His Best Friend's Bride by Jodi O'Donnell

Author:Jodi O'Donnell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Griff had thought he’d experienced just about his limit this evening as far as extremes of emotion, but he’d obviously been wrong, as euphoria plummeted into another abyss of discouragement.

Still, he managed to hold on to one bouying thought—that at last he had spoken, and at last Julia knew that he loved her. And she loved him!

He let himself feel a brief moment of vindication at least on that point. Damn it, he’d known that Julia loved him in that way, and not Reb. He’d known it, ever since forever.

So you’re right. Where does that get you?

Yes, it was small comfort, considering how she apparently saw no hope right now for a future together.

Please—don’t let me lose her now that I finally have her, he prayed. That would be the worst luck yet!

“But you and I, we do love each other,” he said almost desperately. “I know I’ve always loved you, and I always knew deep down that you loved me that way, too. And you don’t think we’re meant to be? Why?”

“Don’t you see? Who knows what will happen between Reb and me if we decide to break off our engagement?” She looked so unhappy it made his gut twist, because the fact of the matter was, he was the direct cause of that unhappiness. “I think that’s what was worrying me more these past weeks than wondering if he had doubts about our relationship. Even if the break is mutual, Griff, things will never be the same. Sure, we may still be friends, but it’s like I said—we can’t go back to the way it was before.”

She closed her eyes as if in dire pain. “That’s why we can’t let these feelings between the two of us go anywhere. It’s because we’re best friends, and I can’t—won’t—risk losing you as a friend, too. And once we started that kind of relationship, that possibility would become very, very real.”

She opened her eyes to look at him intently. “Is that why you never spoke?”

He couldn’t lie to her. “Not exactly. I wasn’t thinkin’ of our friendship, but the one I had with Reb. I knew that to speak my piece would pit the two of us against each other. You’d have to choose, and if it wasn’t Reb…I didn’t want to lose Reb as a friend. Because I knew he loved you, too.”

Her mouth trembled. “So you know I’m right in believing there’s that risk…between us.”

He looked away, not answering her. He couldn’t lie to her.

Blast it, he should have kept his mouth shut, should have let her continue to search for a reason why it just didn’t feel “right,” until the answer dawned on her. He knew Julia well enough to have figured out she’d never have gone through with the wedding, not with even one doubt about her and Reb’s relationship.

If he had just waited until she’d come to that conclusion on her own! But tonight he had realized that he might have waited too long already.

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