She wanted to pinch him but she only said, “Of course.”
He didn’t take long to finish eating. He cleared the trash from the table. Then he walked back to her, leaned over, and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Call me if you need me.”
Unbelievable.
*
Hell. Had hescrewed up? Instead of going to his apartment, Connor called Logan. “Are you working tonight?”
“No. I’m at home. Why?”
“Can I come see you?”
“Sure. You sound like shit. What’s wrong? Is Sierra okay?”
“She’s fine.” Physically. “I’ll tell you when I get there.”
“Thanks,” Connor said when Logan answered the door.
“No problem. What’s up? Why aren’t you with Sierra?”
“Hi, Connor,” Cici said. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
“No don’t.” Cici lifted her eyebrows. “If you don’t mind, I think I need a female perspective.”
After he turned down a beer, they all sat. Connor didn’t know any other way to start than just blurt it all out. “Tonight Sierra said she wanted to move in together.”
“That’s great,” Logan said. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“I thought it was. But I think she just said it because she’s scared after the wreck. You know, something like that really makes you wonder what regrets you’d have if it had been worse.”
“That’s understandable,” Cici said. “But if she loves you—”
“That’s just it,” Connor said, breaking in. “She doesn’t. She ‘cares’ about me,” he said, making air quotes. “She’s still hung up about her ex.”
“You think she’s still in love with him?” Cici asked. “Didn’t she send him away?”
“Yes, she sent him away, and no, I don’t think she still loves him. I think she’s still scared to commit completely because of how he treated her.”
“What did you say when she said she wanted to move in together?” Logan asked.
“I said no. I said I didn’t want her to do it because the wreck scared her but because she loved me and wanted to be with me. And that I didn’t believe she did.”
“What did she say to that?” Cici asked.
“That’s when she said she ‘cared’ about me.”
“What are you going to do now?” his brother asked.
“She asked me if I wanted to break up and I said no. But now I’m thinking if she doesn’t love me and doesn’t really want to live with me, then maybe we should break up.”
“You already tried that and it didn’t work so well,” Logan said.
He shrugged. “Did I screw up? Should I have said yes even though I don’t think she asked for the right reasons? I mean, hell, she’s a grown woman. She should know her own mind. Who am I to say it’s the right or wrong reason?”
“You went with your gut,” Cici said. “Clearly you didn’t think it would be the right thing to do.”
“I don’t know what to do. I didn’t realize falling in love would be this hard. Hell, after the thing with Casey I never expected to fall in love again. I worked really hard not to. Until I met Sierra.”
“And then all your plans went out the window. I know what that’s like,” Logan said. “But it’s worth it,” he added, exchanging a look with Cici that made Connor want to tell them to get a room.
