Thoughts of him dating didn’t bother her. Thoughts of him being best friends with someone Laurel didn’t know did.
She guessed it was the protective-sister thing.
Except that, as she lay there next to Scott, she wasn’t feeling sisterly at all.
“So you’re saying you just haven’t met the woman you want to marry yet,” she said, refusing to pursue her own feelings any further.
She wasn’t going to tarnish her friendship with Scott by transferring her feelings for his brother onto him. He deserved far better than that.
“I’ve met her,” Scott said, and Laurel’s heart almost stopped.
“You have?”
She felt bereft. Someone else had Scott?
Why hadn’t he said anything? Where was this woman while Laurel was lying here by Scott’s side?
When he didn’t answer, she looked over at him. He met her gaze only briefly, then nodded.
“So...”
“She isn’t free.”
“She’s married?” Poor Scott.
“No.”
“Does she return your feelings?”
This mattered a lot, and Laurel was really bothered by that fact.
“No.”
She couldn’t believe that, and ached for him. She also couldn’t believe how relieved she felt.
“Has she said so?”
“No.”
“Have you asked her?”
“No.”
Laurel asked questions for a living. Ferreted out information for stories that would grab and hold the attention of millions of viewers. That was why she continued to question Scott.
She sensed a story.
“Does she know how you feel?”
“No.”
Up on an elbow, she studied him. His eyes were closed, but she knew he was wide-awake. She could see his pulse throbbing. His thumb was tapping against the cup he held on the flat plane of his stomach.
“Then how do you know she doesn’t return your feelings?”
His eyes opened and met hers. “I just do.”
Laurel believed him.