Sunsets at Seaside(97)

“You’d give up everything you’ve built to run Duke’s resort? You’d move to Australia?” He had nothing against Duke Ryder. But the idea that Amy would change her life to help him just pissed Tony off.

She sank down onto the bed and buried her face in her hands.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and when she tried to pull away, he tightened his grip and kissed the top of her head.

“Amy, you’re sexy, smart, and everything a guy could want.”

She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her damp eyes. He felt like the biggest jerk on earth, and at the same time, his own heart was fighting tooth and nail against the space he was trying to maintain between them.

He uttered a curse and scrubbed his hand down his face. “You are all those things, Amy, and so much more, but…”

“But you like me as a friend.”

He’d never seen so much hurt concentrated in one person’s eyes, and even if he had, it wouldn’t have compared to seeing it in Amy’s. He touched his forehead to hers, and he did the only thing he knew how to do without doing irreparable damage to their friendship.

His lie came in a whisper. “No. I love you as a friend.”

He loved Bella, Caden, and the others. What he felt for Amy was so much bigger than friendship, it threatened to stop his heart.

She didn’t say a word, just nodded, and Tony knew in that moment that she wasn’t drunk enough to forget what he’d said by the morning—and he almost wished she were.

(End of Sneak Peek)