the sea of red roses in front of him. Oddly, they weren’t in a vase.
“How does Jean know my number?”
His eyes flipped to mine and back to the dozen red roses simply lying on his desk.
“Who are those for?” I shook my head. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. But what I do want to know is how Jean got my number.” My hands rested on my hips, and my heels tapped against the marble floor. “Brad?”
He stood, stumbled, and approached without his usual confident swagger. Was he drunk this early in the afternoon?
“This … these are for you.” He stepped into me, toe-to-toe, and held out the roses wrapped in tissue paper and pulled together in a red bow. He teetered on his heels, his eyes meeting mine and then darting to something interesting behind me.
I followed his line of sight to the emptiness behind me and inhaled deeply, trying to see if I could smell liquor.
I blinked. “Me? Why?” My voice croaked and choked on my words. I stared at his hand as though it were on fire.
“Uh …” he stammered, and Brad never stammered. “I’m not used to this type of thing. This sort of thing.”
I blinked again. I’d never seen him like this. It was like he had grade school dance nerves. Why?
Then, a lightbulb went off in my head. Oh! “I forgive you.” I smiled and reached for the beautiful bouquet.
He had apologized up and down and left and right for making me cry at work after my family dinner, and now, the flowers were an extension of the apology. I got that.
“No. That’s not what I meant.” He pulled at the flowers now in my hand.
“So, you’re not sorry?”
Now, we were playing tug-of-war with the roses.
“Of course I am.”
“Well then, let go!” I almost fell back from the force of tugging too hard. I blew out the hair from my face and steadied myself on my platform heels. What the hell is wrong with him? “Anyway, back to Jean.”
“Jean?” Brad stared at the flowers, breathing unsteadily. “Who the hell is Jean?”
“Jeff’s girlfriend.” I popped out my hip. Did this guy have short-term memory loss or something? “I guess I plugged my number in her phone and pinkie swore with her that we would have dinner?” I narrowed my eyes. “Can you confirm that this happened?”
He laughed, looking more like himself. “Well …”
“And, in my drunken stupor, did you ever once …” I shoved the flowers in his chest. “… think to stop me? Or think, Goodness, this can’t be a good idea.”
His smile widened—damn guilty culprit—and he grabbed the roses between us and tugged at them, bringing me closer. “Actually, I did try to stop you, and you waved me off.”
“Well, you should’ve tried harder.” Annoyance settled deep in my gut.
I’d trusted him that night, and he’d promised. I’d almost guaranteed him that I’d act like an idiot that night. Either that or feel sorry for myself. He was supposed to be the one to keep me in check.
He peered down at me with that look again, the look that made me feel queasy and light-headed. I felt like I was underwater, and my lungs constricted.
“Well …” I didn’t know if I was expecting a response. I just needed to break the silence between us, the weird locked look we had going on.
“I’ll try harder next time. I promise.” He leaned in closer, his breath a hot whisper against my face. “Sonia …”
The way he uttered my name was as though it were a new word he’d discovered. My heart began to beat louder in my chest, in my ears, at my temples.
“I need to tell you something …” He leaned in closer, pulling me in by my elbows, the roses now crushed between our chests. “I’m not used to this sort of thing, but I need you to know that …”
The world stood still.
I breathed in and forgot how to exhale. He erased the space between us. My eyes flickered to his mouth. One more millimeter and our lips would meet. Again. But, this time, I’d be sober. Then, suddenly, there was a knock at the door that had us both peering up, and Charles walked in.
Brad
Talk about the worst possible timing ever.
Sonia jumped back, almost falling in her heels. She then proceeded to step back farther, but it was too late. My brother wasn’t an idiot. He could sense the sexual tension between us. He’d seen us a moment before. And,