Page 77 of Big Girl Panties

"I never would have come and talked to you because I didn't want a relationship. I wanted meaningless hookups arranged by my teammates, knowing there were no strings attached. Knowing I didn't have to worry about getting hurt again after..." I swallowed hard. "After my ex."

"So what was your plan that night?" Her voice was sharp now, cutting. "Lead me on? Take me home? Sleep with me and disappear? What was the plan, Matt?"

"I don't know what my plan was," I admitted, the words feeling like broken glass in my throat. "But I've never lied to you. Ever. I never would have led you on. The moment I started talking to you, everything changed. The bet became irrelevant."

"I can't do this." She moved toward the door, and panic flooded my system.

"Don't let something so insignificant ruin what we have."

"Insignificant?" She whirled around, and I saw the exact moment her hurt transformed into rage. "Matt, we had trust. That's gone. I feel like an idiot. Like everyone's been laughing at me behind my back for months."

She walked to the door and pulled it open. "You should go." She stared straight ahead, not looking at me.

I didn't want to leave. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to stay, to fight harder, to not give up. But I could also see that she was overwhelmed, hurt, and probably barely holding herself together.

"I'll go," I said quietly, walking toward the door. "But this isn't over, Brooke."

I stopped in front of her, close enough to smell her perfume, close enough to see the tears she was fighting back. "This isn't how our love story ends. This is just the part where the guy has to prove he's worthy of the girl. And I'm going to prove it."

I stepped outside, and she closed the door behind me. Not quite a slam, but definitely not gentle.

"Well," I said to the empty hallway, my voice echoing off the walls. "That could have gone better."

I had no idea how to fix this, but I was determined to do whatever it took. Even if it killed me.

Chapter 32

Operation: Stop Being a Disaster

I stood on Niko's front porch like a man facing my execution, except instead of a guillotine, I was staring at a cheerful yellow door that seemed to mock my misery. The sound of kids laughing echoed from inside. My finger hovered over the doorbell for a solid thirty seconds before I finally pressed it.

I didn't want to be here. I wanted to sit in a dark room with nothing but Netflix and my wounded pride until I figured out how to win back the woman who'd stolen my heart and then rightfully kicked me to the curb. I missed her. God, I missed her so much it felt like someone had rearranged my internal organs just for fun, and the worst part was knowing it was all my fault she was gone.

But after Niko's sixth call, I finally answered, and he refused to take no for an answer when I told him I couldn't come by today.

"It's about…" Niko's face lit up when he opened the door, but his smile did that thing where it slowly deflated when he got a good look at me. "You look like you've wrestled a bear and lost." His brows pulled together with the kind of concern usually reserved for natural disasters. "What happened to you?"

I shook my head before stepping inside, bumping his shoulder with mine as I brushed past him with all the grace of a depressed rhinoceros. "Nothing," I sighed, which was obviously a big lie. I strolled into his living room, which looked like Barbie and My Little Pony had thrown the world's most colorful tantrum. "What did you need help with?"

"Hey, Matt," Leilani called from the kitchen.

Lilly and Rose rushed in through the kitchen door like tiny, enthusiastic torpedoes, wrapping their little bodies around my legs. "Uncle Matt!" they both shouted with the kind of pure joy that made my broken heart hurt even more.

"Hey girls," was all I could muster as I patted them both on their backs, trying not to let my crisis rub off on them.

"I have your and Brooke's invitation to Lilly's birthday party." Leilani appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She took one look at me and her eyes went wide. "Whoa." Her gaze raked over me like I was a particularly tragic before photo. "What happened to you?"

I huffed an exasperated breath, realizing I had to tell them. "Brooke broke up with me."

Her eyes went wide. "What did you do?"

Niko cut her a look that screamed subtle as a brick, and she shrugged like she was just asking the obvious question.

"Something really stupid," I admitted, because honesty was apparently my new thing now that I'd lost everything that mattered. All because I didn't just tell her the freaking truth.

"Brooke is broken?" Rose asked.

"Girls, Leilani called out. "Why don't we go outside to play and let Daddy and Uncle Matt chat?"