Page 39 of Unbreak My Heart

Well, not this time.

He wouldn’t say a word. There was nothingtosay. Nothing was going on. Nothing big. Not yet anyway.

Hell.

There wasn’t, was there?

He didn’t want there to be. She was his friend.

Did he want more?

He sighed heavily.Yeah. Yeah, he did.

Andthatwas the problem.

“Nothing happened,” Simon said in a rush, then grimaced. Why did that damned tactic always work on him, even when he was determined it wouldn’t?

Max still didn’t say a word, leaving him enough rope to tangle himself up in knots with.

It came out in a rush. The trip to Bialga, the nightclub. Meeting Eva.

The hotel room.

He didn’t go into specifics about what happened there, just that they’d gone back there, and she’d left.

“We didn’t have sex,” he clarified.

Max breathed in deep and sank into his seat, the old leather creaking as it settled. “I wouldn’t judge you if you did, Si.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but we didn’t. That’s not why I was there. In Bialga, I mean. I wasn’t out to get laid.”

“I know that.”

“I didn’t know who she was. We didn’t say our last names.” Simon leant his elbow on the window ledge and rested his forehead in his hand. “What the hell is wrong with me?” he whispered. He closed his eyes. “How can I be attracted to someone so soon after…”

Max’s large hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed. “It’s not like there’s a required grieving period—here, have a life crisis, but you can’t do X before the thirtieth of June. It doesn’t work that way. Only you know how you feel. It’s that simple, and that goddamned complicated.”

Simon shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. I’m so attracted to her that my head spins when she’s around; but then I start thinking about Amy and the guilt sets in.Fuck!The guilt, Max. It nearly drowns me.”

He turned his head to look at his older brother. The one who always made things right, who always had the right answer for whatever his problem was.

“What am I supposed to do?”

Max squeezed his shoulder again then dropped his hand, rubbing at his own face. Simon almost smiled. It was a habit all three of them had picked up from their father.

“That’s not for me to tell you, buddy. Look how I wound myself up in knots over Millie. Foryears. If I’d gotten off my ass back then, we could’ve been together for ages now, could’ve had a whole gaggle of kids. But we didn’t. And I probably wouldn’t change it. But you? Only you can decide what you’re comfortable with. Only you know what you’re feeling. This attraction to Eva, it might be just that—lust. She’s a pretty woman. Smart. Talented.”

At Simon’s sour look, Max laughed. “It’s true, though.”

He sighed and slumped into the seat back. “It is. She’s so far out of my league…”

Max gasped. “Well, now.That’swhat the problem is? You think she’s too good for you?”

Heat flushed Simon’s face. “Sheis. She’s a freakin’ architect. She won that amazing award—the best in the damnedcountry.” He gestured to himself. “I’m an illiterate lackey. I have nothing to offer someone like her. I’d only embarrass her.”

The thump on his upper arm had him swearing. “Ouch! What was that for?”

Max’s angry face glared at him from the other side of the car. “You arenotilliterate. You arenotuneducated. And even if you were, you’re a good man, Si. The best. You can’t base your value on a stupid piece of paper.”

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