Page 89 of Luck of the Draw

So, for the third time in his life, his love for someone would go unrequited, and Brennan would be left attempting to fill another hole in his heart with cheap, tawdry substitutes for real, lasting, genuine love.

Dejection weighed on his shoulders so heavily that he couldn’t even sit up straight. Standing up, Brennan cleared his throat politely and stepped away from his chair. Skye and Constance broke their conversation to look up at him.

“Would you ladies be okay if I excused myself for a few minutes?”

Constance waved her hand. “Of course, sugar. Go ahead. Take your time.”

Skye offered him a warm smile. “We’re fine.”

He hesitated as he looked at her.

Oh, baby girl,something in him murmured,I wish everything about all of this were different. I would make you so happy. My entire life would revolve around just making sure you were happy.

Couldn’t exactly say any of that. Brennan leaned down to kiss her cheek and then meandered down the hall to the bedroom. He lay down on the side of the bed that had become hers—albeit for only the brief time she’d still be there—and wished for everything to be different.

Just this one goddamned time, let this be different. Please let me keep her.

Brennan couldn’t tell if it was a prayer or a wish, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t going to happen either way.

* * *

There wasa tap at the bedroom door about an hour later, and Brennan leaped off the bed. He opened the door to find Skye standing there smiling at him.

“Your mom’s about to leave, but she wanted to chat with you privately for minute.”

“Okay. Did you ladies have a nice talk?”

“We did. She’s lovely.”

Still basking in his recent realization of being deeply and horrifyingly in love with her, Brennan couldn’t resist the urge to kiss her as deep as his feelings. She resisted for all of a microsecond before parting her lips and pushing her tongue into his mouth.

He pulled her hard against him. “I had no idea, Skye,” he said against her mouth and between subsequent slow kisses. “I had no idea your life was so…I don’t know…It just makes me sad.”

She drew her chin back and looked at him. “You’re sad?”

“Yeah.” His brow knitted so tightly that his head was aching almost as badly as his heart. “I mean…” He couldn’t accurately express the depths ofsadwithout expressing the depths of his feelings, which would only make everything worse, so he left it at that.

“I’mnotsad, Brennan,” she said assertively. “But if you are, it might help you feel better to know that all of that is part of why I have to leave. It’s not just this situation. It’s that my life has always been a mess, and I have to fix it. I can’t fix it in New Orleans. I have to get away from here.”

His chest panged, and he swallowed a lump that threatened to rise in his throat. “I wish I could help you.”

“You can.” Skye waved her hand at the room. “Youare. And you will. By getting me away from here as soon as I get better.” She hobbled into the room and out of his way, approaching the bed so she could sit down. “Go on and talk to your mom. I’m pretty sore, so I’m going to lay down for a little bit.”

Brennan watched her ease onto the bed. “Skye, there’s honestly nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

She offered a sad smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Then help me get away from here.”

“I will.” He pulled the door shut behind him and then made his way to the front of the house where his mom was waiting.

“Brennan,” Constance said with a certain weightiness that made him nervous, “I love her.”

God damn it.

“That’s great, Mama. She doesn’t love me,” he said matter-of-factly.

Constance’s brows slowly drew together. “But you love her.”

He hitched his shoulders way up to his earlobes. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I know that everything she told you this afternoon is more than I’ve ever gotten out of her since I met her. I know she’s got a lot of personal problems. I know that because of those problems she needs to get out of New Orleans. And just between you and me, Mama…” He pressed his fingertip against his chest and lowered his voice. “I have a big problem that is so friggin’ big that even if she had no problems and actually wanted to stay here, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”

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