“Two things can be true at once,” I concluded. “I can be a romanticandfall in love.”
She studied me, eyes narrowed. “And have you fallen in love?”
“I don’t know.” I swallowed down a lump in my throat. “Ihonestly don’t think she believes anyone could loveher.”
“And you think you could?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
She exhaled a sharp breath, and that’s when I knew she’d changed sides. “Tell me why this girl?”
How could I explain when there were so many versions of Chelsea?
There was the sexy vixen who drove me wild with lust. And she knew that. She dressed the part and mercilessly eye fucked me in the most sensual, wanton manner imaginable. I sported a perpetual boner from her looks and words alone.
There was also the girl-next-door who could throw on the grungiest sweats, twist her hair up into a messy bun, and trigger every protective instinct I had. She knew that, too. She knew she had me wrapped around her finger.
Finally, there was the friend I’d come to know, the girl who laughed at my dumb jokes and listened to me whenever I vented. Yeah, she also brought out my Greek like one of my sisters, but she could go toe-to-toe with me, and in my world, risking an argument to challenge someone to be better? That was a sign of love.
She’d cracked me open, coaxed me out.
“She could be Greek,” I started, and Zoe sat back with a grin.
“Go on.”
“She has this inner strength. She knows exactly who she is, what she wants, and she’ll fight her corner.”
“Feisty?” Zoe asked.
“But—” I choked on the word and had to take a breath.
Zoe laid a hand on my wrist and didn’t crack a joke while I screwed up my mouth to speak without sounding so emotional.
“She’s soft. She hides it behind a tough shell, but whenever she drops the walls, I get this gentle, quiet version of her, and I want to wrap myself around her and be a fortress for her.”
“You really care for her.”
I licked my lips and huffed a shaky laugh. “You say I love the chase or just want to be loved. But I want her to let me in so I can get to know her better.”
“Does she know all that?”
“Yes. But she’s so, so afraid.”
“What happened yesterday? Why are you here and not there?”
“She got some bad news.” I didn’t want to share details of Chelsea’s private life without her permission. “Nothing to do with me, I swear.”
“Exactly how did you insinuate yourself into her issue?”
I held up my hands, all innocence. “All I did was try to console her.”
“Right. I bet it went, ‘I’m sorry for you situation, but do you still love me?’”
God, had I done that? I replayed our conversation, recognizing how I’d inadvertently forced Chelsea into a corner. We went from “you’re worthy of love” to “our relationship was a failure” in the blink of an eye.
“So how do I fix this?”
She tapped a finger against her lip, thinking. “You won’t want to hear this, but she has all the information she needs for now. You have to give her space to figure this out for herself.”
