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“Hasan’s not here right now. Are we just friends, Will?”

All the air left the tent.

I wasn’t expecting that question from her. I closed my eyes so I could concentrate on my response. I didn’t want to mess this up.

“I think so. I’m trying to be friends.”

It mattered to me—the friendship between us. I hadn’t thought I could hold the line, but I’d be damned if I became the kind of man who expected what was never offered. If she ever changed her mind, she’d tell me. Until then, I’d protect what we have.

She’d been holding her breath, but let it out then. It was the right answer.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. I wanted her to feel how true it was for me when I said, “I can’t change who I am, just as much as you can’t change who you are.”

She stiffened.

“I wouldn’t try to change who you are,” she said, brows furrowed.

I tucked her hair behind her ear. “And I don’t want to change you, Louisa.”

She nodded, and her lip wobbled. I felt the same way. Relief, it seemed like. Acceptance.

“You’re so beautiful. All the time, but right now especially,” I whispered. I was smiling, and I hoped she could hear the de-escalation in my voice. “You look like a woodland nymph.” She smacked my shoulder, sniffling a little, and I laughed. “Like I could find sticks in your hair if I tried.” She started giggling, and I grabbed her around the waist and yanked her to me. She exhaled against my chest.

I hoped she could feel everything I felt when I hugged her: genuine affection, friendship, longing, attraction. I didn’t want to hide from her, but I wasn’t asking for more any longer. And as she rested there against me, heavy and quiet, I was proud of our silent communication skills.

I left Louisa’s and headed to my Mom’s to tell her about the baby and knock out some work on my Christmas gifts. I knew exactly what I’d make for Lou, but it was ambitious. I’d need to do some research.

I’d never seen my future in what Christian and Marisol had as a couple—we were just different people—but when he held his son against his chest and paced the room, I knew I wanted that.

Not yet. I could wait for the right time, the right woman. But it was as if a question had been answered in my gut.

It’s terror and wonder, all rolled into one. Best decision God ever made for me, son.

I ran my fingers over the rounded edges, feeling for rough spots on the rocking horse I’d planned to finish before the baby came and digesting the past 24 hours.

La Rosa de Bayahibe was sexy as hell. That calm, competent side of Louisa was not something I saw very often, given our friendship. I admired her ability to turn on different versions of herself for other people’s benefit.

And I empathized. Between the military and the death of my father, it was hard to tell if I’d actually changed as a person or if I was just playing different parts for the people who counted on me. Before I started hanging out with Louisa and Hasan, I’d thought I’d just grown up and gotten boring. Turned into bread.

“Yer Louisa brings out the boy in ye, Liam.” My mom leaned her hip against the bench and swiped a finger through the sawdust there. “Eilidh and me, we tink she’s wonderful.”

“She is, yeah,” I said simply, marking a measurement and putting the pencil back behind my ear.

“The two of ye seem a lot closer than I thought ye’d let yerself get, lad.”

“I’ve already heard it from Ortiz and Dad from beyond the grave, Mom. You don’t have to jump on the bandwagon. I’m not going to cross a line.” I blew dust off the cut I’d just made and turned to look at her.

She straightened, brow furrowed. “And why t’fuck not? She’s a beautiful girl. Sharp as a whip, she is.”

“I don’t disagree.” I laughed. As if I wasn’t fucking obsessed with Louisa… “But Lou and Hasan, they’ve had a thing—I don’t really know how to define it—for a long time. I don’t want to get between them.”

“Do they now?” she crossed her arms over her stomach, her eyebrows lifted. “Ye sure yer not misreadin’ things there, love?”

“Hasan told me himself.” I shot her a look. “And it’s easier for me to hold the line if I feel like I’m protecting a brother. I’m not nearly as careful with myself.” I chuckled for her sake, but my grip on the wood tightened.

She looked skeptical. “So yer fallin’ on the sword then? Ye martyr.”

I was surprised by her tone. I thought she’d be proud of me, but she sounded annoyed.