Page 83 of Deal Takers

I shrug, not ashamed in the least. “I’m just being truthful.”

Her expression sobers. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said. Like, it’s all I seem to think about.”

I wince. “About that…I’ve been wanting to apologize for some of the things I said that morning. I was really angry…and frustrated, so I said some pretty dickish things I didn’t mean.”

“It was completely warranted, Brody. And it forced me to face the ugly truth head on. I should be the one apologizing.”

“What truth?”

She gulps. “That Iwasbeing a coward. You see, I’m in love with this big, goofy man-child, and I didn’t have the balls to tell him, so he walked away from me—rightfully so. He thought I didn’t love him or trust him enough, and that’sso far from the truth, it’s scary. I let my bitterness from my past affect the present. I unfairly made assumptions about this guy, when in fact, he was nothing like those assholes who treated me poorly.

“I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, I realized he made me happier than I’ve ever been in my life. That became even more apparent when suddenly, he was no longer in my world. I’ve been a fucking wreck without him, Brody. I thought ending things before my heart became too invested would save me from this pain. What I didn’t know was that my heart was already too invested.”

I exhale in relief. Fuck, that feels good to hear.

“It’s funny you say that because there’s a certain ginger I haven’t been able to get out of my head. Both heads actually. She’s kind of ruined me for any other woman. I think about her no less than fifty-five thousand times a day. Her tits twice that.”

She laughs with tears in her eyes. “I love you, Brody Harris. I’m so fucking in love with you, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t admit that two months ago.”

I can’t torture myself—or her—anymore, so I round the table and cage her in against it. “Say it again.”

“I love you. I can’t promise it’ll be smooth sailing all the time. There’s a lot of shit I need to work through in my head. One thing I’m certain of though, is how I feel about you. I want to be with you, Brody, for the long haul. I want everything you mentioned in that voicemail and then some. If you can manage to forgive me, I want to start right now.” She gives me a shy smile. “So…what do you think?”

“Well, for starters, I think you should kiss me,” I say with a smirk. “Then, I think we should go somewhere a little more private so you can show me what you have underthis fuckhot dress.”

She has the cutest little giggle. “You’re an idiot.”

“True. But you love it.”

“I do.” She wraps her arms around my neck and plays with the short hairs at the base of my skull. “Now shut up and kiss me.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re hot when you’re bossy? It’s?—”

Rainey doesn’t let me finish my sentence, which is perfectly fine by me, because my mouth is otherwise occupied.

“It’s about time you two got your heads out of your asses!” a deep, familiar voice shouts.

We break apart from the kiss to find Drew and Devyn approaching our table. Jesus, those two are really good at being sneaky.

I flip him off. “Just wait until it happens to you, asshole.”

Drew laughs. “Never gonna happen, dude. But I’m glad to see we no longer have to deal with Grouch Ass One and Grouch Ass Two. That’s what we’ve been calling you, you know.”

“Lovely,” Rainey says as she rolls her eyes.

Devyn chuckles. “When I told Drew how much Rainey was fighting the idea of going out tonight, we put together this little plan to make you two talk. Since you were both being such stubborn asses, we had to do it on the sly.”

“Well, thank you,” I tell them honestly. “Really. I owe you guys big time.”

“I second that,” Rainey says. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some make-up sex to get to.” She looks up at me and smiles. “You wanna get out of here, Brody?”

I pull her into me so she can feel how anxious Thor is to get out of here and getintoher.

“Honey, I thought you’d never ask.”

CHAPTER 50

Rainey

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