Chapter Eleven
Eric
Bree turned a shade of red that brought out the auburn highlights in her hair. He used to tease her when she was naked so he could see her blush all over. At the moment, he could only track it as far as her collar.
“I’m not three. I don’t need a babysitter,” she protested.
He opened the fridge and was not disappointed. She had beer. Imported, but beer. Eric cracked the cap and took a pull. “It’s kind of my fault you are on Forrester’s radar. The least I can do is make sure he doesn’t bother you.”
She stared at him a moment, a million expressions crossing her face. They faded into a bland smile and she took a few more steps and collapsed into a well-worn leather sofa along the wall. “This isn’t going to work, Eric.”
“What isn’t?”
They both knew he was trying to do. Reset the clock.
He’d already apologized, for all the good that had done. This chance with Bree had literally dropped into his life without warning. He wasn’t going to let it pass without trying every option.
“Picking up where we left off. Like the way you used to pretend everything was hunky-dory after you pulled a spectacularly hurtful stunt and didn’t want to put the work into a real apology in the hopes that I’d let your asshole-ishness slide. It wasn’t cute or charming then. It’s insulting now. You dumped me without a word. Okay, you had a reason but you didn’t share it at the time. All you did was kick me out the door.Thenyou went out with a couple of my friends to make sure I got the message. Do you really think you can come back from that?”
He’d misjudged badly. Yes, he’d been arrogant when they’d been together. Yes, he’d hurt her for her own good. He hadn’t relished doing it, but she had to see that he’d been out of options. He’d been trying to protect her. “I get that you’re pissed at me for not telling you about Zane. I had good intentions, and I see now I could have handled the situation better. But I’m not entirely alone in the blame here.”
“Excuse me?”
“I heard your testimony. You knew Zane was dirty, and you didn’t say anything. You let me go out with a dirty cop at my back.”
“Icouldn’ttell you. I signed confidentiality agreements. You know I don’t talk about my contracts. I can’t.”
He did know. Bree took her job very seriously; it was one of the reasons he’d done what he did.
“If I couldn’t tell you about an active, internal investigation, why is it okay when you keep quiet?” he asked.
“Not that it matters now, but I didn’t find out about Zane until we were over and done. There was no hope for us at that point. I tried to warn you anyway. I couldn’t force you to return my calls. Or Adam. Or Dutch. When you cut me out, I didn’t exist in anybody’s life anymore. So who left who?”
Eric thanked God for almost two decades of perfecting his poker face. That shot of hers hit. He’d asked Adam to step back during the investigation, but his partner had refused to leave him hanging. Bree’d paid the price for that too. He didn’t know she’d gone over his head to their inspector as well. Fucking Zane.
“Besides, secrets are one thing. Dating other people and throwing it in my face is another,” she continued.
“Fuck, Bree, I’m sorry. Nothing happened with Leandra.”
“I know. She called me after I saw you at Café Paradiso and apologized profusely. She and I are fine. You and her? Not so much.”
Bree wasn’t kidding. Eric may have permanently burned a bridge with the television reporter. Their date at his and Bree’s favourite restaurant, on Bree’s birthday, had done the trick, though. “I know we can’t go back, Bree. I’m not an idiot.”
She raised one eyebrow.
“I’m not a complete idiot,” he amended. “You’re right. I fucked up. I’m asking you to forgive and forget.”
Bree shut down. It took him a moment to remember what that blank look on her face meant. She was thinking. She could think all she wanted; he’d take any answer but no. She was a fighter, and this was a big one. He had a lot of ground to make up.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I miss you.”
“Not good enough.”
“Because we were good together. Great, even. We can’t go back, but there’s no reason we can’t go forward,” Eric said.
“Why?” she asked again.