Page 43 of Expiry Dating

He made her wait until he took another sip of his soda before he replied. “You saw where I grew up, Ali. You know as well as I do that’s what I was.”

“Bullshit.”

“What?”

“I said, bullshit, Brady. ’Cos you weren’t rich you’re somehow trash? That’s some messed up logic, even for you.”

“Let’s just drop it, yeah?”

“No.” Damn stubborn woman. “Not until you understand that you are so far from trash it’s not even funny. As much as it pains me to admit it, you’re a good man, Brady Mitchell. Maybe even the best man. So what if you didn’t have much money growing up? I think if anything it made you a better person. And maybe, just maybe, it made you work harder, fight for better, value everything a little bit more. I don’t think it matters where you come from, what matters is how you let it shape the person you are.”

He looked at her. Really looked at her. All that beauty she had inside leaked from every single pore. Every day she found a new way to take his breath away. But the most shocking thing about this all was that she had no clue just how special she was.

“Sweetness”—he leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers—“you make me wanna be a better man.”

She immediately opened for him and surrendered to his kiss. She tasted like home.

The familiar craving for more eventually caused him to reluctantly pull away. But he remained close, letting his thumb lightly caress her cheek. She relaxed into his touch, and he could see the exact moment she lowered her guard.

“I find it hard to let people in.” Her whisper was so quiet, he barely heard the confession. “I’m not good at trusting people.”

He continued to stroke her. “Because of Rob?”

“No. Well, he wasn’t exactly great for my overall self-esteem, but no not just because of him.” Her gaze travelled down to her lap, where she began to fiddle with her fingers. “You know that Lily’s my half-sister, right? We have different dads.”

Jake had filled Brady in when he’d returned to Bluestone that Lily’s dad had run off when she was just five and opened up the hardware store here in town. Inheriting the store was what brought her here from London and Alice had helped keep the store in business by becoming a silent partner. “Yeah, Jake told me.”

She nodded. “Well, I saw what her dad leaving did to her and the lasting effects it had on my mum. Then there was my dad.”

She went so quiet he thought she was going to close down again. He waited and simply dragged his knuckles back and forth across her cheek, hoping to give her enough comfort for her to continue.

“He umm ... just after the accident, I came home early from a PT session and I sort of ... I umm ... I found him with someone else. Someone who wasn’t my mum.”

Jesus Christ.

“Does your mom know?”

“Yeah. I told her as soon as she came home. She was upset that I’d been the one to catch them, but she wasn’t all that surprised. I think she knew. I heard them fight that night but then nothing. Nothing happened. Nothing changed. My mum just forgave him. And no one ever mentioned it again.”

“Do you think that was the only time?” Brady had a feeling it wasn’t.

“No. I don’t even think that was the first.”

“And Lily, what did she say about all this?”

“I never told her. She had just moved out. It was her first year at uni and I didn’t want to upset her, so I just never said anything.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where Alice’s trust issues came from. Lily’s dad abandoned her mum and his child, Alice’s own dad cheated, and then there was Rob, her prick of an ex, whose cheating not only broke them up but also ruined a friendship.

Brady pulled her into his arms, where she quickly snuggled her head against his chest. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry your dad cheated. I’m sorry you had to go through all that by yourself. And I’m sorry you let someone in and they abused that trust. I wish I could kill that motherfucker Rob.”

She snuggled in deeper. “That’s the thing. I don’t think I let Rob in, not fully anyway. I held myself back from him. I don’t think I knew I was doing it at the time, but I did. Maybe a part of me just always knew I couldn’t trust him.”

“You lived with the guy. Bought an apartment with him.” He was stating the obvious now, but the idea of Alice committing to someone on that level that she didn’t even trust didn’t sit well.

“I didn’t think he would hurt me. It sounds stupid now because he obviously did, but I thought that by holding back I was protecting myself.”

Brady wanted so badly to be the one she let in, but a part of him was beginning to question whether he was worthy of her trust. It wasn’t that he was worried about fidelity. Despite a lack of relationships, he knew he would never cheat. No, he was scared that he would never be good enough for her. And a part of him couldn’t help but think that was why she was so hesitant to label what they had. She deserved the world. What if she knew that he couldn’t give it to her?

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