Cal cares about you. And he’s a really good guy. And even though I want to hate him for being betrothed to you…” He gave a helpless shrug. “I can’t. Which must mean he’s extra-special dreamy.”
“Stop it,” I said, jerking our joined hands. “Cal’s my friend. That’s it. You’re the guy I-“
Love, I wanted to say. But the word froze on my tongue, and I ended up just saying, “Want. Chose. Whatever.”
He held my gaze, and his dark eyes were as serious as I’d ever seen them. “Maybe I shouldn’t be.”
Shocked, I leaned away from him. “What does that mean?”
“It’s just…If you were with him, you’d be happier. Better off.”
Okay, now I was getting angry. “That’s really not for you to decide. And if you feel that way, maybe you should just go ahead and give me the ‘It’s Not You, It’s Me’ speech right now.”
To my surprise, Archer smiled. “That’s the thing, though,” he said. “I can’t. I could stand it if you left me, but I don’t think there’s any way I could leave you.”
I blinked at him. “You are so screwed up.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Wrapping my hand around the back of his neck, I pulled his face to mine. “I happen to like screwed up,” I whispered, our lips nearly touching. “So don’t ever say crap like that again, okay?”
I could tell there was more he wanted to say. Instead he just sighed. “Okay.”
“Well, this is a lovely moment.”
I whipped my head around. Lara stood just inside the room, smiling beautifically at us. “So glad to have found you, Miss Mercer,” she said to me. “I think it’s time we two had a little chat.

Autor: Rachel Hawkins