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“And is that why you made up that story? About me breaking your heart? What’s that got to do with being protective?”

Frowning, Sam finally met her gaze. The memory of saying that materialized, as did Maya’s strange reaction afterward. “I didn’t make that up. It’s what happened.”

Maya opened her mouth, then closed it again. There was a hard edge to her tone. “That’s pretty heartless, Sam.”

He raised his eyebrows, his pulse kicking up. “Heartless?” Maya was the one who’d been heartless. Fair enough she was different now, and the past was the past. But she could at least own it.

“Yeah,” she said, meeting his gaze and frowning, like she couldn’t understand why he would’ve been upset. “Sam, I know it was ages ago and it means nothing now. But back then, I really liked you.” She took a breath, her voice unsteady. “And I thought that you liked me.”

Sam shook his head. It was beginning to thump again, and his heart was tripping over itself. “I did like you, of course I did. More than liked, in fact.” He hesitated, then decided there was no point in hiding it. “I was in love with you, Maya.”

She was staring at him now, and it was unnerving how all of this seemed to be news to her. Looking away, he knew he shouldn’t continue, but it was as if the effects of his hangover were blocking his usual inhibitions. “I wanted us to make things official, and I was going to ask you that night. To be my girlfriend, I mean. But then we argued and you sent Cat to tell me that you’d changed your mind and couldn’t get seriously involved with a lowly ski instructor when you were off to university to become an accountant.”

He shrugged, trying to play down how much it hurt to say it out loud, even after all this time. “I’m sorry that I acted like an arsehole with Brodie, and I’ll apologize to him too. There’s no excuse for it. But what I said about the heartbreak was true.” He stopped talking because his mouth had run away with him once all the feelings had come tumbling out. He couldn’t believe that he’d admitted he used to be in love with her.

Maya didn’t reply, so he glanced up. The color had drained from her face, and for a moment he thought she might keel over.

“Hey,” he said, shifting closer, his heart plummeting that he’d hurt her feelings by admitting how deeply it’d affected him. “It’s fine now. We all say stuff that’s a bit undiplomatic at that age.”

Maya still didn’t speak. Nausea balled in his stomach, and this time he couldn’t blame the hangover.

Maya swallowed, her voice catching. “Cat said that to you? That I wasn’t interested? Because you were a ski instructor?”

Searching her face, he nodded, his nausea escalating.

She was blinking hard, fighting tears, and the sight of it cut into his heart.

She took a deep breath. “And you believed her. Of course you did, she was one of my best friends at the time.”

The penny dropped, and he thought he might actually vomit.

“Wait—are you telling me . . .” His voice tailed off because he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Maya nodded, gulping in air. “Catriona lied.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I never said that. I was planning on going with you to the nook. And for the record, I would’ve said yes to being your girlfriend.”

She paused to wipe her face because tears were falling, and Sam’s heart pounded painfully.

“Cat came to me,” she continued. “And it must’ve been before she told you that lie, because I was watching you laugh with your mates across the bar at the time. She was all solemn and apologetic, even gave me a hug.” Maya closed her eyes. “She told me that you’d asked her to come and break it to me, as my friend. That you’d changed your mind. You could never see me as anything but your sister’s best friend, and you didn’t want to keep in touch when I went to uni.”

If Sam had been punched in the gut with a sledgehammer, it would’ve been less painful. Winded, he sat there for a moment, frozen to the spot as reality hit and years of infinite possibilities played out in his mind, all involving what would have happened if Catriona hadn’t sabotaged them.

Maya touched his hand. Her face was wet with tears. “Shit. That fallout we had on the phone beforehand . . . it must’ve sown the seed that I thought your career wasn’t good enough. But I was only parroting what my dad made me say. He was standing over me at the time.” She gulped in more air. “Do you believe me?”

The strength of their connection vibrated with a profound intensity, and Sam knew with every fiber of his being that Maya was telling the truth. He reached out to tug her into his chest, kissing the top of her head and wiping her face with his thumb, then using his jumper when that didn’t do a good enough job. “Of course I believe you.”

She let out a little sob and buried her face in his chest. The lump in his throat throbbed, sending painful pricks of emotion into his eyes. Sam rested his cheek on top of her head, unable to bear the thought of letting her go. “Fuck. I should’ve known that was your dad talking, not you. I let my paranoid inferiority complex get in the way. I should have supported you, not taken it personally.”

They sat in silence for a minute. He couldn’t bring himself to voice what was going through his head, and he sensed she felt the same.

Eventually, she lifted her hand to play with the V-neck of his jumper. “I came back to the pub, to confront you and try to sort out what happened on the phone. But I saw you . . .” She paused and took a deep breath. “Kissing her on the path to the nook, and it was the worst thing I’d ever witnessed. The next day, I heard that you’d slept with her. I’d thought my heart was already broken by then, but boy, was I wrong.”

Sam tensed as that last part of the story hit home—how it would’ve looked to Maya. Like he’d dumped her and immediately taken up with her friend. The idea of it knifed right into his heart. “Holy shit.” He squeezed his eyes shut, as if that might in turn force the agonizing thoughts from his mind. “I’m so sorry. She was there to pick up the pieces and I let her. Out of heartbreak but, if I’m honest, also spite.” He tightened his arms around her. “Fucking hell. You must’ve thought I was the mother of all arseholes.”

“Yeah,” she whispered against his jumper. “Pretty much.” She paused. “Though maybe more the granddaddy of all arseholes.”

Despite the situation, Sam couldn’t help but laugh, and Maya joined in with a quiet chuckle. He absorbed the vibration through his chest, trying to soak it in in order to ease his pain.

She wiped her face with her sleeve, sitting up to meet his gaze. “And you must have thought I was a snobby bitch.”