My eyes caught his, and he shook his head. “It won’t happen again. It shouldn’t have happened once. Jesus! We’re supposed to be friends. I’m supposed to be protecting you for fuck’s sake.”

My heart fell to my feet.

He did regret one of the most amazing things I’d ever felt.

I tore my gaze from his. “It’s fine. It’s not like I’ve never been kissed before.”

Okay, I had been kissed. Plenty of times.

It had just never felt the way it had when Kaleb kissed me.

I’d also never felt this crushed because that very brief, intimate moment was over.

It actually really hurt that he was remorseful about the whole interlude.

“You’re supposed to be here to grieve and heal,” Kaleb rasped. “It was a stupid move on my part, and pretty damn selfish.”

Selfish?

That kind of led me to believe he had wanted that kiss on some level.

Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.

I opened my mouth to ask, but when I finally glanced at him again, Kaleb looked completely shut down emotionally.

Distant.

Elusive.

Broody.

Not the same Kaleb I knew and adored.

“We’d better head back,” he said stiffly. “My mother is expecting us for dinner.”

I’d happily accepted that dinner invitation because I really wanted to meet Millie Remington.

He waved toward the horses, indicating that he wanted me to lead the way.

As usual, he was watching my back.

Let it go, Anna. Maybe it was a mistake for Kaleb.

Because he acted like he wanted to forget that the kiss ever happened, I stayed silent and headed back toward Bella.

That kiss wasn’t an experience I was ever going to forget, but if that was what he wanted, I’d try my best to pretend that it had never happened.

He’d done so much for me.

He’d gone out of his way to help me, and we were friends.

I owed him that consideration.

I’d try to pretend that kiss was nothing.

The problem was, I knew I would never forget being that close to Kaleb, no matter how hard I tried.

Kaleb