Page 94 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
While we eat, we talk about everything I learned about my parents and their divorce. Brody listens patiently as I process—again—working my way through all the ways my erroneous beliefs influenced my feelings about Silver Creek and my desire for a relationship.
Uncertainty still pulses through me as I talk. Trusting myself with Brody’s heart feels like a giant leap of faith, but the alternative—living without him—feels so much scarier. I don’t deserve him loving me. But I’m not sure anyone possibly could. That doesn’t mean I won’t try though. Every single day, I’ll try to love him as well as I know he’ll love me.
“We’ll be okay,” Brody tells me. “We’ll move forward together. We’ll work through everything together.” And when he says it, somehow, I know we will be.
“So the woman you were kayaking with today,” I say as I crumple up the wrapper to my burger.
Brody smirks. “Is my girlfriend jealous?”
Ohhhh.That felt good. I need him to call me his girlfriend again.
I raise my eyebrows. “Does your girlfriend have reason to be?”
He leans forward and plants a brief kiss on my lips, which is good because the intensity of his eyes on me was about to make me melt in between the slats of the porch.
“Her name is Jessica,” he says. “And she was very excited today because she just learned how to roll her kayak, and her fiancé is going to beveryimpressed.”
“I...am so happy for Jessica,” I say through a wide smile.
“Kate, you managed to hold my heart captive when you were twenty countries away and not even trying. You really think you need to worry? I’m at your mercy. All of me is yours.” He tosses a French fry at me. “Not that I mind you being jealous. It’s only fair. I did have to watch you with Preston for two agonizing years.”
I gasp. “Oh my gosh. I made you listen to all the gritty details of my first kiss!”
Brody nods, his expression solemn. “Worst hour of my life.”
I drop my head onto his shoulder. “I’m sorry! I swear I didn’t know. I never would have said anything if I’d had any clue how you felt.”
He pierces me with his steady gaze. “I know. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I’m glad you didn’t know. I think we both had to grow up a little bit. Figure out who we were before we were ready for this.”
“Is that why things have felt so different this time? Because they have. Right from the start, things have felt different.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I just know I never really believed you’d love me back until I saw you standing there on Siler, waiting to surprise me. I guess it felt like you were looking for something you’ve never looked for before.”
I smirk. “Honestly, it’s the abdominal muscles, Brody. Once I saw you naked, I—”
“That’s it.” He stands up, not even grunting as he picks me up and leans me over his shoulder. He goes down the steps and heads around the house, Charlie up and nipping at his heels. “You’re going in the creek.”
I squeal and shift, trying to force him to put me down, but he only hoists me higher. I beat on his back, laughing until he finally drops me right beside the edge of the water at the back of Grandma Nora’s property.
“You would never,” I say as I back away.
His eyes sparkle in the moonlight. “I might.”
“Even after I went to all that trouble writing an article about your program.”
“Oh my gosh!” His eyes go wide. “I forgot the article!” He turns and jogs toward the house. I follow behind him, watching as he reaches the porch and retrieves the proof. He turns to face me, the folder pressed against his chest. “I can’t believe you did this for me,” he says.
I shrug. “Griffin helped.”
He opens it, flipping through the pages. “How long did this take you? And how did you possibly manage to get it published so quickly?”
I give him a quick rundown of all the tiny miracles that led to the article being published. His eyes move over every page, his fingers tracing the photos. “It wasn’t a miracle that made this happen, Kate. It wasyou.”
He holds out his hand, and I move to his side, settling next to him as he wraps an arm around my back.
“I don’t know if it’ll make a difference,” I say into his chest. “Maybe nothing will change. But I had to try.”
He squeezes me a little tighter. “I love you for trying.” He leans back and tilts my chin up. “I love you for so many reasons.”
