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“Hi!” Danielle greets us as she steps through the door with Michael right behind her.
Crew mutes the television and gives her a big grin. “Hey, pretty girl. Did you have fun?”
I lay my book down and take my reading glasses off, studying her across the room. She looks absolutely gorgeous in a teal dress that’s tighter than what she normally wears. But it’s her smile that really catches my attention. She’s glowing.
Wow, that must have been some dinner.
“It was such an amazing night,” Danielle answers Crew as Michael takes her purse and sets it on the table just inside the door. He also offers her a hand while she balances first on one foot, then the other as she takes her shoes off.
She sighs happily and then comes into the living room with that radiant smile still in place.
Crew notices it as well and gives a low chuckle. “I guess so. Did you get frisky in the car on the way home? Or…” He looks up at Michael. “Did you sneak into the ladies’ room at the restaurant?”
Danielle laughs. “Not that.”
I try to catch Hughes’ eye to try to gauge what’s going on but he’s watching Danielle with his own serene smile. He’s got his hands tucked in his pants pockets. He’s still in his jacket but his tie is loose and the top button is undone. He looks…maybe happier than I’ve ever seen him. What the hell is going on?
Not that I don’t want him to be happy. But it was just dinner with old friends.
Wasn’t it?
“We have something we need to talk to you both about,” Danielle says, smiling at Crew. She’s standing near where his feet are resting. Then she turns her smile on me.
I lift a brow. For some reason, I feel anticipation knot my stomach. And it doesn’t feel like good anticipation.
Crew shifts to sit up straighter. I glance at him and see that he’s not grinning the grin he usually wears when our girl is around. It’s as if he senses something is up that he’s not sure he’s going to like either.
“Did something happen tonight?” Crew asks.
Danielle nods, then glances at Michael, her smile still bright.
Michael gives her a look full of love and tenderness.
My chest tightens.
That’s never how I feel when these two men look at this woman. At least not since the very beginning when I believed there could only be one of us in Danielle’s life. Since we all realized we could be with her together, make her happy together, I haven’t resented a single loving look or a private conversation or memory between Danielle and Michael or Danielle and Crew.
Until now.
And I don’t even know what’s going on.
“What happened?” I ask, the first words I’ve said.
Danielle looks at me, biting her bottom lip. Usually, that makes me want to kiss her. And bite that lip too. And bite other things.
But this isn’t a coy look. Now she looks nervous.
Crew glances between her and me, a slight frown pulling his brows down. “Yeah, what’s going on?”
Hughes steps forward, putting his hand on Danielle’s lower back. I notice how she leans back into his touch.
“I proposed tonight,” Hughes says simply.
His words hit me as if he just punched me.
There is dead silence in the room for several ticks.
I watch Danielle the entire time.
