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She’d walked every step of that with him.
Sunnie pushed away from the door, tugging off her scrubs, her temper flaring.
No. No way.
Allison was not about to saunter back into Landon’s life and take another punch at his heart. Sunnie wouldn’t let her.
She pulled on some jeans, searched in the closet for a hootchie-mama shirt. She wasn’t above using cleavage to help her win this war.
Sunnie peered at herself in the mirror, then decided to go for broke. She pulled down her hair, brushing it out, grateful that it held some wave. She put on the shiny pink lip gloss Landon liked, swiped on some mascara, then grabbed her phone and walked to the bed.
Moment of truth.
She clicked on YouTube and searched for the video. She considered turning off the music, as Yvonne suggested, but decided to keep it on. She loved that Faith Hill song, and music always fired her up—either to get her in the party mood or ready for battle.
This time, she kept her eyes on Landon throughout the entire thing, at his face as he knelt down to her, the way he pulled her into his arms to hug her. The fierceness when she stood up and he’d realized she’d hurt her ankle. The way he kissed her.
Even now, she could feel the passion in it.
Then they parted…
And she saw it. Saw what everyone kept talking about.
He looked at her as if she were the most beautiful woman on earth. As if she were the only person on the planet who existed. She was the center of his universe—and then she sneaked a peek at her own face, and realized the one thing no one else seemed to have noticed.
He was the center of hers too.
Then he bent over, picked her up and carried her to the police car.
Landon loved her.
He’d loved her all along.
And now it was time to tell him she felt exactly the same way.
* * *
Landon shook his head. “Allison. You saw the video. You saw…”
“Sunnie?” Allison asked.
There was a tinge of disbelief in her tone that tweaked his nerves. Why the hell was it so unbelievable that he and Sunnie could be together? Hell, even Sunnie had mentioned something about them being too different or a mismatch or some such shit this morning.
“Yeah,” he said. “Sunnie.”
Allison leaned back, and he could see her seriously considering his face, almost as if she expected him to say he was just kidding, or maybe she thought he’d supposedly wise up now that she was throwing her hat back in the ring.
“I’m in love with her,” he said, determined that she understand he was serious and what they’d had was over. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he couldn’t let her leave here thinking there was any chance of a future for them either. That would merely add emotional cruelty to the physical pain she’d endured since the holidays.
She nodded slowly, then smiled. “I’m happy for you.”
“Really?”
Allison laughed easily, and he recalled why he’d loved her. She was kind and understanding, and being with her had been easy. Probably too easy. They’d gone from dating to almost insta-love. There’d been no challenge and precious little passion. Just companionable…boring love.
Sunnie offered him so much more. Life with her would never be predictable or simple, but it would be fun. And they’d set the sheets on fire every single night.
“Really,” Allison said. “I’m sad to have missed my chance. I’ll regret that until the day I die.”
