“I’m not talking about Clayton Yorke,” Megan spoke up again.
Ro blinked, mentally slapping herself for having once again become lost in her own thoughts. Meeting her friend’s knowing gaze in the mirror, Megan greeted her with a decidedly arched brow.
“Well…good.” She ignored the look. “Because after tonight, my dealings with that man are through.”
“Really?”
“Yep. I’ve told you a thousand times I have no interest in Clayton.”
“What about Brody?”
Her heart slammed against her ribs a millisecond before her pulse began to race. She’d only just decided to tell Brody she had feelings for him that went beyond friendship. Maybe.
Telling Megan, however, wasnoton tonight’s agenda.
One King sibling at a time, please.
Ro’s stomach fluttered with an unsettled feeling of dread. Meg couldn’t know. There was no way she could know. Not unless…
Had Brody already told his sister about the kiss? No, he would never do that. He’d stood in her kitchen that night and swore to never tell another living soul.
And he was nothing if not a man of his word.
“W-what about Brody?” she asked much too innocently.
Megan turned to face her directly, rather than talking through the mirror. “Seriously? Ro, how long have we been friends?”
“Since we were five, but what does that have to do with your brother?”
“It’s more about the fact that you clearly don’t trust me.”
The woman could have told her she was pregnant with a litter of puppies, and Ro wouldn’t have been as stunned she was right then. “Don’t trust… Megan, what the hell are you talking about? I trust you with my life. Always have.”
“Life, schmife.” Her friend waved the truthful sentiment away. “I’m talking about the fact that, for whatever reason, you don’t feel like you can tell me you’re in love with my brother.”
Ro’s world came to a grinding halt. “W-what? I-I don’t…I’m not…what are you—”
“Girl, please. You’ve been head over stilettos for that man for years. What I don’t understand is why you felt you had to hide it from me.”
Ro opened her mouth to vehemently deny the accusation again but pressed her lips together before they could utter another lie. Megan was right. She was her closest friend and confidant.
And since the jig was already up…
Without a word, she turned and walked over to her jewelry chest. Using her search for a few finishing touches as an excuse not to look her friend in the eyes, Ro took several long, deep breaths before confessing her most treasured secret.
“It started as an adolescent crush.” She spoke softly. “That’s why I didn’t tell you back then. We were just kids, and I was embarrassed. Even though I was pretty sure it was normal to crush on your friends’ older brothers. I just thought it was something I’d grow out of.”
She waited but continued when she realized Megan was giving her the time she needed to get it all out on her own terms.
“By the time we got to middle school, I thought I’d never get over him. But then you told me about how, after high school graduation, he was going off to boot camp. I thought…this is it! I wasfinallygoing to forget all about Brody Freaking King. And since your brother wanted to become a Navy SEAL more than anything else in the world, and the training for that would take, like, forever, I figured…by the time he finished and came back home, I’d have finally moved on.”
“But you didn’t,” Megan’s soft voice reached her ears from behind.
Ro picked up a pair of cheap costume earrings, hating that she didn’t have her mother’s to wear for the occasion, instead. “I came close once,” she admitted. “I even got to where I’d sometimes go days without thinking about him. But then my Dad’s funeral came.”
“Ah, Ro.”
“I remember standing at that damn podium, fighting my way through a eulogy that had taken the entire night before to write…” She swallowed. “I was talking about the kind of man my dad had once been. A strong, selfless man. So caring and loyal. Willing to stand up for what he believed in and ready to defend the honor of others. And I remember, as I was saying those things to a bunch of people I didn’t even know, I realized those same, amazing qualities my dad used to possess were the things I loved so much about your brother. Not because I had daddy issues.” She cringed at that. “But because those qualities were what made my dad such a good man. And they made Brody a good man, too.”