Page 90 of The Troublemaker

“Sure,” Hunter said. “Sure.”

She felt the need to defend their platonic relationship that no longer was. Just because it seemed right and proper.

Alaina had made delicious roast and rolls, and also a giant cake. Charity felt almost guilty to be the center of such a fuss.

Especially when... Well, if they knew how it had happened. That it was more like they had kissed and lost control than fallen in love...

Her heart squeezed. It didn’t matter. The end result was the same. And she washappy.

She was so happy.

They ate and laughed, and the cake was delicious. By the time it was all done, she was exhausted.

“Spend the night with me?” he whispered in her ear.

“Yes,” she said. Mostly because she was afraid if she went back to her house it would feel like it had been a dream. And even if it was, she wanted to keep having it. She didn’t want to lose this. Suddenly, it felt fragile and precarious.

If she separated from him, this magical golden thread that had spun itself between them would snap.

She didn’t want that.

She didn’t want to be Cinderella. She didn’t want to lose her shoe and have her car turn into a pumpkin. Have the prince go back to thinking she was just his friend.

She didn’t want to go back to thinking it, either.

No. She wanted the magic.

Change had felt so scary for a while. Like she couldn’t handle even one more. But not this.

Not this magic.

She drove back to his place closely behind him and parked out in front of the porch. He got out of his truck quickly and walked over to her car, opening the door for her and extending his hand.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“You’ll see.”

She took his hand then, so rough in hers.

He held her hand all the way up the porch steps and into the house. It was the casual contact that underlined how much things had changed in the past twenty-four hours. Because walking into Lachlan’s house was so not in and of itself a strange thing. But holding his hand was. And what lay ahead was.

She was suddenly terrified that everything they had been was going to be erased by this. That what they were building over the top of it was going to destroy what theywere.

She didn’t want that. No. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want to lose their friendship to this desire.

She didn’t know what she wanted.

She felt overwhelmed by new sensations and new discoveries. By change.

“Come here.”

He led her down the hallway and pushed open the door to his bedroom.

Her lips parted and she looked around, awe filling her.

He had... He had changed everything.

“I went to Mapleton today. Picked up some new stuff.”

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