Page 97 of Luck of the Draw

I love her, B. I chose to love her weeks ago because it was immediately clear that you love her.

Liza did tend to be right about pretty much everything.

“…thought it would make you feel better,” he finished.

“It was one of the kindest, most thoughtful things anyone’s ever done for me.” Skye met his gaze. “Second only to everything you’ve done for me.” She shook her head slightly. “Y’all sure are a different breed.”

The urge to touch her was overpowering, but Brennan kept his hands to himself. “It’s just what people do for people they care about.”

Her eyes narrowed skeptically. To be expected. Ever since they met, it had been abundantly clear that Skye had little to no interaction with people who truly cared about her. And that was a goddamned tragedy.

“Yeah, I suppose.” She pulled her eyes from his to stare forward again. “I think it’s really sweet that you have such a good friendship with them.” She sipped her scotch. “I wish I had a friend like Liza. I wish I had friends,period.”

He clamped his hand around his glass to keep from placing it on her knee. “All those people could be your friends, honey.”

“No, they couldn’t. If they knew—” She silenced herself by taking a long sip of her scotch, and then turned her head to look at him again. Her crystalline blue eyes were suddenly deep sapphire with intensity. “Brennan, you’re the most wonderful man in the world.”

It was the most bittersweet non-sequitur imaginable, and his shoulders drooped as reality weighed on him. “I’m not really, honey. I’m just a normal—”

“You are. And you make me wish things were different.” Her brows drew together. She reached for his face and stroked the back of her fingers against his cheek. Touching was only off-limits for him. He’d let her put her hands all over every square inch of him if she wanted. “You make me wish I had a different life.”

His fingertips tingled with the urge to simply clasp his hand around hers while it lingered on his cheek. “I wish things were different, too.”

“I know you do.” Skye withdrew her hand as though she suddenly saw it as a double standard on the rule about no touching. “I also know you probably think I’m crazy after the past couple of weeks. I’m not trying to be crazy. I’m just trying to stay focused. I need things that you’d never be able to give me, and I’m incapable of giving you things I know you need. I’m sorry for all of this. I’m sorry I flirted with you in that bar. I’m sorry all of this happened.”

Brennan squinted incredulously at her. “I’m not.”

“You will be though.” She looked at him with deathlike severity. “You will be so angry you won’t even be able to see straight.”

He managed to not scoff. “Baby, I don’t know who or what you think I am, but I can assure you whatever you’re sitting on isn’t going to faze me.”

“You keep saying that because you have no idea.”

Brennan stood up and gestured at her with the glass. “I do have an idea. I’m not fucking stupid, Skye. Everything you’re trying to hide is about as clear as day, and I’m not angry. At least, I’m not angry at you. I’m angry that there are people in the world who would hurt other people the way you’ve been hurt.”

She shook her head. “Again, you have no idea. You have an idea ofsomething, but you don’t know. If you knew, I wouldn’t be here.”

He dropped his head backward and groaned at the broken fucking record ofif you knew, if you knew, if you only knew. “You know what, sweetheart? I don’t think I have ever been more sick of anything than constantly hearingthat. You’re planning to leave. You’re probably leaving soon. If you’re not even going to be here, what does it matter if I know this big ugly secret of yours?”

Skye stared at the space in front of her eyes as her chest rose and fell rapidly, and then she stood up and marched to stand right in front of him. She took the glass from his hand and set both drinks on the coffee table, and then lifted her chin to meet his eyes. Less than an inch separated them, and her breath tickled his face.

“I don’t want to do this,” she mumbled.

He ducked his face to see her eyes more clearly. “Do what?”

“I want to kiss you.”

His brow pulled low. “You said you never wanted me to—”

“I still want to kiss you.”

Brennan cocked his head. Was that an invitation? He gripped the fabric on the sides of his slacks to anchor his hands and avoid following pure impulse. “Skye, you’re kinda giving me mixed signals here, honey.”

“I know that.” Her gaze bounced up and down, flicking from his eyes to his mouth and back again, over and over. “I’m trying to do the right thing.”

He drew in a deep breath and silently exhaled. “So am I.”

She raised her chin higher and hovered her lips right next to his, and he clenched the fabric of his pants into his fists. “I’m so sorry, Brennan.”

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