Page 73 of One Night With You

“What are your feelings?” I asked, knowing that maybe if I latched onto those, I’d be able to figure things out.

I didn’t want to do this wrong. I didn’t want to hurt her. But hell, I didn’t have a transcript for this. There wasn’t anything I could say other than I wanted her in my life. And I didn’t want her to walk away. Was that love?

“Those are mine until I figure them out,” she said as she stood up. “And I’ve really put you in a spot when you can’t even escape. And this was totally not the right time for this conversation.” Her alarm went off as soon as she said it, and she smiled brightly, her eyes a little manic. “And now I have to go to work.”

“Fuck. Claire.” I tried to get up and groaned at pain rocketing up my back.

“Stop. Just sit down. We’re okay. You and me, we’re okay,” she said quietly as she leaned toward me.

“Are we?” I whispered.

“We are. And I really do need to get to work. I have a meeting that I can’t get out of. A huge event that’s going to bring me a lot of future business, I hope. And we sort of stumbled into this conversation that doesn’t feel very organic. So we’ll talk about it later, okay? We’re fine.” She kissed me softly, so I cupped her face, and deepened the kiss, desperation in every movement.

“Come back?” I whispered.

“Of course.” Then she brushed her lips against mine, and left, leaving me alone on the couch, realizing I had just stepped in it so hard that I knew I would have to grovel worse than ever to get back.

How the hell had things turned so quickly?

And where the hell had I gone wrong?

My door opened again before I could even figure outhow to get off this couch and run after her, and hope spread through me.

“Claire?” I called out.

“No it’s just us,” Kane said as he and Crew came inside.

“We’re on shift to babysit you with Claire at work. Sorry we’re a little late.” Crew closed the door behind both and frowned at me. “What the hell did you do?”

I held up both hands ignoring the pain in my side. “I really fucked up.”

“Oh hell. Did you break her heart?” Kane asked, before throwing himself in my armchair. “Phoebe is going to kill me if you hurt Claire. Do you understand that? That woman is the love of my life. I’m going to propose to her as soon as everything calms down and we’re through the next crisis. But hell, there’s always a fucking crisis in this family. What the hell did you do to Claire?”

“I didn’t do anything.” That sounded petulant but I needed to catch up to my damn thoughts.

“Now that’s a lie,” Crew said as he sat in the opposite chair from Kane. “Let me guess, things got too real, and you got too scared?”

“I don’t like the mocking tone from a man who isn’t in a relationship,” I bit out.

“Fine. I’m just going to sit back and watch you Montgomerys fuck up everything again. It takes youforever to realize what you’re feeling, and then you don’t say the words.”

“Daisy really hurt you that bad?” Kane asked, and I froze, not realizing where this conversation was heading.

Crew let out a mocking laugh. “No. I’m not talking about me. I’m doing just fine. Daisy and I are friends. That’s all we ever should have been.”

Then who the hell was he talking about? I didn’t ask. “Now that we’re done dissecting Crew’s love life, can you help me figure out mine?”

“Well, did you tell her you love her?” Crew asked.

I looked at him, my mouth gaping like the goldfish that I had joked with Claire about earlier.

“I’m going to take that as a no,” Kane said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “How could you fuck that up?”

Scowling, I leaned forward. “So says the man who broke up with Phoebe before.”

“And I groveled. I fucked up there. And we’re better than ever. She’s going to be my wife.”

“Did you get a ring?” Crew asked.

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