Page 24 of Something Borrowed

Delaney had been quiet for a while, not even looking at Brigid, lost in her own thoughts.

Finally, she spoke. “Brigid, I was going through a really rough time. I was barely keeping it together, never mind dealing with my mother, then my father’s death. You don’t know what it was like.”

“We were your friends. We would have been there for you, even Anna.”

“You had enough to deal with, getting ready for law school, your internship, and your own family issues.”

“Don’t put this on me. I would have been there.”

“It’s not that, Brigid. I know you would have. All of you would have. But it was so overwhelming. The criminal details. The financial details. The newspapers. The people, oh, the people.” The words poured out of her, along with pain, making Brigid flinch with every sentence. “You should have seen the letters, the phone calls, the emails. It was horrible. And right in the middle of it, my father had a heart attack, leaving my mother traumatized, everyone calling me for decisions, and I had to keep it all together. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did the best I could. Someone had to.”

Brigid’s heart clenched. She reached across the open space between them and grabbed the other woman’s arm. “We could have helped you, if only to listen. If you would have let us in. You never let us in. Instead, we were all on the outside, banging our heads against the wall of ice you put up, the wall we’d melted three years before. Delaney, you became a stranger to us, just like freshman year when we wondered how the hell we could all live together. You threw our friendship back in our faces.” She leaned back. “Life happens, but you blew us all apart.”

She sighed and stood, staring at Delaney, the wind blowing her hair around her face. “That hurt the most, the rejection. It was like we didn’t matter. And Ethan took the brunt of it. Please, for all of our sakes, but especially for Ethan, don’t play with him this week, with his emotions. The rest of us can walk away, but he’s had to live with it.”

Delaney flushed, and when she spoke, anger threaded her words. “I wasn’t exactly having a goddamn garden party. I suffered too.”

“I don’t doubt that. But none of us had any closure. I know Caroline wants us all to be good friends again, like we were years ago. I don’t think that’s possible. Too much has happened. So, don’t be offended if we get snarky with you. You deserve every bit.” She turned to walk away, then paused, a glint of humor in her eyes. “But if you can find that old ice princess deep inside, I’d love to see you bring her out and put Anna in her place. Just be nice to Ethan, okay? Don’t play with him.”

Delaney spoke from behind her. “I wasn’t aware you’d been appointed his keeper.”

Brigid smirked. “There’s the old Delaney. Good. You’ll need her to survive this week. And I’m not his guardian. I just saw the aftermath, from a distance, but it wasn’t pretty. You bring destruction wherever you go. Don’t bring it here.”

She walked off to the house, staggering a little in the uneven grass, wine, tension and exhaustion finally catching up with her.

ChapterTen

Brigid passed through the patio, making excuses for an early night. Only Caroline and Matthew remained by the fire pit. Caroline looked sad and leaned into Matthew, who had an arm looped around her and was whispering. He nodded quietly to her, and she slipped into the house, closing the patio doors with a quiet snick.

She headed for the stairs, knowing that she should be working, but was honestly too tired to do anymore that night. As she headed up the stairs, Grady invaded her thoughts. Suddenly, memory flooded back, and she flung open the bedroom door and hurried in. Her foot kicked something soft.

“Hey, watch where you’re going.” Grady’s voice came from somewhere south of her, on the floor. The unknown pile of stuff on the floor wasn’t her luggage, but was a makeshift pallet where Grady had already settled for the night.

Brigid flicked on the light. “How was I supposed to know you would camp out right in front of the door?”

“There isn’t much room anywhere else.” He sat up, the sheet falling away, exposing his firm, sculpted chest that felt as amazing as it looked. Brigid would know. She had always been obsessed with his chest, tracing the muscles with her eyes and hands when they were in bed together.

She closed the door behind her. “I thought you were going to talk to Caroline about this.”

He yawned and stretched his arms, arching his back. “I tried. She refused, saying there wasn’t another bed. I can’t stay at the cottage, or the surprise will be shot. So, here I lie, stretched out on this poor, hard floor like a forgotten dog.”

“Oh cripes, Grady. I’d expect such melodrama from Anna, not from you.” But she laughed anyway, and he grinned in response, the look taking her breath away momentarily.

She studied the floor. “That’s hardwood, not carpet. You’re going to be stiff and sore tomorrow, not able to finish the cottage. We’re both adults, and the bed is big enough. Besides, you have nothing I haven’t seen or touched before.”

He stood, wearing only his boxers, his erection tenting the material in front of him. Her mouth went dry, and she curled her fingers in her palms in an effort not to reach out and touch. He shook his head.

“I think it’s a bad idea, Brigid. We’re not together, and I don’t think we should muddy the waters again.”

She frowned, her only thought focused on touching him, feeling him hard and hot around her, in her. She shivered as the cool air-conditioned air touched her heated skin.

“Fine.” She huffed and tossed her hoodie on the chair. “Be stubborn. But I don’t want to hear about your aching back tomorrow.”

* * *

Sleep was long in coming that night for Grady. Brigid tossed and turned in the bed, occasionally letting out a low moan as if she were having a naughty sex dream, one he could have had for real. What guy would refuse a hot and willing woman who wanted nothing more than a night of sex?

What a fucking idiot he was, wanting romance and a relationship instead of sex and no strings. He deserved all the pain the floor gave him, and more, for being a sentimental fool. Although, judging by her own restlessness, his plan was working. Withhold sex, force her to see there could be something more. If he fell into bed with her, she’d fall back into the old patterns of placing them in the physical relationship, ignoring any other possibilities.

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