Free Winning the Right Brother by Abigail Strom

stop being ‘Little Miss Perfect’ or whatever else you called me. Not to mention you spent two years telling me what a jerk Brian was. You couldn’t wait to say I told you so. And then you hit the jackpot. You found out I was pregnant and you came straight to my house to rub my face in it.”
    Alex’s jaw tightened as he remembered that night. His stammered, eager proposal and her scornful rejection. “I asked you to marry me, Holly.”
    Holly laughed bitterly, turning her eyes away. “Right, of course. What better way to point out the fact that I was going to be an unwed mother?”
    Alex strode forward and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders.
    “Holly, I asked you to marry me because I wanted to take care of you and the baby you were going to have. I wanted to kill Brian for turning his back on you—and when I thought about how scared you must be—”
    “You didn’t want to miss it, right? You wanted a front row seat.”
    “Stop saying that! I wanted to help you. You didn’t want my help. You’re so damn stubborn, so determined to be independent at all costs, sitting up on that pedestal where you don’t need anything from anyone—”
    “And you’d like nothing better than to knock me offthat pedestal. Right?” She cocked her head to the side and tilted her chin up, as if presenting an easy target. “So take your best shot.”
    He stared at her. With her breath coming hard and fast and her fists clenched at her sides, she definitely looked like a woman on the edge. “Listen to me, Holly. You’re in shock right now with everything that happened tonight, and I know this isn’t about me. But you have to believe I can’t stand seeing you in pain. You want the truth? It’s just about killing me. Even back in high school I never wanted to hurt you. Not really.”
    “Is that right?” Holly said softly. Her face was in the shadows, but by some trick of the light her eyes were glittering like a cat’s. “You never wanted to hurt me. Well, that’s interesting. Because you did.” Her voice was trembling and she took a breath. “You’ve always hurt me, Alex. But now I’m going to hurt you. ”
    He saw the punch coming before she threw it. He saw it coming, and he didn’t even try to defend himself.
    “Mmff,” he said as she connected with his jaw.
    His plan was just to absorb the punishment until Holly had burned off whatever steam she needed to. What the hell, he thought with grim humor, if this was what she needed right now at least he could give it to her. He’d never been able to give her anything else.
    But after that one wild swing, Holly stared at him in horror. Her hand went to her mouth. “Alex,” she said, her voice breaking. “Oh, God, Alex, I’m so sorry.”
    “It’s okay, Holly,” he said quickly.
    “Alex, I—”
    “Don’t worry,” he said, hoping she wouldn’t feel guilty about this on top of everything else. “You’ve had a rough night and you were burning off some steam.I’ve already forgotten all about it. Or at least I will when the feeling comes back to my face.”
    “No,” Holly said with sudden determination. “You have to let me apologize. Not just for punching you, although that was bad, but for the things I said…the horrible things I said.”
    Tears welled up in her eyes and Alex couldn’t stand it. He did what he’d been wanting to do since he’d first found her tonight. He gathered her into his arms, holding her tight, murmuring something wordless and soothing into her hair.
    He was amazed at how perfectly they fit together. He found himself wishing he could protect her like this forever, shielding her from the world with his body, so that nothing would ever hurt her again.
    And this time she relaxed into him.
    “Why do we do it?” she was asking, her voice muffled against his chest but still audible. She pulled her head back slightly, enough so she could look up at him. Her face was streaked with dirt and blood and tears, and her hair smelled like