Page 48 of By The Book
“I don’t break promises, sweetheart.”
Her panicked request for him to hold her and not let go sounded in her head, and she cringed at the implications. They’d already shared a kiss that had nothing to do with filming and everything to do with wanting to—and now this? He’d slept on the couch, upright, and held her all night? “I’m sorry. I-I mean, thank you but…I’m sorry.”
“No need to be sorry.”
“I guess I was kind of a mess.”
“You had reason to be a mess.”
She unclenched her fingers from his shirt, where she’d apparently gripped it all night given the wrinkles, and shoved the hair from her face. Why him? Why couldn’t the guy in her father’s apartment be some everyday Joe who worked nine to five and didn’t carry a gun and run toward trouble on a regular basis? “I’m pretty sure you’ve faced much worse. I doubt you’ve ever…well, you know.”
“Wanted to hold on to someone? I have.”
“Oh.”
Denz’s admission didn’t make her feel better, though. Because him holding her and whispering to her was exactly what she’d wanted. What she’d needed. Even though for the last year she’d told herself she would be perfectly fine going it alone. “Dad will be up soon.”
Denz shifted and pressed a hand to her back to steady her as she shoved herself upright on his lap.
Scooting across to the couch cushion took even more effort, but she did so and blamed the flush she felt rising into her face on the summer sun blasting through the windows.
Denz wasn’t going to be around in the future, and just because she’d decided she was ready to date didn’t mean she could allow herself to depend on him now.
“I need to grab a shower before I head over there,” Denz said.
“Should I come with you? I need to get my Jeep.”
He lifted his phone from the cushion and looked at the face.
“It’s early. Maybe you should try to get some more sleep?”
“Denz? What are you… Claire, what’s going on in here?”
For such a big guy, her father hadn’t made any noise as he’d come down the hall, but Claire could tell exactly what he was thinking when he spotted her in the same clothes as she’d worn the day before and Denz sitting all rumpled on the couch.
Denz shoved himself to his feet and quickly explained what had happened with Marsali, and once the surprise wore off, her father moved to Claire’s side and hugged her.
“I’m okay, Dad.” She wasn’t okay that he’d obviously thought the worst of them first, but she supposed if it was Tommy and a girl in the same scenario, she’d have her rush-to-judgment doubts, too.
“Of course you are,” her father said gruffly. “But one of you should’ve woken me up and filled me in.”
“Nothing you could’ve done. I stayed to keep an eye on Claire while she came down from the adrenaline rush.”
Claire met Denz’s gaze and quickly looked away, very self-conscious of her behavior last night. “Denz was nice enough to sit with me.”
Her father patted her back roughly and thanked Denz again.
“Okay, so, I’m meeting with Oliver this morning about security,” he said to Tom, “but I’ll take Claire’s keys and bring the Jeep back with me. I shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours at most, and we can get a taxi back to the wedding and drive the rental home later.”
“Yeah, okay. That works.” She wasn’t in the right frame of mind to go and be sociable and had simply wanted to retrieve her vehicle, but Denz’s plan worked fine. Eliza’s crew would be there setting up, the girls would be off to the salon for hair and makeup since they were V’s matron of honor and bridesmaids, and she probably wasn’t awake enough to be safe behind the wheel. “I would like to see Tommy when he gets up.”
Her panic over Tommy’s well-being had something happened to her surged to the forefront of her mind, and she found herself struggling to breathe.
Of course, Tommy would have her father, but what if something happened to him? The potential for random disaster seemed a little more real after last night, and she felt the need for a contingency plan.
She needed people in her life. People who loved her and Tommy and would make sure that Tommy was okay if something like last night ever happened again.
It was definitely something to ponder—and another reason to follow through on Marsali’s offer of matching her up.
