Page 185 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

“Piper.”

She sighs. “You answered a different question.”

My throat tightens.

“I asked whether you love them. You told me why you shouldn’t.”

“That’s the same thing.”

“No, Soph. It really isn’t.”

For years I’ve told clients that feelings are information, not instructions. Fear does not automatically mean danger. Hope does not make an investment sound. Wanting something desperately does not make having it wise.

Apparently my professional insight is easier to apply when the disaster is happening to someone else. “I miss them.”

Piper reaches across the table and places her hand on top of mine.

“I wake up looking for them.” My eyes sting. And because we’ve been friends for so long, all my emotion comes bubbling out. “I keep expecting Caleb to put coffee beside me or Lucian to tell me I haven’t eaten enough. I hate that there’s no one there to annoy me.”

Her mouth twitches.

“Do not laugh.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

“And I dreamed about them.”

She sobers.

I don’t tell her the details. Those belong to me.

But I remember reaching for both men, asking them not to leave, and waking with my hand stretched across an empty mattress.

“In that moment, I was happy,” I whisper.

“Oh, Soph.”

Tears blur my vision. “So yes… I love them.”

There.

The admission doesn’t change anything, doesn’t magically transform what they did into something romantic or forgivable.

It simply makes something I have been fighting finally stop fighting back.

I love them.

And they hurt me.

Both things are true.

Piper remains quiet while I wipe my eyes and take another drink. “Please, don’t tell me love conquers all and that everything will be okay, or that everything is for the best.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Or that because I love them, I should go back.”

“I would never insult you like that. This is heavy stuff, and only you can do what’s best for you.”