Page 41 of Secret Triplets for Christmas

She looked down at her drink. I thought back to what I’d said to her in the café. How rude I was.

“Lindsay, I have to apologize for my behavior the other day.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s—”

“Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but the regret I have about our night together is only partly about Liam.”

She sipped her drink but studied me over the rim of her glass. I got the feeling she was nervous about what I might say.

“The truth is, you were scared and lost and vulnerable, and I feel like I took advantage of that.”

Her eyes widened like she was expecting something else.

“I’ve always thought a great deal of you. Admired you. I hate that I touched you like that when what you needed from me was simply to hold you and listen.”

“Oliver, you didn’t take advantage of me. I was the one who initiated things. I guess I should be sorry that I put you in a situation to feel like you'd betrayed Liam.”

Interesting that she worded it like that. She should be sorry, but it sounded like she wasn’t sorry. What did that mean?

“Maybe we just needed to connect?” she said softly.

I nodded, but I’d needed so much more. Or at least, I’d wanted more. I’d wanted my brother’s woman. I’d wanted to love her and provide for her.

“It wasn’t bad, was it?”

My attention jerked to her. “Bad?”

Her cheeks blushed. “I don’t mean the sex. I mean having done it. Even if Liam had been alive, it wouldn’t have been cheating. I don’t feel guilty, Oliver. Should I?”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. All I wanted to do was reach out and pull her to me. To reassure her that she’d done nothing wrong.

I downed my drink instead. “No. You don’t need to feel guilty.”

“Then you shouldn’t either, right?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Liam loved you. I should have respected that.”

She looked down. “He’d gone back to that Darcy chick.”

I arched my brow. “How do you know?”

“After our night together on Halloween, he left with her.”

I frowned. That didn’t make sense. Unless… “She’s the one who told me about his reporting to the FBI. Maybe it had nothing to do with his feelings for her.”

“I’m not jealous, Oliver.” She gave me an exasperated sigh. “I’m trying to tell you that Liam and I were done by the time he died.”

Then why did she sleep with him on Halloween? I mean, she hadn’t come out and said it, but she’d definitely implied it. “So, what was Halloween?”

She flinched. “It… ah… I don’t know. Like a last goodbye, I suppose.”

Why was she saying all this? It was fucking with my head… with my heart. “Why do you need me to know all this?”

She swallowed hard as she stared at me. Finally, she put her glass on the table. “I don’t know. I should go.”

Goddammit. I was fucking up and wasn’t sure how or why. I reached out, taking her hand to stop her from standing. “I’m sorry, Lindsay. Surely, you’ve always known that I’m terrible at understanding women. I’m trying to act right, but I’m fucking up.”

She patted my hand. “It’s fine, Oliver.”

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