There was a reason that at twenty-seven, she was still a virgin, and not the born-again kind, the original variety.
She had decided to devote her life to animals. To nature. She had decided that she was going to give her all to it. Some people devoted their lives to the church. She devoted hers to the care and keeping of critters. And her parents had accepted that. They understood that she wasn’t ambitious, that she would only ever be able to afford to rent a little house at the end of a dirt road. She had accepted that too. But what she hadn’t fully accepted was that her feelings for Remy were tied up in all her life choices.
They were stronger than she would like to believe. But it was more than just being attracted to her older brother’s gorgeous best friend, who had been part of her family for so many years. She now realized it was love.
“And I’m damned appreciative of your family,” he said. “They’ve been everything. They mean the world to me. But I don’t need the whole town to look at me and see a good person.”
“What do you need?”
He shrugged. “I expect that I have it. My house, being a rancher. My dad is gone. So, that’s a boon.”
“Now you even have a dog,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
And yet she could feel that there was a sadness to him. As if there was something missing, something he couldn’t articulate. She knew because she felt the same way. She had a pretty good life. But sometimes . . .
Sometimes she wondered if she was missing out. Sometimes she wondered if she needed . . .
“What?” he asked, as if he could read her thoughts.
“Nothing.”
She told herself Remy was a dead end. That was the honest truth. And while she was standing there grappling with the hard reality of her feelings for him, she also tried to grab hold of that one and clutch it tightly.
Did she just want to live in a house with her animals forever? Did she want to be consecrated to the church of animal rescue? It wasn’t something she had really put into words before, so it wasn’t something that she had really accepted.
Her heart was in a holding pattern. For Remy.
But the man had a pretty complete life.
“Matthew thinks I should want what he has,” Remy said.
“And you don’t?”
The corner of his mouth lifted upward. “Not in the market for a husband, no.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right, but a wife.”
“Not really in the market for one of those either. Because I’ve never seen marriage pan out for members of my family.”
“My parents are very stable.”
“Yes, they are. Your parents are wonderful people. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a parent support kids the way yours do. And it spilled over onto me, and for that I’m damn grateful. Trust me on that. But it doesn’t mean I would know the first thing about how to have a relationship. Although I do know about other aspects of romance.”
The way he said it, all throaty and serious, made her feel warm.
“Well. How nice for you.”
“That’s why Matthew was such a great wingman for me, and I was such a great one to him. We were both very charming and not competing for the same type.”
“Must be a big loss, not having your wingman.”
He lifted a brow. “I do okay.”
That made her feel hot in ways she wished it didn’t. Women had always liked him. Even before he’d become so successful. How could they not like him?
“I think we should give Hank a bath,” she said, eager to change the subject.
