“It was a weak moment.”
“It was a weak moment for me, too. Believe me.” If he’d have let her walk out of the tapas bar—if she’d never spotted him sitting there—he could have spared his heart shattering all over again. “I never dreamed we’d have a second chance. One night, sure, but I knew the morning I walked out of your bedroom that was it. Then, after your fall, you were asking for me and—”
“All your dreams came true?”
He blew out a breath. He understood why she was upset. But she was still listening, so he tried again.
“Since that night we slept together—the night you had your memory,” he added, watching as her cheeks tinged pink with either embarrassment or anger, “I knew I couldn’t leave you alone like I promised. I didn’t have a plan, but I figured we’d run into each other here and there at the club. I’d hoped I could build on that great night, and you could learn to trust me again. The accident was as unexpected as you asking for me when you woke up. I didn’t want to lie to you, but you were just so...” He lifted a hand and dropped it “...you. And you were looking at me like you used to and...” He blew out a breath. “God, I couldn’t say no to you. I’ve never been so undeserving. I know that. But I decided to show you how I’d changed. I decided to prove to you how much you mean to me. I’d hoped, once your memory returned, that you could find it in your heart to forgive me. I’m still hoping that. I swear, Aub, I’ll never lie to you again.”
“Damn straight you won’t,” she said, but her voice had gone quiet and her arms had loosened from their position over her chest.
Had she forgiven him? If he took a step toward her, would she accept him in her arms?
“I never stopped loving you.” His words laid him bare, and for the first time he related to the vulnerability Aubrey had been feeling lately. “Through the angry times and the grieving times, and the apathy that ate up most of my twenties. I know what I did was unfair to you. But you have to believe me when I tell you it came from a genuinely good place. I wasn’t exacting revenge when I took you up to that loft, or watched the sunset with you, or showed you our dream home. I was falling in love with you. Again.”
He pulled the velvet box holding her engagement ring from his jeans pocket and set it on her kitchen counter. Her eyes widened, her head already shaking back and forth.
“Don’t say anything yet. Please. I want you to know I’d marry you in a heartbeat if you’d take me back. If you don’t...” His heart splintered at the possibility. “If you don’t, you should keep the ring. Like my heart, it was always yours.”
She didn’t cry or shout. She didn’t accuse him of playing her or open her arms for a hug. She stood stock-still, her face blank, unreadable. When she opened her mouth, he had no idea what she’d say.
“Time’s up.”
...but it sure as fuck wasn’t that.
Aubrey pulled open her apartment door, the action echoing her sincerity. She wanted him to leave. He would leave.
In the hallway, however, he couldn’t help turning around. He barely managed to say, “You know where to find me,” before she shut the door in his face.
The next evening, Vic was mucking Titan’s stall when Morgan came trotting up to the stable on a chestnut mare.
“I didn’t know you were here,” he said in greeting. He’d been in his own head a lot lately, which was the reason he was out here laboring. The busier his hands, the quieter his mind.
“It’s a beautiful night. I couldn’t resist a ride. Why are you still working?” His sister climbed off the horse.
He shrugged, not wanting to share, well, anything. She didn’t let him off the hook.
“You forget, Vic, I know you. Your sad expression says it all.”
“I’m not sad,” he snapped. Which wasn’t true. He was so sad, he might as well be wearing the emotion like a fluorescent-pink bunny costume.
He took the wheelbarrow by the handles, intending to put distance between himself and Morgan, and any talk of what was festering inside him, but his overly involved sister moved to block his path. “Hey, talk to me.”
Resigned, because Morgan could and would dig in if he didn’t tell her something, he set the wheelbarrow down. It was hot this evening. He pulled off his gloves and swiped the sweat from his brow. “You have nothing to worry about. I’m not interested in talking with any more women this week, given the way my last conversation went.”
Morgan cocked her head. “You went to see her, didn’t you?”
“Went to see her, told her the truth. Confessed that I never stopped loving her and left the engagement ring on her kitchen counter.” He shrugged, but he felt nowhere near that casual. He felt like a pile of glass shards. In a word, broken. And he had no one to blame but himself. “She kicked me out.”
“Oh, Vic.” Morgan slung both arms around his neck, and those glass shards splintered into smaller pieces and cut deeper. She gave him a squeeze. “Are you going to be okay?”
He gave her a light squeeze in return and cleared his suspiciously full throat. “Of course.”
“It’s a lot,” she continued. “What you’re going through. With the ranch drama and reuniting with Aubrey. We knew her finding out the truth was an inevitability, but I’d hoped she’d see you had the best intentions.”
“Me, too,” he croaked. It hadn’t worked out that way, though.
“You know I’m here for you. I love you, big brother.”