“So when you’re ready to be with the right guy—flaws and all—you let me know. I’m willing to give you the best I’ve got. And yeah, I’ll probably fail you now and then, but I’ll never leave you, and I’ll never deliberately hurt you or Ryan or Tabitha.
“Also…I love you. But that’s got to be enough for you. And if it isn’t, then maybe I’m not the right man for you. But if I’m not, then by God, no man is.”
He turned on his heel and walked off, leaving Jane staring after him, trying to soak in everything he’d said to her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
He loved her. He told her he loved her.
He’d not only told her he loved her, he’d told her off. A lot.
And she’d deserved it. All of it.
She sat in the living room with her head resting in the palms of her hands, the mother of all headaches squeezing her temples.
She’d had such righteous anger and indignation burning inside her. She was going to go it alone. She’d done it so well the past couple years. Just her and the kids, and they’d been doing just fine without a man.
Just fine.
Until Will had come into their lives and messed everything up by making her kids joyful and fun and filled with life and making them fall in love with him.
Just like she’d fallen in love with him.
She loved him. That’s what the problem was. Because it gave him the power to hurt her.
And one simple mistake on his part and she’d cut him down and cut him loose.
Because God forbid she should ever give another man the chance to hurt her again.
Like Vic had hurt her.
Will had thought she wanted another go-round with someone exactly like Vic?
She let out a soft laugh at that. She never wanted Vic again. She never wanted to see Vic again. She hoped and prayed every day that he never came back. Vic was a train wreck.
Will had done everything right, and she’d crucified him at every turn, just waiting for him to make one wrong move so she could pounce and tear him to shreds.
So she could punish him for everything Vic had done to her.
Because she’d never been able to punish Vic.
She lifted her head, the sudden realization stunning her.
Shit.
Sitting here in the darkness, everything had become so clear to her.
But was it too late to fix things?
So when you’re ready to be with the right guy—flaws and all—you let me know.
He’d left the door open for her. All she had to do was walk through it.
* * *
Will paced the small confines of his apartment, too wired to sleep. Which really sucked. He dragged his phone out of the pocket of his jeans to look at the time, realizing it was after midnight and five a.m. was barreling down on him in a hurry.
“This is all your fault,” he said to the phone, then shoved it back in his pocket.
He turned when there was a knock on his door. Who the hell was here this late? Probably another drunk friend of his neighbor’s coming to the wrong door.
Bad night for this. He flung the door open, intending to yell at the idiot, and was shocked as hell to find Jane standing there.
“Jane.”
“Hey.”
“What the hell are you doing here? Do you know it’s, like, twelve thirty? Where are the kids?”
“I called Chelsea to come stay with them. And yes, I’m aware of the time.”
He blinked, then realized he had left her standing on the front stoop. “Come in.”
She stepped in and he shut the door, still unable to figure out what she was doing here.
“Do you want something to drink?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m fine, thanks. I just want to talk to you.”
They’d parted earlier—or rather, he’d left earlier—on a really bad note. It had been all he’d thought about for the past several hours.
He’d been brutal to her, had said things that, while he didn’t regret them, probably could have been a little less harsh.
But he was tired of tiptoeing around her, so maybe those things needed to be said. And maybe she was good and mad and had a few things to say back.
Okay, he could take it.
“Come on in and sit down. Sorry the place is such a mess.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t come here to critique your housekeeping.”
He dragged his hands through his hair as he led her into the living room. “Good thing.”
She let out a nervous laugh, then took a seat on his sofa. He sat next to her, wishing he could fold her into his arms and hold her. But since she stared down at her shoes, her hands folded tightly together in her lap, her body language told him she wasn’t in any mood to be held, so he kept his distance.
He had a feeling he was about to get an earful.
He waited.
And waited.
Okay, so maybe she needed a minute to gather her thoughts.
“Are you sure you don’t want something to drink?”
Her gaze lifted to his, and there were tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Will.”
Uh-oh. That sounded like the beginning of a breakup conversation, and he was kind of hoping she would take some time to cool down, that they could still talk things out.
Maybe not. “Sorry for what?”
“For not appreciating what a great guy you are. Since we started…being together, you’ve been there for me, and for the kids. And I’ve done nothing but back away and hold you at a distance, because I was scared.”
Okay, that hadn’t gone like he thought it would. “You don’t have to be sorry about that, Jane. You were protecting yourself and Ryan and Tabitha. I get it. And I was pushy. When I know what I want I’m single-minded about it, and I’ll bully my way into having things my own way. Sometimes I can’t see how that affects other people. It comes from being single for so long.”
She looked at him. “I can see that about you. But that’s hardly a character flaw.”
“It makes me stubborn and bullheaded sometimes. I have to learn to look at the other side of the picture. I’m a single guy and I’ve never been hurt the way you have or the way the kids have. I thought I could just be in your life and it was going to be easy. I should have known better.”
She frowned. “Don’t make excuses for me or let me off the hook so easily.”
He tried not to smile. “Okay, I won’t.”