Hunks: Opposites Attract (20 page)

“Brian, I would love to see you more after we leave here,” Sapphire told him. “Nothing else would make me happier.”

Pulling her to him, he cupped Sapphire’s face in his hands. “You don’t care about our differences in careers? You’ll always have more money than me.”

“I’m not judgmental and I will never be. I date a man for who he is and not what he can or can’t do for me.”

Relief washed over Brian at Sapphire’s acceptance of him. She wasn’t going to hold his lack of career or not being her equal against him. She was the woman he wanted in his life for now and always.

“Do you know how amazing you are?” he asked. Right then and there, Brian knew whatever it took, he would find a way to make Sapphire his wife. “I feel like I can open up to you about anything without being judged. Most of the time, I keep things to myself because I’m a pretty private person. I don’t like everyone knowing everything about me. I hope I make you feel as comfortable. Whatever you want to tell me, I’m here to listen.”

****

Sapphire never felt so bad in her entire life. She couldn’t tell Brian now. Not after the heart felt speech he just gave about her honesty and being able to look past his lack of money to the man beneath the surface. If she confessed to him about the hunks challenge now she would look like a damn liar and she wasn’t about to lose him for anything.

How could she get through this weekend without Brian figuring out something was wrong? He could read her emotions pretty well after only knowing her for such a short period of time.

“Sapphire, are you listening to me?” Blinking a couple of times, she found Brian grinning at her. The corner of his eyes crinkled making his dark eyes sparkle even more.

“No, I was daydreaming. Sorry,” she apologized.

“I told you that I was ready to hear what you had to tell me. It seemed very important. I should have let you go first, but I got a little ahead of myself.”

“It was nothing,” Sapphire lied.
Please God. Don’t let this come back to bite me.

A frown marred Brian’s smooth forehead. “Are you sure? You really acted like you couldn’t wait to tell me.”

“Sweetheart, it was nothing at all. Why don’t we just sit in front of the fireplace and relax for a little while. This is supposed to be a mini-vacation for the both of us. Why aren’t we acting like it?”

Resting his back against the couch, Brian pulled her against him so her back was pressed against his chest and his arms were around her waist. “I could stay with you like this for the rest of the day. It’s going to be hard to find moments like this with each other when we both get back to work, but I know we can do it.”

“Hey, if Nash and Shauntie can make it work with their schedules then I know we can do it too,” Sapphire agreed, snuggling closer pushing aside the fact she still hadn’t been completely honest with Brian. When the time was right, she would tell him and anyways, it wasn’t like it was a big deal.

Didn’t Shauntie tell her that Nash forgave her, so why wouldn’t Brian overlook this little deception on her part? What they had going on was too good to throw away over something like her blog and the challenge.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Pulling off the highway, Emerald drove down the road that would take her to Shauntie’s getaway hideaway. She had tried numerous times to get Sapphire on the phone but without any luck. So, she decided to make a trip to her friend’s house to see if Sapphire was in the mood for a spur of the moment shopping trip.

On the drive to Sapphire’s house Emerald was very excited about spending the day with someone since it was the first day she’d gotten off in a while. Things at work were so hectic. She’d been working almost sixteen hours a day.

However, when she arrived there Sapphire wasn’t even at home. She already knew Shauntie was in New York with Nash to celebrate New Year’s Eve as a couple, but Sapphire hadn’t mentioned going anywhere.

Thank God, one of Sapphire’s neighbors caught her before she drove off and was nice enough to tell her where Sapphire was staying. She should have known Sapphire would have gone somewhere. Why didn’t she think of the cottage? Sapphire loved being out there with all of the wildlife.

Emerald made another left turn at the end of the road. She knew Sapphire would be so shocked to see her way out here. The wilderness, Bambi, Flower and the other Disney woodland creatures weren’t at all on the top of her list of things to see today. She would rather be at a spa getting a massage.

Being out this far from anyone was too much for her, she was too much of a people person to put herself away from the rest of the world. However, here she was looking for something to do since she wasn’t having any luck finding her hunk.

