Page 98 of Hero for the Holidays

“This exists between us. Whether we do something about it or not, right?”

“Seems to be.”

“And there’s no point denying it. We’ve already slipped up. We are not hiding it. But then, we never were. Half the ranch thought we’d already slept together. The other half thought we were going to.”

“Apparently not my brother. He says he didn’t wonder about us at all.”

Fia huffed. “Well, how nice for him.”

“Truly.”

“This thing between us,” she continued. “It’s real, whether we explore it or not. And we know it’s there. There’s no way of denying it.”

“Say what you want,” he said, his voice hard.

“You,” she answered.

“When.”

“Tonight. After the bonfire.”

“Where do you want to meet?”

“You already know.”

“I want you,” he said. “I have. Every damned day since we broke up.” No one around them could hear them talking. Landry’s voice was a low growl, intimate, only for her to hear. The talking, laughing and music rose above them. Swirled around them. Created an intimate cocoon. “I tried to get you off of my mind by sleeping with someone else. It didn’t work. Made me feel sick. Later, when time had passed, I decided to do it just because it seemed like the thing to do. But it was never you. It was never this. Nothing ever could be, Fia.”

“Maybe we just need this. Maybe we need to do it. At least one time. Maybe we need to finish it. In a way that’s not all broken and shattered.”

It felt silly to think that sex could shatter them now. They were parents. To a thirteen-year-old girl who needed them. They were bonded. In a way that was so deep, so profound, she knew she could never go back to living on the same ranch as him and ignoring him no matter what passed between them.

They were different now.

Whatever happened, even if it went badly, they would take the time to untangle it. Whatever happened, they would find a way. It was about the safest form of throwing caution to the wind that she could even think of. Even as Landry looked at her, all sultry and dangerous, she felt that.

And she was at a loss for words. She wanted to kiss him, but not here. Not in front of everyone. She wanted to kiss him, but that needed to stay between them. She wanted to kiss him, but she couldn’t risk doing that in front of Lila. Because this wasn’t some easy version ofThe Parent Trap.

This was life, real life, with dangerous, delicate emotions, and they needed to guard them.

But there was also real need. Real history between herself and Landry, and she wanted to unravel it all. While he unraveled her.

She wanted him. She wanted to bring all that they’d ever been. In all that they were now, and let them both get burned alive by it.

A time and a place to fling themselves into the fire. Knowing and experienced. They finished out the dance, and her heart was beating hard. She was breathless, and it wasn’t just from spinning.

He went over to his brothers, and she stood on the outskirts for a moment. Lila was actually sitting and talking to one of the other kids, and it made Fia’s heart feel two sizes bigger.

Alaina edged over to where Fia was and sat. “Is something going on between you and Landry?”

“Did you just get tired of not being able to say your very favorite refrain?” Fia asked.

“No. It’s only that it looks like there’s something going on between the two of you.”

Fia sighed. “I never stopped being attracted to him.”

“That’s some high-stakes poker, Fia,” said Alaina.

“Oh, I’m aware,” she said. “But we’ve been through...everything.”

---