Page 54 of Wish I Might
“Chloe,” Jesse said gently.“Look at him.”
“I’m looking.”
“No,lookat him,” Jesse urged.“He’s in love with her.”
“He is not,” she began heatedly, then her eyes widened.“Oh, my God.Are you?”
“I never stopped,” Nash rasped, his heart lodged in his throat.“Never stopped loving her, never stopped wanting her.”
“Well, fuck.”
Since she hadn’t dumped his food in his lap, he pressed on.“I’d give anything to go back and undo what I did, but I can’t.All I can do is try to make it up to her, and show her that this time, I’m not afraid.No, that’s wrong,” he corrected before she could speak.“I’m terrified.”
“Of what?”Chloe asked, and though the suspicion remained, the venom had faded from her voice.
“That it’s too late.That I killed whatever we might have had eight years ago, and there’s no way to get it back.That this time,” he went on over the pain in his chest, “she’ll break my heart.”
For a moment, there was only the pounding of his heart and Chloe’s ragged breathing.Then Jesse said, “He’s hiring Sawyer.”
Nash had the pleasure of seeing her jerk in surprise a second time.Too bad, he thought drily, he was too much of a wreck to enjoy it.
Her gaze went speculative.“I figured you’d be tagging some of your buddies for this.”
Her words so closely echoed Bailey’s, he almost smiled.“In college I would have.Not now.”
“Why?”
“Because she trusts me to keep her safe,” he said simply.“And this is the best way I know to do that and still give her what she wants.”
She stared at him for so long he had to fight the urge to squirm.He was on the verge of losing the battle when she said, “Well, shit.”
He heard Jesse’s quiet laugh, but didn’t dare look away from Chloe.“I don’t know what that means.”
She huffed out a breath and picked up the plate she’d set in front of him.“It means I have to get you a new sandwich.”
She turned, taking the plate with her through the kitchen door, and Nash turned to a grinning Jesse.
“Congratulations, brother,” he said, tapping his water to the beer Nash still held.“I think the frost is thawing.”
* * * *
Nash worked the rest of the day in a haze.He’d had an enjoyable—and spit-free—lunch, and though Chloe hadn’t exactly been warm, she had been decidedly less hostile, and agreed to give her endorsement to Sawyer along with Jesse’s.
It was more than he’d expected, and his profuse thanks had seemed to fluster her.Which he’d enjoyed and refused to feel guilty about.
Now he just had to be patient, and hope that Sawyer would contact him—especially since he didn’t have a backup plan.
He really didn’t want to involve any of his friends.Not that they weren’t good guys—they were—but half of them were married or in relationships, and the ones that weren’t were…well, not up to Bailey’s standards.Or rather, his standards for her.
He didn’t think any of his friends qualified as ‘brag bros’, as she’d put it, at least not inherently so.But men talked to each other as much as—sometimes more than—women did, especially about sex.And a scenario like this—a porn fantasy come to life—could definitely bring out the brag bro in an otherwise discreet and circumspect man.
Besides, he didn’t really want to have to explain the situation, and if his wish was granted and he and Bailey ended up back together, he really didn’t think it would be wise to have someone he knew—and that they might socialize with—on the group project team.
No, it was better to keep it to the professionals.If only Sawyer would contact him.
“What are you muttering about?”Bailey asked.
Nash glanced up.It was Tuesday night, and he was standing in the kitchen while his frozen pigs-in-a-blanket cooked in the air fryer, checking his emails for the thousandth time since lunch yesterday.