Sure, her deadline hadn’t passed yet, but it was fast approaching and she was getting nervous. Emerald was woman enough to admit she was jealous at how fast Shauntie found Nash. She should have been first. Shit! It was her plan. At least, Sapphire hadn’t found anyone.

Pulling up in front of the cottage, Emerald got out of the car shivering when the cool air hit her. Why hadn’t she brought a warmer jacket with her? She took a quick glance at the second car parked next to Sapphire’s and then brushed it off. Right at this very second she was more concerned about getting inside than finding out who it belonged to at the moment.

She was dying to be back in the city instead of out here with the cold and God knows what else. Running up the stairs Emerald knocked on the door and then jogged in place praying that Sapphire was in there instead of back in town buying something.

The minutes seemed to drag on before the door was finally opened by Sapphire looking like she just rolled out of bed.

“Sapphire, what are you still doing in bed this late in the day?” Emerald complained, brushing past her stunned friend. “Aren’t you usually working on that blog of yours that you’re so obsessed with?”

Emerald stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of perfectly cut abs before a shirt was pulled down over them. She stared at the very handsome man with thick, dark brown hair and a killer pair of gray eyes. He just looked at her then back at Sapphire.

“Who in the hell are you?” Emerald sputtered, “and do you have a brother?” Emerald barely heard the front door closing behind her before Sapphire was standing next to her trying to fix her disheveled hair into a semi reasonable look.

“Emerald, what are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?” Sapphire asked.

“I went by your house to see if you wanted to go shopping, but you weren’t home and one of your neighbors told me you decided to come all the way out here. They didn’t mention you’d brought along some company.”

Looking away from the man by the fireplace, Emerald gave Sapphire her full attention. “Are you going to tell me who he is? First, Shauntie ends up finding her hunk to win her end of the challenge and now it seems like you’re well on your way to doing the same thing. New Year’s Eve is coming fast. I have to tell you the guy you picked for your hunks bet is amazingly hot! I think you’re going to win faster than Shauntie.”

“Emerald, shut up!” Sapphire shouted, scared.

****

Sapphire stood next to Emerald in stunned silence as Brian’s eyes glanced at her friend then back at her in pure confusion. She could tell he was trying to figure out what was going on.

Why did Emerald have to show up now? Right at the moment, Sapphire hated Emerald more than anything in the world. How could she ever think they were friends? After giving it some more thought, she was all set to tell Brian the truth over dinner tonight but Emerald and her big mouth came along ripping the chance from her hands with her ‘speak first and think last’ personality.

Her stomach churned with fearful anxiety as Brian moved around the couch and stood directly in front of her. Nobody had to tell her that the bomb was about to drop. There was a long, brittle silence as Sapphire waited for Brian to speak.

“What is she talking about, Sapphire?” Brian asked, in a low controlled voice.

“It’s nothing,” Sapphire denied. “Emerald was only running her mouth but she’s going to leave.”

Sapphire reached out to grab Emerald by the arm, but Brian stopped her. “No, let her stay. I don’t care about her being here. I want an answer to my question and please don’t lie to me.”

She closed her eyes, her heart aching with pain at what she was about to do. Sapphire tried to think of a way out of this but she couldn’t. Brian wouldn’t let it go until he got the answers he wanted from her.

“I can’t do it,” she whispered.

“The hell you can’t. Tell me what’s going on. Hell, if Emerald is lying then explain what she’s lying about. I only want to know what all of this is about.” His expression was very hard to read as he watched her.

“Several weeks ago, Emerald, Shauntie and I were having drink during one our girls nights out. We were talking about how we were fed up dating men who weren’t into us and would rather be focusing their attention on their careers.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Brian continued to watch her with an unblinking stare. “Go on. Tell me more. I know you’re leaving out a lot of things.”

“Baby, how about we talk about this another time.” Sapphire reached out to touch Brian and her heart broke when he took a step back.

“No. Finish telling me.”

A pain squeezed at her heart at the thought of losing Brian forever because of this. Sapphire glance at Emerald and noticed how she wouldn’t meet her eyes. Oh, now her motor mouth friend wanted to look away and not tell the world about her stupid idea.

