“I understand,” she said, trying to stay strong.

“I care about you too much to hurt you,” he said, each word falling from his lips awkwardly, as if he were trying to explain. But he didn’t have to. His explanation was evident in his eyes—they were so sad. The broken look in them reinforced that she needed to protect her heart. If she were to reveal more about all she felt it would only push him away. If she gave voice to the true depth of her feelings, she might risk losing him as a friend. She had to retreat before she fell any further.

“I don’t want either of us to get hurt,” he said, quickly backpedaling as he sighed heavily. “And I don’t want to lose you as a friend. Our friendship means too much.”

“It means everything,” she said, her voice breaking now, and he reached for her, wrapped her in an embrace and held her as silent sobs fell down his shirt. His arms around her were so comforting, and she would miss terribly the feel of what would have come next—slow, sensual kisses that spread into hot, passionate ones, that turned into moans and sighs and deep desire that ran wild through the night. She longed for that physical connection so deeply, but she would miss even more having him in her life. And if they kept venturing down this rocky, dangerous road, she’d fall further for him, and that would make it impossible to be friends.

She steeled herself for what she knew she had to say. “We can’t lose this,” she began. She had to be the strong one. To make the cut so they could preserve what they’d had.

He agreed. He completely agreed. He was terrified of losing her from his life, but he wasn’t ready to let her go. He didn’t intend to let Joanna win. He had to tell Casey how he felt. That she was the one for him. That as much as the past had steered all his choices for the last four years, he wanted to move forward into the great unknown with her. He wanted to explore all that they could be. He’d been misfiring with words so far tonight; he had to right this ship. He shoved the past hurts, the past anger, and all that nagging fear under the carpet, took a deep breath, and prepared to tell her he was falling for her. “We can’t lose this,” he said, agreeing with her simply to start this most challenging of conversations. “But we also can’t—”

She pressed her finger to his lips, shushing him. “I know what you’re going to say. We can’t risk losing our friendship. And that’s why I think we should take a break from the sex. Focus on the friendship so we don’t lose sight of what matters.”

The air was ripped from his lungs. He parted his lips to speak, but no words came. The protests were lodged in his throat, and he tried to push them past his lips, but they wouldn’t budge. Shock took root yet again. He hadn’t expected her to say that. But the message had made landfall, and she clearly meant it, so he had to respect it. He nodded and said, “Yes, you’re right.”