Liza chortled. “So, you don’t even ask these women their names before taking them home with you?”
“Of course I do, but can you imagine what he’d do if he saw me even looking at one of them?” His dark brows crawled up his forehead. “Do you watch Game of Thrones? Did you see the Red Wedding?”
She nudged his foot with hers. “He wouldn’t do that. Connor loves you.”
“He loves his sisters more, and he would gut me.” Brennan held up two fingers. “Secondly, my hair’s too long to wear the dress blues, and I’m not cutting it.”
“I actually think you would be super handsome with a high and tight.” She reached with her hand that wasn’t occupied by the manicurist, trapped his chin between her index finger and thumb, and then gave his face a little shake. “And maybe if you shaved off some of this scruff.”
Brennan pulled his face away, turning his chin up aloofly. “When I shave, I end up looking pre-pubescent, which does nothing useful for me.” He picked up the magazine again. “Thirdly, I patently refuse to use your wedding as a means to find a hook-up.”
The manicurist began meticulously coating Liza’s nails with a deep crimson shade, so she sat still. “Why?”
“Because. I’m not going there for that. I’m there for you guys.” Brennan thumbed another page as he casually added, “Y’all are the best friends that I have. I love you both. Ever since I met each of you, I’ve known that you’ve both wanted this.”
He set down the magazine and paused for a long time, just staring at her hand while the manicurist worked on it. When he finally looked at her, his expression was suddenly different from the one he’d been wearing since he burst through the door earlier. He almost looked…sad.
Liza was about to open her mouth to say something, but Brennan continued, speaking more somberly.
“You’ve asked me about a hundred times why I am the way I am with you, and it’s because on the first day I met you…” He cut his eyes down while drawing in a silent breath that lifted his shoulders. “I just knew, L. I knew you were never going to find whatever you were looking for here unless you reconciled with Connor. I can’t tell you why or how I knew that. But it only took part of the morning that first day for me to figure it out. And that was after I spent ten years with Connor knowing the same thing about him. He was never going to find what he was looking for in life unless he reconciled with you, and for a long time, it was me treading water, trying to help him find something to live for in place of you. And so, when you arrived, my course of action was clear. I had to help you both. With you, it looked like all the stuff I did and do with you.”
Brennan paused for even longer, still staring at the magazine on his lap, and he rubbed his mouth. “Andnow…you made it. Y’all are there. You live together. You already know he’s planning to propose at some point.” Then he finally looked up at her again, and the rims of his eyes were red. Unshed tears had collected in a sheen on his brown eyes. “Love conqueredall. And I’ve been waiting my whole life to see that happen forsomebody.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and gave her a slightly shaky smile. “And I couldn’t be happier that when I finally saw it happen, it was between the two people I love more than anything.”
“Wow, B.” Liza gave a light, emotional laugh as she blinked away the sting of tears. “That’s probably the best thing anyone’s ever said to me. I love you, too. So does Connor. You’re the best friend anyone could hope for.”
Brennan continued to hold his uncharacteristically fragile smile. His brow was knitted, his mouth was soft, and he just looked at her for a while.
Liza crinkled her brow. It suddenly looked like his tears might not be of thehappyvariety like hers were. “Are you okay?”
“Of course,” he said, but there was a small crack in his voice. “I just…L., you should just know that to me, you’re the most remarkable, wonderful…”
He trailed off, subtly shaking his head before he stopped talking completely and just closed his mouth. Within the span of a single beat of silence only long enough for Brennan to draw in a breath, adifferentkind of look passed between them. And it subtly shocked Liza like static electricity from touching metal on a dry, winter day.
Thislook was like an accidental glimpse of something he’d been trying to hide; something he had no business showing her, and something she had no business seeing.
Brennan’s expression was suddenly unmistakable.
Liza had only seen one other man look at her likethat, and it was Connor.
Her mind did a high-speed replay of countless moments between them over the months since she’d arrived.
The fact that he bought her lunch on her very first day after he found her crying at her desk. His constant, constant,constantcomforting of her while she cried over Connor. The nicknames. The fact that he always dropped everything and came running whenever she needed anything. His totally weird behavior after he’d caught her when she tripped at the music festival. The fact that he said he feltconnected to herimmediately. The fact that he’d said hedefinitely didn’t like her like a sister.The fact that he’d repeatedly called herprecious to him.The fact that he randomly called only the previous weekend after the harrowing conversation with Connor because he had aweird, bad feelingand matter-of-factly declared that they werepsychically linked. A hundred,millionother little things he did; so many Liza couldn’t even remember them all.
Not the least of which was the fact that Brennan was looking at herlike thatafter he trailed off after saying somethinglike that. Like he was trying to hide the fact that he washeartbroken, even though he’d told her about a million times how important her and Connor reconciling was to him.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
Brennan is in love with me.
At least, that’s what all of it suddenly really, reallylooked like.
Knowing her own face couldn’t hide a damn thing, Liza snapped her head forward just as Brennan looked away and cleared his throat. And that was the end of that.
She purposefully buried the idea in her mind along with the startling way he’d looked at her. She forced every thought about it out of her brain and stared at the shiny, red polish like it was a source of Zen, and she was deep in meditation.
