Free Let Love Heal (The Love Series) by Melissa Collins

time with a girl.
    Unless you really like her.
    God, I’m an idiot.
    He walks me over to the couch and we sit facing one another. Pulling my hands into his, his eyes soften and he grins a silly smile. “It was right after that first week. When I saw your schedule at the lab, I realized that I would only get to see you for one shift. So I changed things around and begged Simon to switch with me. You kept refusing to see me outside of class, so I did the only thing I could think of to make you see me.”
    An involuntary chuckle passes my lips. “You have to admit you did come on pretty strong that first week, though.” Now it’s my turn to arch my eyebrow at him.
    “Yeah, okay. I’ll admit that showing up to your suite to pick you up for work when you hadn’t even told me where you lived was a bit stalker-ish.” As timid as his words may be, his mega-watt smile fully conveys just how proud he is at trying to prove to me that he’s interested.
    “Okay, so stalker-like tendencies aside, can you please explain to me what just happened with Courtney? I mean, if you don’t want to be with her,” he opens his mouth to start saying the same thing he’s tried explaining time and time again when it comes to Courtney, but I just talk through it. “If you don’t want to be with her, then what the hell was that ear-licking about?”
    Frustration sets in hard on his face. “We’ve been over this so many times, Melanie. I do not want her!” His last few words are harshly emphasized as he glares at me. Clearly distraught by the turn in the conversation, Bryan rakes both of his hands through his hair and pulls hard on the ends. Lifting his face back to mine, I can tell he’s still pissed.
    Hell, I can be angry too. “Don’t you dare look at me like that, Bryan! I’ve told you before, that I don’t like her, yet you think her walking up to you and licking you is perfectly fine!? Come to think of it, whenever I’m around you, she’s always there. What the hell! None of it makes sense. I still don’t …”
    “What? Let me guess, you don’t know why I would want you when I could have ‘a girl like her.’” His words mock the insecurities that I’ve shared with him. Damn him for using them against me, for throwing them in my face.
    “You’re being a dick! How dare you use that against me! Excuse me for being too stupid to understand why on Earth you want me when she’s skinnier and prettier than I’ll ever be.” Tears burn the back of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I may be pissed that he’s using my own words against me, but I won’t let him see me be weak.
    I don’t let anyone see that Melanie.
    Frantically pacing the small living room, Bryan is practically pulling his hair out of his scalp. We don’t say anything for a few minutes. It’s “do or die” time. We’ve clearly reached an impasse and, honestly, I’m being too stubborn to move.
    Just when I think he’s going to storm off and leave me alone to wallow in my own sadness, Bryan’s eyes lock with mine as he walks toward me. I can see that the fight has left his body and I’m sure that he’s just going to say goodbye. No one, especially not me, is worth this kind of frustration.
    Bracing myself for the inevitable blow of his goodbye, I wrap my arms around myself and blink back more tears. I’m more than surprised when, rather than pushing me away and saying goodbye, he’s pulling me into a tight embrace and cooing into my ear. “Shh. It’s okay, Melanie.” The tender way that his fingers run through my hair calms me almost instantly. Pulling back from him and looking into his obviously concerned eyes, I decide that I finally need to expose my insecurities, at least some of them, especially if I ever have any hope of laying them to rest.
    Breaking from his embrace and holding my arms to the side, I ask, almost sarcastically, “Are you sure this is what you want?” I drag my arms up and down my body, much like one of those