The confusion lifted. “I see.”
“Do you?” His fists clenched tighter. “Getting involved with you would be the ultimate betrayal of my friendship with Mike.”
Hadn’t she argued the same concept with herself many times? “Mike is dead, and he’s not coming back.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” He flinched at the anger in his tone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.”
“Mike wouldn’t want me to spend the rest of my life alone, and I can’t help thinking if he had handpicked a man to come into my life after him, it would be one of his best friends.”
“It’s not fair. He should be here with you. What right do I have to be with you?”
“I always thought Mike was my future, but that’s not how life worked out. I’ve had to accept that he is my past, and the future is not guaranteed. All I have is now.” She scooted onto the middle cushion and put her hands on his shoulders. “This is now, Evan. You and me. We can embrace it to its fullest—or risk living with regret.”
Drawing on every bit of strength and will she possessed, she moved her hands upward and cradled his face. “Can you look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t want this? That even now, you’re not remembering how powerfully our kisses affected you? That you don’t honestly see a future between us?”
His gaze burned into her. “I can’t.”
“Then what next? The ball’s in your court.”
Lowering his head, his mouth lingered a hair’s width from hers. “This.”
***
Evan couldn’t think straight. For all his excuses and reasons why he shouldn’t date Janie, none of them made sense right now. He was on an emotional high from her declaration of affection and hearing the passion with which she spoke.
She was officially his Janie as he’d thought of her for months, but didn’t think he’d had the right. And they’d sealed it with a kiss.
Fear had no place among them. She’d given him the words he’d needed to release any guilt about falling for his best friend’s gal.
But you had other reasons. His conscience kept trying to ruin his moment of joy.
He didn’t want reminders pressing on him of why a relationship couldn’t work. They needed time to ease into this—and then he’d tell her, before they got in too deep.
Too late for that.
“Shut up.”
Janie jerked her head back. “Did you just tell me to shut up?”
He growled under his breath, not realizing he’d spoken out loud. “That was supposed to be a silent reprimand to my conscience.”
“Huh?”
“I’m an idiot.” He hit his head against the sofa cushion. “My mind keeps repeating that phrase that goes something like, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
She made a noise that fell between a snort and laugh. “That good of a kiss?”
Knowing he’d never live it down, he winked and made the best of his faux pas. “The best.”
The merriment left her eyes. “When should we tell Jared and Wyatt?”
“The sooner, the better.” He wove his fingers with hers, needing the contact. “I’m honestly not sure how they’ll take the news.”
“You don’t think they’ll be happy?”
“Remember the night before Wyatt left, and we had a going away party?”
“Yes. We drove together.” The expression on her face impliedso what.
