Page 22 of Give In

“Yes, mom,” Juniper says, but she drinks.

“Great, so you had a one-night stand with Junie’s sister.” Leo rakes a hand through his hair. He looks like his father doing it, which is not something I am going to think about right now. “Two nights before my wedding. Well played, dad.”

“I made the first move,” I say, because it’s true and because Heath shouldn’t be standing here absorbing all of this alone.

The look he cuts toward me is brief and grateful and very warm.

“It wasn’t a fucking one-night stand,” Heath says, and the quiet certainty in his voice lands in the room like something solid.

Leo exhales. Some of the edge goes out of his posture. He’s not done, but he’s listening. “Then what was it?”

“You know, I’d really like to tell Clover how I feel about her before I have to tell you.” Heath glances at his son, steady and direct in the way of a man who loves his kid completely and is also not going to be managed by him. “We were in the middle of having this discussion before y’all arrived.”

And here is where I have to make a decision.

Because I can keep being sensible. I can stay on the side of what makes sense and what is logical and what doesn’t complicate things, and it would be the right call, the careful call, the call that past Clover would definitely make because past Clover has always been much better at leaving before things get complicated than staying through the part where they become something.

But Heath is standing in my hotel room at nine o’clock the night before my sister’s wedding, having walked down here specifically to say something to me. And he just told his son, with complete unambiguous certainty, that this was not nothing.

I turn and I face him.

“No,” I say. “I don’t want to pretend last night didn’t happen.” My voice comes out steadier than I expect. “I did say the sex was amazing.”

“Could’ve gone my whole life without hearing that,” Leo mutters.

“But it was more than that,” I say, and my eyes are on Heath’s face and I’m not looking away. “There was a connection between us.”

I stop there, because the rest of it is sitting right there at the front of my throat, the big version, the true version, and I am not quite ready to say it in front of an audience that includes my sister and her fiancé. I am only so brave.

“But, we are not resolving any of this tonight. We’re here for Juniper and Leo. I’m not going to get distracted from that. Regardless of how deliciously distracting you are.”

Leo pinches the bridge of his nose. “And that.”

“So what are you saying?” Heath asks.

“I’m saying that for the remainder of tonight until tomorrow post vows, I am the bride’s sister and you are the groom’s father. That’s it. No conflict of interest. No complications.”

Heath’s jaw ticks and tightens. “And then tomorrow, after those vows?”

“Then we can talk and see if this is something more.”

Heath crowds into me. “This is something a whole lot more, baby girl. But I’ll give you tonight.” He steps away. “Besides, I’ve got a bachelor party to take this man to.” He grips one of Leo’s shoulders and squeezes.

“Yes.” I grab my sister’s hand and pull her to me. “And it’s bad luck to see the bride from now until she walks down the aisle.”

“I think you embellished that,” Juniper says.

“Semantics.”

chapter

ten

Clover

After plying my sister with more water and a snack, I let her fall asleep in my bed. She only naps for about an hour before she finds me sitting out on my balcony.

She drops into the chair beside me.