Undercover Bromance

He slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her firmly against him until she was molded against his chest. “Do you feel that?”

“Uh, is this where I’m supposed to say, is that a baseball bat in your pants, or . . . ?”

He ignored her sarcasm. “I’m talking about my heart, Liv.”

He felt her breath catch before she exhaled quickly. “It’s

racing,” she whispered.

He lowered his forehead to rest against the back of her head. “It’s been like this since the minute you kissed me in that bar, and I can’t get it to stop.”

“Do—do you want it to stop?”

“Only if yours doesn’t race too.”

“There’s a big difference between romancing someone and loving someone.”

He was the founder of the damn book club but the only one who’d never experienced the real thing

“I mean, I admire you for trying to get past all her bullshit, Mack. Because that girl . . .” Gavin shook his head and let out a hoo-boy. “She makes it awfully hard to love her.”

Mack had heard enough and shot to his feet. “Gavin, out of respect for our friendship, I am going to give you exactly one second to take that back before I break your fucking face.”

Gavin cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“That is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard. Liv is the easiest person to love I’ve ever known. She’s funny and smart and kind and brave, and if you spent any time actually getting to know her, you’d see that her sarcasm is just a way to push people away before she gets hurt. It’s all a front for a mushy heart that’s afraid of being broken. If you can’t see that, you don’t deserve to have her in your life.”

“I used the bullshit about your name as an excuse because I was scared. Because I knew I was on the verge of falling in love with you, and that’s never happened to me before.”

He broke into one of those grins, the kind that told her everything was going to be okay. “Well, hell, darling. Maybe we should just give it a try.”

Her heart pounded. “Give what a try?”

“Don’t you think it’s high time you and I fell in love?”

Something broke in her chest that spread warmth and joy and safety. Happiness coursed through her as she rose on tiptoes to brush her lips across his. “Hey, Braden?”

He dipped for another kiss. “Hmmm?”

“I already have fallen in love with you.”

“Good,” he laughed quietly, his breath warm against her lips. “Because so have I.”

Mack grabbed Liv’s hand. “They’ll explain it,” he said, nodding at the guys. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a happy ever after to start.”

“History was built by thousands of women who thought they were just housewives or just secretaries or just seamstresses until the day they got fed up and decided to fight back.”

Liv obeyed and lifted her gaze. Rosie’s eyes were warm, loving, proud. “Whatever was broken in that person, it was their wound.” Rosie’s thumb brushed away a tear. “You don’t have to carry the scar of it for them anymore. You’re allowed to let it go, Liv. All of it. Let yourself be loved and let it go.”