Page 17 of Inevitable

“But…”

Moving in the last inch, he pressed his mouth to hers, and a hundred shards of light filled her vision as reason and logic flew out of her brain. Yes, Claire thought as he cupped the back of her head and drew her closer. Her hand moved to his shirt and she felt the beat of his heart as she pressed her hand to his chest. Yeah, she could safely say that logic had nothing to do with what was happening between them.

“Cancel the date,” he said against her lips once he released her from the kiss.

“I really shouldn’t,” she said as she rested her head against his chest. When he lifted her chin and she saw the desire in his eyes, she knew that going out with Vince wouldn’t be fair. Whatever was happening between her and Brady should be figured out before she went out with anyone else.

“Please,” he said quietly.

“Fine,” she replied. When he let out a little breath of relief, she felt like melting. For some reason the idea of him not being one hundred percent confident was endearing. It told her he was a little off balance, and that made her relax. If a man who could face anything was affected by her at all, then she knew she should probably get to know him.

***

When she finally acquiesced to his request, he felt his heartbeat slow down. The idea of Claire going out with another man made him feel the same as when he’d been out hunting an enemy. Adrenaline had started to pump; his focus became laser-sharp and he’d had his next ten moves planned. Had she not agreed to cancel the date, then he knew exactly what he was going to do. It involved him planting his butt in the restaurant and letting Claire know that he wasn’t going to give up.

The time they’d spent over the last couple of days told him that he’d found the girl he wanted to get to know. And he wasn’t going to let another guy sniff around and get in his way. Claire might very well be the one for him and they needed uninterrupted time together to see if that was true. “How about you come over tonight after work? I can grill something and we can take a swim. Bring that questionnaire you got and I’ll fill it out and we can get to know one another.”

Claire leaned back and crossed her arms. “You really gonna answer a hundred and fifty questions?”

“Holy shit, that’s a lot of questions.” He stood, then tugged on her hands and pulled her out of her chair. When they were looking into one another’s eyes, he saw that she didn’t have too much faith in his ability to do as she asked. Which would never do. If he couldn’t do something as small as this, then he should just leave her be.

Clearly, she had something vested in this process, so he’d better get vested too if he wanted to make her happy. Which he did. “Send them to me now and I’ll get started as soon as I’m done with the meeting with Erin and Damian.”

“All right.”

The smile he got from her made him want to do everything he could to keep it there. Knowing he made her happy in some small way had him wanting to beat his chest in triumph. “You want something, all you have to do is ask.”

Claire pushed at his chest and laughed. “If I asked you to listen to an hour of my music, would you?”

Swallowing, he stood tall and nodded. “If that’s what you want, then sure.” So what if his ears would bleed and his head would ring? Small price to pay…hopefully.

“I wouldn’t do that to you. How about if I check out your playlists on Spotify and mix what you like with what I like? One-to-one ratio on song choice should ensure that neither one of us wants to beat our head against a wall.”

Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he rested his head on top of hers. “Compromise, the best ingredient for success. We’re not a day into our relationship and you’ve come up with the answer to our different musical tastes.” Feeling her arms go around his waist made him about as happy as he’d ever been. For some reason, that small gesture was making his insides go all soft and mushy.

Which isn’t something he could recall ever happening.

Claire Hughes was going to either make him the happiest man in the world or destroy him. Didn’t seem they had an in-between. Which surprisingly didn’t scare the shit out of him. In fact, it settled something deep in his gut.

“Why are you meeting with Erin and Damian?”

Emptying his head of hearts and cupids, he cleared his throat. “Apparently, the stalker she’s had for a couple of years is ratcheting up his crazy. Quinn said we need to put a comprehensive plan in place for her safety while she’s here in Lafayette. Erin extended her stay and is working on some project with Lilly that’s going to keep her in town for at least a month.”

“That’s going to make Hunter so damn happy, he may actually be forced to smile.”

Leaning back, Brady looked down and raised his eyebrow. “What does Erin staying in town have to do with Hunter smiling?”

“Don’t tell me you missed the big crush he’s got?”

“Hunter has a crush on Erin…the famous actress?”

Stepping away from his hold, she laughed. “Yeah. He hates the idea of it, but I can see he can’t help himself. He’s a smitten kitten and he’s doing his best to fight it.”

Rubbing his hand along his jaw, Brady chuckled. “Had no idea.”

“Men don’t usually pick up on the more subtle emotions, so that’s not a surprise.”

“I’m a trained observer. I pick up on subtle things all the time,” he responded with conviction.

“Maybe if you’re at work, but in social situations, probably not.”

“I’m not sure if I agree with that assessment.” Just as he was about to say more, his phone buzzed, alerting him that he was due in the conference room. “We can talk about this more tonight.” Taking a step forward, he kissed her head. “I’ll check with you later and see what you want me to cook tonight.”

“Okay. I better cancel my date with Vince before I forget.”

He lifted her phone off the desk and handed it to her with a smile. “Thank you for clearing the field and giving me a chance.”

She gave him a small smile and then pushed him away. “Go.”

“Fine. Don’t forget to send me the questions.” As he walked out of the room, he wondered what kind of questions he was going to have to answer. He was never one for a lot of self-revelation and it seemed that was about to change. Thinking of Claire’s smile, he knew it would be worth revealing whatever he had to. Hopefully, she would still want him when all was said and done.

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