Shelby sat next to him on the sofa. She angled toward him and took his hand in hers.
“She could have stood between you and Ceallach, but she didn’t. That was her decision. That decision speaks to her and not to the entirety of being in love.”
“You’re saying I learned the wrong lesson?”
Her blue eyes were wide and filled with compassion. “Yes. Love simply is. Each of us reacts differently to the feeling. Your mom and my mom are a lot alike. They both fell in love with difficult men. They both chose to sacrifice their children in the name of that love. We saw what happened and made connections. You learned that love makes you stuck. I learned that love makes you weak. We’ve been unable to trust in love ever since. At least not romantic love.”
“And now?” he asked.
She smiled. “I trust you.”
“I trust you, too.”
Simple words. Easy words, yet they hit him like a freight train. He was momentarily immobilized by their impact. He trusted her. Wholly and without reservation. He’d never trusted a woman before. Not that way. In fact, outside of his brothers, he wasn’t sure he’d ever trusted anyone as much.
He reached for her just as she leaned into him. She went into his arms as if she’d always belonged in them. In the second before their lips touched, he felt desire mingle with certainty. This was right. Being with Shelby was right. He wasn’t sure why he’d resisted for so long.
At the first brush of his mouth against hers—
“Ha! I knew it.” Destiny walked into the living room with her baby on her shoulder. “All this we’re-just-friends crap. You’re not just friends. You were kissing!”
Shelby scrambled to the other side of the sofa. “We weren’t.”
Destiny’s smug expression never changed. “Really? Did Aidan faint and you were giving him mouth-to-mouth?”
“It was an accident,” Shelby amended. “We really aren’t together.”
“It’s my fault,” Aidan said. “Leave her alone.”
Destiny stared at him. “Is that how it is?”
“Yes.”
She studied him for a second. “All right. Let’s talk about the party.”
Shelby looked between them. “What just happened?”
“Aidan won’t let me tease you,” Destiny said. “He’s being protective.”
Shelby relaxed. “He does that all the time.”
“Interesting,” her sister-in-law said. “Now, about the party.”
Shelby pulled a notepad from her bag. “We’re still thinking about a 1950s-music-themed party. I saw the most creative cupcakes online. There were a couple of ideas that I really liked. My favorite was cupcakes in the shape of a guitar. They were iced to look like one, too.”
Destiny grinned. “Starr would totally love that.”
“We’d have music from the fifties,” Aidan told her. “There are plenty of playlists we can buy. For games, we’ll do old-fashioned board games like Scrabble and Candyland. Along with Twister.”
“It’s girls only, right?” Shelby asked.
“That’s what she says she wants,” Destiny told them. “Kipling and I are so grateful. I didn’t want to have to sweat that much supervision.”
“You could also do fun manicures.” Aidan took the notepad and read from the list he and Shelby had put together. “The supplies would be easy to assemble and then the whole kit could be put in some kind of pretty bag. That could be the party favor.”
Destiny’s mouth dropped open. “You know about parties like this having a favor?”