Page 71 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

I sat stunned for a moment. No man had ever been so direct or claimed my heart the way he did. Words Sheridan had spoken came to mind about dreaming big and not letting today’s hurts stand in the way of tomorrow’s happiness. Brant was right—no one made me happy the way he did. He was my dream. And I knew if I walked away now, I would regret it for the rest of my life. That made the answer easy.

“Yes.”

Chapter Eighteen

I stared at the computer screen in my office, knowing I should be doing something productive, but all I could do was watch the clock as it ticked past noon. Ten more hours until I talked to Brant. I felt like an infatuated teen who couldn’t wait to go to school the next day to see her crush. Except Brant was much more than a crush. I loved him. As crazy as it was, I did. It didn’t matter that we had never technically dated. Or that I had never told him. I figured we should date first before I threw that out there. And he still needed to clear a few things up. Besides, I needed to know he loved me too. I would hold on to my secret until the time was right. Just like I was keeping all of this secret until he returned home.

I didn’t want to seem like I was blindly jumping into another relationship. When I told my family, I wanted them to know I was being smart. That I knew all the ins and outs, and despite us being business partners, I knew we could make it work. After all, Brant had said last night that he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of us being together. Not even himself. Which I was beginning to worry less about. I mean, if he wasn’t into anything illegal, how bad could it be? He was probably working some high-profile celebrity case that would put him on the map. Though that didn’t explain Dani’s weird behavior. Maybe she was just being overprotective because she thought I was a fragile flower. Sheridan herself said it wasn’t easy being in the Hollands’ world. Dani knew firsthand what that was like. Even she had received bad press from time to time, questioning whether donations were being properly used. Of course, they were. No one was more conscientious than Dani. Those types of accusations were hard for Dani to bear. She probably didn’t want me to face that fate. But I could handle it. Especially knowing I had Brant by my side.

Besides, the press was fickle. Case in point: the incumbent senator Brant had been trying to unseat in the primaries had lost last night. All the political pundits this morning were trying to dissect how the surprise defeat had happened. Many pointed to the differences between Brant and the incumbent. Funny how they were singing Brant’s praises this morning—Brant Holland was a man for the people, and his moderate approach was refreshing—when just two days ago they were saying how out of touch he had been.

Regardless of why Dani had been acting a tad off, she’d said she was going to be better. We were even having a sisters’ lunch on Friday. Which was good because I still needed to talk to Ariana about her slip of the tongue in front of Whitney. Jonah had picked Whitney up on Sunday and I hadn’t said anything to him about it because I was still in shock over Brant kissing me the night before and his admission that he really did want to bake cookies with me. Despite Brant sucking all my brain cells out with that kiss of his, I hadn’t forgotten that exchange with the girls, and I was going to remind Ariana that little ears were listening, and those little ears had big mouths.

The clock had only moved two minutes. Seriously, I needed to do something. Anything. I had a million things that needed to be done but couldn’t think of one to do. Brant was consuming me. That wasn’t a complaint. I looked around my office, hoping that would help remind me of one of my tasks. All it reminded me of was Giselle and Carter. Pictures of our opening day and original menu still hung on the plain white walls, right next to the printout of Giselle’s ridiculous life motto: Being gorgeous is the best revenge. How was I ever friends with someone like her?

I stood and ripped the quote off the wall, crumpled it up, and threw it in the trash. Glad to be rid of at least one thing that reminded me of Giselle and Carter. That tiny bit of redecorating reminded me that last night Brant had said it would mean a lot to him if I gave his mom a project this week. Apparently, she was having a hard time and was more than eager to get involved with the restaurant. I’d been reluctant to start any projects other than changing up the menu, as things weren’t completely settled with my old partners. And I had been worried that Brant was in love with Dani. He had cleared that up for me nicely. Seriously, I needed him to come back and kiss me like that every day. I wanted to try out his chest in real life. And maybe I needed to start moving forward with the restaurant. Take my dreams and make them realities, as scary as it was. Not that I was afraid of my dreams. I was afraid of being crushed if they didn’t come true. But if I did nothing, how would they even have a chance?

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