Page 83 of Kiss Me Now
Only she hadn’t.
I’d held it against her, even though I didn’t want to. Even though I told myself all the logical reasons why it was wrong to hold her to that standard. Even though we had enough evidence now without her to nail Rink completely.
I’d lost my illusions about people and pedestals a long time ago. Probably by year two as the firm’s investigator. But it turned out I’d put Brooke on one anyway, and I couldn’t forgive her for being as human as the rest of us.
I’d wanted her to be a superhero and she’d committed the sin of being mortal.
It was so stupid to blame her for me being disillusioned again. But she’d been something fresh and bright in the stagnant DC swamp, and it had hurt when she was just as human as the rest of us.
And then she texted.
Like a freaking superhero.
A superhero who was ready to risk Rink’s retribution, public shaming, a revival of the rumors.
But she’d texted and said she would do it. She would upset the carefully constructed life she’d built for herself over the last two years to come forward and speak out against Rink despite the extremely high cost to herself.
That wasn’t the kind of woman you let go.
At least, it wasn’t the kind of woman I could let go. Even if all she had to offer me was friendship, I’d take it. People as real and as good as Brooke, people without ulterior motives, who shot straight and showed up as themselves in every setting ... that was rare. And I wasn’t going to treat a chance at friendship with her as a second place finish.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that buried somewhere deep down, there was a hope for something more. But I’d take whatever she was able to give. No matter what, if I wanted to get us back on the right footing, I owed her a big apology. The unmistakable kind. The kind that spoke through actions, not just words.
The kind of actions that saidI love you, even if she wasn’t ever ready to hear me say those words.
But if she everwasready, then I would be too.
Somewhere between her mushroom hunting and the panda exhibit, I’d begun falling for her, but when she’d texted that she wanted to speak out, I’d tumbled completely.
If I thought she genuinely had no feelings for me, I’d stay in DC until I couldn’t avoid coming to see Gran. But a woman who didn’t have feelings for me wouldn’t have kissed me like that in the woods. She wouldn’t have made an excuse to come see me in the city. And it wouldn’t have hurt her when I asked her to be a witness.
She had feelings for me. I knew it.
But I needed to prove to her that I was worthy of her trust. That I could be the kind of man that she deserved.
I pushed the accelerator and watched the speedometer climb. I had a plan, and I couldn’t wait to put it into action.
