Swallowing against the sudden tightness in his throat, he flipped on his signal so he could make a U-turn.

“Where are we going?” she asked. This time he didn’t look over at her; he kept his eyes on the road. “I’m taking you back.”

“No,” she said. “I don’t want to—to ruin tonight. To disappoint you.”

“And I don’t want you going out with me just because you feel obligated.”

“That’s not the only reason I’m going! I like being with you. I like everything about you.”

She wouldn’t like the parts she didn’t know. “If Axel will treat you right, going back is the best thing for you. And now that he’s figuring out how badly he screwed up, maybe it’ll be different, better, in the future.”

“You want me to go back to Axel?” she asked, her forehead furrowing in confusion.

“No. Of course I don’t. But I do want you to be happy.” He swallowed, determined to plow on. “And if that’s what it takes…”

She didn’t argue after that. She sat silently, rubbing her temples as though she had a headache while he drove back to her sister’s and came to a stop at the curb.

“Thank you,” he said. “For the time we did spend together. I’ll never forget you.” He forced a smile even though it felt as though he could hardly breathe. “I hope you and the girls have the best Christmas ever.” He tried not to think of little Piper asking to sit on his lap. That wasn’t his child. She could never be his child, just as Harper could never be his wife.

Reaching across her lap, he unlatched the door. But she didn’t get out right away. She caught his hand before he could withdraw it and brought it to her lips. “You are so different and refreshing and gorgeous and…and amazing in bed,” she blurted and kissed his hand before hopping to the ground, closing the door and hurrying to the house.

Tobias watched until she disappeared inside. Then he drew a deep breath, trying to expand his rib cage to get rid of the terrible pressure on his heart.

He’d done the right thing, he told himself as he drove off. It wasn’t fair to continue seeing her when she didn’t know the whole truth. He was only prolonging the inevitable, setting them both up for a fall.

But doing the right thing had never felt so bad.

“Why are you back so soon?” Karoline said the moment she saw Harper.

Harper set her purse on the kitchen counter, where her sister was cleaning. Karoline had been complaining that the kids had gotten the cupboards sticky when they decorated their gingerbread houses so she was scrubbing them down.