Page 30 of Betting on her Best Friend
Balling her fists at her sides, she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I am not my mother. I won’t sit around, waiting for you to decide I’m no longer good enough to come home to. I refuse to live like that. Not even for love.” She reached up and pulled her mask off, unshed tears alight in her eyes. “Not even for you.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. A dozen replies crashed into a dozen emotions and everything got jumbled together until it was one big clusterfuck in his head. He resorted to pacing in a tight line and rubbing at the tense muscles in the back of his neck until he could pull out a single thread of consciousness.
“Jesus Christ, Aly, I can’t believe you think I would do that to you of all people.” Stopping in front of her he held his arms out to the sides. “I don’t even know how we got here. This was supposed to be a romantic evening and the beginning of something incredible between us. Something special.”
His phone vibrated in one long string. Knowing it would be the limo driver he pulled it out and answered. “Yeah… No, I got your message… Okay, give me another five minutes.” Alyssa crossed to the bed, an expression on her face that could either be confusion or extreme focus. Neither boded well. “Better make that ten. Thanks.”
“What do you mean, ‘something special’?”
Pocketing his phone, he tried to think of the best way to answer that. Though he’d never come right out and told her how he felt, she had to have at least some idea by now. Especially after what they shared this afternoon. He knew the soul-deep connection he’d felt hadn’t been one-sided.
“I want a relationship with you. A very real, very serious relationship,” he said honestly.
“But you don’t believe in relationships. And although sex with you was…well, a revelation…I’m not so naive as to think that with your history, sex with me moved you to change your lifelong stance.”
Dylan mentally counted to ten. Slowly. “You’re right,” he said. “Sex with you definitely didn’t make me want more with you, Aly.” Her face fell, and she cast her eyes down to the floor. Moving to her, he lifted her chin with a finger until she met his gaze. “Sex with you is so far beyond anything I’ve experienced with any other woman. Swear to God. But that has nothing to do with why I want more with you.”
“Then why?” she asked, her voice whisper-soft.
Biting the bullet, he took a deep breath and exhaled from his heart. “Because I’ve been in love with you for years.” A slight gasp passed her lips, but he pressed on before he lost his nerve. “I can’t even tell you when it happened. All I know is I’ve wanted you for a long damn time, but I never told you because I was convinced I’d only end up hurting you.”
Alyssa swallowed hard and went back to hugging herself. He wanted it to be his arms holding her, but the last thing he wanted to do was push her. “So,” she began carefully, “when you suggested I use you to satisfy my physical urges…”
“Yeah, I know. It sounds bad considering it wasn’t exactly a selfless gesture. But all the reasons I told you are still true. They just weren’t the only—or main—reasons I wanted you to choose me over anyone else. And now I’m hoping that you see how good we are together. Not just as friends, but as lovers. And we are, Aly. You can’t deny that.”
“I’m not denying that the sex is great, but a relationship is more than just friendship and great sex. However,” she said carefully, “I’ll agree that I felt a certain connection that went beyond that today. So, you have me believing in that much at least.” She gave a little chuckle that sounded part nerves, part hysteria. “Next you’ll be proposing marriage and making me second-guess which planet I’m on.”
Fuck.
Dylan swore his heart stopped. He knew for certain his lungs had seized up on him. Something on his face must have given him away. All color drained from her face, her eyes blew wide, and her fingers flew to her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
