Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
Scarlett
“Good morning, Heart-Jammies,” a rough voice whispers in my ear.
I feel him shift against me before I realize where I am—right next to Brendan Marco.
I fell asleep beside him after he drifted off.
It felt right, snuggled up against him, that I never bothered moving to the sofa bed. So I’ve been here all night, wrapped in his arms and listening to his breathing—which, thank God, is so much better than last night.
His hand lightly strokes my shoulder, trailing up my neck as goose bumps rush down my body.
“Good morning.” I make a point not to move. He’s warm and solid next to me, and I know the moment I step out of this bed, last night’s unfinished conversation will be waiting for me.
A large part of me wants to avoid it entirely. It could have just been a very sick man hallucinating about a future that doesn’t really exist.
“I can’t believe you stayed all night.” His voice rumbles against my cheek where it’s pressed to his sternum.
“You asked me to stay.” My fingers brush across his chest. “Is that okay?”
He shifts, looking down at me with those impossibly dark eyes. “Perfect, actually.”
I sit up slowly, putting a few inches of space between us as I prop myself on my elbow. “How do you feel?”
“Like a whole new man.” He squeezes his eyes shut, like he’s trying to clear the cobwebs from his mind. “I’m curious though, what else did I say last night?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Oh, I remember.” His eyes are full of amusement, and something about that look makes me pause. “I just want to see if you do.”
“Well, you told me you loved me,” I say with a shy smile. “And that the tattoo was for me.”
“Is that so?” He’s watching me carefully now, not letting me get out of this conversation. “What else?”
“And you want to talk about our future, when you’re feeling better.”
He sits up fully now, forcing me to sit up too. “Well, I’m better now,” he confirms, putting his arms out. “So let’s talk.”
I lift my eyebrows. “Right now?”
“Now is as good a time as any. I need to know what you were thinking when I said those words.” He brushes a strand of hair away from my face. “Because I noticed you didn’t say them back.”
I glance down at my hands, gripping the sheets. “There’s so much that’s circling in my mind right now, uncertainty about my future…”
“You’re getting overwhelmed.” He uncurls my hands from the sheets and takes them in his. “Let’s start with how you feel.”
“I know how I feel about you.” I force myself to look at him. “I’ve always loved you, but—”
His eyes light up, and I hold up a hand to stop him from saying something.
“We’re living in this wedding-week bubble where everything feels perfect and magical, and we can pretend the real world doesn’t exist outside these walls. But Taylor’s words were a harsh reminder to me that when this week is over, we go back to real life. And that’s where the real test begins.”
His eyes narrow. “I thought this week was the test.”
“It is,” I say with a sigh. “But there’s another world we haven’t dealt with yet—a world where I can’t afford the lease and my father is sick.
Where my brother still doesn’t like you or the fact you’re dating his sister.
Where people don’t think I’m good enough for your family.
” I drop my gaze. “And then there’s your hockey world.
I don’t know how to be the girl who dates the coach when I’m barely keeping my own life together. ”
He tips my chin up. “Do you hear yourself right now? You’re listing all the problems we can’t control. Getting sick last night was a wake-up call, a reminder that I can’t keep living like this.”
I frown. “Like what?”
“Pretending that my life would be fine without you.” He shifts closer to me, pulling me between his legs and wrapping one arm around my waist. “That kiss in the hot tub wasn’t me being reckless; it was me finally being honest about my feelings for you.
You’re the only one who makes me lose control like that. ”
I feel the blush across my cheeks, the memory of that wild kiss in the hot tub coming back in vivid color.
“I love that version of you,” I admit under my breath.
“Then be with that version of me.” He brushes the back of his fingers across my cheekbone. “Please?”
I close my eyes. I want it so badly it hurts. But for some reason, I’m afraid I’ll be the one to mess this up—that all my “bad luck” will rub off on him, just like Taylor said.
“Scarlett,” he says. “When I couldn’t breathe last night, do you know what I was worried about?”
I shake my head.
“That if something happened to me, I’d never get a chance to be honest with you.” He brushes the back of his hand along my jaw slowly. “And tell you that I’d choose you over everything else, without hesitation.”
“What are you saying?”
He doesn’t take his eyes off of me. “I want to be with you. Not just this week or when everything feels magical and the setting is perfect.” His hand traces a line down the curve of my neck.
“I want to be the man you come home to on an ordinary Tuesday. The one who makes you feel safe. Who chooses you first, every single day.”
I believe every word, and yet there’s still that voice in my head—the one that sounds like his cousin and every kid who ever made me feel small in the school cafeteria, whispering that I don’t belong.
