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“I have no idea.”
Laughing, Rose got back to work. After a few minutes, she stood. “I’m going to walk back over to the barn for a second.”
I stood and followed.
Stopping right in front of the barn, Rose turned and looked at me. “Why did you really ask me to design your house?”
Her question caught me off guard. “What?”
“Why did you ask me to design your house? Was it because you wanted to see me again?”
“That was part of it. You snuck out after we spent the night together.”
She sighed. “Because I couldn’t…”
Her voice trailed off.
“You couldn’t what, Rose? There was something between us that night, and even if you’re afraid to pursue it, I’m not. Could I have gone about getting in touch with you another way? Yes. But if I had called you, would you have answered?”
She swallowed hard. “No.”
“Why?”
“I don’t…I don’t want to have my heart broken, Bryson. I was afraid I’d lose you, I guess.”
“I’m here right now, Rose. Standing in front of you. Building a house to stay here. I’m not going anywhere. I want to see where this leads, and I don’t understand why you keep pushing me away.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
Walking up, I took her hands in mine. “Rose, talk to me.”
“Why did you ask me to do this? Design your home.”
I looked directly into her eyes and softly said, “Because I believe in you.”
Rose took a few steps back as she opened her mouth to say something, then shut it. Tears filled her eyes, and she spun on her heels and started toward the barn.
She might not want to show me her emotions, but I was tired of her running, and it was going to stop right now.
Chapter Sixteen
ROSE
My heart hammered in my head as Bryson’s words replayed over and over in my head. “I believe in you.”
It wasn’t like I never had anyone believe in me. Hell, my parents did. My mother and father always told me how talented I was with a paint and brush and my drawings. Blayze did when he asked me to help him design his house. I had talent. I knew I did. But the idea of putting it out there for the world to see scared me. It was the talent show in high school where I had overheard some girls in the bathroom talk about how terrible my painting was. It had been one I had worked on with my mother. Hearing them say it was terrible had broken me to the core. Then the painting in the gallery where someone else had torn apart my work. And the guy I thought I had been in love with tossed me to the side as if I was nothing. All those insecurities in my life where someone said I wasn’t good enough. The scars from that ran deep.
Closing my eyes, I thought back to earlier that morning when Jax Harper had bumped into me at River Rising Bakery. He asked me again about putting a painting in their gallery, and I had declined…again. I had done it once while in high school and overheard someone going on and on about how terrible it was and how an art gallery like Cassens Fine Art shouldn’t have such garbage displayed. I had nearly run past them and ripped it off the wall. Jax had tried to tell me to ignore the harsh words, but from that day on, I hadn’t painted. At least, I hadn’t finished a painting.
“Rose.”
I jumped at the sound of Bryson as he stormed into the barn. When I turned around to tell him I needed a few minutes, I pressed my mouth into a tight line. He looked angry, and I had never seen him angry before.
“Fine. I admit it. I fucked this all up. I was stupid, I did everything wrong that I possibly could, but there is one thing I know for a fucking fact.”
I wanted to respond with a snarky comment, but nothing would come out.
“The first time I laid eyes on you, something inside me changed. You may not believe in love at first sight, Rose Marie Shaw, and I never did before you. You consume my thoughts. You make my body ache simply thinking about touching you. You drive me so goddamn crazy I do stupid shit like buy land and barns, and ask you to design my house, and it’s all because I fell in love with you the moment I saw those damn pink sneakers. If you don’t want this, if you won’t fight for us, then yeah, maybe we should just end all of this here and now because as much as I think I have enough fight in me for both of us, I’m not so sure anymore.”
My hand went to my mouth to keep the sob back that was threatening to spill out.
