Page 122 of Fierce-Jonah
“I know you are, you big idiot. You’re just a stubborn bull and won’t give an inch.”
He cracked a grin. “We know how you are with a bull.”
“Don’t try to make a joke,” she said, sniffling. “It’s not the time.”
“No,” he said, “it’s not. I’m sorry. I feel like I’m saying I’m sorry a lot lately.”
“I don’t want you to apologize. I want you to stop keeping secrets. Stop trying to keep it all in and worrying about what other people are going to think.”
“What does that sound like?” he asked.
“I’ve let it go. I really have. You helped me not carry it with me anymore, how my parents and family think or what they say to me. But you’re the big old pot calling the kettle black.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he said.
She put her hands on her hips and lifted her chin. “I know I am.”
“What do you want from me?” he asked. “I loved her. I thought I did. I put my life at risk and she walked away.”
“I’m glad she did. She wasn’t for you. If she were, I never would have met you. I’m starting to realize that sometimes in life we need to be knocked down a lot to stand back up stronger than ever.”
“You’re sounding really smart right now,” he said.
“Because I’m a smart person. Tell me about Molly. Get it all out now. I don’t want to deal with this again. Then tell me everything else that you haven’t so far.Everything.”
He shook his head. “I don’t have a lot of secrets, Megan. I really don’t. Molly wasn’t a secret. People knew.”
“But I didn’t. If you love me, don’t you think I should know those things? We had a talk about why you opened the gym. You’d said you had an agent. There were plenty of times you could have brought her into the conversation and you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” he agreed. “I felt foolish. I felt played.”
“You probably were played, but you aren’t the first man that has been. And look, you survived. And you got someone else damn better.”
He laughed. “I did. There isn’t much more to say about it. That’s it. She pushed me to do something I didn’t feel comfortable with. I loved her more than she did me. She saw a career with me, and when I changed my mind, she moved on. End of story.”
“But it’s not really because she burned you and that is part of why you were single so long, right?”
“Maybe. Or maybe I just wanted to put my gym first and prove I could make something of myself that wasn’t what someone else thought I’d be.”
She pointed her finger at him. “That might be the first raw thing you’ve said to me.”
“Raw?” he asked.
“That’s me, Jonah. Or that was me. I wanted to prove I could be something or successful on my own not doing it the way someone else thought. It’s taken me a long time to get here. Some of it is with your help. Why can’t you see that maybe I’m helping you too?”
He pulled her closer to him. “I do see it. Why do you think I told everyone how you took such good care of me? I’ve known for a long time you were the one for me. I’ll be the first to admit I was an idiot to doubt it weeks ago.”
“That’s right,” she said. “You were an idiot.”
“I see you have no problem gloating either,” he said, cracking a grin.
“Nope. Tell me right now, Jonah. Was this the last of the big secrets? We’ve all got them, but I mean serious things that I should know?”
“Yes,” he said. “There isn’t anyone or anything else.”
“You promise,” she said.
He kissed her on the lips. “I promise.”