Page 34 of Other Side Of Never
This was a good man, a truly good man.But we were friends and friends were all we’d ever be.
Because I didn’t want a man who would so easily give me up to someone else.
Exhaling, I nodded and tipped forward until my forehead hit his chest.
He wrapped his arms around me and held me loosely against his body.
When he rubbed his cheek over the top of my head, I snuggled closer.
And when he pressed his lips to my crown, I pretended not to notice.
Because as much as I might want this to turn into something more, it wasn’t the right move.
Not for either of us.
9
Be There
Wewalkedalongthesidewalk to Julian’s latest investment, a small restaurant that had been struggling to survive its first year.With Julian’s guidance and investment dollars, it was destined to thrive.
To my great shame, I didn’t even know it was there.And in a town as small as Sage Ridge, that really spoke to my powers of observation.
Julian was taking this opportunity to host a get-together to introduce the people closest to him to the restaurant.As a joke, he decided it would be a birthday party for Daire to give Harley an excuse to order a massive birthday cake and the homemade ice cream she loved so much.
Isaiah skipped back and forth in front of us, kicking rocks along the curb, making faces at himself in the store windows, and reporting his every finding along the way.
The summer sun shone brightly despite the waning evening hour.
I breathed in happily.“You smell that?”
Kian grunted.“Smell what?”
“Summer!Freshly cut grass, sunshine, flowers.”I sucked in deeper and hummed low in my throat, exhaling with a breathy moan.“Barbecue.”
He chuckled.“You’re right, it does smell like summer.”
“I love to hear a man say, ‘you’re right.’”I chuckled.“It builds character.”
“It builds your ego,” he countered, his smile faltering once more.
Sighing, I decided to confront the issue head on.“You’ve just gotta get it over with.”
“I don’t belong here,” Kian stated soberly, his gaze flitting to mine for a moment before dancing away as he shoved his hands deeper into the front pockets of his jeans.
“Here in Sage Ridge?”I hurried along beside him, two of my steps for every one of his long strides.“I didn’t either until I did.”
He tipped his chin down and smiled at me.“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” I protested.“You only belong to yourself until you open your mind and heart to someone else.You expect them to reject you, so you won’t give them a chance.”
“It’s not that,” he began, then acquiesced, “Well, it’s not just that.I don’t want to push myself so far into Aaron’s life that I crowd him out of it, you know?”
“Hm.”
He snorted.“Maybe I should have just stayed away.Moving here was selfish,” he murmured.“He’s a grown man of twenty who doesn’t need me.Did you know his birthday is just eight days before Isaiah’s?”
“Yes,” I murmured.
