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Looking up, he saw tears were in her eyes.
“I don’t know what’s just happened.”
“You should go,” he said.
“You’re firing me?”
“No. I’m not firing you, but you need to leave my office.” He walked back toward his desk. He had already made reservations, so he picked up his phone and canceled them.
“Why did you cancel your dinner reservation?” she said.
He looked up at her.
She still hadn’t left.
Brice wasn’t used to being hurt. He wasn’t used to feeling this way. It was all a little too new and a little too raw.
“I don’t want to have dinner with you and I’d hoped to surprise you with something. Right now, I don’t even want to look at you.”
“Brice?”
“Just go.” The pain was thick in him. He heard it in his voice.
He didn’t allow her tears to affect him. He couldn’t.
She opened his office door and he didn’t watch her leave.
Sitting at his desk, he stared at the file in front of him, not seeing anything.
What the fuck had just happened?
16
Bunny knew she’d screwed up, knew she’d offended and hurt Brice. But the truth was, she was guarding herself, protecting her heart.
It didn’t matter that she loved him and he loved her. All she could see, all she could think about, was the “what ifs.”
She was at the very bottom of the social totem pole. He was wealthy, she wasn’t. The women that she knew flocked around him were gorgeous, socialites.
Bunny was the complete opposite in every single way. She wasn’t svelte, didn’t have big perfect breasts, a tiny tucked-in waist, or family money behind her.
No, she had herself, her low-budget apartment, and lived paycheck to paycheck. And all she could think about when she pictured her and Brice together was that eventually he’d see that, see how different she was from him, from the circle he ran in.
All she could see was meeting his family and them disapproving, with Brice being put in a hard spot because he didn’t know whether to keep her around or to placate his family and make them happy.
And so she’d put that wall back up, and all but told him she didn’t think they’d work out, that this wouldn’t last. And Bunny felt like shit for making him feel that way. She felt like shit for seeing the hurt on his face, hearing it in his voice.
She’d never seen Brice like that in the two years she’d worked for him, but she had yesterday, and it had been because of her.
Bunny sat at the little bistro table in the café, her hand wrapped around her mug, the tea inside warming her palm through the ceramic. She was lost in her thoughts, in what she was going to do.
Since she’d left the office yesterday, all she’d been able to do, think about, was how to make this right. He’d been honest with her, told her what he saw, how he felt, yet she kept that wall up even though she wanted it down. She kept him at a distance, even though the only thing she wanted was to bring him closer.
But how could she do that? How could Bunny open up her heart fully, not let fear of being hurt take control?
How could she confess that all to Brice? He’d been angry, hurt, and that pain had resonated deep within him. She’d heard it in his voice, felt it in the way it had changed the air … thickened it, chilled it.
What Bunny did know was not being with Brice made her feel empty, pain. She felt a tightening in her chest, pressure on her shoulders. It was the complete opposite of how he made her feel, and she hated that, loathed it.
She wanted the feeling of being whole back, the one she only felt when she was with Brice. Bunny brought her tea to her mouth and took a long drink, staring out the storefront at the people walking past the buildings, shopping bags in hand. City life was so full of … life.
Yeah, she knew what she had to do.
She knew what she needed to do.
Go to Brice and make things right.
Brice’s penthouse was something dreams are made of, with wealth and security, dignity and privilege. But he worked hard for what he got. His family might have money, but she knew he’d worked his ass off for what he had.
As she walked toward the elevator, she knew Brice was aware she was coming, because she’d had to tell the doorman her name before he’d even let her enter.
Once in the elevator, she pushed the button to the very top floor, reaching behind her and curling her hands around the banister as she watched the doors. All she felt was her nerves rising.
She was scared. Not knowing how this would go, how it would end, scared the fuck out of her. Had she truly ruined things for good this time?
