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Narrowing her eyes, she watched as he nodded and she walked away, hips swaying. To his credit, he just took a sip of his beer.
Walking up to the table, she slid into the seat that the blonde had just vacated, and said, “Hey.”
A smile moved across his face and he said, “Hey!”
Leaning forward, he brushed his lips against hers and said, “It’s good to be back. I missed you.”
Arching her eyebrow, she ignored that statement and gestured to the blonde by the bar and asked, “A friend of yours?”
Wincing, he said, “Not really. Just some woman. She gave me her number. It was kind of awkward.”
“Probably not as awkward as it was for me watching you take another woman’s number while you were waiting to meet me, I bet,” Chloe said, pointedly.
Wincing, he said, “It’s not like I’m going to call her. You know I wouldn’t do that. Besides, what was I supposed to say?”
“You could have just said you had a girlfriend and given it back to her.”
Blinking, he looked at her and said, “I do?”
Chloe stared at him for a moment and said, “Don’t you? We’ve been either at your place or mine almost every night for a few months now. You’ve got suits in my closet. Your beer is in my fridge. I’d say that probably makes me your girlfriend.”
Holding up his hand now, he said, “Maybe, I don’t know. I just don’t feel comfortable defining it, really. I thought things were good. We seemed to have an understanding. Isn’t that enough?”
“Whether you intended to call the woman or not, I just watched you take a number from some random chick in a bar while you were waiting to meet me. I’ve got to say, that’s sort of an issue for me,” Chloe said.
Sliding the number, which he’d left on the table toward her, he said, “I just got off a nine-hour flight from Boston to come meet you here. You have to know I’m not looking to pick up so
me random chick in a bar.”
Closing her eyes a moment, she shook her head and said, “I know. You’re right. I’m sorry. Thank you for coming to meet me.”
Shaking his head now, he said, “Look, obviously there’s some stuff we need to talk about. Do you want to go back to your place?”
Nodding, Chloe said, “Sure.”
When they got up from the table, he took her hand and they walked to the door. Chloe was almost on autopilot now.
She said, “I’m going to go to the parking garage and grab my car. See you at my place.”
He tugged on her hand until she stopped, then pulled her into his arms and said, “Really. I had no intention of calling that woman. I wouldn’t do that to you. If I wanted someone else, I’d tell you. I don’t.”
Nodding, she said, “I know. I just think you could have handled it much better than you did. I also think that we probably have a lot of talking to do.”
He sighed and said, “You’re probably right. I’ll see you at your place.”
Leaning his head down, he brushed a kiss against her lips and moved toward his car.
Walking to her car, Chloe could feel a gnawing ache in her gut already. The conversation that was coming wasn’t going to be pleasant. She could tell by the look on his face.
She’d done this to herself, though. In her quest to keep things casual and not press him for anything, she’d given him the impression she didn’t expect anything at all. She’d done this all wrong.
Starting her car, she reasoned that he wasn’t afraid of commitment. He was at her place or she was at his anytime they were both free. Did he want to keep his options open?
Chloe was already exhausted. Shaking her head, she pulled onto the freeway, which remarkably wasn’t backed up yet, even though it was four.
The rest of the drive went quickly. She saw Chris’s car in her parking lot already and assumed he had let himself into her apartment. Letting herself in after him, she saw that he had settled on her couch with a bottle of water. Setting her purse and jacket on the chair, she walked over to sit down next to him.
“How was your trip?” she asked.
