Page 70 of Holiday Hook Up

“What?” She spun around. “What are you talking about?”

He took quick steps to reach her, his heart racing. “You’ve been afraid your whole life. Always standing in Rachel’s shadow. Not going after what you want. Why haven’t you opened up your photography studio? Why won’t you take a chance on me? I’ll tell you why. Getting what you want scares you.”

That was exactly what it was, so he continued, “I have no doubt that you want to explore this connection between us just as much as I do, but you’re scared to take a leap because what if it doesn’t work out. You’re a coward, Bethany, and we might lose out on something really great because you won’t take a chance.”

“Is that what you think?” she asked with a lot of agitation in her voice.

“Yeah,” he said, not feeling as confident as he was a moment ago. Maybe he shouldn’t have called her a coward.

“Is that so.” She stepped closer, into his space.

If her eyelids weren’t narrowed, he’d pull her close and wrap his arms around her, but he was pretty sure she’d slap him.

“Maybe I was having feelings for you, but when you agreed to go slow, I didn’t realize that you kissing your ex-girlfriend the same night you made that agreement to me was your idea of going slow.” She pointed her finger directly at him. “And that, Adam Reed, doesn’t make me a coward. It makes you a jerk.”

She knew about the kiss? Oh, God. He was a jerk.“How did you hear about it? Did Rachel tell you?”

She pinched her lips and looked away. “She didn’t have to.”

Adam shoved his cold hands in his jeans pockets. This didn’t make any sense. “Then how did you find out?”

“It’s about the spell.” She looked over at the bakery for a split second and then her gaze met his. “Adam, the reason I know that you didn’t do the spell correctly tonight is because I realized last week that you’re not predicting soul mates.”

His eyebrows furrowed at her confession. “I’m not?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“But a name always shows up in the batter.”

“You’re outing last kisses.”

Outing last kisses?“What do you mean by outing last kisses?”

“I only figured it out last week. The name that is appearing is the last man the woman kissed. Wendy made out with Tony, Annie was sneaking around with Scott, you kissed Pauline a few weeks before you did the batter on her. Apparently, she hadn’t kissed anyone else.”

“Wow.” What she was saying did make sense and certainly was the only logical reason that his name would show up in Pauline’s batter. “And Zoe kissed Will.”

“Zoe kissed Will,” she repeated, and they stood on the corner for a few awkward seconds.

“Well, there goes my admission into Hogwarts.” He smiled down at Bethany, but she didn’t seem to think his joke was funny. “LB . . . It’s not what you think.”

“But you kissed Rachel the same night we admitted there was something between us.”

“Yes, and I’m so incredibly sorry. I wanted to respect your desire to take things slow, and I was at her house and we—”

She put up her hand, signaling for him to stop talking. “Again, going slow doesn’t constitute one of the parties kissing his ex in my book.”

“It wasn’t like I planned it. It just happened. I mean . . . Rachel and I have a lot of history. You’re her best friend, so you know.” He was grasping, but he had to make her understand.

“Right,” she said sarcastically. “She asked you to go out for a sausage and mushroom pizza and the rest is history—your history.”

“Bethany . . .”

“You know what, Adam? All of this is a mistake. You and me—we should have never let whatever is going on happen. We were friends. It was obviously silly to think we could start anything that would be even close to what you and Rachel had. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m a coward, but I will never feel second to anyone.”

She brushed past him but spun around, jabbing him in the chest with her finger.

“And one last thing. Tell your meddling ghost of a distant cousin to leave me alone!”

His heart grew heavy as he watched her storm away. Had he really ruined things with Bethany before they had even begun?

And what did Mary have to do with any of this?

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