Page 89 of Beach Cottage Kisses

Only a week in and they’d reached a fork in their roads.

He’d accepted that it would happen at some point. That had been a given from the start.

But…so soon?

There was still so much…

No. Maybe soon was for the best.

Before they got in too deep. Involved Sage and Gray and Leigh. A breakup would be more awkward then.

As it was, they could just stop visiting each other at night and now that his sister and her family were back, could just go back to seeing each other casually on the beach.

With the possibility of chaperones appearing at all times.

A return to their old normal was probably for the best.

Even in just a week’s time he’d begun to include thoughts of Iris in his self-planning. Like the overnight trip he’d scheduled to meet with an attorney in Santa Barbara the following week. He’d made the plans, but had hated that they meant missing a night of Iris. Had even had a split-second thought to invite her along.

Good thing he hadn’t yet done so.

Right. Good thing.

There wasn’t one damned good thing about ending things with Iris.

But for her…to give her a shot at true, lifelong happiness…he’d give her up in a heartbeat. He cared for her that much.

And for that, he wasn’t sorry.

* * *

What about kids?Iris hadn’t answered his question. She wanted to. Just couldn’t find an appropriate response. How did you explain to someone else what you didn’t understand yourself?

As the silence lengthened between her and Scott, Iris fought off an onslaught of fear. It was okay if they didn’t meet in the exact same place on every level.

If there were truths they didn’t have to give to each other.

So why did she feel as though they were already losing the new journey they’d embarked on? Already reaching a crossroads?

The answer that occurred to her fed the anxiety building within her.

Because what they were trying to do didn’t work in the real world. You couldn’t be casual friends and share the kind of soul-deep physical joining that she and Scott had been engaging in over the past week.

“We aren’t casual friends,” she finally had to say. The words had been pushing at her for days. Since the day after Sage and Gray had come home, clearly closer to each other even than they’d been before they’d left, and she hadn’t been envious.

Or felt herself on another planet.

Living a different kind of life.

She’d felt as though she had what they had. An emotional connection that was bone-deep.With someone who knew her. Really knew her.

Understood the parts of her that most people didn’t see.

Scott’s silence stretched too long. They were in trouble. She didn’t have to hear him say it.

But couldn’t make herself get up, get dressed, thank him for the best sex she’d ever had, take her girl and head home.

Because she’d be leaving a part of herself behind.