Page 96 of Words of Love

“It doesn’t matter.” He strode to the window and stared down at the darkened street.Thiswas fucking why—because Lincoln threw a shadow over everything Sam had ever done. “I told you I left New York ten years ago. I haven’t seen much of my family since then. Last time I saw Lincoln was when our mother was dying.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

He faced her. She stood with her arms tightly crossed, as if she were holding herself in.

“Were youeverplanning to tell me?” she asked.

He’d already told her more than he’d ever told anyone. But no. He hadn’tplannedto tell her about his family.

He shook his head.

“It’s one hell of a story, Sam.” Her lips thinned. “An anonymous thriller writer whose older brother is an acclaimed Pulitzer-prize winning author. Family secrets, sibling rivalry, a publishing empire worth God knows how much money. Volatile, neglectful parents. The press would love it. That’s the main reason you stayed off the grid, isn’t it? You never wanted anyone to know the truth. Not even me.Especiallynot me.”

“No.” He shook his head, suddenly feeling as if they were standing on a thin, cracked sheet of ice. “I didn’t tell you because my past has nothing to do with you. Withus.”

“Everythingabout you has to do with us.” She rubbed her throat. “I love you, Sam. I think I started falling in love with you in the blanket fort when you admitted you tried to stay away from me because I’m a reporter. And I’ll always be a reporter at heart. I’ll always be curious and on the lookout for another story to tell. I’ll always want to know more about people’s lives.”

HerI love youslammed up against the defenses of his heart. “Brooke, I didn’t keep this from you because you’re a reporter.”

“Didn’t you?”

“Itoldyou about my parents. I told you about what happened to me.”

“But you didn’t tell me who you really are.” Wariness suddenly darkened her eyes. “You didn’t tell me about the Atwoods, or the truth about your parents and brother. You neverweregoing to tell me.”

“Because that all happened in another lifetime!” He fisted his hands and stalked back to the windows. “I didn’t keep it from you because you’re a reporter.”

Did I?

The question appeared like black smoke in the back of his mind. He dug his fingers into his palms.

No fucking way.

Yeah, he’d spent the past year avoiding her because she worked forThe Gazette, but that was before the snowstorm and the blanket fort. Before he’d discovered the taste of her skin and lost himself in her eyes. That was before hefeltmore for her than he knew what to do with.

A weight pressed down on him. He’d ignored the nagging sense that things with Brooke had been too easy, too fast, too perfect. Sooner or later, it would start crumbling right under his feet. Like an earthquake, and with him right on the fault line.

“I’ve told you more than I’ve told anyone,ever.” His chest burned. He spread his hands out and turned to face her. “How the fuck is that not trusting you?”

“It’s a great story, Sam.” Bitterness cut through her voice. “Any reporter would love to break it.”

“Except you.” He flexed his hands. “I know you wouldn’t do that, not to me or yourself. Do you know how I know? Because I trust you. I care about you. I—”

His voice broke off, snapping like a dead tree branch. Self-disgust smothered his anger.

Brooke stared at him for a long moment. The fire in her eyes began fading into ashes.

“So when you made the phone call to your agent,” she said slowly, “did you consider that if I got the job, I’d be working for your family’s company in New York? Did you think that wouldn’t change everything? That I wouldn’t find out about Folio and Lincoln? That we wouldn’t have to deal with it at some point? Or did you think this was just the end of our hook-up and it no longer mattered?”

“All I thought about was you.” He clenched his jaw. “And it was a hell of a lot more than a hook-up. You know that. You just told me…”

…you love me.

The words stuck inside him like a clogged drain pipe.

The air grew thick and hot.

“I. Love. You.” She fisted her hands, her expression darkening. “Guess what, Sam? It takes courage to say those words. It takes honesty. It takes trust. But if you can’t admit that, if you can’t even say the wordlove, then maybe you need more than a Romance 101 course.”