Page 6 of The Unwanted Love

Ben has been amazing to me. Given how dysfunctional my own family is, I’ve always been grateful to him for inviting me to his home. Seeing him take care of his mother and sister, and how close-knit they are, renewed my faith in the concept of family as a unit. It’s my loyalty to him that makes me confident I’ll never do anything to hurt him. No matter that his sister has a crush on me—or that I can’t help but notice her—no way, am I going to act on that impulse.

Which means, there’s no reason to lie to her.

So, I shake my head. "No. No girlfriend."

Her features brighten; her eyes gleam.

That's when I realize, I may have made a mistake. "Not a steady one, that is."

The light in her eyes dim. "What do you mean?"

"I have friends with benefits. And at least one of them has indicated she wants something more. Perhaps, it’s time I take her up on the offer?" I pop a shoulder. "You understand how it is, don’t you?"

3

Skylar

"No." I shake my head. "No, I don’t." My heart feels like it’s splitting in two. He doesn’t have a steady girlfriend, but he has candidates lined up for the role. Why had I thought a man as handsome, as virile, as sensual, as good-looking,andsexy—gah!—a man who is so everything as Nathan would not have someone special—ormanyspecial women—in his life?

My throat closes. A telling heaviness knocks behind my eyes, but I swallow hard and will my emotions away.It’s fine. It’s going to be fine. He still hasn’t met the one, has he? BecauseI'mthe one. I’mhisone.I’m not going to just sit around twiddling my thumbs while someone else decides to walk away with my man, not at all. Before I can say anything, there’s a buzzing sound.

Nathan pulls his phone from his pocket, a look of such relief on his features, I almost laugh.Whoa, was he that uncomfortable by the turn the conversation took?

"Ben, yes." He listens for a second. "I’m with Skylar."

He glances away, as if to ensure he doesn’t look at me by mistake.

"We were talking." He listens again, then shakes his head. "No, nothing important."

And did he just say that what he was talking to me about was nothing important? Grr, how dare he?

"Yes, we’ll be there." He disconnects, slides the phone inside his pocket, and turns to me. "We have to go?—"

"Yes, yes, my friends are waiting. I know that. But you need to apologize first."

He seems taken aback. "Apologize?" He frowns.

"What we were talking about wasn’t 'nothing important.'" I make air quotes with my fingers.

He has the grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry"—he rubs the back of his neck—"I didn’t mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it?" I narrow my gaze on his features. I could let him off the hook, but I’m not going to. Sure, I have a thing for this man. I’ve been half in love with him since I was fourteen. Doesn’t mean he can just brush me off like that in a conversation!

"I, uh…" He shuffles his feet and looks like he wishes he were anywhere else but here. I’ve never seen him look anything less than confident. That he seems so uncomfortable is surprising and gives me pause for thought.

I wait, realizing it’s best to let him speak.

He finally meets my gaze and squares his shoulders like he’s made up his mind about something. "I didn’t want Ben to mistake the reason I was in your bedroom, with you."

"Oh." I blink rapidly. I hadn’t expected him to nail the truth in such a straightforward fashion. But he’s a Marine. Of course, he doesn’t muck around. Of course, he calls it like it is.

"But we’re not doing anything wrong." I look around the room, more so he doesn’t spot the little flare of guilt that ignited inside me at his words. Of course, I wanted him in my space. I’m not sure I thought anything would come of it. It's not like he was going to profess he's spent the last few years thinking of me, then throw me down on the bed and ravish me… But I’d hoped, in the privacy of myown space, I’d feel confident enough to tell him a little bit about how I feel about him. "You’re in my bedroom. So what? I've had friends in my room in the past."

"Have you?" He looks at me with disbelief. "You said you don’t have that many friends."

I flush. "Uh, yeah. It doesn’t mean I don’t haveanyfriends. I haveenough,and I've even invited a couple of them to my room."

"Including boys?" He looks at me closely.

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