Pushing His Luck - Rhyannon Byrd Page 0,35
way through his chest, he suddenly realized why Karin Riley had become the fucking center of his universe. Why she was the first thing that he thought of when he opened his eyes in the morning, and the last thing to fill his mind before he fell asleep. Why he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life doing everything he could to make her happy.
He loved her.
He was completely, thoroughly, crazy-about-her-until-the-day-he-died in love with her.
Which meant he needed to get his fucking shit together, once and for all, and hopefully find some way to make her love him too.
And, God, there was really no fucking question about what he needed to do, since she’d been right to call him out on his bullshit. What was he even waiting for? He needed to make a grand gesture. Show her he was for real. That he’d heard her…and was willing to do what needed to be done, because he knew for damn sure that she would do the same for the man she loved.
All of which meant that it was time to grow some fucking balls and make the call.
“What’s that?” Sean asked, when Paul pulled out the business card he’d tucked into his back pocket after going home when he was done at work and changing clothes.
Holding the card between two fingers, he took another drink of his beer and then somehow managed to pull his hungry gaze away from Karin as he slid his brother a crooked smile. “It’s the number of a therapist that Michael gave me.”
To his surprise, the guy didn’t even bat a lash. “Yeah? You thinking of calling?”
“I am,” he replied with a firm nod.
Sean smiled. “Good for you, man. You know I’m always here for you to talk to, but a professional can really help. Hell, I saw one for months after the divorce.”
His brow creased with surprise. “You never told me that.”
Sean’s shoulders shook with a husky laugh. “You never asked, jackass.”
“And it helped?” he rasped, while his heart started hammering with a hard, heavy beat that had a hell of a lot more to do with anticipation than fear, the feeling that he was finally on the right path so strong he could taste it.
“Fuck yeah,” Sean told him, shaking his head a little. “I went in wary, but I’m glad as fuck that I did it. If I hadn’t, I might still be carrying all that emotional baggage around with me…and might have missed out on Nat when she came into my life. And that, brother, scares the ever-loving shit out of me.”
“But you’ve got her.”
“I do,” Sean said, grinning like the lucky bastard that he was. “And I can’t wait to put a motherfucking ring on it.”
He laughed, happy as hell for his brother, and then suddenly turned and set his near-empty beer bottle down on the little table that sat between two outdoor chairs. “I’m sorry, man, but I gotta go,” he said in a rush, tucking Dr. Ross’s card back into his pocket. “But thanks for dinner and the beer.”
“Anytime, bro. And just so you know, you’re a lucky bastard too.”
“How do you figure?” he asked as he stopped at the French doors to look back over his shoulder.
“Because you’ve found that one incredible, mind-blowing, all-important thing that you want,” Sean told him, jerking his head toward the beach, where Karin and Jase were still playing in the surf. “Now you just have to lock that shit down.”
Throat tight with emotion, he said, “I’m working on it.”
“And I’ll be wishing you luck the entire time,” Sean said, and Paul had no doubt that his brother meant every word.
“Thanks, man,” he husked, his heart pounding so hard he could hear his pulse roaring in his ears. “God knows I’m going to need it.”
Chapter Eight
Three Weeks Later…
If she’d ever had more butterflies in her belly than she did in that moment, Karin figured she must have blocked the momentous occasion from her memory. As she walked down to the beach to join her friends for another one of Chris and Sophie’s now infamous bonfire BBQs, she honestly couldn’t remember ever having been so nervous.
For the first time since she’d closed the door in Paul’s handsome face, she was going to see him face-to-face, and not from a distance.
She knew he’d purposefully stayed away from the complex for the past few weeks. At first because he was mulling over what to do about her refusal to move things