Page 61 of His Off-Limits Christmas Gift

“Why can’t you say why he dumped you?” she said.

Each time she nearly shouted it, she pushed me further and further to growling and just blurting out the truth.

But I couldn’t. It wasn’t my secret to spill. I was loyal, dammit, and until Kyle came out himself, I wouldn’t betray him like that.

“If you won’t say why, I’ll ask him.” Mom tipped her chin up, furious. “I deserve an answer. From one of you.”

Dammit. She would. She’d turn this interrogation on Kyle, and that wasn’t right.

Panic filled me, and I snapped.

“Fine!” I clenched my hands into fists, vibrating with frustration and anger. “Fine. You want to know why Kyle dumped me?”

I spotted Nate. Finally, he cut through the crowds to reach me, seeing me up here near the front.

“We broke up because…” I licked my lips, searching for a lie. All I could find was Nate. His smiling face as he approached.

“Because why, Rachel?” Mom insisted.

“Because I realized I’ve been in love with Nate my whole life.”

What. The. Hell. Am. I. Saying?

All three of them stared at me. Mom seemed shocked that I was finally giving her an answer. Dad seemed confused. And my brother gaped at me like I was talking another language.

I rolled with it, sticking to what didn’t feel like a lie at all.

“Kyle broke up with me because I’ve been in love with Nate McIntosh my whole life. And it wasn’t fair for Kyle anymore.”

I let out a whoosh of an exhale, almost dizzy with the rush of adrenaline coursing through me.

Nate stepped close, his brows high and his lips parted as he neared just in time to catch that bomb I’d just dropped.

Because I do, actually.I stared at him and wondered if there would ever be a way out of the mess I’d just made.

He’d made himself so clear. No more women. Nothing long-term.

I was supposed to be a fling to him, something trivial, and here I’d just broadcasted that I’d wanted him for good.

22

NATE

“Are you serious?” Brandon asked Rachel.

I couldn’t move. I heard her. Plain and clear.

She’s been in love with me all this time?

It felt like a punch to the gut.

All those times she’d claimed to be naïve and clueless, lost and needing guidance. Every time she said she wanted a fling so she could move on from Kyle. It was a lie? It had to be false if she expected me to “teach” her how to not be clueless.

I stared at her, trying to understand how I’d missed this critical fact.

Yes, I picked up on the notion that she’d wanted me. Physically. Sexually. I’d often marveled at how easy of a friendship we’d formed so quickly.

But hearing her impassioned claim that she’d been in love with me for a lot longer than I could’ve known felt like a trick. A lie.

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