“Sapphire...”

Swinging her eyes back over to Brian, Sapphire took a deep breath then continued. “Emerald suggested we should date men who weren’t as rich as us. She thought they would know how to respect us more since they wouldn’t be in competition with us.”

Brian shot Emerald a look, but she ignored him as well. “I know there’s more so tell me.”

“She gave us all deadlines to find our men and the one who did it the fastest would win. I never thought of it as a bet, but I guess Emerald did.”

“What were the deadlines for the three of you?” Dark gray eyes pinned her to the spot and Sapphire knew she was one step closer to losing this wonderful man in front of her.

“
Please
...let’s just stop this. I mean it isn’t going to get us anywhere.” Tears blinded her eyes and choked her voice.

Brian was seemingly unmoved by her tears. “No.”

“Shauntie’s deadline was Christmas. Emerald’s deadline is Valentine’s Day and mine is...”

She couldn’t do it. Sapphire couldn’t say the words Brian wanted to hear.

“You don’t have to tell me. I already know. Your deadline is New Year’s Eve which is your favorite holiday. Am I right?” Brian demanded. “But there’s even more you’ve been keeping from me, isn’t there. You have a blog. What kind of blog is it?”

“I won’t tell you.”

“Either you’ll tell me or your good friend here will. I deserve to know the truth especially after the way I opened my heart to you earlier.”

Sapphire replayed every single thing her and Brian had done with each other since coming to the cabin and it might not have been much, but the last few days were the best in her life. How could she taint them by telling Brian about her blog? He might have been able to get over the ‘bet’ Emerald tossed at them. However, he wouldn’t forgive her for writing about him on the internet. Why had she done it? Why didn’t she think it through more before she typed that first sentence?

“This is your last chance to come clean with me,” Brian warned her and the honesty in his words filled the room.

Her thoughts quickly filtered back to the day she’d met Brian and how things had changed so fast between them. Just a few hours ago, she was happy and planning a future with him. Now, all of that was gone because she hadn’t told him the truth before Emerald showed up at the door.

“I have a personal blog called
Sapphire’s World
and I write about different things going on in my life. I mean we live in a reality world now and everyone wants to know what the other person is doing behind their closed doors.”

A muscle flickered angrily in Brian’s jaw as it began to set in what she was telling him. More tears poured down her cheeks as the love she used to see on his face slowly faded away right before her eyes.

“You wrote about us on your blog didn’t you?” Brian shoved his hands into his pockets, his shoulders hunched forward as he shook his head. “I can’t believe this is happening to me. I thought you were so different, but you aren’t.”

A hot distraught tear trickled down her cheek as she watched Brian turn away from her and make his way towards the stairs. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“Do you really need me to draw a picture for you?” Brian tossed back over his shoulder as he headed up the stairs. “I’m leaving. I can’t stay here with you. God, it’s bad enough I was only being used to fulfill a bet, but you had to embarrass me more by placing it on the internet. What is wrong with you?”

Sapphire flinched when Brian went into his room slamming the door closed behind him. A flash of wild grief ripped through her as she dropped to the ground covering her face with her hands. She ached with an inner pain that she knew would never be healed.

“Sapphire, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I just was so surprised to see Brian here and my mouth just...You know how I can be. Let me talk to him. I can make him see this was all my idea. I know I can fix this.” Emerald pleaded touching her on the shoulder.

“Don’t touch me,” Sapphire shouted hating the sound of her former friend’s voice. “Get out of here. I don’t want to see you. Leave me alone.”

“Sweetie, I don’t think you should be alone after Brian leaves. You need someone here with you.”

Raising her head, Sapphire glared at Emerald so hard that she took a step back. “Yes, I might need someone but that person sure in the hell isn’t you. NOW GET OUT!!!”

“Okay, I’ll give you time to calm down and then I’ll call you after I get back home. If we use our heads, I know we can come up with a way to get you back together with Brian,” Emerald said, watching her then she turned and went out the door.