Page 50 of Closer

I cannot do this. I can not feel that way about him. I refuse. He’s a job. I will leave soon with enough money to take care of my family, and I need to remember that’s the reason I’m here. I need to focus on making music and only music with him.

“Brie?”

“Yes.”

“You’re staring.” His lips tip up in the corners, as if he knows what I’m thinking.

“I am not.”

He chuckles, a deep throaty laugh that reverberates through my insides and maddens me to no end. “It’s okay, AFG. You can admit you want me.”

“You’re ridiculous.” I stand and set my cello back in its case and slam the lid. Packing up my bow and rosin in order to make a hasty exit. I’ve had about all I can take from this man tonight.

“Ridiculous doesn’t make me wrong,” he calls, as I walk through the ballroom doors and slam them behind me. It’s true. I had been staring. I’d looked at Levi as if I were seeing him for the first time, and I had no right to look upon him that way.

He is a job. Nothing more.

You cannot lose your heart, Brielle. I tell myself this as I pace the room. Then I realise I am fine. I’m safe, because you cannot lose your heart if you no longer have one.

We should both know that by now.