Screw that. I wasn’t going to be convinced. There was no amount of begging and pleading and lines of bullshit that would get me to change my mind. I’d stay strong. I’d watch whatever he wanted me to watch, and then I would leave. We’d both have closure that way.
Once this was over, I was going to be out of that door faster than I’d barged in.
He fiddled with his laptop until the projection screen came to life. I huffed.
Did he really have to make it this dramatic? I could have just watched it, whatever it was, on my laptop—even my phone.
He stood behind me, hands on my shoulders again, and lips near my ear. “I’ve only lied to you twice. The first time was when I didn’t tell you I knew you were Rose.”
My head jerked to look at him in surprise and disbelief, a nasty rebuttal on the tip of my tongue, but on the way around, my eyes caught on the video playing on the screen.
Security footage.
It took a minute to recognize the location, but it was Brooks Media’s Human Resources. Cynthia’s office, to be exact. My brows rose when a crazy person dressed in muddy clothes burst through her doors. He scanned the room until he found what he was searching for. In three quick strides, he was at her filing cabinet, yanking open the drawer and fingers sliding through the files.
The messy hair. The taut, tight muscles of his back, stretching and flexing. And that ass covered in shorts. I knew that body.
My breath caught in my lungs when the camera zoomed in, moving past his face quickly, but not too quick that I didn’t recognize the jawline, especially the way it looked before he shaved, covered deliciously with two days’ worth of growth.
It was Kline.
My mind tripped into realization that he was filthy and sweaty because he had come from rugby practice. Which also explained why no one else was in the office.
But why was he rummaging through Cynthia’s files?
More importantly, why did I need to see this?
I caught sight of the timestamp in the corner. I counted the days in my head. It was a few days after our second date, where he had convinced me to go skinny-dipping at ONE UN. It was nearly eight-thirty in the evening and he was going through one of his employee’s offices like a lunatic.
The camera zoomed closer, showing the file in his hands. I couldn’t read the label on the edge quick enough before Kline was opening it, his finger tracing down the list of employees names.
The camera zoomed in again, blurry for a second before giving me a clear view. I watched his finger pause on one name.
Cummings, Georgia.
Then it slid across the page and came to a dead stop.
TAPRoseNEXT.
Adrenaline took over. My heart thrashed inside my chest as it furiously pumped the rush through my veins.
He knew.
He knew.
He knew.
It was the only thing my brain could compute.
He was in front of me, squatting down so we were at eye level. “The only other lie I’ve told you is that I liked you when I knew I was already in love with you.”
My vision blurred, an unnamed emotion filling my lids.
Shock? Happiness? Relief? Love? I wasn’t sure which. I was too overwhelmed.
But my heart, my heart knew what it wanted. It was on an escape mission, frantically trying to pound its way out of my chest, begging to return home.
I blinked, once, twice, three times. The room was clear again, and those blue eyes of his, they were staring at me, intense and pleading and so damn full of love I felt it bursting out of him and into me.
He’d known I was Rose. He had known since a few days after our second date.
Which meant, when he had messaged Cassie, he’d thought he was messaging me.
“W-why didn’t you tell me?” I stuttered past the thickness in my throat.
His hand found mine, fingers entwining. “I should’ve told you. I know I should’ve told you, but I loved how open you were with me as Rose. I loved how you never held anything back. You were never afraid to tell me what you were thinking or how you felt.”
He would think that. For the love of Christmas, we’d had a conversation about anal!
“I didn’t want to lose that side of you until you were comfortable enough to be that way with me.” A heavy sigh left his lips. “When I sent that last message, I thought I was sending it to you. I wanted to be open and honest with you.”
He kissed my hand and then moved it to his chest. “This is yours. It’ll always be yours.” A frantic, erratic beat vibrated against my palm. “Please, tell me I haven’t lost you for good.”
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to smile wider than my cheeks would allow. I wanted to jump into his arms and never let go.
But I was scared. The remnants of the past few days had left a scar across my heart. I never wanted to feel like that again. I never wanted to feel so fucking lost.
“I love you,” he whispered, his eyes staring into mine, deep and unrelenting. “I love you so much. Please tell me you feel the same.”
No longer broken, his words stitched up that last remaining bit of my heart.