“Bryan, don’t do that, man. Look, just—“
“Can you take Val home?” he asked. He knew himself. He would seem indifferent or broody as he thought about what had just happened. Bryan just needed some time. Some space to clear his head.
“What?”
“I just… I… need some time to think.”
“Bryan—“ Garrett’s face shined with his concern.
“Did you hear what she just—!“ Bryan shouted pointing toward where Courtney stood just moments before.
“I know.” But he could tell Garrett didn’t want him to leave.
“She finally gone?” Donnie asked, popping his head out of the front door, closing it behind him just as Courtney drove off in her tiny little red Nissan Z.
“Don, take Val home for me.” If Garrett wouldn’t, he could find someone else to do it.
“Don, don’t say yes,” Garrett sternly told their lifelong friend. Bryan shot him a glare.
“What’s going on?” Donnie asked, feeling out the tension in the air.
“Hey, she gone?” Marcus asked. Bryan’s head was going to explode.
“Take Val home,” he pleaded as Marc’s blue eyes were trying to read the situation.
“No,” Garrett pointed at Marc.
“What’s going on?” his brother asked, clearly confused, but Bryan just stood still. He felt like all his blood had rushed to his toes. The space around him was starting to spin around him.
“What’s he doing?” Marcus asked, frowning, and Bryan tried to breathe in deeply but couldn’t. He couldn’t breathe. How could Court have lied to him about that? Had she felt how their marriage had been deteriorating?
“He looks like he’s going to have a stroke,” Donnie added.
“Bryan, just take a deep breath,” Garrett calmly suggested, patting him on the shoulder, but he couldn’t.
“What’s going on?” Donnie asked.
“What did she do?” Marc questioned, both Don and Marc obviously concerned, but he couldn’t find the strength to spill his guts.
Especially not when he had no clue what to do or say.
“I gotta go.”
“I’ll take her home.” Marc sighed.
“No! Not you.” He shook his head, imagining how uncomfortable Val would be with him.
“Why not me?” he asked, sounding slightly offended.
“You make her nervous.” Both Marc and Donnie frowned, and Bryan shook his head. Couldn’t they see he was on the brink of losing his shit?
“You need to take her. It has to be you.” He pointed at Garrett. “She likes you. Don’t ask me why. It’s not like you’re Mr. Sunshine, but she does. It has to be your grouchy, sad ass that takes her—“
“No need.” Bryan’s eyes snapped to his girl standing there. He couldn’t read her and had no idea what she had heard. He winced, hoping she didn’t think he was trying to get rid of her.
“I’ll get us home.”
“What?” Garrett beat Bryan from asking.
“You see him. He can’t drive. He can hardly breathe,” she pointed out calmly.
“Val.”
“Come on.” She smiled slightly. “Let’s get you home. Okay?”
“You guys don’t have to go,” Marc started to argue. “We’re going to cook. I have a big spread planned. Please stay. We haven’t fed you…” Marc started to tell her, but Bryan watched his beautiful girl shake her head politely.
“How about we take a rain check? Next time?” she graciously offered.
“No. Please. My mom and grandmother will kill me if you guys leave without eating—“
“They actually understood.” Her smile faltered. He took a step toward her wondering what the hell had gone on inside while his own world had been rocked out here. “Plus, I was called into work,“ she shared. He frowned. “They are short staffed and offered an incentive I couldn’t refuse. I’m sorry.”
She shook Donnie’s hand and returned Marc’s a half-hug he insisted on giving her. Garrett stood by Bryan’s side like a sentry.
“Garrett.” She nodded, and Bryan watched his oldest brother, a man who had changed dramatically in the last couple of months, bend and hug Valerie gently, his face soft.
“Bye, kid.”
“Ready?” she asked. He did a double take. Their hands had only met for a couple of seconds, but a bad feeling sank into him. “You’re going into work?” he stupidly asked.
“Once we get home,” she shared. Silence fell between them until they reached his car. “Keys,” she asked, putting her hand out, palm up. He looked at her.
“I can dri—“
“I know. But I would rather drive. If that is okay with you?”
“Sure,” he muttered, handing her the keys. Slipping into the car, a tense silence fell over them. He watched her fix the seat and mirrors before reversing the car and waving good-bye to the three guys, who were still standing there.
They drove in that same silence, tension only growing between them, and he tried to think of what to say. What could he say?
“I didn’t know she was going to show up,” he finally mumbled and winced.
“I got that,” she mumbled back.
“Val…” he started to say, but he had no words. He had no clue what the fuck had just happened.
“I think we shouldn’t talk right now,” she said before turning the radio on to some top forty radio station. He let her.
They rode in silence while everything inside of him was raging war. Relief and anger swirled with uncertainty. It took over his thoughts until the car stopped and he realized there were home.
Valerie got out of the SUV and walked right to the front door, not once glancing toward him.
His eyes were on her as she opened and went in through the front door. Slipping out of the passenger side door, he walked toward the house. Once in the door, he felt dread about what she must think about him, figuring she might have heard him trying to pawn her off to one of the guys.
