Choosing the Right Man - Nice Girl to Love, Vol 3 (Can't Resist #3)(2)

No, she wasn’t okay. But she couldn’t think about that right now.

Tomorrow.

She pulled her brain back to what she could understand, back to what she was supposed to be focusing on, back to what was right in front of her.

Brian.

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she sank into his python hug, thankful that he felt the need to hold on for longer than usual. She could hear his heart hammering, the pace nearly matching her own. But while his was because of anger toward his brother, hers…wasn’t.

The guilt over that simply compounded when she opened her eyes and caught sight of her amazing gift from Brian once again, perched on her file cabinet. So ethereal and magical in its delicate beauty, it stole the air out of her chest just as it had when she’d first seen it as a child.

Soon, she was flipping backward through the memory album of her life, to the days before all the pain Brian still didn’t quite know about or understand but kept doing everything in his power to help her overcome.

And she felt grounded once again.

“Where did you—” She reached over and touched the tiny wing-like petals of the flowers, marveling over the fringed softness, just as she used to when she was a kid. “How did you—”

Goodness, for someone who’d just survived a dissertation defense, she was doing a horrible job stringing together the words for a complete sentence.

He stepped back and finally, all the remaining traces of tension were erased from his face as he broke into a boyishly excited smile. “Do you like your surprise? I found a grower who could ship it out here last month. Skylar and I have been keeping it alive ever since.”

Abby chuckled over his choice of words. “So already this flower if faring better than all the poor fish that have passed through your house.” Carefully pulling out the plant, she held it in front of her and just stared at it for a minute, turning it this way and that, feeling the rush of happy memories filling her heart once more—memories she’d lost track of over the years.

“Thank you,” she uttered, sounding just as awed and supremely blown away as she felt.

“Don’t move.” Brian backed up, pulling out his smartphone. “I’m under strict instructions from Skylar to take a photo of the new Dr. Bartlett holding the orchid.”

Abby’s smile broadened, easily imagining Skylar demanding just that as Brian snapped the photo. “I better send it to the rugrat now. If not, she’ll be texting me every ten minutes until I go pick her up.”

He tapped out a quick message on his phone before studying her carefully. “You still up for having a celebratory dinner with us tonight? Because if you aren’t—”

“Of course I am,” cut in Abby firmly. “You guys are still sleeping over afterward, right? Skylar has been talking my ear off about this new dessert she wants to make later tonight.”

“We’ll pick you up at seven.” He smiled and leaned in for a kiss.

For reasons she couldn’t fully comprehend, or stop, she found herself turning her head to the side at the very last second.

Though he faltered a beat, Brian skimmed a kiss against her cheek like it was nothing and then turned to leave. But not before she saw the crushed look in his eyes.

“Brian—”

“Not today, Abby. Today’s your day.” He kept his face averted. “We can talk about all this tomorrow.”

Tomorrow.

Because she didn’t know exactly what she’d say even if they were to talk about this right now, she gave him a silent nod and watched him leave. It wasn’t until she was completely alone in her office that a sad realization rained over her, gave her heart a hollow ache.

For the first time in weeks, Brian had left without telling her he loved her.





BRIAN WAITED UNTIL HE WAS in his car before he allowed himself to lose it. He slammed both hands onto the steering wheel and grabbed for his phone. Too angry to even call forth the digits in Connor’s phone number in his brain, he had to search his phone book to have it dial for him.

“Hello?” called out a soft, sultry voice from the other end.

Goddammit! “Are you and my brother going to be returning each other’s phones anytime soon?” he barked, not caring in the least that he sounded like a major tool right now.

The woman didn’t even seem to notice. She just laughed cheerfully and replied, “You must be Brian. I’m at a lunch party right now but I’ll be done soon. I’ll be sure to drive his phone back over to him right after.”

Great. A socialite partying it up in the middle of the day during the work week. Will his brother never learn?

“Do you want me to relay a message?”

Huh, this one sounded different than his other women though. She also knew his name—that was new. Usually, Connor’s bimbos barely knew or cared that he had a brother.

Maybe this was that mysterious ‘nice girl’ that Gabriella had been talking about who’d surpassed Connor’s one-month parameters. The possibility of it had hope filling his veins like a shot of heroin. “No message.” He gentled his voice a bit. “But thanks. I’ll try him again in the morning.”

“Are you sure? You might not be as spitting mad as you were a minute ago if you wait all the way until tomorrow morning,” she teased.

Definitely not like Connor’s usual women. He fought the small smile that was inching its way across his face. “I’ll take my chances.”