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“You can’t say that,” Scarlett murmured as she looked out the truck window. Trees and landscape flew past her as they made their way back from the motel in town.
“Sure I can. She knew we got stuck here because of the storm. It’s not like that was a surprise. And you didn’t even tell her that we had to share a room.” Elijah glanced over toward her. The smile he offered was probably meant to soothe her anxious heart somehow, but if she were honest, she’d have to say he looked just as uneasy as she did.
“Do you think we’re making the wrong decision?”
“And tell her that we hooked up?”
She flushed. “We didn’thook up. Wekissed.”
“Twice,” Elijah amended.
Scarlett couldn’t help herself. She laughed. “Okay, so we kissed. Twice. But that doesn’t mean anything, right?”
He was quiet for a moment. Okay, it was longer than a moment. It dragged on long enough that she had to glance toward him to make sure he hadn’t jumped out of the truck secret agent style. Elijah shot her a heavy look. “It does to me.”
Her heart thundered, colliding with her ribs and making her whole chest ache. “It meant something to me, too,” she whispered.
Strange to admit something like that—here, now. She didn’t know what else to say. She couldn’t just let him think that she’d kissed him without feeling anything. She wasn’t a monster. Scarlett stared down at her clasped hands, finding that they’d turned pale from the effort.
Before she knew it, he was reaching out toward her and taking her hand in his. “It’s going to be fine.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true. We can keep it a secret until it’s absolutely necessary to tell her. If it doesn’t work out, then no one gets hurt.”
Scarlett couldn’t bring herself to look at him. That statement alone couldn’t be more wrong. Already she could tell that she was getting far more attached than she should have been. That had been the case since a little after he’d started working for her father.
But she’d never admit that to anyone. Not to Elijah, and definitely not to Annabel. She didn’t want whatever this newfound thing was to end. But she had to be realistic. There were no guarantees in life. And falling for her best friend’s brother added to the probability of that exact thing happening.
Elijah gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “How about we just play it cool for the time being. We can work on getting to know each other better on our own time, and if or when the time comes to tell Annabel about us, then we’ll do it.”
Her gaze cut to him, and she offered a wan smile. Everything besides the secrets being kept from her friend sounded like a good plan. If it weren’t for Annabel, she might have jumped on board so much faster.
Scarlett nodded, swallowing back her apprehension that they were heading down a path they weren’t going to like in the future. It was just the normal kind of jitters someone got when they started to fall in love.
Hot, searing flashes rippled up and down her body, finally settling in her gut and in her face. She wasn’t inlove. That was silly. She wasattractedto Elijah, but love was something that wouldn’t come for a long time.
Averylong time.
She gave him a side-eyed stare and something in her chest fluttered slightly. Maybe it wasn’t as far off as she was originally thinking. What if he was making the best decision right now? They could play it by ear and decide what was best for them after they realized where they were going to be in a few weeks.
A surge of confidence flooded her being. Just because she was making changes in her life didn’t mean she had to suffer for them. Hadn’t she wanted to come home and find someone she could spend the rest of her life with?
Elijah might just be that man.
He was a hard worker, and he could tell it how it was. He loved his family, and he was kind and generous. But most importantly, he’d always been honest even when that honesty was harder to swallow.
She should be thrilled that Elijah was the one who had caught her eye.
“There it is.”
Scarlett glanced over toward Elijah and gave him a funny look. “There what is?”
“Your smile. She’s been missing far too long, and I wanted to see her again before we made it back to town.”
Her smile deepened. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Maybe.” He squeezed her hand again, and the rest of their ride was spent in silence. She didn’t know what was going through his head, but as for her, she was thinking about how this would change a lot more than her friendship with Annabel. The way things worked out at the farm would change as well.
