Bring It On - Kira Sinclair Page 0,58
loss for what to say next. More than the room and her scattered jewelry supplies stood between them. And probably always had.
“What’s that?” Wyn asked, pushing his hands deep into his pockets and nodding toward the mess on the table.
“I’ve started designing jewelry again.”
“That’s good. I always thought you were great at it.”
That was a revelation she hadn’t expected. “Why didn’t you ever say that?”
“You didn’t seem to want my opinion on it. You were always so independent and capable. You never asked what I thought about your jewelry, or anything else for that matter.”
“That’s not true.”
He shrugged.
“I definitely didn’t ask you to sleep with my cousin.”
A frown pulled the corners of his lips down and marred the perfect expanse of his brow. “I’m sorry about that, Lena. I honestly didn’t mean for it to happen. I never meant to hurt you.”
She blew a deep breath out of her lungs and sank slowly to the couch. She couldn’t let him take all of the blame. Yes, he’d been the one to betray their relationship, but at that moment, Lena wondered if she’d given him any other option.
“You didn’t, which probably says a lot.” She waved her hands, dismissing his apology. “It doesn’t matter. We didn’t love each other, but neither one of us wanted to say so.”
He might have taken the coward’s way out, but then she almost had, too. She should have listened to the jitters—they’d been trying to tell her something, but she’d been unwilling to take a risk and let what was safe and comfortable go for the unknown.
“Doesn’t excuse what I did.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“If it makes any difference, we’re trying to make it work.”
Shock had Lena staring at Wyn’s face. Unable to help herself, she began to laugh. “God help you. You do realize that she’s almost ten years younger than you are and one of the most helpless people I’ve ever met.”
“That’s okay. I like that she needs me. Besides, she makes me feel young.”
“You are young, Wyn.”
“Yeah, but sometimes I forget that. You’ve met my mother, can you blame me? I was a little adult before I started kindergarten, my entire life laid out for me like a Christmas suit.”
Lena shook her head. “I suppose it makes sense in a weird way. She really is the opposite of everything you probably thought you wanted.”
He laughed. “She’s definitely the opposite of you.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and maybe that’s why we didn’t work. We’re too much alike. Mitzi challenges me, infuriates me and makes me laugh. She sees things in a different way and makes me see them that way, too.”
“You don’t think that’ll get old?”
“Who knows, but we’re going to give it a try. We might end up hating each other or we might find that we’re exactly what the other needs. I ground her to reality and she makes me pick my head up and look around every once in a while.”
Unexpected jealousy spurted through Lena’s veins. Not because Mitzi and Wyn had found happiness together. The fact that their relationship didn’t bother her was just proof that she and Wyn had made the right decision in not getting married. But she envied that they’d found each other and had a camaraderie she hadn’t felt since she’d walked off that island alone.
From the very beginning, she’d had that with Colt. A sense of easiness, a connection and kindred spirit. Oh, he knew exactly how to push her buttons, but he challenged her and prodded her and made her question her view of the world. Or he had until it had all fallen apart.
Even on the island, in their most intimate conversations, what had he done? Challenged her view. Most of the people who might have gone to that island with her would have plied her with alcohol and told her what a bastard Wyn was.
Not Colt. He’d held her own feet to the fire and made her look logically at the bigger picture. The man was insightful and brilliant in a way that she hadn’t really given him credit for.
Silence stretched between Lena and Wyn, neither of them knowing what else there was to say.
“You don’t have to quit. If anyone should leave the company it should be me.”
“Please, we both know your dad would never let you do that.”
“Actually, I think he’d rather have you than me.”
Lena frowned. “I’m not coming back, and even if I was I wouldn’t make you leave. You’re good at your job,