Falling for the Good Guy (Can't Resist #2)(35)

Abby frowned. “What do you mean?”

He hesitated and then said softy, “Even though my heart wasn’t free to love you yet, a part of me couldn’t bear the idea of you feeling obligated to be with me because of a promise to Beth, or even because of Skylar.” He stared into her eyes. “I wanted you to want me for me. Be with me because you loved me…the way that I loved you.”

Abby felt her heart flip right over.

“That’s why I kept it a secret. Not to lie to you, and not because I’d brainwashed myself into believing I wanted to be with you to fulfill some promise to my dead wife. But because I loved you.”

He gazed at her sadly as she sat there silently. “Please say something.”

Abby’s brain was on overload. She didn’t know how to begin processing, where to begin processing. And for some completely bizarre reason, her curiosity was overriding her need to analyze the situation.

“So in the stories you came up with…what did you say was our first date?”

He looked up at her in surprise. “That’s what you want to know?”

“Just answer the question, Brian. What was our first date?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I told her we went to an MMA fight.”

Despite herself, Abby laughed.

Brian cracked a smile. “That was the first thought that came to mind. Beth couldn’t make too many facial expressions by then but let me tell you, she could express a lot with her eyes. She gave me the most shaming look of disapproval, and I kid you not, I think she actually rolled her eyes at me. But I went on to explain that even though it wasn’t the most romantic date in the world, we had a blast. I told her that after that date, I knew, even if we couldn’t make it work romantically, that I’d found a friend for life in you.” He reached for her hand. “Though I may have added details that didn’t happen, I never lied to her about my feelings, Abby. Not once in any of these stories.”

Abby processed that and then queried next, “Romantic Getaway?”

“Alaska.”

Her brows shot up. “Why Alaska?”

“Because we were watching a commercial once a really long time ago that had the Northern Lights. You looked at it like it was the most majestic thing you’d ever seen in your life. I figured between the snow, and watching an Aurora Borealis light show, and trying to tell the difference between icebergs and glaciers—which I knew you’d get a kick out of—I thought you’d really like it there.”

Emotions were making her voice thick as she named another card title, “The day you knew?”

His eyes warmed, became intense as he said with conviction, “The third time we went camping up in Havasupai a few years ago.”

Abby blinked in surprise. She remembered that trip. The photos from that trip were some of her favorites. “Why that trip?”

He shrugged. “Because that truly was the day I fell in love with you in a way I hadn’t been before.”

What?

He grinned at her shocked expression. “I remember it hitting me like a two-by-four to my chest. You and Skylar were trying to reel in what you swore was a whale, and you were both so determined to do it without my help. When the ‘whale’ started getting away and Skylar started freaking out and getting sad about it, I swear to God, you went into full mama bear mode and went apeshit on that poor fish.” He chuckled. “You two reeled the sucker in and you looked so ridiculously happy, that’s when I knew I was head over heels in love with you. Even though I couldn’t do anything about it, I knew. I just…couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud, not without feeling like I was betraying my wife.”

With gentle fingers, he smoothed her hair back from her face. “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you. Even after Beth was gone, I couldn’t allow myself to love you. Not yet. Not until I was sure I could love you the way you deserved to be loved.”

“That’s why I waited until now.”

God, he was such a good man.

Her heart was a mess. A tissue-wielding, drunk-on-emotions mess. But she still wanted to hear the last answer, knowing that it was quite possibly going to make her heart spill out of her chest. “What about the story of how you proposed?”

He shook his head at that request, smiling secretively. “I’m not telling you that one.”

“What? Why not?”

He looked into her eyes. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Stunned into silence, she stared at him. Did he just...? She triple analyzed his sentence in her brain. Is he saying what it sounds like he’s saying?




BRIAN HELD HIS BREATH and waited for Abby’s reaction. He’d just unleashed an emotional bomb on her and she’d yet to respond. “What are you thinking, sweetheart?”

She looked up at him and said simply, “I’m thinking you were right.”

Being right was good. He loved being right. Too bad he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

“Remember how you insisted, flat out told me that I loved you first, before I loved Connor? Well, I see now that you were right. I did. I loved you before Connor...before that third camping trip...before I even fully knew, I think.” She gazed up into his eyes. “I did love you first, Brian.” Sliding her arms around his neck, she added softly, “And I never stopped.”