Isn't It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,83
her. She moaned low in her throat, and he was gone. Just like that. Gone. He dug his fingers into her back and poured all the longing and sweetness and fireworks he felt into his kiss. Their pose was awkward because of his crutches, but it didn’t matter. Their mouths mingled and merged in a sensual conversation that was six years in the making.
He reached behind her and swung the door shut. Then he wrenched his mouth away to suck in a breath. If he could, he’d carry her upstairs right then, but Malcolm’s reminder was fresh in his mind. They needed to talk. “There’s something I want to show you,” he said.
It took a giant’s dose of willpower to remove his lips from her body, to set her apart from him, to grab hold of his crutches instead. She followed closely to the patio outside. The guys had set it up exactly as he instructed. Candles flickered on the table. Their plates were set for dinner, which was warming in the oven, and on her plate was a wrapped present he should have given her a long time ago.
When she saw it all, her hand fluttered to her mouth. “It’s just like . . .”
“Your first night here. I wanted to try it again, since I screwed it up so badly the first time.”
“No, you didn’t. It was me.”
He nodded toward her seat. “Open your present.”
Elena’s heels clicked quietly on the concrete patio as she walked to the table. She picked up the gift, the paper now dusty and faded. As she peeled away the tape, the paper fell away and revealed a picture frame.
She bit her lip. “Where did you get this?” She slowly sat down in her chair, staring at the photo.
He made his way to his own seat next to her and sat down. He set the crutches on the ground and stretched his leg out under the table. “My mom took it.”
The picture was from their wedding just after his father had offered a toast. The moment was seared in his memory. He and Elena stood next to each other, and halfway through his father’s speech, Elena had looped her arm through his and leaned into him. Surprised by the affection, he’d looked down to find her smiling up at him. For one split second, it all felt real. And somehow, his mother had captured it in a snapshot.
“Do you remember what I said to you when you walked down the aisle?”
“That I looked beautiful.”
He lifted a corner of his lips. “After that.”
“You said everything was going to be okay.”
“I promised you.” His voice wobbled. “I haven’t kept that promise.”
“Yes, you have. You’ve taken care of me. You’ve made so many sacrifices for me.”
“But that’s not the same thing. You were right, what you said last night. I shouldn’t have just let you go to Chicago without telling you how much I wanted you to stay. I thought that if I let you go, that if I gave you the space you needed to heal and to find yourself after what happened with your father, that you would find your way back to me. But you never did. You just slipped further away, and it’s my fault. Because I never made it clear that I wanted you to come back.”
When she looked up, the candlelight caught the glint of the tears shimmering in her eyes.
“I waited way too long to tell you what I really wanted out of our marriage. That’s my fault. So, I’m telling you now. I didn’t propose to you only because my mom suggested it. She simply gave me the courage to do what I always wanted to do.” He started to shake on the inside. “Maybe we were too young to be married. Too young to know how to say the things we needed to say. To understand the problems we created by not saying them. But we’re not too young now.”
Her chest rose and fell in deep, shaky breaths as she absorbed his words, let their meaning settle into her mind.
“I don’t want you to go, Elena.” His voice was thick, and his eyes stung again. “When I said that last night, what I meant was, I don’t want you to go. I never wanted you to go.” He wiped away the tear that slipped down his cheek. “I will learn to be okay with whatever you decide, but if you think there’s a chance that you could want