Page 71 of What If We Break?
Reece chuckled. His right hand slowly slid down the front of my body and only stopped to press it flat over my heart, feeling it beating heavily. I didn’t even notice it was racing.
“You didn’t know.”
“I didn’t,” I admitted. Yes, I knew Dad wasn’t exactly surprised when I told him Reece was my boyfriend, and he later told me that they all figured it was going to happen, but I didn’t know they said this.
“Then if you didn’t know,mi princesa, why would you think they made you love me?”
“I don’t know…” I covered his hand with my own. “Maybewewere too young to realize. Maybe they were being sneaky with pushing us closer together. Or maybe not that sneaky but we were too gullible and too naive to view you being around me all the time as their attempt of?—”
“Brooke.” Reece spun me around, laying his hands on my jaw to make me look at him. “I begged Colin to let me see you, even at the youngest age possible. I even begged your dad to let me go on vacation with your family when I was ten. We weren’t dating then. If anyone was being pushy, it was me, not our families. Was there ever a day your dad told you that youhadto see me? Or that youhadto join the hockeyteam to spend more time with me when we were younger? Did your dad tell you that youhadto quit Juilliard and transfer to St. Trewery?”
“Well, no, but?—”
“And trust me,mi amor, your parents, my brother, or anyone else didn’t force me to step in for Erik either. Or try figure skating. My dad and Colin drew the line when I told them I wanted to take ballet classes so we could spendevenmore time together.”
A laugh bubbled in the back of my throat, but I didn’t want to laugh so I tried my best to swallow it. “I couldn’t imagine you wearing tights and pointe shoes,” I said instead.
Reece’s eyebrows drew together. “I would’ve looked hot in them.”
My lips pressed into a thin line, the laughter now barely staying inside. “Mhm… sure.”
“Uh, are you forgetting that I have to squeeze my muscly-self into a tight as fuck figure skating costume? That’s basically the same, and I look hot in that thing.” His thumbs brushed over my skin, a smile tugging on the corners of his lips. “Not as hot as you, though.”
“It’s notthattight. We sized you up.”
“Yeah, so I don’t actually have to suffocate,” he said matter-of-factly. “Or would you rather I die on the ice? In your arms? In front of a crowd? On camera?”
“Now you’re being dramatic.” I stepped away from Reece, aiming to do anything but continue to look at him but he reached for my hand and pulled me back.
His eyes lingered on my engagement ring for a moment longer than usual for him. When he looked up again, all the playfulness from a second ago was gone—his gaze serious.
“You really don’t have to worry about what Rina said, Brookie. We know what’s true, we know that what we feel foreach other is real. Just because Rina can’t understand it doesn’t mean we’re not meant for each other,” he said, then placed a kiss on my knuckles.
“So then we are boring. So we like to spend our time at home, talking, cuddling, and watching stupid movies we’ve seen a thousand times before. What’s so wrong with that? We don’t need parties and alcohol to enjoy the time we spend with each other. And, yeah, okay, perhaps we could go out onofficialdates more often, but we never did that. We still go out to restaurants, and I take you shopping, and we go to the movies, or do other stuff. It’s just that these things are forus, and we don’t share those moments with anyone. Just because we don’t call it a date every time we go out doesn’t mean it’s not that. And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be comfortable withyouthan date another woman every other day,” he added.
A relieved sigh drew from my lungs, followed by a tear that rolled down my cheek. Reece immediately cupped my face with his hands and stroked his thumbs underneath my eyes, wiping away my tears.
“Why are we crying? Did I say something wrong?” he asked, worry in his voice. His eyes were filled with panic, but it quickly vanished when I shook my head and smiled at him softly.
“No. God, no. You’re perfect, Reece,” I said. “Like, seriously, sometimes I’m not sure what I did to deserve you. You’re too good to be true. It’s as if I made you watch too many of those princess movies I used to love when I was younger. Then you took all the princes’ personalities, threw them in a bowl, mixed them, and injected the mixture into your bloodstream to become the ultimate prince.”
His eyebrows rose. “Usedto love?” A chuckle slipped past his lips. “You’re still making me watch them. You barelymake it a whole day without watching a single movie with a princess in it.”
“They’re educational.” I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away from him.
“What exactly is a Sleeping Beauty remake teaching you?”
“Uhm…” My eyes were back on my fiancé as I slowly took a step back because I knew I’d have to act fast once my next words left me. “That all men care about are looks. Prince Phillip basically fell in love with a corpse. So, it teaches that looks matter.”
“Because that’s whatpicture-perfectmovies should teach little girls.”
Reece would’ve fallen in love with me even if I hadn’t had great genes, I knew that. Yet, I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “Well, I found my Prince Phillip, didn’t I?”
Reece’s jaw dropped and a gasp fell from his lips. “Excuse me?” He took a step forward, I stepped back.
“You’re excused.”
I grabbed a candle off the table beside me, threw it at my fiancé, and immediately started running for my life.
