Page 57 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

He wasn’t a man who just...saw what happened. He went out to hook up, and everyone knew the score. Sex was had and they went their separate ways. He didn’t kiss a woman sweet and light, like it was the end of a church picnic.

He didn’t leave things open-ended.

And yet.

Here he was.

She nodded. “I can do that.”

Maybe they would cool off. Maybe nothing would come of it. He already knew that he was lying to himself, but he was okay with that. A person had to make compromises sometimes. “Okay. Should we...go back separately?”

“We could. If you think Benny might think something happened.”

“Benny won’t think a thing. But, I really, really value the job that I have at McCloud’s Landing. And I don’t want anything to cause problems.”

“None of my brothers care at all what I do with who. And they certainly won’t care what you do. We don’t exactly have an HR department.”

“No. I guess not.” She closed her eyes for just a second, and the breeze kicked up, and in the light of the full moon, he could see her pale hair blowing around her face, framing it beautifully.

She really was stunning.

“Let’s just walk back together, then.”

He didn’t hold her hand or anything like that, but they went around to the front side of the barn together, and Elizabeth separated from him pretty quickly, going to the knot of kids to find Benny. He was still playing.

So eventually, she went back to the bonfire with him, even though they didn’t dance anymore.

He talked her into one drink, and they talked about the weather. And that was fine.

And when he got in his truck to head back to the ranch, he really wondered why the hell he was allowing this to happen.

And right before he fell asleep, it occurred to him, that he wasn’t really allowing anything.

It was something out of his control.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. But that was the thing about stuff that was outside your control.

It didn’t matter how you felt about it. It just was.

Maybe that was justification.

Yeah, it probably was. He was okay with that.

BENNY WAS SINGING about fireworks all the way to school the next morning, and Elizabeth was hypocritically irritated. She had no call to be, she had been caterwauling the same song last night.

Last night.

Before she had gone and disappeared behind the barn with Brody and kissed him like a desperate teenager.

Good thing she had a full schedule today, so nothing else crazy could happen.

Why is that a good thing?

Yeah, she was inconsistent, she didn’t need her inner voice to tell her that. She had been mad that he hadn’t continued their kiss, even when she’d stopped it, and now she was all jittery because something had happened.

She couldn’t be pleased, and she didn’t know the answer to that at all.

But she got Benny dropped off, and happily squared away at school, and then she went back to begin her next session with Loralee. It was their last one before Loralee would leave. And whether or not she came back was up to her. She knew from the meeting that things were going really well. That the boy with autism was growing in confidence and learning how to reach out to his parents for help. That the little girl with muscular dystrophy was loving the freedom provided her by riding the horses. And was thrilled with her new skill set. The confidence that she had gained was remarkable.

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