She shifted in her seat. “Yes...?”
Man up, buddy.Way past time to get this out on the table.
“I was wondering if you’d be open to the idea of a... a shift in our relationship.”
***
The whole room seemed to shrink down to just Maggie and Josh. Time seemed to stand still as his words replayed in her mind. The reason for this meeting was just as she’d suspected. Just as she’d hoped.
Just as she’d feared.
And despite all the time she’d given to this possibility over the past few days, her emotions on the subject were still a tangled skein of yarn. “A—a shift?”
He glanced down to where his fingers mangled a cloth napkin. Heset it aside and leaned onto his elbows as one side of his mouth lifted. “I think you know what I mean, Mags.”
She swallowed hard. “Right.”
“We already know each other very well.”
It was true. She’d always felt so comfortable around Josh. It was so easy with him.
“And you can’t deny we’re compatible. We share the same values, the same religious and political views.”
“It takes more than compatibility to make a relationship.”
He slowly lifted a brow. “You’re absolutely right.”
She was referring to chemistry, of course, and he was practically daring her to refute the sparks between them. She couldn’t. Especially now as the low rumble of his voice and intensity of his gaze lit a fire inside where a pile of cold ashes had lain for years. Since the night he’d kissed her. Since that amazing, sensual kiss she’d never been able to forget.
But she wasn’t about to own up to it. The thought of changing everything between them might kindle a fire inside, but it also shook her to the core. Josh and Erin were her best friends. Brad and Becky were the parents she’d never had. If a romantic relationship with Josh ended badly, she risked losing her family. She had to quash this as delicately as she could.
“Don’t you think—? You’re my husband’s brother, Josh.”
“Late husband.”
“What would Ethan have thought of this?” Before he could respond she rushed ahead. “People might find it a little odd. And what about your parents? Don’t you think they might be upset by the very notion of—”
He set his hand on hers and waited until he had her full attention.“Hold up. Slow down. One thing at a time. How about if we focus on us before we bring everyone else into it?”
The solid weight of his hand distracted her from the words coming out his mouth. It took considerable restraint to keep from weaving her fingers through his.
No. Stop thinking like that. You could end up losing virtually everyone who matters to you. This can’t happen.
But what if it did? What if they followed this road and it didn’t end badly? What if Josh was the answer to her heart’s every question? A wave of longing hit her so hard, she struggled to draw a breath.
“Sometimes you look at me like that and I think maybe I’m not crazy. Maggie... remember that kiss a couple years ago?”
Remember? She’d only memorized every glance that had led up to it. Every touch they’d shared. Every sigh they’d emitted. Even now her lips tingled at the thought of it. She glanced at his mouth, then darted her attention back to his eyes.
“I didn’t kiss you because I was sad and lonely. I kissed you because I wanted you. No one else, Maggie. Just you.”
Her heart gave a slow roll as she fell into his smoldering gaze, where she could’ve happily drowned.
“I let you believe that because you weren’t ready for the truth. I’d been feeling differently toward you for—for a while. I’ve thought about that kiss a million times. Best kiss of my life. Am I the only one who felt that way?”
When he looked at her like that, when he made her remember that night, she forgot all the reasons she’d been fighting this. And shehadbeen fighting it. She hadn’t allowed herself to admit it, but it was true. Sometimes their hugs extended a fraction too long. Sometimes their gazes connected in a meaningful way. Formonths she’d been engaged in a quiet battle to keep Josh in the friend zone.
“But we’re—we’re good friends, Josh.” It was a last, half-hearted effort to keep things as they were. Safe. Unthreatening.
