Page 77 of I'd Never Date my Brother's Best Friend

My eyes widen and I snort. “You’re so annoying.” I close the door and turn toward him. “What are you doing here?”

“Missed me, I see,” he says with a wink. “I know you’ve been staring at your phone, wondering when I would get back.”

Heat creeps up my face at his statement. He’s closer to the truth then he knows.

“You wish.” I gesture to my laptop, even though I’ve hardly written more than a word. “I’ve been busy.”

Sean’s eyes have an intensity that I haven’t seen before and every nerve ending in my body is heightened. He grabs my hands and walks me over to the couch. He sits and pats the space beside him. My mouth is suddenly dry and my heart is pounding so loud I’m sure he can hear it.

“What?” I ask nervously.

“Sit down,” he says softly with a smile.

“Why?”

“Jessica, really? Can you please sit down.”

There’s a strange lilt to how he says my name, and I sit awkwardly beside him. He’s staring at me so intensely that tingles run down my spine, and I start to tremble. I’ve seen that look before. It’s the look he has on his face when he’s getting ready to tell the heroine in his movies that he wants to date them.

But there is something different about it. It’s his eyes. The look in his eyes is all Sean, the real Sean.

Stop being delusional, Jessica. This isn’t one of his rom-com movies.

“Umm…” Sean looks down at his hands, and I see him wipe them on his shorts. He clears his throat and runs a hand through his hair. I’ve never seen him like this and I start to get a bit worried.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes.” He clears his throat and catches my gaze. “I’m fine. It’s just that–”

When he trails off, I narrow my eyes. “It’s just what? Tell me.”

“Jessica Stewart,” he says. “I’d like to take you out on a date officially.”

Sean wants to take me out on a date?

“Umm…why? Are there still lessons I need to learn? I think I’m doing pretty well. Rick didn’t complain.”

Sean reaches for my hands and I freeze. It’s not the first time he’s touched me, or held my hands, but it’s never felt this intimate.

“Let’s not talk about Rick anymore, okay?” He says softly. “And you’re right, I think you’ve got the dating stuff down pat. You don’t need any more lessons.”

“Then?” I ask, confusion filling my tone.

“I don’t want to teach you anything; I want to take you out on a date for real.”

All of a sudden it begins to dawn on me what he’s saying. He’s asking me on a date. A real date. Hope flares in my chest.

“Are you asking me out, Sean?”

“Yes,” he says without a delay.

He picks my hand up and raises it to his lips and presses a soft kiss to my palm. “I’m saying this because I love you. I love you and I want to be with you. I want to date you for real.”

My mouth feels like cotton and I can’t find any words to respond to what he just said. Sean O’Connell just told me that he’s in love with me, that he wants me to be his girlfriend. I blow out a breath and look at him. Then I realize that I’m probably hallucinating. There’s no way Sean is sitting in front of me right now, holding my hands, and telling me he loves me.

“Jessica?” He squeezes my hands, letting me know that this is, in fact, real. “Say something.”

“Can you repeat what you just said?” I ask in a whisper.

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