“And then he turned out to be our client and Leo’s best friend.”
“Yeah.”
Neve is quiet for a moment. “Do you have feelings for him?”
The question echoes in my brain. I could deny it. Could brush it off. Could keep pretending.
“It doesn’t matter what I feel. It’s complicated. He lives in Toronto. He has a whole life there. And I’m—I don’t do relationships, Neve. You know that.”
“But what if you did? What if you wanted to try again?”
“I don’t.” The automatic response. The safe response. The one that has always been easy and true, but right now, it weighs me down like the ugly farce it is.
Neve doesn’t push. Just squeezes my hand once and stands. “Okay. But, for what it’s worth, I think you’re both idiots.”
She walks away, and I’m alone with my thoughts and the sound of Kennedy laughing at something Amanda said.
CHAPTER 24
I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU TASTE AT THREE IN THE MORNING.
BILLIE
The sun is starting to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. Someone’s built a fire in the pit. It’s beautiful. Perfect. Everything should feel right.
Instead, I feel like I’m slowly suffocating.
I’m pulling out my phone to check the time—to see whether I’ve been here long enough to make a polite exit—when Kennedy appears again, this time with her arm settling casually around my shoulders and jostling me a bit.
“Cold?” she asks. “We could move closer to the fire.”
It’s friendly. Casual. Means nothing.
But across the yard, I see Darcy’s face when he notices. See the way he goes completely still. See the exact moment he turns and walks inside the house without a word to the people he’d been talking to. It’s completely unlike him.
“I’m—I need to—bathroom,” I stammer, pulling away from Kennedy. “Be right back.”
I don’t wait for her response. Just head for the house, following the path Darcy took. I find him in Neve’s kitchen,standing at the sink, with his hands braced on the counter, head down.
“This was your idea, wasn’t it?” My words come out accusatory. Mean. But I can’t stop myself. “Get Neve to set me up so I’d stop… what? Tempting you?”
He spins around, eyes flashing. “Are you serious?”
“You’re the one who keeps reminding me we need to be professional and friendly and?—”
“I’m also reminding myself. You think Iwantedto watch Kennedy touch you all night?” His voice is low, dangerous. “You thinkthat’swhat I want?”
“So what, then? You don’t like that Neve set me up with a woman? My bisexuality bothers you?” I’m digging deep here. He didn’t seem fazed by my being with a woman in Halifax, but who knows if it was all an act.
“Elizabeth.” My name is molasses on his tongue. Slow and dark. “The gender and sexual orientation of the person making you laugh, touching you, or flirting with you doesn’t concern me in the slightest. That’s not what’s bothering me. That never was and never will be an issue.”
I take a step back, heart pounding. “You’ve been avoiding me. Making polite small talk like we’re strangers.”
“Because that’s whatyouasked for!” He moves closer, and there’s barely controlled emotion in every line of his body. “You said professional. Friendly. Civil. You set the rules, Beth. I’m trying to follow them.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why? Because it reminds you of Halifax? Of when we weren’t pretending?” Another step closer. “Of when you let yourself feel something?”
