Page 52 of Marry Me…Maybe?
She accepted them with a grateful smile and dabbed at her face, then blew her nose, keeping her gaze averted from his. ‘I must look a real mess,’ she said, her voice laced with self-disgust.
‘You look beautiful. You always look beautiful,’ he said sincerely, stroking a hand down her arm.
Looking up at him, she gave him a teasing grin. ‘You old smoothie, you.’
The switch to levity made him feel first relieved, then inexplicably sad. She was such a strong person – much stronger than him.
‘What can I do to help?’ he asked, praying she wouldn’t say ‘Let me go home’.
‘Come to bed with me?’ she asked, her voice a little more wary now, as if she couldn’t quite believe he’d want her to stay after he’d witnessed her falling to pieces.
He smiled, relief pouring through him. ‘Of course. Lead the way.’
Leaving the room hand in hand, they climbed the stairs and he guided her into his bedroom. Once in there they both lay down on the bed, facing each other but keeping a small distance between them. He wasn’t sure what she needed from him, but he was prepared to wait until she was ready to tell him.
Her eyes looked tired and red from crying but she didn’t break her gaze from his, clearly comfortable in the knowledge that he sincerely didn’t give two hoots about what she looked like right then.
She took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry about yesterday,’ she said, her brow furrowing. ‘It was stupid of me to let my exec producer assume we were engaged. I was being selfish, only thinking about myself – as usual – and you got caught in the crossfire.’
He shook his head. ‘Forget about it. It’s not important.’
‘But it is. It’s what I do, Theo. I cause chaos wherever I go. It’s not fair to keep mixing you up in that.’
‘Let me decide whether it’s fair or not, okay?’ he said, quietly but firmly. The last thing he wanted was to add to her worries with something that could be dealt with another time.
She let out a small huff of laughter. ‘Why are you still around? Most men I know would have run for the hills by now.’
‘Well, to coin a phrase, I’m not most men. I’m me. And I want to be here with you because you’re my friend and I care about you.’
She stared at him, her eyes wide with insecurity. ‘You care about me?’
His heart seemed to stutter in his chest. ‘Yes.’
He wanted to say more. To tell her the whole truth. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t make himself form the words.
She closed her eyes but didn’t say anything. When she opened them again, they were full of pain. ‘I don’t know why.’
He put a hand up to her face and stroked his thumb down her cheek. ‘Don’t you? Really?’
9
Emily stared at Theo’s gorgeous face, which was dark with concern, and felt heady with confusion.
He cared about her?
And he’d stuck by her. Even when she’d pushed him away.
She hadn’t wanted to break down in front of him and let him hear her ugly, mangled thoughts and fears, but despite her best efforts to push him away he’d stood firm. Even more surprisingly he was still here, listening to her as if she was the most important person in the world to him right now.
What had she done to deserve this? She didn’t know. She’d been nothing but manipulative and greedy around him recently, but he still hadn’t left her.
He was too good for her. He should be with someone kind and good and caring. Someone like Lula. Not a messed-up, self-obsessed she-devil like her.
Reaching out a hand, she cupped his jaw and drew his head towards her, wanting to kiss the concern off his face and let him know how much she appreciated all that he’d done for her.
He kissed her back, gently and carefully, as if he was holdingback a base urge to roll on top of her and slide their bodies together.
The thought of it made her insides flash with heat and a low, familiar throb began deep in her body, radiating out to make every nerve-ending zing with a yearning, aching need.
