Page 40 of Crazy In Love
. . .
Emilia
A huge weightlifted off my shoulders.
A simple apology could go a long way.
I never knew why he’d hated me all these years, and I was glad to have it out in the open.
My childhood crush was still an asshole, but he’d shown me a softer side tonight.
Plus, he was wearing these black-rimmed reading glasses, which managed to make the bastard even sexier.
On a night when I couldn’t have taken much more.
My mother had started off my night with a bang, and then I’d literally slammed my car into Bridger’s truck, ended up in a pile of snow with him on top of me, and then seen the inside of his sterile, cold mansion.
But I’d received an apology.
Miracles do happen.
“I’m sure Cami painted a picture that I was a snitch. She was an insecure girl back then, and honestly, from what I’ve seen of her as a grown-up, she hasn’t changed.”
“Yeah, she used to tell me that you’d talk to her about reporting me to Coach because I’d have an occasional beer at aparty, and you thought I should be kicked off the football team.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Seems kind of ridiculous now that I held on to that all these years later.”
“I’m just ready to put this behind us. Thank you for the apology. I don’t want there to be tension with you, because I happen to consider Eloise, Lulu, and Henley close friends.”
“You don’t say?” he said with a smirk. “They told me they were still on strike with pickleball, but they would attend Sunday dinner for my parents’ sake.”
“Well, now you can all go back to your regularly scheduled lives, as we’ve cleared all the past issues up.” I fastened the belt on my coat around my waist. “Are you still fine to give me a ride home?”
“You don’t want to die from hypothermia anymore?”
“I mean, after the dinner I just had, and the fact that I just cried in front of my nemesis, the temptation to walk and risk it is still there—but I’d much rather get home and into a hot bath at the moment.” I shrugged, and something in his gray gaze darkened at my words.
“‘Nemesis’ is a strong word.”
“So is ‘asshole,’ but it still fits,” I said, tucking my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing.
He reached for a jacket and grabbed his keys off the entry table. “Let’s go. I’ve got a car that you haven’t damaged in the garage.”
I followed him back through the house, noting that all the walls were bare. “Haven’t you owned this place for a while?”
He didn’t turn around but kept walking toward the garage. He paused when he pulled the door open. “You keeping tabs on me, Emilia?”
He held the door open and motioned me forward, my chest grazing his as I moved past him.
“Hardly. I mean, you bought the biggest house in Rosewood River. It’s common knowledge.”
“Then why did you ask?” he said dryly as he pulled my door open for me, catching me off guard. I slipped inside, and he shut the door before going around to the other side.
He backed out of the driveway, and I glanced over my shoulder as he carefully maneuvered around my car, which was sitting perpendicular in his driveway.
“I’m waiting, Emilia.” His voice was harsh, and I turned around to look at him.
“I asked because your home looks so—sterile. Like you just moved in.”
His brows cinched together as he looked through the windshield at the white snow falling in front of us. “I’m a minimalist. I don’t want a bunch of porcelain trinkets in my home.”
