Maxen (Broken Hill Boys 3) - Page 34

She’s quiet for a moment and I hate that I find her so hard to read. She drops down onto the coffee table, always keeping her eyes on me. “Say she comes around and allows you to try again, how do we know that you won’t hurt her again? I doubt she could just trust you after that.”

“I guess that’s something you don’t know. Only I know that I will never do it again and that’s something you’ll have to learn to trust. I’ve learned the hard way and lost the woman I loved over foolish shit and I’m not prepared to do it again. I want to fight for her and I want to prove to her that she can love and trust me again. I want to have babies with her. I want my ring on her finger. I want it all, I just have to get her to see that first.”

“You know there’s a chance that she doesn’t feel that way about you anymore?”

“Really?” I question with a smug grin. “You see the way she looks at me just as clear as I see the way you look at Nate. She loves me just the same as the first day we got together, that’s the one thing I can always count on. But you’re right. There’s a chance she won’t give me the time of day, knowing that I want her back. She might not be willing to risk letting me in again.”

Tora shakes her head and presses her lips into a thin line, deep in thought. “I don’t like it.”

“I know,” I tell her, completely understanding where she’s coming from. Hell, if this was one of my boys and the situation was reversed, I’d be saying the same thing. “If I was in your position, I wouldn’t like it either.”

She considers me a moment, her eyes growing fond the longer she looks. “You’ve really changed, haven’t you?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t think I’ve changed,” I tell her. “I’m still the same person, I still make stupid mistakes, but I like to think I’ve grown up. Things that I would have done last year aren’t exactly things that I’d consider doing now. I want to make something of myself and I want Brooke there, by my side. I’m my best self when she’s around and I want to be that for her, even if it means watching all those bullshit shows she likes.”

“Shit,” Tora says, letting out a deep, resigned sigh. “I should have kicked you in the nuts harder last year. She’s not going to be able to resist that gooey crap you’re spouting.”

The memory of Tora’s knee slamming into my balls flies through my head and the need to throw up assaults me. She got me fucking good and it’s not something I ever wish to happen again. Though at the time, I deserved it and I’d bet that it made Brooke feel a whole lot better.

A throat clears and we both jump before spinning around to find Brooke leaning against the wall at the opening of the hallway with tears filling her eyes, masking the emotion beneath them.

Oh, shit. I wasn’t meaning for her to hear all of that. She’s not ready.

“Fuck,” I panic, hoping she’s not about to tell me to fuck off out of here and never come back. “How long have you been standing there?”

She doesn’t take her eyes off mine and I feel the tension building. “Since the words ‘hit me with it’.”

Shit. Okay, so she heard every last word.

Tora creeps toward her, but she doesn’t dare remove her eyes from mine. “Are you okay?”

She doesn’t respond, simply walks towards me at a pace that has me desperate to reach out and drag her to me, hurrying this moment of uneasiness so we can get to the end.

Brooke makes her way around the front of the couch so she can stand right before me and I start preparing an apology, trying to figure out what I can say to make this all okay.

She steps in closer to me and I feel her legs against my knees. Emotion shines bright through her eyes, but apart from that, there’s not a flicker of anything on her face to tell me how she feels.

I go to stand but as I make my move, she drops down onto me, straddling my thighs.

What the fuck is this? If she was about to kick me out, she sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting on my lap with her heart on her sleeve.

I reach out and take her waist, physically unable to keep my hands off her while she’s this damn close. My thumbs rub back and forth over her skin and I wait, realizing she’s collecting her thoughts and just needs a moment to figure out what she wants.

Tags: Sheridan Anne Broken Hill Boys Romance
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