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“I’ll be over here guarding you from intruders,” Mason said, winking and saluting as he stopped next to a potted plant.
“Thank you, my friend.” Brad returned the salute.
They walked to a bench and settled down. They had a measure of privacy with trees, flowers, and bushes blocking them from other couples. The well-maintained indoor garden was a beautiful spot, almost as magical as the royal wedding and the mystical and ethereal setting Arianna had created in the ballroom.
Brad took her hand, his hand trembling against hers. His obvious nerves had Arianna’s heart beating faster.
She waited for him to initiate the conversation. He’d gotten her alone, after all. Did he only ‘love her like a sister’ or could his love deepen into something more? Was that why he was nervous?
“You and Mason have become good friends,” she said to break the silence.
“He is a great man,” Brad said. He turned toward her, rubbing his thumb along the back of her hand and leaving tingles in its wake. “I’m so impressed by you and proud of you, Ari. The wedding was ideal in every way, and you are incredible at all you do.”
“Thank you.” His praise meant a lot, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Proud of me like a sister?”
Brad’s eyes grew wary. He released her hand, rubbed at his stubbled jawline, and then stood and paced to the next tree and back again.
Arianna stood. She’d been wearing these spike heels for hours and wouldn’t mind taking them off, but she appreciated the added height boost. Now she was eye-level with Brad’s chin instead of his shoulder.
“Are you ever going to talk this out with me?” she asked. “Or are you going to run again?”
Brad flinched and then nodded. “I deserved that. Honestly, I deserve a lot more than that.” Brad scrubbed at his beard again. “Ari, I fear when you find out what I’ve done, you’ll hate me.”
“I could never hate you. Please, can you just tell me why you left without an explanation or any contact? I thought we were better friends than that.”
His eyes widened and then turned a darker brown, full of her and the memory of last night. Her reference to friends brought back the way she’d instigated those insanely beautiful kisses. “We are friends,” he said softly.
“Please talk to me, Brad.”
“You deserve to know. We have to get through this.” His look changed from heated to concerned. He said in a quick beat, “Before my mum died, I’d been delivering to a clothing shop here in Greenville almost every day. There was a girl, Annabelle. I liked her a lot. I pursued her, but she was engaged to Captain Levi Favor.”
Her eyes widened. She knew Captain Favor. He was a serious, dark-haired guard who Faith Radisson was very interested in.
“I should’ve stayed away from her, knowing she was engaged, but you know me. I was a nineteen-year-old punk.”
“You weren’t a punk.” But it hurt already. Arianna had always known Brad was the one for her, but he hadn’t felt the same. Of course she’d known he had dated different girls; she’d watched it throughout secondary school and after he graduated. She’d dated, but nobody could compare to Brad. Not for her.
“I was.” He shifted his weight and clenched his fists. “The day my mum died, I was a disaster.”
“I remember.” She’d tried to be there for him and hold him after she and her dad helped him make the funeral arrangements, the memories of her mum’s funeral fresh on their minds and both of them sick for Brad and concerned about him. As soon as the plans were done, he’d thanked them and took off.
“I went to Annabelle after you and your dad helped me. She held me and comforted me. Her parents weren’t home. I …” His mouth twisted, and he looked away. “I stayed the night with her. We …”
Arianna took a step back, her legs running into the bench. “You slept with her?”
He’d slept with someone else’s fiancée, ditched all the high morals he’d always claimed to have, and then three days later he’d let Arianna hold and comfort him? When she’d innocently kissed him after his mum’s funeral, he’d returned it, giving Arianna the most beautiful, all-consuming kiss. She’d imagined he cared deeply for her, finally saw her, and maybe even returned her love. But he hadn’t. He had loved some other woman. Pain split her in two, and she almost doubled over.
“Yes,” he admitted quietly.
Silence fell between them.
He rubbed at his jaw and then said, “It gets even worse.”
“Worse?” She was going to be sick. How could this revelation possibly get worse? Then it hit her. “You have a child who doesn’t even know you? You left your baby and your love behind for eight years?” She tried to keep her voice down, but it screeched. No one peered around bushes—not that she cared at this point.
“No. Nothing like that.”
She took a deep breath. It didn’t settle her rolling stomach.
