Page 58 of Stuck With the Best Man

“Is that the only reason you’re rejecting me?”

“Ben, I—”

“Because if it is, I’ll step down from the board. I’ll make sure the Hawthorne donations are anonymous. I’ll pretend I never had anything to do with the NYC Ballet.”

“But, why?”

A harsh laugh escapes him. “Isn’t it obvious? I like you, Ruby. I want you. I mean, I want to date you. I want to—I just don’t think I can walk away from you. Not again.”

My heart thuds heavily. My head spins vaguely. I’m really glad I’m already sitting down.

I don’t know what to say.Nois the correct answer.No, I can’t let you give up this opportunity that you’ve told me you’re so excited about just because you want to go on a date with me. Because what if it’s not worth it in the end? What if we don’t work out? What if I never even get promoted at all? What if everything we do is useless and stupid and a waste of time?

Worse yet, what if I say yes and then I end up falling in love with you?

Chapter Eighteen: Ben

I’macowardforstarting this conversation in a place where I have an excuse to look somewhere other than her face, but when will I ever get the chance to ask her this? We have each other’s numbers and we technically work for the same company, but that doesn’t mean our paths will ever cross again.

It has to be now. Now or never.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Ruby says. Her tone is unexpectedly soft, and just the slightest bit tinged with something akin to guilt. At least she’s not thrilled to be rejecting me. “You know it’s not possible.”

“Is that the only thing holding you back from saying yes?”

Ruby is quiet for so long that I force myself to look over at her. She’s staring at the debris-cluttered highway with an expression I can’t decode.

Then, just when I think she’s going to pretend she didn’t hear my question, she whispers, “Yes.”

My stomach swoops with something like joy and relief combined.

She wants to be with me.

Or rather, she wants to go on a date with me.

Ruby Sullivan, the girl who hated me just a day ago,wants to go on a date with me. Which means she’s interested in me. She’s attracted to me.

Of course, all of that should have already been obvious. After all, once upon a time, we were two strangers drawn together so powerfully that we ended up kissing in the stacks of the Strand. Yet, after everything that happened since that impossible, wonderful day, Ruby is still interested in me. Now that she knows the truth and accepts the series of misfortunes for what they are, maybe we can go back to the beginning.

Maybe we can start all over again.

“Ruby,” I say.

“We can’t,” she repeats.

“I’ll step down from the board—”

“No.”

“No, really, Ruby. I’ll do it.”

“You enjoy being on the board, though.”

I shrug. “I enjoy a lot of things. I’ll find another way to prove my worth to the family. Or maybe I’ll finally grow a backbone and follow a completely different career path. Maybe stepping down from the board is exactly what I’m supposed to—”

“No, Ben.”

A frustrated huff escapes me before I can stop it. “Why not?”

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