Page 117 of Empty Net

Huh. It’s a filing cabinet. So that’s the cause of the bruise I feel forming along my back.

But that’s not what matters right now. Not when Fox reaches out, tucks his fingers beneath my chin, and pulls my eyes to his.

“I’m sorry I broke the rules. I really am. But I’ll be damned if I say I’m sorry for loving you because I’m not. I am in love with you, Lilah Jane, and I refuse to apologize for it.”

I am in love with you, Lilah Jane, and I refuse to apologize for it.

My head swims, my vision going fuzzy at the edges until all I can see are the brown eyes I’ve spent so much time staring into as of late. The same eyes that lock on to me at a game after he makes an incredible save. The same ones that bore into me as he makes love to me. The same ones I can feel on me as we sit on my couch and watch horrible television even though I know he hates it. And the same ones I’ve spent so much time trying to tell myself I don’t love.

I am in love with you, Lilah Jane, and I refuse to apologize for it.

I look right into them, and I say the only thing that comes to my mind.

“Oh.”

CHAPTER 21

FOX

“I am in love with you, Lilah Jane, and I refuse to apologize for it.”

She stares up at me, eyes wide.

Then, finally, she blinks. Once. Twice.

“Oh.”

Of all the things I thought Lilah might say, that was not one of them.

Oh? That’s it?

She stands there, saying nothing else, and now I don’t know what to say either.

Oh.

That single word rings in my head over and over.

I run my tongue over my lips, tipping my head to the side. “Oh?”

She nods.

“Is that all?”

She nods again, this time slower. “We, uh, we should probably get back to the party.”

I just poured my heart out to her, and she thinks we should get back to the party. Ourengagementparty. The one happeningjust outside the door. The one I completely forgot about, so damn focused on the woman before me.

The woman who doesn’t care that I just told her I love her.

What the fuck am I supposed to do with that? What am I supposed to say? Do I tell her again? Do I say it until I get a response other thanoh?

But I don’t. I just nod, my fingers falling to my shirt that’s still unbuttoned. We remain silent as I slip each button back into its rightful place, and it’s damn near deafening, even despite the fun being had outside without us. Lilah runs her hands through her hair, pushing the messy locks back into place, and then rubs at her nearly gone lipstick.

None of it matters. She still looks like she’s been thoroughly fucked, and I’m sure I do too. Just maybe not in the same way.

Oh.

That damn word echoes around my head again.

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