Page 33 of Brighter Together

He frowns slightly. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking about something.”

“Anything I need to know?”

I swallow hard.

Now would be the moment. The moment that could destroy everything I’ve built for myself here. The moment I lose his trust and he might ask me to leave.

To leave Greenview Manor Hotel.

To leave him.

“No. Nothing important.” The lie tastes awful.

I turn towards the door.

“Ella,” he draws my attention back to him.

Tommy is no longer looking at his laptop.

He looks oddly uncomfortable.

“What?”

He rubs a hand over the back of his neck.

“Earlier.”

My stomach gives a small flip.

“Yes?”

“The chocolate.”

Oh.

That.

His gaze drops briefly to the desk.

“I probably shouldn’t have…”

His mouth tightens as if he’s annoyed with himself.

“Anyway. Sorry.”

I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself smiling.

“For wiping chocolate off my face?”

His eyes meet mine again.

“For being inappropriate.”

There is something so painfully earnest about him that any urge to tease disappears.

“You weren’t.”