Page 70 of Breathe Me (Breathe Duet 1)

I roll my eyes, and even though we are far away from each other, his little chuckle lets me know he saw me do it.

"You need time. I'll give it to you."

"Thank you." I smile at him gratefully.

"No problem. But, Valentina?"

"Yes?"

"One day, you will have to choose. And on that day, you better believe it’s going to be me," he exclaims self-assured.

"Goodnight," I tell him softly and hang up the phone.

I close the curtains so he's not able to see inside my room, needing some privacy to make sense of all of this, especially his last words.

Is that what Carter believes I was doing by kissing him? That somehow, I'm choosing him above the other two boys that mean just as much to me as he does? And is that the real reason why my dad grounded me? Because he’s worried I'm choosing one above the others, when I'm not sure yet that's what I even want to do?

Because it’s not.

I don't want to choose. Not now, not ever.

All my father’s advice starts to make sense. Dad said I should nurture and protect what we have, our friendship, our budding love, so that's what I need to do. Make sure that all of them see that my heart belongs to all of them—not just one.

We have time.

There really is no rush.

We have time.

Right?

Time has never really been a friend of mine, but I hope it is now, because I need it. I need time to make the boys I love understand that I will never choose just one and make them be okay with it. They all have a piece of me, and even if they don’t realize it yet, I’ve got to be the one who makes them understand. And I won’t be able to do that if I let myself be swept over by Carter’s seducing smirk, or Quaid’s infections laugh, or Logan’s shy smile. I need to have my wits about me, because they need me to.

That’s what Dad was trying to warn me about.

Only fools rush in, and my father didn’t raise any fools

Chapter 15

Now

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Valentina

After a few more days in Paris, in which very little progress was made with Carter, but a lot of fun was had with Quaid and Logan, we make our way to Malaga, Spain. Since airfare is so cheap between all of the European countries, I hadn’t bothered to book any of them ahead. And since I hadn’t exactly given the guys a full itinerary when I’d suggested this adventure in my letters, the guys obviously hadn’t booked anything either.

It had been a long time since I'd had companions on a flight. It was nice to have someone to hold my hand when I freaked out about the turbulence we encountered twenty minutes in. Carter only gave me a little crap about the fact that I screamed when the plane seemed to drop out of the sky at one point.

Maybe we'll travel by train for the rest of the time.

Malaga is beautiful with its yellow sand beaches that border the Mediterranean Sea and all of the historical buildings and high-rise hotels intermixed with each other everywhere. The color of the Mediterranean Sea is almost unreal, and I feel like I've stepped into a postcard or something. Malaga and Paris are so different, but both equally beautiful.

"Why are we here again?" Carter asks, bored as he puts his sunglasses on and looks around, looking like a dangerous playboy as he does so. My heart skips a beat, and it takes me a second to answer his question.

"We're drinking wine and napping under a tree," I tell them.

"You really put that on your list?" Logan asks with a laugh, his golden hair sparkling in the sun, making him look a bit like a fairy tale prince.

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