Stepping in and closing the door, he was surprised she wasn’t in the living room. His feet took him to the kitchen, where she was making a sandwich.
“Want one?” she asked over her shoulder, not meeting his eyes. She is making a fucking sandwich?
“Val—“ She turned to him, and he saw the weariness in her eyes.
“I get it.”
“You get it?” he repeated. She nodded and turned back to the slices of bread in front of her.
“Yeah.”
“I don’t, so how about you clear it up for me. “
“I’m not your type.” Her left shoulder slumped down. “And that’s fine. You went slumming, had your fun, and now it’s time to go back to your perfect, pretty little ex. I’m going to be late if I don’t go now…”
“Val…”
“People leave me. I’m used to it. But this, with you, Bryan…” He watched her hold on to the countertop tightly before turning. “I think it’s better if I end this—“
“It’s not what you think, Val,” he stepped in, closing the space between them, caging her body against the counter.
“Bry—“
“You’re not my type.”
“I heard,” she shared, and he wondered how he could have missed her overhearing that.
“I did say that. And I thank the stars up above you’re not, Blondie.”
“Thanks,” she bit back. His hand reached up to touch her cheek, but she flinched. He sighed.
“My type, if that’s what we are calling my ex, was all wrong for me.”
“Whatever. I don’t need you to give me some kind of story time.“
“You do. See, seems my ‘type’ was manipulative and so fucking conniving I’m surprised my head didn’t explode.”
“Bry—“
“And if that wasn’t enough, she was a liar, too.”
“What?” she frowned, pouting her lips. Bryan wanted to kiss her. Goddamn Courtney and the shit she’d done.
“We were trying to have a fami
ly and when it didn’t happen, we both went in to get tests run—“
“I don’t need to know.”
“We got the results and she told me it was me,” he shared. “She said I was sterile. It was my fault we couldn’t have a family.” His voice cracked and his teeth ground together. Who the hell does Courtney think she is! Anger started to swirl inside of him at what she had fucking done.
“What?” Val’s entire body froze, but a moment later, her hands clenched the hem of his shirt and he kept talking.
“All I ever wanted, and I know this is going to sound weird as hell, for as long as I could remember, baby, was a family.”
“What?”
“I wanted a wife and kids. My friends wanted to be firemen and astronauts, baby. I wanted to be a dad.”
“Bryan.” Her hands started to move up his chest. Her touch soothed him.
“When she said that to me… I thought I had failed somehow.”
“But even if you were, there are other ways…“ Her voice tapered off, and he liked that she thought that. He fucking loved it. Mine, his mind growled again.
“I know. And I suggested them. But every suggestion I made, she shot down. She always had an excuse. If we had gone any other route, I would have found out the truth.”
“How could she have done something like that? I mean… who does that? Why…” Her cheeks started to flush with her own fury. Fury she was feeling for him. She cared about him.
“I don’t know,” he told her, not knowing what the hell Courtney had thought she was doing telling him such a malicious lie.
He felt anger start to bubble up through his body, when Valerie surprised him, catching him off guard and tilting his world on its axis once again. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she slammed into him and held on to him tightly.
Just like that, she saved him from getting lost in his anger.
Just like that, he fell deeper in love with his little goddess.
VALERIE
“Who the hell does that?” I whispered into the crook of his neck. Anger and regret that I didn’t slap the bitch swirled inside of me just as his arms held on to me.
“My ex.”
“Maybe she was scared you would leave her?”
“I think she knew as well as I did our marriage was headed down a bad road and that’s when we started to try for a family.”
“Why would you try to have a family if things weren’t good between you two?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“We were young, didn’t know better,” he admitted. I could understand that.
I pulled away from him, my hands cupping his face, making him bend to me. “Why were you trying to pawn me off to your brothers?” I asked, knowing we needed to lighten the conversation, too many questions rolling through my head.
“I thought I needed space,” he answered. My mouth parted, unable to utter a word. It made sense. If someone dropped a bomb like that on my lap, I would probably need a moment to myself.
“I was wrong,” he added, snapping me out of my thoughts, making me look up at him. “I didn’t need space. I didn’t need time.” I swallowed hard. The air between us felt like it was being sucked out little by little as I let myself drown in the honesty that reflected in his eyes.
“What did you need?” I asked softly, closing my eyes as one of his massive hands cupped my face.
“You,” his voice rumbled, his lips close to mine, making me open my eyes. “This,” he continued with a stroke of his thumb. “What we have is good. No. It’s fucking good, and we are not going to let Courtney’s goddamn bullshit leak into us.”
“Bry—“
“I am not going to leave you,” he confidently answered, melting away the dregs of whatever doubt I had. “And just saying, Blondie, whoever the fuck has left you or let you leave were idiots.”
“They—“
“If they didn’t see the goddamn treasure they had in their lives just by being blessed to have you breathe next to them, they weren’t worth shit, baby.” His voice deepened with emotion. I pressed my lips together, biting away tears, my nose stinging before he pulled me into his arms.
