“No,” Aiden cut in, his voice thick with emotion.“You weren’t stupid or childish.I led you on.I can see that now.”
She sighed, appreciating the sentiment.“You telling us you were leaving New York was such a shock to me.”
“I think I stunned the whole family,” he said.“I didn’t tell a soul when I applied for the job because I didn’t know if I’d get it, and I was worried everyone would try and talk me out of it.”He stepped away, walked around the desk, and paced across the carpet behind the chairs.“And if I’d been faced with that kind of pressure, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to go through with leaving.Telling everyone after it was a done deal seemed easier.”
She supposed she could understand his reasoning.“But you could have told me privately,” she whispered, her throat tight.
He nodded.“I know that now.”He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck.“I thought it would be easier to break the news to you at the same time as everyone else.”
“Easier for who?”she asked.
“For me,” he said, glancing away.“I avoided a one-on-one conversation because I couldn’t face hurting you.Telling you in a group gave me distance.”He met her gaze across the room.“It was the cowardly way out.And then we had that private talk anyway.”
She nodded, unable to argue.The entire party had been a nightmare, her trying to act normal and happy for Fallon while her heart had been shattered.“I asked you if we could try a long-distance relationship.”She refused to say what he’d told her next.She didn’t think she could get those words out without crying.
He dipped his head before he walked over to her, grasping her shoulders.“I should never have told you what we had didn’t mean anything.I lied, Brooke.Our night together meant everything to me.”
“Then how could you do it?”
“I’d already committed to leaving, and I had to think about what was best for you,” he said.
At least she was being given a glimpse into his thought process.He, like her, had been young.They’d made mistakes.She thought she knew the real reason he’d left her with no hope, but she needed both the clarity and to hear it from Aiden.
She swallowed hard.“When you texted me during my date, you said you thought you were doing what was right.You couldn’t possibly have meant hurting me was the right thing to do, so explain what it meant.”
“The truth?I knew I’d be in dangerous places and unsure of how often I could return home.You deserved better than to wait around for my occasional visits home.You needed to go on with your life.”
She narrowed her gaze.“What Ideservedwas the chance to make my own decision, Aiden.And if you respected me at all, you would have let me choose what I wanted instead of breaking my heart!”
“You’re right,” he said, and pulled her into his arms.Burying his face in her neck, he whispered.“I’m so damned sorry.”
“Thank you.I needed to hear that.”She let out a long breath and wrapped her arms around his neck, breathing in the warm, familiar scent of his cologne, and hugging him tight.
They’d come full circle.
She’d expressed her thoughts, feelings, and pain, and he’d acknowledged them and apologized.“Where do we go from here?”
He glanced at her.“I know I want to be with you.”
Her heart beat harder at his words.She couldn’t hold on to anger and hurt forever, not when they’d finally hashed out the past.But there were practicalities too.And she wasn’t ready to jump all in.But didn’t she owe it to herself to give them a chance?
“I don’t know.It’s been five long years since we were together.How do we know it would even work between us?”
Aiden cupped her cheeks, and her skin tingled at the contact.“It’ll work.But you’re right.We do need to get to know each other again.”He pressed his lips to hers but didn’t linger.“Good thing we’ll be living in the same house for a while.”
She smirked and he let out an easy laugh, one that made her feel good about things, at least for now.“Go back to your office and work,” she told him.
If she wanted to leave on time, she had a ton left to do.
He shook his head and grinned.“Yes, ma’am.”He kissed her and it wasn’t nearly long or deep enough.
He walked out and she watched him go, aware that having opened her mind to the possibilities ofthem, she was in trouble.Time would reveal what happened between them, and she was going to have to live with the uncertainty.
She still couldn’t get it out of her mind for the rest of the day.Had she really just gone out on a date with another man in a useless attempt to forget Aiden?What a pointless experiment that had been.
A knock sounded on her office door and her heart leapt in her chest at the thought that it might be Aiden again.But when she called out for the person to come in, Jared walked into the room.
“Hey, boss.”
