He moves aside.
I sit down on the bottom stair.
Brett sits down beside me. “What happened? My father said he wasn’t going to fire you.”
“He didn’t fire me. I quit.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t stand the thought that every time he looks at me, he sees some stupid girl who let herself fall for someone who never really wanted her anyway.”
“You fell for me?” Brett grins.
I want to punch him so bad. “Really? That’s the bit you’re choosing to focus on? Yes, Brett. You still have it. Your little act worked.”
“Opal, I’m so confused here. I know I screwed up yesterday, but this feels like it’s bigger than that. Catch me up a bit. What act?”
“The act where you made me believe there was a chance for us,” I say.
“That was no act. I know I should have called you sooner, but I didn’t want to put pressure on you when you weren’t ready to talk to me. I didn’t want to be a Gary. And after work, I realized I didn’t want to call you. I wanted to talk to you face to face.”
“Just stop Brett, alright?” I snap. “You won. Why are you still doing this?”
“What the fuck did my father say to you, Opal?”
I sigh. I might as well just tell him. Once he knows I know his game, then maybe he’ll just go away and leave me alone. “He told me how you were using me to make sure you crossed a line so big that you could never come back from it. How you could never be into someone like me. And he’s right isn’t he? I didn’t see it before, but he hit the nail right on the head. The one time you say the L word wasn’t about me. You only said it to get a reaction from your father.”
“I think my father probably believes some of that on some level,” Brett says after a second. “It’s easier for him to think I’m some kind of monster than to believe that any of his staff would actually break his rules. But Opal, think about it. If all of this had been some sort of game to get my father to cut me out of the business for good, then you’re right. It worked. So why would I be here now?”
“II don’t know,” I say quietly.
“Then let me tell you. I’m here because I want it to work out between us Opal. Really I do. I can’t imagine my life, any version of it, without you in it.”
“You can’t?” I ask.
Brett reaches out and touches my chin with his fingers, pushing my head up, so I’m looking at his face. “You asked me yesterday if I meant it when I said I was in love with, and I dodged the question. That wasn’t because I don’t love you. It was because I wanted the first time I said those words to you to be special. And I know these stairs don’t really count as special, but I can’t wait another moment. Opal, I love you. I am completely, utterly, one thousand percent in love with you.”
I swallow hard. My heart is slamming in my chest and tears well up in my eyes. I want so badly to believe Brett. I search his eyes and I see the truth in them.
He looks back into my eyes, not looking away for a second. “I love you Opal,” he says again.
“I love you too,” I say in a shaky voice.
Brett smiles, a soft smile that barely moves his lips, but makes his eyes shine. He puts his hand on my cheek and moves in closer to me.
His lips meet mine and everything is right in the world again.
Fireworks explode through my body, and my heart soars. I wrap my arms around Brett and hold onto him like I never want to let him go.
When we finally break apart, I’m a little breathless.
Brett gets to his feet and offers me his hand. “Can I come up to your place?” he says.
I nod and smile.
“Yeah, but I don’t think we’re going to be doing a lot of talking,” I say.
“Oh, I’m banking on that.” Brett laughs.
We start up the stairs, my hand still in Brett’s.
“So the job thing,” he says. “I was thinking maybe I have a job for you. It would involve you being in my apartment a lot, and mostly being naked,” he says, grinning at me.
“You realize there’s a name for that job right? A whore.” I shake my head as I giggle.
Brett laughs. “Yeah, that sounded way better in my head. Seriously though, I can call a few associates for you and see if there’s anything out there that would suit you.”
“Tomorrow,” I say. “For now, let’s just forget everything except the two of us.”
We reach my apartment door.
I open it and we go inside.
Brett pulls me into his arms, the second the door closes behind us. “I’m going to spend every minute of every day for the rest of our lives, trying to make you forget about everything except the two of us,” he says.
Epilogue
Eight Months Later
“You know, I still can’t believe we’re here.” I smile at Brett over the table.
“I know. It took weeks to get a reservation.” Brett smiles back, purposely misunderstanding my statement.
I laugh softly. We have waited about six weeks to get this table, but that’s not what I meant and Brett knows it. I can’t believe we moved to Nice. The morning after Brett told me he loved me, he mentioned the idea and I wrote it off as crazy, but it kept playing in my mind. So eventually, I asked him for more details.
Within two weeks, we were out here in a beautiful villa living the dream.
Brett spends his days at the golf club he owns here, overseeing everything, and he’s starting to talk about expanding again. And I am running an asset management firm. Me. Running the whole firm.
Brett wasn’t kidding when he told me
