The Belle and the Beard (The Santillian Triplets, #3)

by Kate Canterbary

"Because years are not wasted. You were alive. You lived those years. You experienced more than a job in that time."

"Why would it bother me?" he asked. "Why would I put any effort into reacting to the presumptions of a stranger?"

all I could offer was, "I don't know. Sometimes men get weird about being misrepresented." "Men get weird about being misrepresented?" I threw my hands up. "Please don't goad me into a 'not all men' moment." "No, that's not what I'm getting at," he replied, impatience thick in his voice. "What I mean is, if someone can't handle being logically and reasonably mistaken for a significant other in a low-stakes situation, that person is probably forcing a lot of their own insecurities onto you. So no, not all men. Just the ones too fragile to deal with the idea of significance."

But my life has many facets and the people I spend time with should be reflective of that. I can't throw myself all in one direction and still expect to feel whole."