“What’s that?”

“Christy isn’t the only one whose life is changing. Yours is, too. And she’s going to have to get used to that.” The look in his eyes made her heart beat faster.

It was like being on a roller coaster with no safety strap.

“Mine isn’t changing.”

“Yes, it is.” He drew her against him, and she knew that he was right. It was changing. For the first time in her life, her feelings were involved. And that made it different. Dangerous.

“You’re scaring me.”

“Good. But I promise to make sure I put myself between you and the wolf.”

“Good?” She lifted her head to look at him. “You want to scare me?”

“In a way, yes. You’re only scared of the things that are important. The things that really matter.”

She stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. “I can’t do it. I honestly can’t.” She felt his hand stroke her hair.

“We’ll talk about that later. But first you should have another conversation with Christy. You don’t have to wait for her to message you. You can reach out. Have a conversation now she’s calmer. Challenge her on some of those things she said. You’ve both made mistakes—” he shrugged “—but friendship is like any other relationship. It isn’t about always being perfect or getting it right the first time. It’s about how you work things through when they go wrong. The only thing you have to do to put this relationship right is not walk away from it. That’s it. That’s all.”

“All?”

“Don’t give up. I need you to promise me you won’t give up.” He kissed her gently, and she frowned.

“Why does it matter to you so much?”

“Promise me you’ll have a conversation with her. No heat involved.”

“Fine. I promise.” She had no choice about that. Like it or not, she was spending Christmas here with Christy, Seb and Holly. She had to at least try and reach some sort of truce. “But it doesn’t change my feelings on relationships generally.”

“In that case we’ll just have sex. A lot of sex.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Repeated sex is a relationship.”

“So we’ll have a thousand first dates.”

A thousand first dates.

“You don’t give up, do you?”

“Sometimes, but never when it’s something I really want.” He slid his hand around the back of her head, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “You might want to think about that.”

She leaned her head against his chest, watching as the snow fell.

Did she want to think about it? What did she really want? She had no idea.

She’d thought sex with him would be simple. She’d thought it would distract her from her problems.

She’d never been more wrong in her life.

18

Christy

Christy wrapped the present in front of her and added it to the growing pile.

“Is this the last one?” Seb ripped off some tape and slapped it onto the parcel in front of him. “Why do mine never look like yours?”