Page 22 of And Then There Was Us
She nodded.
“I love that,” he said. His smile faded, and when he spoke, his serious tone had returned. “Brianna Heart, I stopped kissing you because I do want to get tangled up with you, and because of that, we need to consider your twelve-year-plan and, of course, Layla.”
He moved his hands from her cheeks, and she wished he’d put them right back. “Hugh, you’re a great guy, but…”Don’t say it. Just shut up and don’t ruin this.
“But?” He sat up straighter.
The life you lead isn’t conducive to raising a child. But then again, you didn’t say you wanted to raise my child. You just wanted to get tangled up with me. What does that mean? Sex? Just sex? If so, why consider Layla? Ugh!She’d been out of the dating scene for too long. She needed Kat to interpret for her.
“Brianna, but what?” he asked again.
She saw the worry in his eyes, but she had no idea how to tell him what she was thinking. “But my life is complicated. It’s busy, and I barely get time to breathe—or sleep, as you saw last night. I don’t want to bring you down.”
He took her hand in his. “You light me up, Bree, not bring me down. Can’t you see that? Let’s just see how things go. We’ll take it day by day. I’m here through next weekend, so we have plenty of time.”
“Next weekend?” She felt the pit of her stomach drop.Plenty of time?“Where are you going?”What am I doing? Stop liking him!
“Daytona. Then I have time off again.”
Daytona. This can never work. Ugh! Why do I want this to work so badly?
“Hey, Bree. You okay?”
No. I suck. I really like you.“Yeah, fine.” She pushed to her feet. If she was going to create distance, she had to do it now. “We should probably go. I need to go home and shower before work.”
“Hey.” He went to her and took her hand in his. “I’m a really good listener. Please tell me why you look sad.”
She looked away. “Can you please stop being romantic…and sweet…and looking at me like that?”
He laughed. “Like what?”
I can’t do this. I just got carried away.She pulled back her shoulders and feigned a smile, hoping Hugh wouldn’t realize it was nothing more than false bravado as she weeded through her hormones and convinced herself that she had to stick to her original plan.Twelve years isn’t so long—is it? Oh no! It never was until I met Hugh.“Never mind.” She sighed loudly. “I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you. I like you. I haven’t let myself even think about liking a guy in—”
“Years, I know. But if you like me, then why do you look like I killed your pet?”
She wrestled with the truth.Because I’m too confused to think straight. You travel all the time and have all those groupies all over you. You’ll get bored of my life. You’ll hate having a child around all the time, and most of all, I can’t bring you into our lives and have Layla worry that you’ll leave—and I don’t want that worry either.“Because you’re leaving at the end of next week.” She hated how deflated she sounded, but it was exactly how she felt, as if she were given wings and began to fly and then suddenly the wings were whisked away and she was left floating aimlessly down to a painful reality.
“I’ll be back.”
“I know. But the more time I spend with you, the more time I’m going to want to spend with you.”Why am I bothering to tell you? I need to stop wanting you.
“Well, then, we’ll just have to make that happen.”
Hugh put his arms around her again and she wished he’d never brought up her twelve-year-plan. If he hadn’t, she’d be naked beneath him instead of convincing herself that she should never see him again.
Chapter Eleven
“YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT?” Brianna stood in Hugh’s garage looking at his Mercedes Roadster, Aston Martin, Ferrari458 Speciale, and Icon Sheene motorcycle. “Hugh, really? I can’t even think while looking at these. They can’t be real. I mean, Matchbox? Sure. Real? You can pinch me and wake me up now.”
“I know it’s a little much. Some guys collect baseball cards. I collect cars. So, which one should we take?” He knew he was pushing her past her comfort zone, but he’d seen the way she froze when he mentioned leaving after the next weekend. She had a child to think about, and he was determined to get to know Brianna better, child or not. Something clicked in him last night, a protective urge, a stirring of something more than sexual desire, and he had to explore the meaning of it. In order to do that, she had to know more than just what he was inclined to tell her. If he had a prayer of her accepting him into her life enough to date her and see if what he felt was real or not, then she had to see all of him—and then she could decide if he was the type of guy she wanted to be with, regardless of what he owned or what he did for a living.
She sighed. “Fine. It’s probably the only time I’ll ever ride in one of these anyway. The red one.”
“The red one? You’re so cute.” He took her hand and opened the passenger door of the Ferrari458 Speciale. “If you’d have picked any of the other cars, I would have offered for you to drive, but the 458 is more like a race car than a luxury vehicle, and I’d worry about your safety.”
“Trust me. You don’t want me driving one of your cars.”
Her insecurities were cute, but not at all necessary. She was obviously a bright woman who made sound decisions. He trusted Brianna, and if he was really going to show her who he was, he had to show her that, too. “You know what? How about I take you out in the Ferrari another time, and you drive the Aston Martin today?”
