“No!” she said quickly, feeling her cheeks heat with embarrassment. And dammit, now she went and made a complete fool out of herself.
They sat in silence for a solid minute before he spoke. “I don’t know why you would think I’d lie about something like this. You and I talked about how I felt about going there and I thought we had a good plan to get through it. Why would I suddenly change my mind?”
Considering she’d already opened the door to this, she might as well follow through.
“I…” She let out a long breath and started again. “I thought you were having second thoughts because of…you know…what I said that night in bed.”
He stared at her blankly.
Ugh…
“You know…the night you worked late,” she prompted, hoping he wouldn’t make her say it. Judging by the look on his face though, she needed to spell it out. “We got into bed and were…doing things and I said that I loved you.”
“O-kay…but I don’t see what that has to do with lying about having dinner with my family.”
Her shoulders sagged as she groaned. “Brody…work with me here!” she huffed. “I thought I freaked you out by…you know…saying what I said and now you didn’t want me around your family.”
There were several scenarios she had played out in her head when they talked about this and in none of them did he laugh.
Like he was right now.
“Brody! Seriously?! It’s not funny!”
“Oh, love, but it is! Do you realize how crazy that all sounds?”
She knew it did, but there was no way she was admitting that to him.
“And as for what you said in bed, I thought it was just…you know…something said in the heat of the moment,” he reasoned as he composed himself.
“Oh.”
“Oh?” he repeated. “Leanna, do you really think I’m that shallow that I’d make up all kinds of excuses to keep you away from my family because of something you said while we were in bed?”
“Um…”
“You know I’m not thrilled at the prospect of going to dinner with them. I don’t like being on the spot like that and with you being with me they’re going to ask a ton of questions and want to know all about our relationship. I’m a very private person and that sort of situation makes me more than a little uncomfortable.” He paused. “However, we can’t avoid it forever and I know you’ll be able to dazzle them with your personality and will know when to distract them or divert the conversation. I’m not dreading it nearly as much as I was at the initial invitation.”
She nodded and knew he was trying to make her feel better, but…he wasn’t. If anything, it felt a little like the fake bit they did during the engagement party weekend. She’d make him look good and keep them from harping on him about anything. Only this time there was no bonus for her; her family wasn’t going to be there.
Charlene would but…she didn’t really count.
Not sure what to say, she simply nodded.
And wished the floor would open up and swallow her because she had no idea how to leave gracefully at this point.
Finally, she forced herself to look at him and smile. “I’m sorry I doubted you then,” she said, but her words sounded stilted even to her own ears. “And I’m sorry I interrupted your day. I should go.”
Clearly Brody wasn’t expecting that because she was halfway to the door before he stood and called her name.
Dammit.
Something was definitely wrong and for the life of him, Brody had no idea what it was.
He thought he’d cleared everything up so why was Leanna bolting for the door?
“Hey,” he said when he caught up to her, his hand gently grasping her arm. “What just happened here?”
She wouldn’t look at him–not directly–and that confirmed his thoughts.
“Leanna?”
“Like I said, I’m sorry I interrupted your day over something that was clearly all in my head, so…”
Guiding her into his arms–which she only resisted for a moment–he kissed the top of her head. “First of all, you didn’t interrupt anything. And secondly, I want you to talk to me when something’s on your mind. Especially if it’s about me and it’s upsetting you.”
The look she gave him told him she didn’t believe him.
“Okay, maybe there was a time when that sort of thing would have been…unappealing, but where you’re concerned, I want to know.”
“Okay.” She said it so quietly that he wasn’t sure he actually heard it.
With a finger under her chin, he guided her gaze up to his. “I think there’s something else on your mind and I’d really like to know what it is.”
Her initial response was to groan and rest her head against his chest and he wasn’t sure she was going to say anything, but then…
“Did it ever occur to you that what I said…you know, that night…wasn’t just the heat of the moment?”
For a moment he didn’t move–didn’t even blink–because…he had thought about it for barely a second and immediately convinced himself it was nothing. So what was she saying? That it wasn’t nothing? Not just a slip-of-the-tongue sort of thing?
Carefully, Brody reached up and cupped her face and forced her to look at him again. “Are you saying that you’re in love with me?” His voice was low and gruff and part of him wasn’t sure he was ready for her answer even though now he had to know.
Silently, she nodded and he felt a tightening in his chest even as he hauled her closer and kissed her–kissed her with everything he had as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the sofa.
The door was so far away and he wanted to run over and lock it, but that would mean letting Leanna go and he couldn’t–not right now. Right now, he needed to be close to her. But he wasn’t sure if it was because her admission was a happy surprise or unexpected and confusing. Either way, he wanted to let what she said sink in.
Love.
She was in love with him.
And for the life of him, he had no idea how he was supposed to feel about it.
All he knew was that he felt…something. And that something had him wanting to stretch them both out on the sofa and do very naughty and sexy things to her.
When he broke the kiss a few minutes later, that’s exactly what he told her. “I don’t think either of us are capable of being quiet enough to pull it off,” he said huskily, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. “But if we could, I’d send Margaret to lunch and lock the door.”
She hummed in that sexy way she had as her hand caressed his chest. “I think I would be too nervous to do something like that in here in the middle of the day.”
“So you’re saying you’d maybe come by after-hours and try it?” he asked hopefully.
Kissing him softly, Leanna replied, “I don’t see why not.”
It would be shallow to say that her response made him fall a little in love with her, so he kept that to himself. Instead, he took one of her hands in his. “So are we good?”
Nodding, she said, “We’re good.”