Page 9 of The Unwanted Love

Her shoulders droop. "You don’t have feelings for me. You’re trying to let me down lightly, is that what this is about?" Her lips turn down, and the gleam of moisture in her eyes tells me she’s close to tears.

Bloody hell, why is this so difficult? Also, I can’t stand to see her crying. I can’t.

"Skye, please listen to me." I grab the back of my neck and fightfor composure. "You’ve seen me around with Ben. Which is why you trust me. You believe you’ll be safe with me."

"I do." She nods. "In fact, I know I’ll be safe with you."

"And that’s because I’m familiar to you."

"You are, of course," she agrees.

"But there’ll be others closer to you in age with whom you’ll also feel safe."

She sets her jaw. "No, I won’t." The stubborn jut of her gorgeous lower lip draws my attention to her beautiful mouth, and I admonish myself.You need to look past this illogical draw toward her. You need to...find a way to get her to move past you.And telling her she doesn’t feel the way she clearly does is not going to help. So, I change my tack.

"Assume, for a second, that I do reciprocate your feelings."

Her expression turns hopeful. "So, youdoreciprocate my feelings."

"That’s not what I mean," I say in frustration.Or is it? Jesus, is this woman running circles around me or what?

"So, you don’t…feel the same way?" Her eyebrows draw down. "I’m a big girl, Nathan. You can tell me. I can take it, you know."

Her chin wobbles, and she spoils the impact of her words.

Damn, I can’t bring myself to hurt her. But I also can’t let her continue to believe there could be a future for us, no matter how much I want there to be one. She needs to understand that she’s my best friend’s little sister, and I’d never break the trust he’s placed in me. No matter what I say, it seems to make things worse. So, how am I going to extricate myself from this quandary of my own making?

That’s when the door to her bedroom is pushed open. Ben pops his head around the doorjamb. "Skylar what are you doing hiding in your bedroom? And Nathan"—he turns to me—"I could do with your help setting up the snacks."

**

"There you go; enjoy." I pour non-alcoholic wine into a red solo cup and slide it across the table masquerading as a mock bar counter. Strictly speaking, there’s no need for Ben or me to be here asbartenders, since there’s no alcohol at this party. Eighteen is the drinking age in England, but because Skylar herself doesn’t drink, nor do many of her friends, she wanted to serve only non-alcoholic drinks at her party.

She asked for a pretend bar, complete with mocktails, zero-alcohol beer, and no-alcohol wine, and Ben obliged. He also agreed to bartend, mainly so he had an excuse to be there without seeming like a parent hovering around the periphery. This way, he can interact with Skylar’s friends, and he really seems to be enjoying himself. When he asked me to help, I thought, why the hell not? So, here I am. And I’m not quite sure how I feel about that.

"Thank you." The girl who’s wearing heavy eyeliner with fake diamond-encrusted eyelashes flutters them at me.

"You’re welcome."

She sips from her glass and eyes me over the rim. "You’re Skylar’s brother’s friend?"

I nod.

"You’re a Marine?"

I nod again.

"Oh cool." She takes another sip then lowers the glass. "Have you like, killed people?"

I stiffen, then remind myself it’s an innocent question. "I do what’s needed in the line of duty."

"Meena," someone yells from the make-shift dance floor that’s been set up in the middle of the living room floor. Ben and I pushed aside the furniture, and he rigged a few LED par cans that emit lights in different colors across the space. With the lights switched off and a fog effect from the machine in the corner, the place has been transformed.

"Oh, gotta go. Thanks for your service and all that."

I nod, acknowledging the sentiment behind the words, even if they are delivered in a tongue-in-cheek fashion.

The girl turns and saunters over to join her friend, who’s dancing in the center of the floor along with Skylar.

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