Cal can drive you. I'll follow, he signed authoritatively, and she shook her head. She didn't like that suggestion at all, not with Bryce being an uneasy driver himself, but she knew that protesting for that reason wouldn't sit too well with his pride.
"Bronwyn, you can't mean to argue with me on this matter," he said aloud. "I know you don't want to drive in this weather."
We can all go in your car, she decided. Paul can pick mine up in the morning.
He looked a little stunned by that decision but agreed quickly as if he were afraid that she would change her mind.
Cal-who was proficient in sign language and had been following the conversation-looked relieved that they had made up their minds and ushered them toward Bryce's sleek car.
"Do you think my car will be okay here?" she asked Cal worriedly as he held the car door open for them.
"Don't worry about it, ma'am, I'll have one of my guys pick it up tonight," he assured her.
"I don't want to inconvenience anybody, and this weather is atrocious."
"It's our job," Cal said with a polite smile. "We'll take care of it." Realizing that he wasn't going to bend on the matter, Bronwyn ducked her head and climbed into the back of the car; Bryce followed, his bulk taking up most of the space in the backseat. Bronwyn immediately felt boxed in, but he seemed to be aware of how uncomfortable she was, so he kept to his side of the car. Despite his attempts not to crowd her, Bronwyn was still hyperaware of his larger-than-life presence. Naturally conversation was severely limited because of the lack of light, and she tried not to squirm during the short drive from the restaurant to her new home.
She unthinkingly tried to start a conversation to alleviate the awkwardness but was immediately aware of the futility of the gesture. The words died in her throat before they had even properly formed. That left her to toy with the buckle of her seat belt, and after a few minutes of restless fidgeting, she jumped when his warm hand closed over her fingers.
He didn't say anything, merely lifted her hand to his lips and dropped a sweet kiss onto her sensitive palm. Her breath caught as she tried to see his face in the gloom, but she couldn't see anything other than the whites of his eyes. He squeezed her hand reassuringly before dropping it gently into her lap.
When they arrived at her townhouse, Cal asked her to open the electronic gates and slid the car to a smooth stop right at the front door. He dashed out to open the door on her side, and as she ducked beneath the umbrella he held up for her, she heard the other door open and saw that Bryce had exited the car as well. Before she could utter a word of protest, he had rounded the car and dismissed Cal, taking the umbrella from the other man and walking her to the front door himself. When they reached the lit porch, she turned to him with a nervous smile.
"Thanks for dinner," she said quickly, not sure what else to say really. He continued to look down at her, his handsome face and hair wet from the lashing rain. He really wasn't getting much protection from the large umbrella, focusing his attention on keeping her dry instead.
"I'm sorry if you thought I was being deceptive tonight, Bron," he said after a few long moments of silence. "That wasn't my intention."
She sighed softly.
"You definitely need a little more practice in the full-disclosure department," she conceded. He looked confused and realizing that he hadn't quite understood her, she repeated the statement-to the best of her ability-in sign language. The shadows that were lurking in his eyes cleared up at her words, and she was moved by the hope that bloomed on his face. Yes, he had gone about this the wrong way by foolishly using Kayla as a platform to launch his crazy campaign for reconciliation from, but she had to admit that she was intrigued. More than that, she couldn't deny that she had been profoundly affected by the vulnerability and shocking lack of self-confidence that he had revealed earlier. His words were hard to ignore and impossible to forget.
"I guess I'm just a sucker for punishment," she said aloud, and judging by the smile that lit up his face, he could read that without a problem. "I'm going to Pierre's birthday party on Saturday, and since Alice told me that you'll be there too, we might as well go together."
"I'd like that." His voice was thick with barely restrained excitement, and Bronwyn found that lack of cool quite sweet.
"We can work out the details later." She smiled.
"I'll fetch Kayla from Rick and Lisa's place in the morning and bring her home at the usual time," he said after an awkward pause.
"That works."
"Great."
"Okay . . ."
They stood there for an endless moment leaning toward each other, oblivious to the storm raging all around them. She stared at his mouth, knowing that it was foolish of her to want to kiss him so badly. If nothing else it was premature. Especially since this fledgling relationship that they were trying to build from scratch wasn't ready for any kind of physical intimacy yet. But Bronwyn ached for it so desperately that she could almost taste him on her lips. His head lowered, hers tilted back, and the world slowed down and . . . stopped. Her senses were so incredibly heightened that she could almost count each individual drop of rain as it hit his face and beaded in his hair and on his long eyelashes. His lips had just barely brushed against hers when the wind caught the umbrella and ripped it from his loosened grip, flipping it inside out in the process. They jerked apart abruptly, both flustered and breathing heavily. Reality shoved its way between them and quite literally dumped a shock-load of icy water all over them both. Bronwyn shuddered when she felt the freezing rain dripping down the back of her neck where the collar of her coat gaped a bit.
"You should get inside before you catch a cold," he urged, ushering her toward the door, and she nodded numbly. She messed up the security code a couple of times before he gently pushed her aside and did it for her with hands that trembled only marginally less than hers. Once he had the door opened, he turned to her, caught her face in his cold, wet hands, and kissed her unceremoniously. There was no finesse to the kiss at all, just raw passion, and Bronwyn was left feeling a little dazed and unsteady on her feet when he released her seconds later.
"Good night," he said gruffly, jerking the collar of his soaked coat to protect his already wet neck from the rain and turning to walk back to the car. She stood in the doorway and watched as he gestured at Cal to remain in the car before he climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door in one smooth movement. The car remained standing there after that, and she knew that he wouldn't leave until she stepped inside and shut the door. She waved at the dark figure in the front of the car before stepping back and shutting the door. As she watched the car head back down her driveway, she sighed and for once tried not to dwell on the definite mistakes that she had made tonight.
She really was a fool when it came to her relationship with Bryce. She made the same stupid blunders over and over again, but tonight she had seen something in him that had never been there before. She had seen resolution in his eyes as well as an unfamiliar mix of determination and vulnerability. The man she'd been married to would never have let her catch so much as a glimpse of that susceptibility before. It gave her hope.
"Hi." Bryce looked almost shy when he brought Kayla home the following evening. The little girl threw herself at Bronwyn and they reconciled like two people who had been separated for months instead of a mere day, showering each other with exaggerated hugs and kisses.
After a long and exuberant greeting, Kayla ran off to her room to check if her toys had missed her too, leaving her parents to stare at each other nervously.
"Hey." Bronwyn returned his greeting and pushed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans as she rocked back and forth on her heels. It had been raining incessantly since the night before, and Bron stared out at the dismal weather over Bryce's shoulder. He was still standing on the porch, as was his habit when he dropped Kayla off. He never came inside.
"It's freezing out there," Bronwyn observed inanely. "Do you want a hot drink?" His eyes lit up at the invitation and he nodded quickly. He turned and signed his intentions to stay at Cal, who was waiting in the car. The other man nodded and sent back an "okay" sign.
"You've done a lot with the place in such a short time," he said, looking around the homey kitchen as he sat down at the island. He watched as she bustled around the large room, preparing a pot of tea. She sat down across from him a few minutes later with the pot of tea steeping between them.
To keep her hands busy and her anxiousness at bay, she poured his tea, automatically making it the way he liked it.