Page 72 of Peach Blossom Hollow

“What if it is?”

“I want more than you can give.”

“But you’re right about partners—the love, friendship, and helping each other. I believe in that. I understand why things didn’t work out with Christine now. I was trying to force a stupid partner idea on us, when love and friendship are the foundation a relationship needs.”

Violet looked down, wishing he wasn’t so darn perfect. He was always there at the right time, doing and saying the right thing, making her feel seen and adored, his moods leveling out her own.

It would be so easy to say yes.

“Vi?”

“You’re a seriously fantastic friend, Leo. But I’m feeling vulnerable tonight.” She made sure her voice lacked emotion. “You’re saying things you might not understand. Words that mean really deep and important things to me.”

He reached for her hand. “I know we’d be great together.”

Violet inhaled a deep breath and held it. Her mind was screaming for her to say yes, because theywereso great together, and it was straight-up awful when they were apart.

“Leo, when I fall, I fall hard. And I can’t change our relationship on a whim.”

She had it in her to fall in love again, but not to have her heart shattered. It could be broken only so many times before you simply couldn’t put it back together again.

“It’s not a whim.”

“I fear this is nothing more than an opportunistic moment.”

“I amnot‘failing up’ like your old date was.” His eyes flashed with that unfamiliar anger. He looked ready to fight her on this.

“You can’t just replace the Christine dream with a Violet vision,” she said, feeling slightly panicky. She wanted so badly to jump into his arms, but was afraid that what he was offering was different from her hopes.

“I’m not trying to. They’re very, very different.”

“The stakes are too high to dive into something like this tonight. You need to let me sleep on it. I can’t let us fumble over the line, especially if we’re both feeling vulnerable right now. Me about Wyatt and the wedding that never was, and you about giving up on Christine.”

“I’m not feeling vulnerable.”

“You need to leave,” she begged, feeling her resolve weaken. “Please. Before we make a mistake that’ll ruin our friendship.”

Leo stared at her for a long moment, jaw set, eyes flashing.

“Please, Leo. You’re too important to me.”

When she didn’t stand down, he pushed away from the counter. He adjusted his cowboy hat, turned and left, his boots pounding down her front steps, his black jersey fading into the night as he headed to his car.

CHAPTER 10

Leo almost wished he was being traded. He couldn’t believe Violet had asked him to leave last week after he’d given her the sweetest kiss.

Then she’d kissed him right back, and it had been like floating on air.

Why, if they were such good friends, couldn’t she just trust him? What he felt was real, as was everything he’d said. He wanted commitment, friendship, that special something he knew some couples had that ran so deep words weren’t even needed, and Violet was his chance to have that.

He was pretty sure she felt it, too, but was scared. Was it because she’d been burned in the past and thought he would break her heart?

Violet was so incredibly easy to be with, and she helped him reach for things he couldn’t even see on his own. She tested him and improved him just by being herself. How could that not be love? He thought about her all the time, and at the moment he was grumpy, unfocused, and couldn’t sleep.

He was either having a mental breakdown or in love.

Either way, he was going crazy. She’d wanted to sleep on it, but hadn’t called or texted the next day. He’d waited. And waited. Nothing. No word. He was giving her space, but it was so damn hard.

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