Page 55 of Under the Mistletoe
“Do you want to wait until Logan is back?”
He frowned a second, then gave a playful grin. “I don’t think so. I mean, I know we’re close, but I don’t usually take my brother on my dates.”
Date? She turned toward Jess, but her cousin was halfway to her car.Thanks for the backup.She took another step toward Liam. “When you asked yesterday, I thought you were including Logan. Like a group thing. Not adatething.”
“Oh.” He slipped one hand in a pocket and flipped his keys with the other, some of his confident swagger slipping.
Then the smile was back. “So would you be up for a definitely-not-a-group thing?” Okay, maybe it hadn’t slipped that much. Not cocky, just confident. She had to admit, despite Liam’s larger-than-life presence, he still came across as genuine. She could see why he wasn’t used to a girl saying no to a date.
Crazy how she would have once accepted without hesitating, but now, it was not even a temptation.
“Wow. Your face says it all. I didn’t see that coming.” He breathed out a deep sigh and sagged back against his truck. “I guess I read this all wrong.”
“No.” She leaned her back on the truck next to him. “I did have a crush on you for part of college, but not anymore. And if you’re honest, you know things would never have worked between us.”
When he didn’t immediately answer, she pushed on. “Why did you even ask me out? I haven’t heard from you in forever.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, his gaze a little distant, almost painful. “Life has been a bit…crazy lately. I hoped coming home would help. But this place was never my home. Then I saw you, and I thought…” He sighed and smiled at her. “You’re amazing. Why wouldn’t I choose that if I could?”
The guy was really sweet. No wonder most of the girls he met fell for him.
“I can tell you’re searching for something right now, but I’m not what you’re looking for. But I’ll always be your friend.”
“What about you? Anyone in your life?”
Her face must have given her away, because he laughed.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Who is he?”
“He’s none of your concern. Besides, I thought something was finally happening until he started ghosting me yesterday. Now I don’t know?—”
“Wait.” He cringed and met her eyes. “Logan?”
“Don’t say it like that. He’s incredible, and just because?—”
“Whoa.” Liam held up his hands. “You don’t have to convince me. I know better than anyone how incredible he is. Trust me. I am all forLo-vin?—”
She frowned.
“Logan and Devin, get it? Anyway, IthinkI might know why he’s ghosting you.”
She pushed away from the Bronco and faced him square on. “What did you do?”
An hour later, as she lay flopped across her bed, she couldn’t decide if she was madder at Liam for messing everything up, or at Logan for believing it without even talking to her. What kind of person did he think she was? Did he seriously think she would accept a date with Liam just hours after she would have let him kiss her? Maybe they hadn’t actually kissed, but that hadn’t been from a lack of trying on her part.
Now they were in a tangled web of secrets and misunderstandings not only with Victor Holt but also with Liam. This was such a mess.
Devin rolled over in her bed and pulled up the most recent chapter from Victor Holt. She hadn’t read the next scene because, frankly, the words would read a little differently now that she knew that Logan had written them. Not to mention, she felt like it was paralleling their story. Did she really want to see how Logan saw the next chapter for them going?
Who was she trying to fool? Of course, she did.
Stone of Anwar: Chapter 11
How could he be so weak? Rand’s eyes darted to Astryn riding double with Orin on his horse. Rand had almost ruined the entire alliance by giving in to a moment. In that moment, he’d wanted to kiss her more than he wanted the next breath in his lungs, and he would have, had they not been interrupted.
What a fool he’d become. He didn’t blame Astryn. She’d been traumatized. But he should have known better. The guilt burned hot in his cheeks. How could he have been on the precipice of betraying his king and the brother he loved? And not only willing to jump off that cliff, but passionately determined to?
For a fraction of a moment, he’d actually believed that they could have a life together. Be happy together.
