Surrender (St. Austell Series, Book 2) by Joelle Habbaki

Author:Joelle Habbaki [Habbaki, Joelle]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Romance, Fiction
Published: 2023-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

I suggested getting away for one day. Not going into exile for weeks!” Kat states disapprovingly as she follows me into the bedroom.

“This is the best way.” I lift my suitcase onto the bed and unzip it. “I need to breathe again, Kat,” I say, throwing the doors to my wardrobe wide open.

“And living here with me is stopping you from doing that?!” She drops onto my bed and hugs one of my pillows to her front.

“No, of course not! But if I don’t step back from everything, I’ll just keep hurting others because I’m hurting. A lot,” I confess, slipping two of my blouses off their hangers.

“You’re not hurting anyone.”

When she sees me ignore her and continue laying my clothes neatly in my bag, she asks, “Who could you have possibly hurt, Em?”

“Robert,” I throw my answer out and turn to pull some sweaters down from the top shelves. “The weather has been getting much cooler these days. Did you notice?” I hope for a change of subject.

“Really?! Did you really just try to pull the ‘let’s talk about the weather instead’ trick on me?!”

Laying my sweaters down, I lean on the edges of my suitcase, sighing. “I almost kissed Robert last night.” I don’t dare look up at her, so I just go back to searching through my clothes.

“I’m sorry. Did you say you almost kissed Robert?!”

I sink deeper into my wardrobe, wishing I could just disappear.

“Okay, stop! Sit down for a minute,” she requests, frustrated.

I throw my hands up in the air, unhappily submitting to her request. “Yes, okay?! I almost kissed him. I know it was a huge mistake.”

“You keep saying you almost kissed him. I’m pretty sure you mean to say he almost kissed you.”

“No,” I correct her. “All me. I’m the one who went for it. He was meeting me halfway when I snapped out of it at the very last minute.”

“Wow.” She drops back onto the headboard, staring straight ahead.

“I know. This is why I didn’t want to talk about it. I feel guilty enough as it is.”

“I warned you about drinking on an empty stomach,” she reminds me.

“Alcohol wasn’t to blame. I barely had a glass. No, these days I act stupid all on my own.” I stand up to continue packing. “I desperately need to clear my head.”

“But you don’t have to punish yourself by staying in the middle of nowhere,” she argues, making me stop what I am doing to glare down at her.

“Kat, I’m telling you, I haven’t been myself since I returned. And to make matters worse, I have a colleague at the office accusing me of getting hired only because I had an affair with Edward. And a total stranger approaching me at the restaurant, because she recognizes me from that bloody video. All pushing me in the end to want to kiss my best friend simply because he is refreshingly safe and familiar,” I conclude, my chest heaving as I try to catch my breath.

“Okay, I get it.

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