twice over. Through an open door she could make out a marble bathroom with a walk-in shower and separate tub.
Wordlessly she turned toward Seth, waiting for an explanation.
He gestured with his chin toward a pile of wood in the far corner that she’d missed. “Most everything here was delivered and built for me, but I wanted to do something myself. I thought, ‘How hard can a bookshelf be?’ Hard, it turns out. Although I’m inclined to blame the directions.”
“Seth,” she said, halting his uncharacteristic babbling. “What’s going on?”
“I bought it,” he said, as though those three little words were a normal thing to say about property in downtown Manhattan.
“The building?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“Good Lord,” she said, running a hand over her hair. “You bought the building?”
“Well, I tried to buy just one floor, but this way was just . . . easier.”
She let out an incredulous laugh. “Of course it was. You’re Seth Tyler.”
He said nothing.
“There’s no bride coming by tonight, is there? You and Alexis set this up.”
He nodded. “Yes.”
Well, at least he wasn’t lying to her. That was something.
Seth blew out a breath, tapping the hammer lightly against his thigh in agitation. “There are five bedrooms. Three and a half baths. A study. You already saw the beginnings of the main living area, but I’m also planning to put a piano in. Did you know I play? And since I own the whole damn building, I’m thinking of installing some sort of doggy area on the rooftop so I don’t have to go as far to let him or her out when the weather sucks.”
“A dog?” Brooke interrupted his strange monologue. “What dog?”
“I don’t know. The one I’m going to get,” he said, his words tumbling over one another in his obvious excitement. “And I’m dividing one of the lower floors into apartment units, and I’m giving one to Dex to make it easier for both of us when I need to get uptown for work. And there’s no room service, but that’s not going to be a problem, because I’ve hired this crazy French dude to teach me some cooking basics. And I told Maya she could decorate, but only if she runs everything by me, because I want this place to be mine. To feel like me. I’m not exactly sure what that looks like yet, but I’m working on it. A little every day.”
His words were getting closer and closer together, coming out in a bit of a nervous rush, and Brooke’s eyes started to burn at the corners as she felt tears threaten.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered. “I die when you cry.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on here,” she said.
“Yes you do,” he said quickly. “You know exactly what’s going on here.” He tossed the hammer to the side, and she winced as it clattered to the gorgeous hardwood floor. He moved closer; his fingers wrapped around her stiff upper arms, drawing her forward.
“I know this is a risk,” he said quietly. “Setting this up like this, doing this all behind your back, tricking you into coming here. I know you’re thinking that I’m controlling everything, and I’ll admit that I am. I’ve controlled every single detail of this right down to this ugly T-shirt in hopes that it would help make me seem more approachable. Although, that was actually Grant’s idea.”
“Grant’s in on this?” she asked, trying to keep up.
“He likes to think so,” Seth said with a wry smile. “Anyway, I know I’m being controlling. I know that it’s a problem of mine, and it will probably always be a problem of mine, but I’m working on it. I swear that I am. If you want to walk away right now, I’ll let you, but I had to try. You see that, right? I had to try to be more, because you make me want to be more. More than a scared little boy who tried too desperately to direct all of the pieces and people of his life because he was terrified of losing them.”
Brooke’s eyes closed as her emotions wavered between happiness and confusion. “This is a hell of a speech, Tyler.”
“I’m sorry,” he said in a rush. “I’m so sorry about the thing with Maya, the thing with Clay. It was all badly done. So badly done, and I’d give anything to take it back, and since I can’t . . . I need to tell you why. I tried to tell you that day, but . . .”
He took