Page 76 of Come Here and Kiss Me

“No! You were willing to let me be a fucking secret!”

It’s then she hears Mr. Michaels and the rest of the lawyers.Their voices billow out to the foyer from where they are in the living room.

Leaning in the doorway to glance, she turns her gaze back to me and asks, “Who the hell is that?”

“I was in a meeting.”

She turns to leave, but I reach out to grab her wrist.

“Stay please,” I beg her as she turns and only stares at where my fingers are wrapped around her wrist. Her short red dress clings to her curves and the color matches her lips. “You look beautiful,” I add and she scoffs, but she doesn’t pull out of my touch. She doesn’t leave.

“I want you to stay. I want you. I need you, Brooklyn.”

Her bottom lip drops just slightly as she looks back at me. Almost like disbelief.

“I only came because my lawyer said I should talk to you.”

“Ronan?” one of my lawyers calls out, and I ignore him, caught in her gaze.

She whispers as the footsteps approach, “I hate that I still have feelings for you.”

“I hate that you hate it.”

To my right, Mr. Walker comes into view. He’s about my height and fit for his age. His cologne drifts toward us.

“Miss Chambers.” He sounds surprised and glances at me. I can barely look back at him when she looks at me like that. Like she hates me. She has every right to.

“I think we should leave you two alone,” Mr. Walker says in an exhale. He says he’ll be in touch shortly and to update him if anything new needs to be addressed.

Thankfully, Brooklyn enters when he gestures her in. One step in the right direction.

The lawyers don’t hesitate to stand and exit, leaving me alone with the woman I love desperately who just admitted that she loved me for one moment in time too.

Brooklyn

In his living room,a living room we once shared, I see all the memories of us staring right back at us as if it’s happening right then. I have no control over them, and I feel like I’m losing my mind with each passing second between us.I turn to face him, to tell him off once again, but the words crumble before they're spoken. My Ronan looks like a shell of himself. His hair a mess, his eyes with dark circles like he hasn’t slept. And with an expression I’ve never seen before. Pure pain and regret echo in his gaze.

Before I can express another word, Ronan declares, “I’m a prick, a liar, and a piece of shit, but Brook, I want you. I want you more than anything I’ve ever wanted.” His words are rushed as he stands only a few feet from me with my back to the back of the sofa.

“You want?—”

“I love you, and I loved you even when I said goodbye because I wanted to protect you and—” I cross my arms again and look away, refusing to believe that he could love me and let me leave, but he reaches out to me, his hands on my forearms, and looks me in the eyes. “I regret ever dragging you into this. I blame myself, and I’m sorry. I wanted to end it because I couldn’t see you like that, but I made it worse. For me and for you, and I love you. I’m sorry.”

When he says it… when he says I love you, it takes a moment to sink in. To really sink in.

“I want you in ways I never thought were possible for a man like me. I want you in all the ways I should and all the ways I shouldn’t. I want you then, now, forever. It’s me and you, kitten.”

I don’t answer him for a few seconds because I truly don’t know how to take his words. Shock overwhelms me. I’ve never heard this man say he’s sorry for anything in his life. Men like him don’t apologize. However, I do know how I feel, and that’s more powerful than anything I’ve ever experienced.

I want everything he’s saying.

But mostly, I want to believe what he’s confessing to me.

Instead of sharing everything my overly wrecked mind is thinking, I ask, “You want me how? To pay me?—”

“I gave you more than enough for you to never need anyone, but I can give you more if that’s what you want. I will do anything.”

“Did they say getting back with me would let you save your job?” The snide hesitation in my tone is evident, and I don’t try to hide it.

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