Page 103 of Enticing Her Love

“Yeah!” Jules barked. “Nobody hurts our sister and gets away with it.” She slapped the umbrella in her palm.

Sutton turned to look at her. “What are you going to do with that? Hold it over him in case it rains?”

“Leni took the only good weapon! But I can use this.” Jules swung the umbrella like a bat, and it opened, causing her to squeal and wrestle it closed.

“Jules!” Leni barked.

Flynn tried to keep a straight face.

Joey stomped over to Sutton, shooting him a death stare. “Aunt Sutton doesn’t need you to get her fired. She can do that on her own! Why don’t you climb back into that body bag and leave her alone before I get my daddy to beat you up.”

“Joey!” Tara chided her.

“Yeah, go away, you meanie!” Hadley sported that killer scowl he’d heard about.

“Hadley!” Daphne leaned down, speaking quietly to her daughter.

Flynn held up his hands. “I don’t want to get your aunt Sutton fired, and I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“Right. I wasn’t meant to find your notes,” Sutton snapped. “Why did you pretend to believe in me and say all those nice things about my reporting skills?” Her voice escalated, eyes glistening with tears, gutting him anew. “Why did you act like you really liked me? Is this some kind of sick game for you? Leading women on and then secretly shooting them down?”

“Sutton, I would never pretend to have feelings for you, and I complimented your reporting skills because you’re a phenomenal reporter and I believe you’re going to be a better journalist than all your idols put together.”

“Stop. Just stop lying already,” she seethed.

“Babe.” He stepped forward, and so did Leni, lifting the golf club. He held his arms out, palms up. “You can hit me with that thing as many times as you want, but I’m going to say what I have to say to your sister.” He returned his attention to Sutton. “I told you that I would never lie to you, and I meant it. You’ll know if I ever lie. All Bradens suck at lying. I’m talking universal suckage. If I were to lie to you, I’d get all twitchy and forget what I was saying. But that’s not why I won’t lie to you. I won’t lie to you because I respect you too much, and I care about you too deeply, to ever try to pull the wool over your eyes about anything. I never denied that I wanted you gone when we first started working together. I worried your lack of experience would sink the show, and that show was my baby.”

“Bastard,” Leni fumed.

Ignoring that comment, Flynn didn’t take his eyes off Sutton. “But you chipped away at those misconceptions, rising to every challenge, and as I told you in the rainforest, I learned that the harder I pushed you, the harder you’d push yourself to go above and beyond what’s expected. You’ve already surpassed reporters who have far more experience than you do.” He saw some of the tension easing from her shoulders. “Babe, I am truly sorry that I hurt you by making that list. But as someone who lives by her pros and cons lists, I’m hoping you’ll understand why I made it. I make lists, too. But as a survivalist, I analyze situations to see how I can be one step ahead at all times. I make lists about what I have to work on to get there. I wrote that list after you told me your goal. Not because I don’t believe in you, but because I do. It’s my job as your boyfriend to help you achieve your dreams. To me that means helping you hone your skills to become the best damn journalist that ever walked this earth.”

“I love that. You were trying to help her,” Jules said, and others murmured their agreement.

Tears slid down Sutton’s cheek as he took another step, bringing them close enough to touch. “You’re a force of nature, sweetheart. But you’re human, like the rest of us. We’re always learning and growing, and nobody gets to be the best without the help of others. If you don’t want me to be one of the people who helps you, then tell me and I promise I’ll back off. But please don’t end us because I made the mistake of wanting to help you.”

“It hurt to find that list,” she said shakily and angrily.

“I’m truly sorry. I should have talked with you to see if you wanted my help, and if you did, then I should have made the list with you, not for you. I adore you, Sutton, and I love us and what we’re building together. I swear on my grandfather’s life that I have no secret agenda.”

Her brow furrowed, and the trust he’d seen in her eyes so many times over the past month rose to the surface.

“It hurt like hell to find those gifts you left behind, and I know you well enough to know that leaving them hurt you, too. That tells me how bad I screwed up. I’m sorry, Sutton. I want to be with you. I want to cheer you on as you climb your mountains. But if you need time to make a decision about whether you want to be with me, to write up a pros and cons list or talk with your army of defenders about it, that’s okay. I’ll wait as long as it takes, because you’re worth waiting for.”

A collective “aw” and a symphony of sniffles rang out around them.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and the energy rolling off her was no longer heavy with anger. “I don’t need to make a list or talk to anyone to know I want to be with you. I’m sorry I assumed the worst, but that was a horrible, hurtful list.”

“No, it wasn’t. It was horrible that you found out about it the way you did, and it was hurtful because we’re our own worst critics, and you’re so smart, you probably already knew those were things you had to work on. Seeing it coming from me is what hurt.”

She looked up at the sky, blinking against tears.

“But that list was not a judgment. I’m on your side, Sutton. That was a list of things we could work on together to get you where you want to be. And it hurt, and that sucks. But I told you I’m not a mollycoddler. I’m a results guy, and you’re my girl. I want you to succeed, but from now on I will not do anything like that without asking first.”

“You better not.”

“I won’t.” He reached for her hand. “We’re both used to being on our own, and we’re learning how to communicate and trust and navigate our relationship while hiding it half the time. That’s not easy. Hiding, even from others, builds mistrust, so I’m going to work extra hard to prove to you that you can trust me on every level. But if I can’t make lists, then you need to promise you will make them.”

“Why?”