“I’m not asking you to.” Her heart rate kicked up a few notches as she imagined him walking out on her.
“I’m not asking you to change who you are for me. You have a lot of friends, guys and girls, I get that. I thought I was okay with it, but—”
“You’re not.” She didn’t know where they were supposed to go from here. She couldn’t concede on this point. It would mean he always felt he had the right to dictate who her friends were and that wasn’t right.
“I don’t know.” He raked a hand over his hair. “This just kind of caught me off guard. I walk in and see you talking to this… good-looking guy. At first I thought he was a client, but when I heard that he’d moved here, knowing you were here…” He threw his hands up in the air. “What the hell am I supposed to do with that? What would you think?”
Bella tried putting herself in his position. Maybe she wouldn’t like it either. But she knew Matt and she knew his reasons for re-locating had nothing to do with her. They’d been friends, just friends, for years.
“I’m not saying you don’t have the right to ask questions. You do. And I’m happy to answer them.” Her voice softened, hoping he would relax, and take a breath. “You know the deal with Matt. I’ve been completely honest with you about everything. And let’s assume, just for a minute, that he had moved here to be closer to me, would that really matter?”
He scowled at her. “How can you ask me that? Some other guy is after my girlfriend? Hell yeah, it matters.”
“Why?” She took a step closer, reaching for his hand. “Why would it matter? You know how I feel about you. Matt is just a friend. That’s all he’ll ever be. It doesn’t matter if he wants more. I don’t.” It seemed so simple to her, if only Loran could see it that way. “I want you. No one else. Just you.”
He hauled her against his chest. “I just love you so much, baby. I don’t know what the hell to do with these feelings.”
“Go with them.” She looked up at him, feeling the undeniable urge to tell him the truth. “Just like I intend to do.” She curled her hands around the back of his neck. “I love you too, Loran. And that… is all that matters.”
He closed his eyes before lifting her up as he buried his face in her neck. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear you say those words.”
“I’m just sorry it had to be like this.” She hadn’t said it to reassure him, though she knew that’s the effect it would have. “I would have preferred a more intimate setting.” She licked her lips, inviting him to kiss her.
Taking the hint, his mouth claimed hers in a deep kiss that made her wish she didn’t have a meeting in fifteen minutes.
“I have to get back to work,” she said on a sigh when they broke apart. “Can we pick this up tonight?”
“I wish.” He looked regretful when he took a step back, still holding her hand. “That’s what I came here to tell you. I have to leave town for a few days. I was kind of hoping I could talk you into coming with me.”
She shook her head, wishing there was some way she could take a few days off to be with him. “I’m sorry, including yours I’ve got five projects on the go. There’s just no way I can get away right now.”
“I figured as much,” he said, leaning against the door at his back.
“What’s going on? Why do you have to leave town so suddenly? You didn’t mention anything about it last night or this morning.”
“My mother called this morning. She’s been hospitalized with pneumonia.”
“Oh no.” Bella covered her mouth with her free hand. She knew how much Loran’s mother meant to him. If anything happened to her it would destroy him. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She said she would.” But his pinched expression told her he wasn’t so sure. “The antibiotics they put her on hadn’t worked as well as they’d hoped, so they’re hospitalizing her to try another course of treatment and monitor her condition.”
“Damn it, I wish I could go with you.” But she had a dozen meetings scheduled over the next couple of days.
“It’s okay. You’ve got your work. I get that.” Yet he still sounded disappointed.
“Promise you’ll call and give me an update on her condition as soon as you can?” She didn’t want to tell him she’d be on the next flight if his mother took a turn for the worse because that would only make him more anxious.
“Yeah, sure.”
She led him to her drafting table, hoping he would feel better after seeing her revisions to his drawings. “The games room,” she said, pointing to it on the floorplan. “I added the closet to store your toys and—”
“They’re not toys!”
She laughed, slapping his chest. “Call them what you want. I also bumped this out a couple more feet,” she said, pointing to one of the bedrooms.
“To make room for a play area.”
They hadn’t talked about his intentions for the three extra bedrooms, but hearing him talk about his future children, possiblytheirfuture children, made her stomach flutter.
