Page 30 of Our Perfect Moment

The smile on Cole’s face morphed into a look of concern and maybe even a little irritation because she hadn’t answered him.But what did he expect? He couldn’t seriously expect her to be excited about this.The very fact that he’d asked the question was giving her heart palpitations.

“Say something, Amber.” He moved one of his hands and smoothed back a stray hair from her cheek that kept escaping her braid. “Anything. Just say something.”

“What the hell are you thinking?” It wasn’t exactly the best choice of words, and certainly she could have thought of something better to say, but the words slipped out before she could think of anything else.

Cole recoiled and sat back. “What was I thinking? I was thinking that we like each other and we’re having fun and—”

“Fun?We’re havingfun,” she repeated, making the word fun sound like something veryverybad, which in that moment, in that particular context, it really felt like. “Do you really think I could drop my whole life for a littlefun?”

Cole released her hands and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why not? There’s nothing wrong with enjoying life, Amber.”

“Iamenjoying it.”

“Are you?” His eyes flared. “Because it seems to me that until I came along, you were merely existing. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Amber jumped up and paced across the small room.How dare he!

Her stomach hurt. Her heart raced. She wanted to cry and scream all at the same time. It wasn’t at all how she’d planned the night to go.

Because you did plan it.Just like you plan everything, Amber. Because you’re boring. Predictable and boring.

She forced the voice in her head to be quiet. She took a fortifying breath and turned around. “I can’t.” The edge slipped from her voice as she answered him. “I can’t tell you that.”

He stood, but didn’t make a move toward her. “Then come with me.” His eyes pleaded with her. “Just come.”

“It’s not that easy, Cole.”

“It really is.”

“I got the job.” The words fell from her mouth and burned her tongue on the way out. It was an amazing opportunity at a prestigious firm. It was exactly what she wanted; she should have been thrilled.

Sheshouldhave been. But she wasn’t. And wasn’t that exactly why she hadn’t told Cole about it earlier?

She knew it was.

Everything she’d been pretending at for the last few days with Cole was just that—pretend. As much as she would like to think otherwise, she was who she was. It had been determined a long time ago. She was boring. Destined to live a life of predictability.

And really, was that such a bad thing?

“The job?” He took a step toward her. “You got it?”

She nodded and hugged her arms around her body. “They called earlier. They offered me the job.”

“And you took it?”

She shrugged.

“You did or you didn’t.”

Amber looked down at her feet for a moment. “I guess I did.” She knew that wasn’t entirely true. Sure, Mr. Magnus had misunderstood her earlier, but that didn’t mean she had to sign up for a life she didn’t want.

She could say no. She could turn it down. She didn’t have to go for thesafechoice. Her whole life she’d taken the safe route, the path of least resistance where she would be safe, where she would know exactly what would happen next.

She didn’t have to do that now. Not if it wasn’t what she really wanted.

Amber looked up at Cole. Everything they’d shared together for the last few days flashed through her mind. It had been fun, spontaneous, and, truthfully, some of the best days of her life.

But it was scary.

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