“I love her!” Owen blurts, and my heart stops mid-beat. Oh my god! Owen loves me.
“What?” Eli gasps. I can hear feet pacing. I manage to get my feet to cooperate and move a little more down the hall. Owen’s back is to me, and Eli is in front of him. Both of them are standing but are too involved in their conversation or argument to notice me.
“Wait, what? You love her?” Eli is clearly confused by this development, and I don’t blame him. Owen and I have had a crush on one another. We both admitted that. But love?
“I do.”
“Tessa?” Eli asks, and I roll my eyes.
“Yes!”
“My best friend Tessa, the one you growl at, Tessa?”
“I don’t growl.”
“When? How? Is this new, or has it been happening for a while?” Eli rambles. I press my lips together as I watch it all unfold.
“Since the night you called for me to get her. But man to man, I’ve loved her since you brought her home in high school.”
“What the fuck?” Eli whispers, and my heart starts to beat faster. Every moment, it goes a little faster and faster. “You what? Had your thumb up your ass this whole time? Never thought you should, I don’t know, make a move?”
“I thought maybe you two…” He runs his fingers through his hair. “And even though it fucking killed me to keep my hands to myself, you’re my brother, Eli! I wouldn’t do that to you!”
“And you, Owen, are an idiot,” Eli points out. I find my lips twitch.
“An idiot who loves her,” Owen cuts Eli off and once again repeats how he feels. “She may be your best friend, but you gotta know here and now, to be crystal clear, she’s mine. All mine. And I pray to freaking God I can find a way to talk her into having me.”
“Having you?” Eli’s eyes go wide. “Like, you’re saying?—"
“Forever.” Owen’s voice is deep and confident. My heart flips in my chest as a flock of butterflies come to life in my belly and my nose starts to sting. He loves me. He really, really loves me.
“Like you’re going to ask her to marry—" Eli starts to ask, but I don’t want to know that. I do, but I don’t want to learn more from eavesdropping. I step closer, and somehow, as if sensing me, both Woodman brother’s eyes move and lock on to me.
“You love me?” I ask the moment my feet drag me through the archway.
“Shit,” Eli curses as he looks down at his shoes like they’re the most interesting thing in the world.
“Princess.” Owen’s voice is so full of emotion as his dark eyes are pinned on me.
“Oh shit,” Eli mutters under his breath with a grin on his face.
“Do you?” I press, locking my gaze on the man of my dreams. The one I never thought ever gave me a second thought stares back at me. And in that moment, he’s the only one there as we both ignore Eli’s presence.
Owen’s eyes smolder as his long legs make their way toward me. I stand straighter. Locking my body in place, afraid of what his answer may be.
What if he doesn’t?
What if he does?
“Baby, I need you to breathe,” he calmly orders as his arms wrap around the small of my back and he pulls me into his solid chest. "Just like that,” he coos sweetly as he strokes my hair. “This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you.” He sighs atop my head, and my body relaxes completely. Any defense mechanisms I was trying to grasp dissolve, and I hug him back as big, ugly tears silently roll down my face.
“Baby,” he soothes, and I feel his lips on my hair.
“Shit,” Eli rumbles. “I should get out of here now that I know she’s okay.”
“Yeah,” my guy clips. I don’t have to look up at him to know Owen’s glaring in Eli’s direction.
“I’m okay,” I try to mumble, but a huge overpowering sob takes hold.
