“You’re in love with me. That’s why you’ve been acting so strangely the past few days,” she said slowly. “Looking at me with that weird expression, as if you’re confused about something.”
Owen was shaking his head. “Stop trying to change the subject. This is about you sleeping with—”
“No, it’s not,” she interrupted, an amazed laugh slipping from her mouth. “This is about you. Being scared again. And fine, maybe you’re a bit jealous of what happened with Cooper, but I don’t think that’s what this is about. I know you, Owen. I know you better than you know yourself.”
His gray eyes flashed. “That’s rather presumptuous.”
“What’s presumptuous is you thinking you can just push me away again without me putting up a fight,” she shot back. “What happened today? You were so happy the past week, and now you’re back to holding me at arm’s length.” Frustration bubbled in her throat. “Tell me what got you scared.”
“Nothing got me scared,” he said gruffly.
“Okay.” She paused. “Tell me how you feel about me then.”
She glimpsed a flicker of panic in his eyes. “I…damn it, Maddie, what are you trying to do? Why can’t you accept that maybe I really can’t get over the fact that you slept with another—”
“Because you’re not a damned caveman, and even if it makes you jealous, I know you wouldn’t break up with me just because I was with another man before we got involved.” She let out a frustrated curse. “Why can’t you just tell me how you feel about me?”
He stared at her in obvious dismay.
“I have no problem telling you how I feel.” She sucked in a breath. “I love you, Owen. There. I said it. I’ve loved you for three years, and I love you now, and damn it, I want to know how you feel.”
“I…”
As he stammered, hesitated, raked his fingers through his hair again, Maddie was overcome with a rush of pure helplessness. He couldn’t do it. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she pushed him, he couldn’t even tell her how he felt. And now he was ending things because something had scared him off again, and he was using her night with Cooper as an excuse. As a reason to cut and run, the way he did in every relationship he’d ever had.
“I’m done,” she announced.
His head jerked in her direction, his gaze becoming desperate as he looked at her. “What?”
“I’m done,” she repeated. “You want to break up with me? Well, tough. Because I’m breaking up with you.”
“Maddie—”
“Don’t,” she said, holding up her hand. “You’re pushing me away for no good reason. Instead of trying to understand why I might have slept with Cooper, you’re just using it as an excuse to shut down again. You’ve let some silly fear rule your life for years, which is a damn shame, because you have nothing to be afraid of. You’re nothing like your father. You’re kind and sweet and devoted, and I love you for it.” She exhaled a shaky breath. “But I’m done. If you’re not willing to let yourself love me, the way I love you, then I’m not wasting my time anymore.”
Her legs wobbled like a bowl of Jell-O as she staggered toward the door. Owen was still on the couch, and when she glanced over her shoulder, she noticed he looked a little shell-shocked. Well, good. Let him be shocked. Or angry. Or whatever he was. She’d wasted three years of her life pining for this man and she wasn’t going to waste one more second.
“By the way,” she added as she reached the door, “I quit.”
Chapter Ten
Owen spent the rest of the weekend feeling as if he were in a hypnotic trance. He cleaned the house, went to dinner with his mother and brothers, drove Nate and Charlotte to the airport to send them off on their Hawaiian honeymoon. He ran ten miles, went over some blueprints, filled out expense reports. Yep, he did a lot of things. Yet, if you asked him to provide any details about the tasks, he would’ve drawn a blank.
Because his every conscious thought had been focused on Maddie.
He couldn’t believe she was actually gone. When he’d walked into the office on Monday morning, her desk had been empty. It had remained empty on Tuesday. And Wednesday. And Thursday. Now it was Friday, nearly a week since the wedding, and it was time to accept the cold, hard truth. She’d really quit. It was really over.
Rubbing the thick stubble covering his jaw, he stared at her desk, sheer agony slowly filling his body until every inch of him throbbed with pain. He was supposed to meet Jake and Austin for lunch soon, but he couldn’t tear his gaze from that damn desk.
And he couldn’t stop wondering if he’d made the biggest mistake of his life.