Free Silent Hearts (Hamilton Stables 3) by Melissa West Page A

own heart for causing her this pain.
    “I didn’t mean to do this. To upset you. I don’t even know what I said. I mean the in-your-pants thing. I know that was crude and I shouldn’t have said that. And of course you’re more to me than that. You’re my best friend. I would never . . .” He stopped as tears filled her eyes again. “Bec?”
    “Can you just leave?”
    He stared at her.
    “Please. I’m not feeling well and I’m tired. I just want to curl up in bed and rest. I have to be at work early in the morning.”
    “I could stay, make you something?”
    “No.” Then she did the one thing he hated most. She put on a fake smile and tried to laugh, but no laugh had ever sounded less like Becca’s laugh. “You know you can’t cook. Besides, I’m fine. Really. I just want to rest.”
    “So we’re fine?” But even as the words left him, he knew the answer. They were anything but fine.
    She swallowed hard and Nick wanted to pull her into his arms, stroke her hair, make her feel better in any way he could, do whatever she needed. “We’re fine.”
    Right.
    So why did Nick feel so much worse?

Chapter Six
    B ecca threw her hair into a high ponytail; then, frustrated with the way the elastic tugged at her hair, she pulled it down and instead piled her locks onto her head in a messy bun and wrapped the elastic around it before dropping her arms to her side.
    It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Nick all but told her that he would never go there with her, never want more, and still, her heart ached as though he’d just said it. The confirmation that her feelings would never be returned made her want to call him and say she was done, throw in the towel, their friendship was too much for her.
    But she cared about their friendship more than she cared about her heart, so she would lick her wounds, lock away her feelings, and move on. What else could she do?
    “Bad mood?” Sage asked from the kitchen.
    “Always,” Becca joked, then grabbed the plates he’d set out and started for the table that had ordered the food. Thankfully, there were no Hamiltons in the diner that Sunday morning, or else she feared she might lose it.
    So Nick didn’t want in her pants. Wasn’t that what she expected? Hadn’t she known that all along? So why did it hurt so badly for her to hear it?
    She could almost hear her heartbeat pick up speed when he said he wanted her every time he saw her, and a little part of her had pictured him sighing and pulling her into his arms, where he would kiss her with all the pent-up passion of a man who’d wanted her since the first moment he saw her.
    They’d kiss and then kiss more, and then tell stories about how hard it’d been not to confess their undying love for the other and laugh about how long it’d taken them to get together. All would be well and fine and wonderful. Close book, happily ever after complete.
    Instead, he took it all back, said he hadn’t meant a word of it, then came by her house to reiterate just how much he didn’t want her.
    She still couldn’t believe she’d let him see her crying, but she couldn’t help it. It was either let him in or ignore him, which would only confirm that something was wrong. And while it hurt her tremendously to let it go, she had to. Nick was her best friend, and though her heart would forever be his in a different way, she didn’t want to lose their friendship. It meant the world to her.
    “Becca, new table.” Willow motioned to the first table and she did a double take. Crap. Crap, crap, crap.
    “Do you know them? You look pale.”
    “No, well, yes, a little. But I’m fine. Totally fine.”
    Only she was anything but fine.
    Because seated at table one was none other than Instructor Zac and two other men who looked remarkably similar to him, which meant they must be his brothers. She thought she remembered meeting a slew of Littletons at Alex’s wedding, but she’d forgotten that there were three brothers—and that they