Page 456 of His Virgin Romance Series
“So you decided to hurt her now instead of later?” Ben asked, incredulously.
“Fuck,” I said again, as I stood up and started pacing. “She’s really leaving.”
“What did you expect?”
“I don’t want her to go.”
“Why not?” he asked. “It seems like the best thing for both of you is for Brie to leave. She’s obviously in love with you, and you’re obviously not.”
I stopped short and turned to Ben. “What if…”
“What if what?”
“What if… I am in love with her?” I said softly. It was the first time I was allowing myself to say the words out loud. The moment they left my tongue, I realized what I had been afraid of all this time.
He smiled, and I realized he had just been waiting for me to realize that this whole time. “Then you need to make a choice,” he said. “And you need to stick to it. But first, I think you need to apologize.”
“She’s still Jason’s sister,” I pointed out.
“Is that supposed to mean something?” he asked.
“I have to respect the bro-code,” I said.
He rolled his eyes. “What are we, tenth graders? You’re not in high school, Seth; neither is Jason. You and Brie are consenting adults. If you want to date one another, I doubt Jason will stand in your way.”
“And my lifestyle?” I said. “You know how hard we have to work.”
“I do,” Ben nodded. “And, I think Brie is smart enough to have realized that, too. It doesn’t seem to be a factor for her. So, why do you keep insisting you know what’s best for her? Why do you keep making her decisions for her?”
I bit my lip and kept pacing. “I’ve been trying to run from my feelings for so long… I don’t know how to stop now.”
“You stop by admitting the truth,” Ben said.
I stopped pacing and looked at him. “I don’t want her to leave,” I said. “I can’t let her leave.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know when I’ll see her again,” I admitted. “And I don’t want to have to endure another six years without seeing her face.”
He smiled. “I think you need to tell her that.”
“What if it’s too late?” I asked, suddenly nervous. “What if she leaves anyway?”
“Then at least you tried,” he said. “I don’t understand how you can be so fearless in business, but not in your personal life.”
“Because there’s more to lose here,” I said. “Brie is…special.”
“Then don’t let her go without a fight.”
I stared at Ben for a second and then jumped into action. He was right. Gregory was right. Brie was right. Apparently, everyone had been except for me. I needed to be a man and stop running from the things that scared me.
I headed straight for Brie’s suite, without stopping to talk to anyone on the way. When I arrived at her door, I paused with my hand inches from the wood.
I was scared, but I took a deep breath and knocked anyway. I stood away from the peephole so that Brie couldn’t see whom it was. I was worried she wouldn’t answer the door if she knew it was me standing there.
A few seconds later, the door opened and Brie stood before me. She was wearing the same faded blue jeans from yesterday and a plain white-shirt that brought out the blue in her eyes. Her hair fell carelessly around her shoulders, and I realized she looked most beautiful when there wasn’t a stitch of makeup on her face.
“Brie,” I said.
