Page 43 of Where the Heart Is

Mila had never done that. She’d been a staunch support when he needed it—and considering his home life, he’d needed it often—but she’d never judged or given unwanted advice. She’d listened and observed, and he’d been eternally grateful.

Which is why he could never hurt her, and that’s what indulging this attraction between them could do.

‘I thought we agreed that kiss was a spur-of-the-moment thing, not to be repeated,’ he said, wishing he could get a better read on her expression. But with the flames casting shadows on her face, he couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.

‘We did, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun at your expense.’

‘As I recall, you kissed me.’

‘Moot point,’ she said, with a coy smile that made him want to leap across the fire pit and drag her into his arms. ‘Logically, I know we should forget it, but let’s just say that kiss was something else and will probably keep me up tonight.’

He admired her honesty and it rammed home the fact that he wasn’t being completely honest with her. What would she think of his underhanded attempt at helping her? Will knew his sister better than anyone and he’d advised to keep Sawyer’s involvement on the lowdown. Sawyer agreed, but it wouldn’t hurt to test the waters, see what she said if he offered help.

Because that’s the only way he could see them starting something beyond friendship, if she knew the truth.

‘We’re close, yeah?’

She nodded.

‘And you trust me, yeah?’

‘Of course. I’d say you’re like another big brother to me, but that would be plain weird considering our lip-lock.’

‘Then what would you say if I offered to help you financially?’ He held up his hands, palms showing. ‘No strings. Just a loan. Or however you want to structure it—’

‘No.’ She shut down, her expression blank and her brows grooved in disapproval as she shook her head. ‘It’s lovely of you to offer, but I don’t want to mix business with pleasure.’

Before he could say anything, she continued. ‘And I’m not talking about pleasure in the sense I’d like to continue beyond that kiss.I mean that we’re friends and when money enters a friendship, it never ends well.’

He agreed, but this was Mila, and it would be different for them.And it irked that she’d been happy to marry Phil, herfriend, with money a big part of their union.

‘But we’ve known each other a long time and there’d be ironclad contracts, not me slipping you an envelope of cash under a table.’

Her hard expression softened. ‘You’re sweet to offer, but my answer is no. You said you had a buyer interested in some of my land; I’d rather stick with that.’

Hell.

Now would be a good time to come clean, to tell her one of his companies would be acquiring her land, so to make the transaction easier they could cut out the middleman and deal directly with each other.

But Mila had closed off the moment he’d mentioned helping her and he knew that if he told her the entire truth now, she’d end up hating him and not getting the money she so desperately needed.

She yawned. ‘On that note, I’m going to call it a night. Let me know when you have confirmation from that buyer and we’ll get the ball rolling, okay?’

He nodded, the guilt at deceiving her sitting like a rock in his chest.

She stood and stretched, giving him a tantalising glimpse of stomach, and he wished he could bury his face there and wrap his arms around her.

But their relationship was muddy enough thanks to his quest to help her, and he needed to get the hell out of here before he did something foolish.

Like stay.

CHAPTER

25

Adelaide missed her morning walks along the beach, missed the briny sea air that seemed unique to Tally Bay. It had been strange at first, trading the dry country air for the ocean, but she’d soon grown to love it.

She’d changed a lot of things when she’d first moved away from Ashe Ridge. She’d stopped drinking coffee, swapping to fruit-filled smoothies. She enjoyed the occasional BLT or steak but became predominantly vegetarian. And after several years, she stopped thinking of herself as married and went on the occasional date.

---