And I hate that I still hear that voice. But I can’t let the fear of not belonging stop me from choosing where I want to be and who I want to be with.
“What about your uncle?” I ask.
He frowns. “What about him?”
I’m not ready to tell him what Taylor said, or that I’m still worried about him recognizing me from the hospital. “He’s been polite this week. But polite isn’t the same as acceptance. I just can’t get a read on him.”
Brendan is quiet for longer than normal. “Rafael is complicated. But to his credit, he kept our family together.”
I study Brendan’s conflicted expression. Basically, he’s the reason Brendan’s family survived. The one who held everything up when their entire world fell down.
Which makes everything considerably more complex. Family is the foundation of our lives, and if one part breaks, it can mess up everything.
Which means if he decides I’m not good enough for his nephew and confirms what Taylor already said, it won’t just affect me.
“So his opinion matters to you.”
He sighs. “Yes, it does. More than I’d like it to. It’s hard to ignore the impact he’s had on my entire family. Especially when the man signing my paycheck is the same man who taught me how to drive.”
I lift a brow. “And if he doesn’t approve?”
“Then I’ll handle it,” he says. “I can’t promise that my uncle will welcome you to the family tomorrow. He’s not my mother.” He strokes his thumb over my hand slowly. “But his opinion of the woman I love is not something I’m willing to negotiate on.”
The word love lands in a soft spot in my chest, like a tiny dandelion seed.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Rafael Marco has been the thing between me and Brendan for a long time. Brendan can say his uncle’s approval doesn’t change his mind, and I believe him. I just don’t want to imagine what happens if Rafael makes things difficult for him.
“What about Eli?” I ask, because if Rafael is one problem between us, my brother is another, just in a different way. “I know he’s not exactly thrilled that we’re dating.”
“No, he’s not.” Brendan looks down at our joined hands. “Eli and I have unfinished business. But that’s between him and me.”
“He’s my brother, Brendan. He’s all I’ll have when my parents are gone.
And the last few years have been hard.” I bite my lip.
“When Dad got sick and I was managing the cafe myself, I needed him. And he just wasn’t there.
He pulled away from all of us when we needed him most, and I’ve been carrying everything alone ever since. ”
“I’m sorry, Scarlett,” Brendan whispers as he strokes my hair.
“I know Eli was hurting too. That’s why he pulled away. He felt like our parents never believed in him the way he needed. But it’s hard to forgive someone for leaving you alone in the middle of a crisis, even when you understand why they did it.”
His fingers stop moving. “Eli’s feelings about me are something he and I need to work through.” He looks down at me. “At some point, you have to put your worries down and just trust me on this.”
He tugs me closer, his breath brushing my hair.
“Here’s what I can tell you. I can’t fix things overnight, but I’m willing to try, because he matters to you.
” He strokes my hair, tucking it over my ear the way my dad used to.
“What I’m asking you right now isn’t to have all the answers, but to stop letting everyone else’s doubts become your own. ”
I close my eyes, and don’t say anything.
“Can you do that, Scarlett?” he says against my hair. “For us?”
The way he says us makes tears well up in my eyes. “Yes,” I whisper.
“Was that too much, Scarlett?” He pauses. “Could you please…say something? I feel like I just gave you my full coach’s speech, and now you’re crying or something.”
I lift my head to look at him. “What you said is exactly what I need right now.”
His brows rise. “So you’re not annoyed?”
“Haven’t I told you?” I settle my chin on his chest, looking up at him. “I like a man who knows what he wants.”
His eyes darken. “Oh, I know exactly what I want.” He reaches down and pulls me up in one smooth motion, and suddenly I’m hovering over him, hands braced on either side of his face, my hair falling around us like a curtain closing out everything else.
All I can do is marvel at this man who tattooed the date of our first kiss on his arm and wears matching heart pajamas without complaint.
All my fears about not being enough feel very far away right now.
“I love you,” I whisper, pressing my forehead against his. “So much, Brendan Marco.”
The smile that spreads across his face is like the sunrise over water. “Say it again.”
“I love you,” I say again.
“One more time. I’m still a little deaf from last night.”
I laugh, dropping my head in the curve of his neck before I meet his eyes. “I love you, you impossible man.”
“Twelve years,” he murmurs, his hands sliding up my back to frame my face. “I’ve waited to hear you say that.”
“Was it worth the wait?”
“Yes.” He pulls me down until his lips brush mine. “But don’t make me wait another twelve years.”