“Thanks,” I said, wiping at my face with the back of my hand. I was thankful there was no eye makeup to be smeared all over my cheeks. Even in the midst of heartbreak, I was still aware that I was standing in front of a beautiful man. I couldn’t help wishing my eyes weren’t red and swollen as he studied me. He wanted friendship and that was all I had to give. This should be a perfect situation. It would have been had I not craved him in a way that made my body act crazily around him. He wasn’t meant for me. No man was meant for me. I needed to remember that.

His hand reached down and clasped mine. Just that warm connection made me feel at peace. If only the world had been different. If only I hadn’t been born charmed. I could have wanted him then. I could have crushed on him and wished he liked me back.

Without a word, he walked me around to the passenger side of the car and opened it for me to get inside. He wasn’t perfect either. I knew that. He had flaws even if they weren’t physical. Everyone had flaws. His flaws were forgivable. Mine weren’t. Mine were a curse.

The kindness he was showing me made the flaws he did have seem unimportant. I could easily forget the playboy that Rathe was if I allowed myself to get wrapped up in his current chivalry. There had to be a reason he had come to get me. People did kind things but I’d found they chose the kind things they did when the action benefited them as well. No one wanted to admit it, but every human had a vein of selfishness they didn’t want to acknowledge.

“Why did you come?” I asked.

“We’re friends. I told you I would be an excellent friend,” he replied.

I didn’t expect the truth. He was human after all. He may not even realize he had a selfish reason for coming to my rescue. I wasn’t going to hold that against him. I just needed to remember it and not let my needy soul live in the fantasyland others seemed to do.

I gave a weak smile because I had no honest response to his answer. Telling him that human nature didn’t work that way would make me sound ungrateful, and I was very grateful. For whatever reason he came today, he had made it easier to bear. “Thank you,” I finally said, before getting inside my car. He deserved a thank you at least.