Page 56 of The Holiday Clause
“Including yourself?”
“I’m not one of the bad ones.”
She smiled, her face warm and pleasantly numb. “No, you’re not.”
The waiter returned for one final lap to ask if they wanted coffee. Soren lifted a brow in question and she figured why the hell not.
“Two coffees.”
The waiter disappeared, and they fell into a comfortable silence broken only by the distant crash of waves against the cliffs below.
“This is nice,” he commented, studying her the way he had most of the night.
“Yeah. The food was outstanding.”
“No, I meant this—being here with you.”
She smiled as her vision wavered around the objects on the table until it settled unsteadily on him. “I’m actually having more fun than I thought I would.”
“See? We’re good together. Familiar.”
They were familiar with each other, but she didn’t know if she could do this again. The weight of her guilt pressed against her conscience. “You’re really special to me, Soren.”
“I have the same feelings.”
“So special that I don’t think we should go on another date.”
“Wren—”
“Just hear me out.” She splayed her fingers to hold back his objections. “I only have Bodhi and you guys. You’re my entire world. If we go there, and it doesn’t work out, I lose a quarter of my world.”
“You’d never lose me.”
“You can’t say that. People fall in and out of love all the time. Divorce happens, and it can get really nasty.”
“Do you honestly think I could ever be nasty to you? My brothers would skin me alive.”
“Or, they’d take your side, and I’d lose even more of the people I love.” There was just too much to risk.
Once again, he took her hand, his thumb tracing circles against her palm. “That’s not going to happen. I swear to you, Wren. Even if things don’t work out between us, I give you my word that I would never disrespect you in any way.”
She sighed, doubt churning in her stomach like acid. One way or another, someone was going to get hurt. And despite all of his well-intentioned promises, Soren had a short temper and he was known to be a poor loser when he didn’t get his way. “You realize I had a date with Logan.”
“I’m aware. He said it didn’t go well.”
She still carried guilt about the way she and Logan left things. All the Hawthornes had short fuses and regardless of how much they believed they were in control of their emotions, she’d seen each of them lose that control from time to time.
Unfortunately, she was drunk, and that meant her words weren’t as accessible as she’d hoped. She could only come up with temporary excuses at the moment. “I have to think about this.”
“But you’ll consider it?”
She hesitated. Was she actually willing to cross so many invisible lines? No, but maybe she already had. Logan tried tokiss her. Greyson touched her. And, now, she was on a date with Soren.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Protecting them was her primary concern.
“I don’t want that either.”
“And I’m not making any promises. I don’t want to be rushed into anything.”
