Except…he had to be sure he wasn’t misunderstanding.
“What do you mean her broken heart?” he cautiously asked. “Who broke her heart?”
“You, you big idiot.” Candy punched him in the shoulder. “Who do you think?”
“No.” He shook his head. “For me to break her heart, she’d have to love me.”
“Sam.” The look Cesar pinned on him said he thought he might be looking at the densest human ever to walk the planet. “Hannah has been in love with you since she was thirteen.”
“No.” He shook his head again. His breaths were coming hard and fast because the hope inside him kept trying to grow. He didn’t dare let it. Not yet. “She had a crush. It was puppy love.”
“Well, it isn’t puppy lovenow.” Cesar crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he regarded Sam. “So the question becomes, what are you going to do about it?”
“But…but…” Sam sputtered, not daring to believe. Butwantingto. Desperately. “But she said we’re not cut out for the long haul together.”
Candy punched him in the shoulder again. He really wished she’d stop doing that. Her engagement ring was a weapon. “She only said that to save face. She thinks she’s not your type. Not what you’re looking for. And so she ended things before you could.”
Not my type?
The notion was so absurd, he almost laughed.
His mind went back to those stolen moments down in the Bat Cave and then raced forward to the love they’d made together in his bed. The most delicious, most sensuous love making he’d ever experienced.
“How the hell could she think she’s not my type?” His temper flared right along with his nostrils. “I showed her,more than once”—he emphasized—“just howmuchmy type she is.”
He remembered who he was talking to, her best friend and her sister, and lifted a hand. “But that’s beside the point. She doesn’t want to be with me because of what I do for a living. She mentioned more than once that she hated the thought of living life on the knife’s edge.”
“Any sane person would say that after being accused of being a criminal conspirator,” Cesar scoffed. “After being arrested, after escaping the authorities, after racing down to Texas, and after being taken hostage and stabbed.” He cocked his head before adding, “Don’t you think?”
Well, yeah. When it was putthatway.
“At any point did she tell you she didn’t love you?” Candy asked. “That she wouldn’t be over the moon if you were to say you love her too?”
“Well,no. But…but…”
“No buts.” Candy punched him in the arm yetagain. This time he caught her wrist before she could pull back and warned, “I swear, woman, if you do that one more time, I can’t promise you’ll get to keep this hand.”
“Wellsomeoneneeds to smack some sense into you.” She sniffed, yanking her hand out of his grip.
“I don’t understand,” he shook his head, his thoughts a jumble. “Whywould she think she’s not my type?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because she’s always felt like the ugly duckling. Maybe because you datedme”—Candy pointed to her own chest—“in high school and when it came time to choose a wife, by the sound of things, you picked my twin.”
“But that was coincidence,” he scoffed. “That doesn’t mean—” He stopped and shook his head. “You know what? None of that matters. Because what I’m hearing is that Hannah loves me. Likelovesme loves me and wants to build a life with me.”
Candy nodded. “And wants to have babies with you and watch Coen brothers movies and White Sox baseball with you until you’re both old and fat and wrinkled. The question is, doyouloveher?”
“OfcourseI do!”
“Told you.” Candy punched Cesar this time. “You owe me a winged eye makeup tutorial.”
Sam stood so suddenly, his chair toppled over. He didn’t notice. His entire existence was focused on one thing and one thing only.
“Where’s Hannah?”
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