Page 61 of Journey to You

“Why did you shut me out?”

He squeezed her shoulder before releasing it, turning away and dragging a hand through his hair, but not before she glimpsed his expression.

Shame.

Ethan Brooks, the man who had it all, was ashamed.

He dragged in a deep breath, another, before turning back to face her. “I didn’t want to have to tell you this, any of it.”

He was struggling; she could see it in the muscle twitching in his jaw, in his thinly compressed lips. It looked like shewasn’t the only one with enough baggage to bring India’s railway system to a screeching halt.

“Tell me, Ethan. If nothing else, we’re still friends.”

His head reared up like she’d poked him. “I want to be more than friends, damn it. I want—”

“Then give us a chance.” She softened her tone. “Tell me.”

He raked his hand through his hair again. “I’ve never told anyone this.”

She waited, wondering what could rattle him this badly.

He inhaled, puffed out his cheeks, before blowing out a breath, his expression pained. “I was jealous that day atAmbrosia, furious you were still hung up over Rich—”

“But I’m not—”

“If you are or aren’t doesn’t really excuse how I treated you. What really pushed my buttons was not being in control of the situation. And that’s something I don’t like, not being in control.”

“You’re a businessman, a successful one, it figures.”

He shook his head. “That’s not the reason.”

He paused and she knew by the bleakness in his eyes he had to be leading up to something big.

“I used to be a street-kid. Dumped by my mother when I was five, shoved from foster family to family, scrounging on the streets from the age of thirteen.”

Sorrow gripped her heart. “I had no idea, I’m so sorry.”

A wry smile twisted his mouth. “We’re doing a lot of that, apologising. Not real romantic, is it?”

“This is about honesty.”

As for romance, it would come. Having him open up to her, knowing how much it cost him, told her they had a future, a great one.

“This is about honesty, and us.” He scanned her face, searching for reassurance. “This has always been about us, Tam.I’m not telling you all this for any other reason than to give us a second chance.”

He cupped her chin, and tipped it up. “Do you believe in second chances?”

“You have to ask me that?”

Heck, she was the queen of second chances. She’d given Richard enough of them: after he’d stood her up the first time, after he’d blown her off for a restaurant opening, after she’d caught him kissing a waitress within six months of their marriage.

Yet here was this incredibly honest man standing in front of her, his feelings shining bright in his eyes, asking her for a second chance. How loud could she scream yes without getting arrested?

Holding out her hand to him, she said, “Come on, let’s take a walk.”

“That’s not exactly the answer I was hoping for.”

She smiled, recognising the instant he glimpsed the love in her eyes, because his widened and the flicker of doubt eased. “I have so much I want to say to you, but let’s go somewhere quieter.”

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