Page 24 of More Than a Good Friend

So I delay. “Lemon bar?”

“Later.”

“Want to sit up here next to me?” I tap the bedliner.

He shakes his head. “Stop stalling.”

“Promise things won’t be weird and that you won’t avoid me.”

He leans closer. “Like you avoided me.”

“Fine. What I told you that day you came walking out of the bathroom without a shirt on was true.” Why did I say that about his shirt?

Now he’s grinning, and I’m thinking about his damp chest.

“You’re a really good friend, but it’s not enough.” I could repeat this over and over, but it’s only skirting the truth. “I tell people we met in high school, but it was middle school, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I started calling you Goldie, which is why your mom hates me.”

“Only one of the reasons.” I pat his chest and try to ignore the way his muscles feel when he flexes. “Back to what I was saying. That very first day when you put your arm around me, I thought you were the most amazing guy in school. I thought the same thing all through high school.”

His head cocks, and his brow knits, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Somewhere in the last twenty years of us being friends, I fell in love. But love can’t only be one-sided. That’s what I meant when I said I wouldn’t settle.”

In the fading light, the vein throbbing in his neck is barely visible. “Fell in love? When? With who?”

Whom. But I don’t correct him.

I can’t believe I have to say it. “With you. I fell in love with you.” When he opens his mouth, I wave a hand in front of his face. “That’s why I wanted space. Because I’m trying to get past it. I already have. Mostly.” Rubbing my temples, I wait for him to speak.

He blinks. “You, little miss angel on my shoulder, fell in lovewith me?”

“How many times are you going to make me say it? Yes, and I’m sorry. I never meant for things to be weird. And I want things to be like they were before.” I tear the foil off the lemon bars and shove one in my mouth.

After blowing out a breath, he turns and walks away from the truck.

I expected him to flash his signature smirk and give me a wink and a nudge. But the walking away has me scared.

Arms crossed, he paces.

The silence is tearing me apart. “Did I ruin everything?”

He whips around. “What? No. I’m just thinking.”

I picture Tandy with a wide grin on her face.

“I tried to hide it, but when you proposed...” I shrug and swallow the lump in my throat. “Do you see why I can’t marry you? Marriage doesn’t work when only one person is in love. You deserve to find someone that excites you and makes your heart go thumpity-thump. And I deserve someone who looks at me with desire, who calls simply because they want to hear the sound of my voice, who thinks about kissing me when they aren’t close enough to actually do it. I want that, and I’m not getting any younger. That’s why I’ve been dating so much.” I lick lemon off my fingers. “And if we weren’t such good friends, I never would’ve admitted that to you. But since I’m past all that, I feel like I can be honest.” Lying about being honest is probably worse than regular lying. But I’m sticking with my story.

He marches back to the truck and rests a hand on each side of me, caging me in where I’m sitting. “You thought about kissing me?”

Regular lying is wrong, but that doesn’t stop me tonight. “No.”

“Really?” He looks disappointed.

“Are we okay? You aren’t going to run screaming in the other direction?”

After staring at me for a second, he nods, then shakes his head. “I’m not running. We’re good. And I’ll help you with dating if you promise me one thing.”

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