“That’s a sweet sentiment, Brogan, but actions speak louder than words. You don’t trust me. This is what broke up my parents and broke up yours. How can we build a relationship on something so broken? You’d rather stick to a set of rules than follow your heart. Every time something goes wrong you bail. It isn’t right. You’ve done it to me twice, now. I refuse to live that way, always worried that if I make the wrong move, you’re out.”
“No more bailing, I promise you. Screw the rules,” his shout echoed through the hallway and the intensity in his gaze was startling. “The difference between me and you versus our parents is that I want to work on us. I want to try to be better. And that was the worst mistake of my life. Letting you go. Please, trust me. Give me a chance.”
I shook my head. My heart tugged in my chest, but he’d been this earnest before, and the same thing had happened again. I wanted to believe him, so badly. And after meeting his father, hell, no wonder he was so screwed up. I could forgive him. With what my mom put up with, she was living proof that people can forgive. But I wasn’t sure I could trust him again.
“So what is it you want exactly?”
“You,” he said. “With me.”
“What do you mean? I can’t just move back up to Seattle without any job prospects. Obviously I’m not going back to work with you.”
“No. You’re not,” he agreed.
Okay, I wasn’t quite expecting that. A little voice in the back of my mind hoped that he would ask me back, just so I could have the chance to say no. “Right. Well, I’m going to go back and spend time with my mom.” I hitched my finger toward her room down the hall.
He touched my arm before I could walk away. “Lainey, I’m just so sorry.”
“I forgive you, Brogan, but I don’t know if we can come back from this. Not after what happened.” At least Brogan’s dad would be prosecuted for his actions, along with Zelda. Maybe he was the one that had paid the medical bills. It made sense. He’d screwed me over and wanted to make things right. “Although you can tell your dad that it was nice he finally grew a conscience.”
Brogan shook his head, his brows pinched together. “What are you talking about?”
“Paying my mom’s medical bills.” Who knew someone so corrupt could actually grow a pair?
He cleared his throat and scuffed his foot along the linoleum floor. “He didn’t pay your bills.”
“But…” How could I not see it before? Of course. It all made sense now. The reason he showed up to the hospital, the apology. It was Brogan.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I love you, Lainey. I saw what you gave up. You did that for me, and I will be forever grateful. I don’t want to live my life by a damn rule book anymore. I want you and only you.”
I didn’t know how to respond to his words. They filled my heart and tore it to shreds at the same time. “I can’t let you pay for that. It’s too much. Once I get the money, I will pay you back.”
“Not happening,” he said.
Hot tears burned at the back of my throat. He’d just given me the biggest gift I could never accept. Financial freedom meant everything, but I couldn’t let him take the burden. “It might take a while, but I promise to return every penny.”
“Consider it a bonus for helping find a corporate spy. Who knows how much worse it would have gotten if you hadn’t told me.”
“I can’t. It feels weird. Like you gave me money for hurting me.” I looked him in the eye. I wanted him to see what he’d done.
“No. That isn’t it at all, Lainey. Really. I mean, I do feel guilty for what I did. But I paid your mom’s hospital bills because my family wronged you. What my dad did—there aren’t words.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “You and your mom are good people. You’re what’s right with the world. Me paying the bill was saying thank-you for showing me that. If you pay me back—I don’t want your money.”
“I don’t know,” I said. This was all too much to process.
He huffed out a sigh, and I could tell he was starting to lose his patience. “How about this. I have another proposition.” His eyes searched mine. “I’m taking over a new social media company in Seattle, helping them rebuild their infrastructure. I can’t oversee them all the time, since I will still be dealing with the mess at Starr Media. I need someone I can trust. I’d like to extend the invitation of employment. We could say that the medical bills were an early signing bonus.”
A job. Where I wouldn’t have to walk dogs or fetch coffee. One without grinchy Jackson and a carnivorous elevator. A real marketing job. I looked at him, still skeptical. “Why not put Jackson on the job?”
“He’s going to stay with me at Starr.”
I nodded. This would be huge. I wouldn’t get an opportunity like this for years to come with other companies, not with the current state of the market. “What would the position be?”
“Marketing manager. You could put those MBA skills to good use at the company.”
Inner Lainey was dropping it like it was hot. Lainey that Brogan could see remained cold and aloof. “I’d need some time to think about it.”