The Heartbreaker of Echo Pass - Maisey Yates Page 0,102

what woman didn’t dream of being utilitarian?

“I don’t think that’s the only reason you missed out,” she said. “A word of advice, talk to women about something other than water filtration. And maybe don’t use one to get to her sister.”

“I...” he sputtered. “I’m very secure and stable.”

“So is a table. You have to be more than that. Be a little better than that. And don’t tell me how nice you are. Because you know what, you’re not that nice. You made me feel like garbage. And you made my sister feel bad. And the whole time, she blamed herself, and I kind of blamed her too. But the fact of the matter is, you led us both to believe something else was happening. And I think you did it because you knew that that’s what Rose wanted. I don’t think you were at all surprised that Rose didn’t like you. I just think you thought you could put on a good show with me and make her see you differently. But Rose likes cowboys. And you know what? So do I.”

Then she grinned broadly, and produced a pink frosted sugar cookie. “Have a cookie. And a very nice day.”

He actually did take the cookie, which surprised her, and lowered him even more in her estimation, because if he was really angry, he’d have thrown it back at her. And just then, she realized, that for all her bad feelings, she did basically have two men who wanted her. And whatever Elliott’s motives were, there was that.

It was intriguing, and different for Iris.

Griffin was an adventure.

And she didn’t know where he was leading. She needed to get back to that place. Where she saw him as an experience. It was just hard. Now that he’d met her family. Now that he’d moved in. Now that he’d expressed a commitment to her, that went somewhere beyond just sleeping together, but stopped short of everything.

You said you didn’t want everything.

Sex was complicated.

What she wanted to do was call Pansy and yell at her. Because Pansy had been all for a fling, as if it was possible. And honestly, her younger sister had no evidence that it was. Because the idiot girl had married the only man she’d ever slept with. In fact, both of her sisters had done that, and their encouragement toward an affair with Griffin rang hollow for that reason.

And you knew it at the time.

And you did it anyway.

She reached into the bakery case and took out a Mountain Climber. Griffin’s cookie. Because God knew she needed some sugar. And some caffeine. She wasn’t in a bad space. She was in a good space. And she was having a little bit of relationship drama. But internally. Externally there was no drama at all. Externally, Griffin was incredible. She wanted to do things for him. She wanted to make him happy. She wanted to make sure that he was happy in this place with her. It was important.

But inside... Yeah, things felt a little bit less stable.

But that wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t...

She blinked rapidly, suddenly feeling teary, and on the heels of her surge of positive feelings, it was weird and unexpected.

Was this just how it felt to be... Involved with someone quite this intensely? Maybe.

She was starting to think that it was overrated.

She thought back to when her deepest hope had been to have a feeling so intense it surpassed the sadness that she felt the day she lost her parents. And she felt that with Griffin. Many times over. She’d realized during sex there was an intensity, that was like a handful of broken glass and a handful of glitter and grind them together until she was cut up and sparkling, that it wasn’t necessarily going to be all good.

She had accepted it there. In bed.

It was harder to accept outside of it. Harder to accept that sometimes she was just going to be sitting in her bakery, which was a personal triumph, and feel... A driving sense of urgency to be with him. To be away from him. To hold on to him forever. To push him away, before he hurt her.

All those things competing at once.

But she was in a room filled with cookies. So she would have one.

And she would focus only on the taste of that cookie.

Because right about now, it was the only thing she could handle.

And so she thanked God for baked goods. Without which, she would have lost her sanity