Christmas in Cambria by Linda Seed

Author:Linda Seed [Seed, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Linda Seed

Quinn held his breath, waiting for Delilah’s response. Then he realized he was holding his breath and forced himself to let it out.

He hadn’t meant to tell her all of that, but then again, he hadn’t meant to do any of this—he hadn’t meant to call her, and he hadn’t meant to want her like this in the first place.

He hadn’t meant to need her.

None of this was going the way he’d planned.

But now that he’d said what he’d said, he found himself hanging on her answer.

“I can’t stop thinking about you, either,” she said. “But …”

Ah, God. Of course there was a but.

“But what?”

“But it’s complicated.” Her voice was small, as though if she couldn’t hear herself saying these things, then maybe none of it was really happening.

“Of course it’s complicated. Relationships are always complicated. At least, the best ones are.”

Hadn’t he, just days before, promised himself that he would not get involved with a single mother? Hadn’t he assured himself that it was far too much baggage for him to carry? And now here he was, arguing in favor of complications. Funny how much things could change in a day.

“The boys need stability,” she said. “They’ve been through too much for me to bring another man into their lives, just for it to—”

“To what?”

“Just for it to end, Quinn! Because it’s going to end! I have a life in Connecticut, and you have a life here, and even if that weren’t the case, even if I weren’t going to leave in a month, things end! And when they do, it hurts like hell, and I can’t do that again—not to myself, and not to the boys.”

“Who says it’s going to end? Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it just keeps going.”

He hadn’t planned to say that, and now that it was out of his mouth, he was a little bit appalled. He’d gone from wanting to sleep with her to wanting to date her to suggesting that this might, in fact, be permanent.

All in a span of twenty-four hours.

He was right when he’d told her he was losing his mind.

“Look, why not give it a chance?” he said, summing up his argument. “If it doesn’t work for you, you’ve got an out already built in. You’re going home in a month. If we give it a try and you decide I’m not for you, then you just stick with the plan and flee as soon as your rental period at Otter Bluff is up. But if it does work, if you decide it’s worth more time …” He left it hanging, just left it out there for her to mentally fill in the blanks.

“Quinn …”

“I’m just asking you to leave your options open. That’s all.”

With his free hand, he repeatedly crumpled a paper napkin and then smoothed it atop the booth’s table. Crumple, smooth, crumple, smooth.

Kind of the way his heart felt these days.

“I’ll think about it,” she said finally.

He sat up straighter in his seat. “You will?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean you’ll see me again?”

“That’s what I’ll be thinking about.

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