Page 49 of I Choose You

Mentioning Kody to Brooke was a bad move, though. I saw that now.

Forget about it?

She’d said it so tersely, so quickly, that I knew without a doubt she hadn’t forgotten anything.

I wasn’t born yesterday. I could take a hint. I wouldn’t piss her off any more, but I refused to let this go unspoken forever. Sooner or later, we had to address our damn past.

She collected her purse and sighed. Any second now, she’d dash. I saw it in her eyes, the stubborn lift of her chin, and I heard it in the sharp edge in her tone.

“Thanks for tonight. I enjoyed the dinner.”

All that fire. She didn’t fail to impress me, even when she was mad. Her anger was thinly veiled by her words. She wasn’t being sarcastic. It was more like she wanted to be grateful and polite but hated every second of it right now.

I killed the engine. She arched a brow and glanced at me. “Planning on sticking around?”

Ouch. No invite inside. Still, I wasn’t after that.

“You enjoyed it?” I asked, trying to figure out the best way to approach the idea that struck me on the drive when she listened to me about my concerns.

“The food was good.” She eyed me up and down. “The company was okay.”

Fuck, I loved it when she teased me. I slung my arm around the top of my seat to face her directly. “How would you feel about going to a few more of these things with me?”

She’d already opened the door, but I’d caught her. Hesitating with one foot outside, she slumped back on the seat. Her purse plopped in her lap and she stared at me.

“A few? How many is a few?”

I licked my lips, trying to rein in the excitement of getting her there. She was curious. That was the first step, but I had to tread carefully here.

“More than a couple but less than several.”

She rolled her eyes. “Someone sure has read the dictionary before.”

“My father has requested I bring a date to the wedding.” As I said it, I recalled our conversation in her office—her sigh and admission that she loved weddings. This would be too easy.

“Okay.” She stretched those two syllables into five long ones.

“I think you check all the boxes.”

She smirked and crossed her arms. Her foot didn’t lower to the ground. Instead, she propped it up on the doorframe, wedging her in place to hear me out.

Fucking heels. I couldn’t resist checking out the slender leg she emphasized with that sexy shoe. And that defiant pose. Damn, did she know how to mess with me.

“You’re kind.” I raised a finger.

She nodded.

“Professional.” Another finger went up.

She preened, lifting her face higher. “Damn right.”

“Unlikely to cause a scene.”

She raised her brows as though asking if I was sure about that.

I chuckled and raised a third finger.

“What else?” she asked. “’Cause that’s setting the bar kind of low.”