His body stiffened. “Right.”
“I’m serious, Joe.”
“Why the hell would you move to Phoenix?”
“Because you’ll be there.” She summoned all her courage and looked up, letting her feelings show in her face. I love you, Joe.
His brows drew down. “What are you playing at, Sarah?”
Ouch. She kept her features from sliding into dismay, told herself to be patient. He was going to have to accept a radical change after a decade of everything being the same. It would take more than a few minutes for him to trust her. “I’m not playing. I want to be with you.”
Silence for a few minutes while he searched her face. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I’m saying...” She stopped dancing, stayed still in his arms and looked him full in the eyes while hers filled with tears. “I’m saying I love you, Joe. I want to be with you, wherever you are.”
The band swelled into the final chorus. Joe didn’t move.
Sarah started to feel a bit panicky. She told herself to calm down, but it wasn’t working very well. “I love you.”
“So you said.”
“I thought...that’s what you wanted from me.” Panic for real this time. What if he’d only loved her for all this time because she was unreachable? What if he’d been doing the same thing Sarah had been doing for so long with guys like Kevin and Ethan and Derek?
What if he didn’t really want her?
“Where is this coming from, Sarah?”
“My heart.” More tears. She couldn’t help it. Joy and fear together.
Still no movement, still the stoniest of stone faces.
“Joe, for God’s sake.” Okay, she was never going to be patient. She could only change so much.
He glanced around. The band had stopped. The guests that hadn’t already left were doing so now. “We need to talk about this somewhere else.”
“Yes. Okay.” She took a deep breath. This could still work. “My room at the hotel.”
It took Joe a few seconds to agree. The instant he did, she practically dragged him off the dance floor, over to thank the Brisbanes, and down their yard to her car, which she drove like a demon to the hotel where they were spending the night, wishing they could be back on Storness, on the beach under the stars, wishing she’d had the brains and timing to seduce him there.
But her room at the Machias Motor Inn would have to do.
She let them into her second-floor room with the view of the Machias River, and tossed her bag on the bed, kicked off her shoes and faced Joe, who was standing uneasily next to the bed. She put her hands to his chest. “Let’s try this again?”
He shook his head, bemused, adorable, dark hair tumbling over his forehead. “Sarah, you are confusing the hell out of me.”
“It’s very simple. I’m telling you I’m in love with you.”
He dropped his forehead into his palm and groaned. “Since when?”
“Since I figured it out.”
“Just now?” His looked up suspiciously. “Right after watching your brother get married? After several glasses of champagne?”
“No.” Tears rose. She pushed away from him. “No. Yesterday, when we were talking, when you told me you were leaving. I realized I can’t live without you.”
“That is nothing like—”
“No.” She held up her hand to stop him. “That’s not what I meant. I can live without you. But I don’t want to live without you. You’ve been such a vital part of my life for so long, my very best friend. I’m so sorry I put you through so much, and I’m so sorry it took me this long to realize what you mean to me.”
“A best friend?” His voice cracked hopefully and she realized what this was costing him. The rest of her life wouldn’t be long enough to make it up to him, but she was damned if she wasn’t going to try.
“So far your best friend. But from now on...” She stood very still, understanding what must happen to make what she was saying clear. Words wouldn’t be enough to convince him.
She reached behind her neck, found the zipper on her dress and pulled it down.
Joe’s eyes widened, then his face turned stony again, hands fisted at his side.