“I love you,” I whispered into his skin, unable to stop those three words from coming out. I froze for a second and realized that panic didn’t strike. As crazy fast as I had dived into this thing with him, it didn’t make it any less true. He needed to know the truth, and I needed to give that to him.
“Fuck,” he growled, lifting me up, my arms wrapping around his neck, my legs in his arms like a groom carries his bride.
“What are you doing?”
“You can’t do that!” he gruffed. I looked at him, utterly surprised at his response. I can’t tell him I love him? I wondered as he took us to his bedroom and settled us into his bed, both of us on our sides facing one another.
“When she told me I was sterile, I felt guilty,” he admitted.
“Why?”
“I knew she wasn’t who I wanted to have a family with, and a small part of me was a little relieved when it didn’t happen right away. I thought, maybe it was a bump in our relationship, you know? Something we could work out.” He shook his head. “Then she told me that, and I… I felt like I was being punished.”
“Bryan.” My heart ached for him.
“I didn’t question it… Why didn’t I question her?”
“Because she was your wife. Your partner. You should be able to trust that person.”
“I was an idiot.”
“You were human, Bryan. No one’s perfect.” I stroked his arm trying to somehow help.
“That’s why I said you and I couldn’t happen.” His words made me freeze, not fully comprehending what he meant.
“Why?”
“You deserve everything, baby, and I wouldn’t have been able to—“
“Okay, stop right there, handsome.” I covered his lips with my fingers. “Family is more than blood.”
“Val—-“
“I knew it. With Vaughn. You know it with Donnie and Lexi.”
“Donnie’s like a brother.”
“He is a brother to you.”
“Lexi?” he asked, something playing behind his eyes. I smiled, pointing out the obvious.
“Yeah. How you all dote on her and—“
“She’s hard not to dote on.”
“I know, honey, but anyone hanging out with your family would never know that Lexi isn’t Marc’s. You treat her like she’s been a part of your family from the day she drew her first breath. She calls your mom grandma.”
“I know, I just—“
“And didn’t you tell me that that they haven’t even been together for a year?”
“Yeah.”
“There are all kinds of love, Bryan. All a child needs is love,” I told him, hoping I made sense. His eyes closed, and when they opened, I didn’t know what was reflected, but it was breathtakingly beautiful.
“How do you love me, Val?”
“I should have probably kept my mouth shut about that. It wasn’t the right—“
“Because the way I love you is for keeps,” he said. My heart whooshed to my toes. Thankfully, we were in bed.
“What?” was all I could whisper.
“I wasn’t looking for someone. I didn’t want anyone. I looked toward the future and it all seemed bleak,” he confided, and I watched him blink and his face transform into a small, almost shy smile. “I watched Marc and Grace and how he was with her. How he was after he met her. And for the first time it was like… he was really living. And I wanted that. I was tired of my life being on hold. Is that weird?”
“Not at all.”
“I got off my ass and did something about it. I ended up here, and that morning when I walked into the kitchen…” His grey-blue eyes made it hard to look away. “And there you were. I think I fell in love with you that first morning.”
“You’re crazy.” I laughed, trying not to cry like a huge weenie.
“Crazy about you.” He grinned, givi
ng me the sweetest featherlight kiss known to man. His lips hovered over mine. “I love you for keeps, Valerie Duncan.” The sincere tone of his voice washed over me as his arms wrapped around me.
Any doubt I had been holding on to was squeezed out and blocked out by Bryan’s body and heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY
VALERIE
Measuring exact amounts, I stood in front of the white granite countertops in the kitchen, throwing in the ingredients into the bright blue mixing bowl, humming softly. I couldn’t help but hum when my body felt giddy and so happy I thought I was going to float away.
“What are you doing?” his deep voice asked, making me jump. I turned to him while holding my hand to my chest and a mock look of distaste on my face.
“Why do you do that?”
“Why are you jumpy?” he asked. I shrugged.
“Cookies,” I shared, not wanting to let him know I was so happy about where he and I stood everything else seemed to float away.
“Cookies?” he asked leaning against the doorjamb, looking delicious in black sweats that hung low on his hips.
“Yeah.” I looked over my shoulder. My hands stilled from sifting the flour and really soaked in the view he made.
Screw ocean front property. I wanted Bryan Wright front property.
His hair was disheveled, and I knew exactly how it got that way. Me, the night before. Perfectly tan skin that showed he ran shirtless, biceps I knew how they felt to hold on to, just the perfect amount of dark hair over his sculpted chest that showed he worked on his body. But it was the way he wore those sweats that made my heart go into double time.
My eyes went back up to meet his, and I knew that predatory look.
“Mmm…” he said, pushing himself off the doorjamb, and walked closer to me.
“What are you doing?” I asked, holding tightly to the bowl and stepping back wondering what the heck he was up to.
“What kind are you making?” he asked, feigning innocent interest, which made me laugh.
“What?”
“Cookies. What kind?” he repeated. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to stay serious as he took tiny step after tiny step toward me.
“Coconut macaroons. “
“Huh.”
“What?”
STEAL (Right Men Series Book 2) Page 20