page53 (1/2)

They ate in silence for a few minutes

“Do you have any thoughts about who it could be?” Bree asked

It felt like a now-or-never situation “I don’t have any suspicions, but I wanted to ask you about Lucas Brewer Has he ever shown an interest in you? Romantically, I mean”

Bree sat back in her chair, lifting her shades as she watched Nance taking her duckling brood for a stroll across the grass She appeared to be surprised by the question “Lucas? No, I can’t say Ifor coffee once or twice, but just in a friendly way You can’t think it’s him?”

“I’ anyone out” He kept his voice casual “Did you take him up on his offer?”

“For coffee? No” She brought her gaze back to Rylan’s face He could see her struggling to find the right words “I’ve only had two relationships and both times I found out they were more interested in the fact that I’m a Colton than in me as a person It’s made me careful”

Rylan wanted to close his eyes and shut out the pain he could see in her face It was obvious how hard it was for her to talk about this, and he knew that telling him, of all people, was even worse Because she hadn’t been careful with hi herself to him freely and happily She had trusted hi to do so

“Even though I didn’t think there was any romantic intention behind Lucas’s offer, I decided it was better to be cautious”

“That’s no way to live your life” Rylan didn’t want to be Lucas Brewer’s advocate He just couldn’t bear the thought of Bree—beautiful, vibrant Bree—weighing every situation and deciding it wasn’t worth taking a chance

Then I ca and made it worse

Rylan hadn’t been with her because of her ile self-esteem and smashed it into tiny pieces Bree didn’t answer, but her steady gaze told hiether with her question about whether they’d had sex while she was drunk, was like holding up a mirror to his already shattered self-belief