Page 69 of Fierce-Michael

And now that she had something to share, she didn’t want to.

“I’m meeting your best friend,” she said. “He knows everything there is to know about you.”

“Not everything,” he said. “He didn’t know about you until two nights ago.”

“And you said he was shocked and it wasn’t like you not to share that.”

“He’s been out of town,” he said. “And we don’t talk that much on the phone. Normally it’s text and I tell him things in person. That is the truth.”

“Really?” she asked. “There wasn’t a reason you were hiding it from him?”

“No,” he said, frowning. It was the look on his face that said he was stunned she’d asked him that.

“Okay,” she said. “Just wasn’t sure. It seems like everything is happening at once.”

“Is that a bad thing?” he asked. “You said you’d be ready to meet Ty when I decided. I can push it off.”

“No,” she said, laughing. “I’m ready to meet your parents and Ty. It’s Owen that I’m nervous about.”

“No reason to be,” he said. “He’s harmless.”

“He’s the man that has had your back,” she said. “For everything.”

She remembered that Owen was the one who found out Michael was going to be a father and then went with him to confront Electra.

Those were special bonds that couldn’t be broken.

“So?” he said. “I’m telling you, he’s happy about it. He wants to meet you.”

“To size me up?”

“No,” he said, laughing. “I can’t believe you’re this nervous. I’m sorry. Maybe I should have put this off and had you meet everyone else first.”

“It’s fine. I think it just means more. And the fact you want me to meet everyone right away, I kind of hope it means more for you too.”

“It does,” he said. “I would have thought my actions all along said that.”

“They have,” she said.

“But you need words?” he asked.

“I never want anyone to do or say anything they don’t want to. Don’t think that.”

“I don’t think that,” he said. “I’m just not someone who says the words to just anyone or at any time. Doesn’t mean I don’t feel them.”

“Awww,” she said. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Do we want to have this conversation in the car now when we are two minutes from the restaurant?”

“We don’t have to,” she said. “But know I feel the same way.”

“I know,” he said.

Her jaw dropped. “You do?”

“You’re not all that hard to get a read on.”

“Gee, thanks for that. Leaving me here wondering all the time.”