Page 51 of Quarter Miles (Runaway 3)

“I’m surprised you waited this long to ask.”

She laughed. “It’s been killing me. Spill. That man is hot. Mega hot. So why are you best friends?”

“And coworkers.”

She clicked her tongue. “And roommates.”

“It’s complicated.” I groaned.

“Sleeping with your best friend tends to complicate things.”

I blinked. “How did you know we were sleeping together?”

“Please.” She rolled her eyes. “I was at the dinner table last night. Best friends who aren’t having sex don’t emit that kind of sexual tension.”

I groaned again, my shoulders slumping. “It just happened on this trip. It was the first time and . . . ugh.”

“Please don’t tell me that man is bad in bed. It’ll break my heart.”

“No. Definitely not bad.” The memory of his hands running over my skin, the way his mouth was hot and wet and so fucking talented, made me shiver. And that beard. That goddamn beard. My cheeks heated. “Really, really not bad.”

Cash had probably ruined me for any other man.

“Then tell me why you are down here with me this morning, schlepping around the hotel, doing gardening work, while that sexy cowboy is in a bed upstairs.”

“He’s my best friend.” I sighed. “Or he was my best friend. Now . . . I don’t know. Everything is different. It’s like we don’t know how to be around one another.”

“Got it. You want to stay friends and he doesn’t.”

I twirled a finger in the air. “Other way around.”

“Oh.” She straightened, letting the water run on the deck boards. “You’re in love with him.”

“I’m in love with him,” I whispered. Had I ever let those words escape my lips? “I don’t think I’ve ever admitted that out loud.”

Aria took a step closer and put her hand on my shoulder. “He doesn’t feel the same.”

“No. I’m firmly in the friend zone. He calls me Kat, like the cute little sister he never had.”

“But you slept together.”

“I don’t understand it either.” Because Cash had been the one to make the move. He’d come to my room and kissed me. Why? Was it because I’d been the only woman in the vicinity? Had it been an experiment? “He says he doesn’t want to pretend it didn’t happen, but I think that was just because he’s trying to save my pride.”

When we got home, I doubted he’d be forthcoming about what had really happened on this trip. I didn’t want to tell his family anyway. It was far too humiliating since Carol, Gemma and, I suspected, Liddy knew I was in love with him.

If they found out we’d had sex but were definitely not together, all I’d earn was pity.

I hated pity.

“I can’t keep doing this anymore.”

“Have you told him how you feel?” Aria asked.

“No. I’m a coward.”

“Or maybe you’re protecting your heart. There’s no shame in that.”

Self-preservation was something I’d learned early on. It had taken me a long time to break the habits from my childhood. I shut down and shut people out when I didn’t feel safe. There was no question that Cash cared for me and wanted to protect me. But that didn’t mean I was safe with him.