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“Well, the crowds will be crazy. Your knee is hurt. It’s going to be hot.”
“Don’t ever apply for a job at the chamber of commerce,” he said, his smile returning. “I want to be there in Blossom Branch with you, Cate. I haven’t done a small-town Fourth of July in ages. It sounds like fun. Unless you’ve changed your plans.”
“No. I still want to go back for the weekend. Besides, I’ll need to clean the house Friday and Saturday. Wash sheets. You know. Get things ready for Grammy and Grandpa.”
“Then it’s settled,” Harry said.
When they were done eating, Cate was suddenly anxious to get away. Every time she was alone with Harry, she felt herself yielding to temptation. She’d never been the kind of person to make reckless decisions. Now was surely a bad time to start.
Harry wanted her. She wanted him. But neither of those realities justified jumping into a sexual relationship that might make her life an even bigger mess than it already was.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be at my folks’ house,” she said. “But I’ll try not to disturb you when I come in.”
Harry’s gunmetal eyes glittered with strong emotion. “You always disturb me, Cate.” He trapped her wrist in a loose grip.
She could have pulled away easily. Instead, she looked at him, her stance wary. “Why do you say things like that? I never know if you’re teasing.”
He rubbed his thumb where her pulse beat rapidly. “Nothing to tease about when it comes to me and you wanting each other.”
The way his words echoed what she had been thinking about startled her. “Don’t you ever worry about making mistakes?”
“I’m an architect,” he said. “Mistakes on paper can be erased easily enough. Or with the delete key on the computer. But I don’t get a shot at the truly exciting projects if I’m not willing to take a chance and push myself.”
“Maybe I’m more risk-averse than you are,” she said, searching his face for reassurance.
Harry released her and stepped back, leaning a hip against the kitchen counter. “All you need to do is say the word, and I won’t mention any of this ever again. Is that what you want, Catie-girl?” His smile was gentle. “You can tell me. I’m a big boy. I can handle disappointment.”
Twenty
Cate’s tongue was thick. Her throat constricted. “You have to understand,” she said, the words barely a whisper. “I screwed up my life majorly. In front of more than a thousand people. I’m having a hard time dealing with the fact that I want you.”
Harry paled. “You want me?”
“You know I do. But you said there was no rush.”
His lips twisted in a self-derisive grin. “My mistake.”
Cate rubbed her temples where a headache brewed. “I know this is different. We’re not talking about spending a lifetime together. I get that. But what if you and I are intimate and Jason hears about it? What if that upsets him and strains his relationship with you? I would never forgive myself. He considers you more a brother than a cousin.”
Harry’s gaze was stormy, and his pallor deepened. “Be honest, Cate. Are you worried aboutmeand Jason? Oryouand Jason?”
The questions were razor-sharp. She gasped, hurt and angry. “I’ve told you. Thereis noJason and me. Period. It’s over.”
“Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.”
Harry looked as coldly furious and miserable as she felt.
The atmosphere in the kitchen was rife with memories and confusion. From Harry’s point of view, maybe his skepticism made sense. He’d witnessed the tense interaction when Jason stopped by on the night of the wedding. Harry had seen her collapse in those early days. He had held her as she cried.
When he remained silent, Cate inhaled sharply and wrapped her arms around her waist, trying not to give in to the wave of hurt and despair. She could never be intimate with Harry if he thought she was still in love with Jason.
The only real way to convince him was to admit that Jason had done the right thing. That she and Jason had let runaway wedding plans drag them to the brink of disaster. Because theylovedeach other, but they weren’tin love.
Cate was grateful to Jason even though she was still angry on a visceral level. But if she opened herself up enough to tell Harry that, she would be incredibly vulnerable. Too vulnerable.
Harry would inevitably hurt her, too. Because he was not ever going to give his heart to a woman.
He’d made that perfectly clear.
