"Two broken people didn't make a whole one. The friendship we had, it just worked. We were kindred spirits. We had shit in common. We were both running from the same demons. That didn't mean we could make a romantic interlude work, in fact, it almost guaranteed that we would be a complete bloody disaster."

Darcy

I liked Cole from the moment my best friend introduced us, and if I hadn't been seeing someone at the time, we might very well have hooked up. But, instead, we became friends, good friends, and I came to value that friendship more than I'd ever imagined. Cole just got me. When I was around him, I could let all my defences down and just be me. Sure, he was hot, and I knew if we ever went beyond friends, we would rock each other's world, but our friendship was too important to me to throw it away for one perfect night between the sheets. I didn't do long term relationships, so one night was all we could ever have, and that just wouldn't be enough. Cole and I would be spectacular, and then we would self destruct. Neither of us was emotionally available to deal with the fallout. Maybe if things were different, if I wasn't so broken, but they're not, and I'd rather have Cole as a friend for life than just a sweet memory.

Cole

Darcy knocked me on my arse the first time I met her. She was gorgeous; a tiny little thing that I'd like to pick up and carry around in my pocket. But she was also smart and funny and a great wingman. Except that I'd rather sit at the bar talking to her all night than go home with the women she picked out for me. And now my body had gotten on board, and it wanted more, much more. But Darcy was my friend, and the relationship I had with her was probably the healthiest male/female relationship I'd ever had, and I just didn't want to screw it up. She was too important to me to be a one night stand-even though I knew it would be amazing-and I'm a one night stand kind of guy. That might be an awful thing to admit, but I'm not whole, and I didn't think it was fair to lump my baggage onto someone else. So having Darcy as a friend was the only way to keep her in my life, and I definitely wanted to keep her.