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She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“I wouldn’t have cared, Brooklyn.” I stopped myself from reaching for her. “My feelings wouldn’t have lightened—they couldn’t. I want you far too much to let anything affect that.”
I wouldn’t let myself wipe her face or catch the tears as they neared her chin.
Not yet.
“I’m so sorry.” Her hand shook me. “I’m so, so sorry. Believe me. Please.”
“Jesus …” I sighed. “I just hate that you lied to me and that it went on for this long.”
She nodded harder than she needed to. “I do too. I’m disgusted with myself. I know I lied, but this isn’t who I am or what I stand for. And I know you don’t believe that—I wouldn’t either, not after this—but I’m not usually a liar, Macon. I hate liars.”
My chest fucking ached.
Brooklyn didn’t have the confidence to tell me and that became the foundation of her lies and that was what stung the most.
Even though it made sense in the way she’d explained it. I just couldn’t relate, but I also wasn’t in her shoes, and when Jenner had broken that all down, I could sympathize.
It just fucking hurt. It hurt that my cousin had known before me. It hurt that Brooklyn had had to go to such extremes, like lying on her résumé, to prevent me from finding out.
That if I had just stayed last night instead of rushing to the hotel, I would have heard this all from her lips.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.” Her hand dropped from my arm and landed in her lap. “I don’t honestly know what to even expect. I just want you to know how sorry I am. How the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you.”
She glanced toward the door and then back at me. “If you want me to go, if you want me to resign or renege on the position—however that works—I will. If you never want to see me again—”
“That’s the last thing I want.” My hands rubbed over the soft sweatpants, an aching need to hold her. To put this behind us. To not let this ruin us. I reached across the distance between us and cupped her chin. “You deserve that job. I want nothing more than for you to take it.”
“And us?”
When I released the air from my lungs, it came out in waves.
“Is there an us?”
She nodded. “I see it. I feel it.” She put her hand on mine. “Believe me when I say, I want it.”
I watched as she breathed, as she took in my face, as the emotion continued to pass through hers. “You know all I’ve wanted is you.”
She mashed her lips together. “But?”
I thought about that question.
I really fucking dug through my head, my chest, eventually saying, “There is no but, Brooklyn.”
Her arms flew into the air and circled my neck, and she moved her body until it was against mine.
“Don’t ever lie to me again,” I warned.
“I won’t.”
I pressed my lips to her neck. “We’re in this together. As partners. Friends. That means, whatever it is, no matter how big or little, I want you to tell me. Do you understand?”
She squeezed me with all her strength. “I want you to do the same.”
My eyes closed as I breathed her in.
And as I buried myself in her lemon scent, I remembered once again that there was someone else in this room who hadn’t been honest.
