Page 59 of Necessary Roughness

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I also got these for you.”

He held out the flowers. She hesitated for a few seconds. She loved flowers, and they were gorgeous, but the missed appointment wasn’t the reason she wished he’d brought her a bouquet. He moved a little closer to put them in her arms.

“They’re beautiful,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Jordan,” he said. His voice was raw with pain. “I fucked this up so badly. I should apologize for everything I did wrong, and I will if you want me to. I don’t know if that’s what you want.”

“Why do you think I wouldn’t want you to apologize?”

“Maybe you’ve had enough of all of it.”

“No. That’s not it,” she said.

He interrupted her. “I didn’t tell you about the job in Atlanta because when I initially talked to my old coach about it, you and I weren’t interested in each other. It’s the truth. When they finally made their offer, we were together but I wasn’t sure what it meant. I didn’t ask. That’s my fault. I didn’t tell you I took the job, either.”

“You told me at the restaurant there was nothing final and you all were still talking.”

“I’m sorry I lied. I promise I will do my best to never lie to you again.”

They stood silently for a minute or so.

“I’ll have to live there,” he said. “Would you consider moving?”

“If you would have asked me three days ago, I would have in a heartbeat,” she said.

The pain in his eyes hurt her too. It was a physical thing.

“What happened?” he said.

“My boss, Marco, asked me—well, told me—to buy him out of the clinic.”

“Why?”

“He told me he was going to fire everyone and sell the place unless I bought it. He doesn’t want to sell to anyone who doesn’t work for the clinic because they’ll get his client list, fire everyone, and close the place.”

“He can’t blackmail you. His idea doesn’t make sense.”

“I talked to my dad last night. He’s working on it.”

“Didn’t you say your dad is a lawyer?”

“Yeah.”

“He’ll make sure Marco will regret this.” Tanner rubbed his free hand over his face. “It doesn’t look like there’s a solution to our problem, though. If you end up buying that business, you’ll be here, I’ll be in Atlanta, and neither of us can move.”

No matter how sad, mad, or hurt she was over the events of the past twenty-four hours, she wanted every moment she could get with him while they were still in the same state. She heard her phone ringing in her purse.

“Someone’s looking for you,” Tanner said.

She pulled her phone out and looked at the screen as she tapped the Answer button. “Mom? I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean to worry you. I ran into someone special.”

Tanner grinned at the sound of her mother’s voice. She sounded a lot like her daughter.

“I’d like to bring him home so he can meet you and Dad. That’s great. We’ll be there soon.”

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