The Bromance Book Club - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,27
to total destruction as he’d ever known. If ever there was a time for Lord Benedict to tell him what to say, it was now. But the only voice he heard in his head was a woman’s.
Love isn’t enough.
When he’d read those words from Irena, Gavin had grumbled under his breath and nearly closed the book. What kind of romance novel declared love meaningless? Wasn’t the entire point of all romance novels to prove that love conquers all? He had a sinking sensation that he was about to find out in real life whether that was true. He just hoped Lord Lovelorn would have a better idea on how to prove his wife wrong than Gavin did for his.
“It’s late,” Thea said quietly, as if softening her tone could possibly soften the blow. “You should go home.”
“I am home. You and the girls are my home.”
Thea sucked in a tiny breath of air. It was barely perceptible but just enough to let on that his words—his pitiful honesty—had made a mark. It was time to come out swinging.
“You know what? I’m disappointed in you. Because the old you would have jumped all over a crazy proposition like this.”
He held his breath as she held his gaze. Her jaw jutted sideways, and her eyebrows pulled together. Not in anger. No. She was considering it. He could tell by the glint of daring in her eyes.
It was that glint, more than anything else, that made him risk everything with his next words. “Come on, Thea,” he challenged. “What do you have to lose?”
Thea responded by turning away and walking woodenly to the French doors to the backyard. She stared silently into the darkness outside, her arms once again wrapped tightly around her torso. He’d give anything to see inside her mind, to hear whatever argument she was having with herself. The click of the grandfather clock in the hallway by the stairs ticked off the seconds in excruciating slowness.
The suspense finally got the best of him. “Thea—”
She turned stiffly. “I have some conditions.”
Her words hung in the air for a long, stunned instant before they registered in Gavin’s brain. Did she mean—? Was she agreeing to—?
He spoke slowly, afraid that if he reacted too strongly, she’d say never mind. “Wh-what kind of conditions?”
“This”—she waved her hand in the air, searching for the right word—“proposition can’t last forever. We’ll need a deadline of some kind.”
“Spring training,” he said. It was perfect. If he failed, he’d at least have something to distract him after he left. He wasn’t going to fail, though. Spring training was nearly three months away. More than enough time.
Thea had other ideas, though. She shook her head. “Christmas.”
“That’s only a month!”
“It will be too hard on the girls if we drag it out longer than that.”
He couldn’t argue with that. “Fine,” he said.
“And you have to sleep in the guest room.”
Well, that was a kick in the balls. “How are we supposed to work on our issues if we’re not even in the same room?”
“That didn’t seem to bother you before.”
There was nothing he could say to that that wouldn’t sound either self-serving or whiny. “What else?”
“Liv stays.”
Ah, Christ. “For how long?”
“For as long as I need her.”
He nodded begrudgingly, because what choice did he have? “Fine. Anything else?”
“That’s it for now.”
“For now?”
The unintentional sharpness in his voice brought a tight line to her lips. “These are my conditions, Gavin. Take it or leave it.”
He was taking it. He’d take whatever he could get. Mouth suddenly dry, he swallowed hard. “When do you want me, I mean, when can I come home?”
“Wednesday night.”
The night before Thanksgiving. Two days away. “Okay.”
“You can be here when I get home with the girls from school.”
“Right. Yeah. I, uh, I can do that.”
“We’ll order pizza for dinner.”
Pizza. Sure. What the fuck? This had to be the most ridiculously ill-timed conversation of his life, yet the bizarre normalcy of it had an odd settling effect on his stomach. Somewhere in the middle of all this chaos and emotion, dinner still needed to be eaten.
“So I’ll see you Wednesday,” she said in what was clearly his dismissal.
His eyes roamed her face, and a chasm opened in his chest. She stood tall but looked small. There was a defeat in her rigid shoulders. He didn’t want it like this. Not with her acting like she’d just lost the most important fight of her life. “Thea, is this really w-w-what you want?”