.
Our drive back to the cottage after our goodbyes was silent, and I knew Brodan was probably worried about why.
I made it clear to him, however, when I said, “Park your car around the back of the cottage.”
“What?” He glanced quickly at me.
“Stay with me tonight.”
Brodan’s grip on the wheel tightened, and he gave me an abrupt nod, like he couldn’t quite speak, as the atmosphere between us sizzled. I was in a fog of lust during our walk from the car to the cottage. Once we were inside, I locked up, not bothering to switch on the lights. Instead, I kicked off my shoes and strolled toward the staircase, shrugging out of my jacket and dropping it on the floor. I moved with a casualness that belied the rapid beating of my heart. The last time we did this, Brodan had wounded my feelings beyond measure.