“I’m about to deck you,” I swore.
Kent narrowed his eyes but held his tongue.
I didn’t know which of us would win in a real fight. Kent was stacked. As a former pro football player, he was no one to mess around with. But I wouldn’t count myself out just yet. I worked out just as much as he did, and I had nearly four inches on him. Luckily, we never had to test the theory that Kent was the strongest of the three of us. I knew Sean could hold his own in a bar fight as well. I thought maybe he had, that at some point he told stories of getting into brawls when he was younger. I wouldn’t be surprised; he had that kind of dangerous aura that worked well with eager clients.
“So, what are you going to do?” Sean asked, dragging the topic back to my relationship.
“I’m going to talk to her.”
Kent shook his head.
“What?” I demanded. “Do you think that’s not manly enough?”
“She’s obviously got something for Sean,” Kent voiced his opinion.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Sean replied. “It was just one kiss.”
“She didn’t give me one kiss,” Kent observed.
“It isn’t about you,” I protested.
“Hear me out.” Kent held up a hand. “She could easily have slapped Sean or told him no. She chose to kiss him.”
I didn’t like where this was going, but I had to admit, the logic was sound. Meara must have some interest in Sean to let him get away with what could have been a serious breach of protocol.
“Did she kiss you back?” I asked, my mouth dry.
Sean didn’t answer, and that was enough of a confirmation for me. “I’ll talk to her,” I said again.
Kent smirked and shook his head. “Maybe I’m glad to be on the outside of all this.”
“There is no this,” Sean insisted. “It was just one kiss. It won’t happen again.”
“Unless it does.” Kent wouldn’t leave it alone.
“I have work to do.” I tossed them both out.
I was trying to figure out how to approach Meara without scaring her off. I didn’t want to barge in on her and demand an explanation. She hadn’t done anything wrong. It was my work partners who were blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Actually, Sean was pretty chill. It was mostly Kent who was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Still, I didn’t want their nonsense to encourage me to breathe fire down Meara’s neck. We didn’t have that kind of relationship, not yet anyway. I wanted more, but of course, I was only one of the two people who mattered. Meara might feel the same way, but she might be more reserved. The best solution was an open dialogue, and I needed to wait for the right time.
I had so much work to get done, it kept me until I received the lovely text from my prospective girlfriend. That she wanted to talk was music to my ears. Her rejection of a dinner invitation was even better. We could move straight to the new business without the artificial chit-chat that a three-course meal would require.
I finished up my work and headed home. I just arrived in time to grab a few wine glasses and set them on the counter before there was a knock at the door. It was Meara. I shot straight from the heart, telling her everything in a matter of minutes. She agreed to spend the night, though I wasn’t sure what I had done to deserve such a capitulation.
We sat down on the couch instead of going straight to the bedroom. Sex was great, but I needed to know where we stood. If it was just fun, that was fine. I was all in for some fun. But if it was something more than that, I would definitely be interested.
“Why did you decide to spend the night?” I asked.
“Because you asked,” she said coyly.
“Yeah, but why tonight?”
“You wouldn’t let me in the door!” she laughed.
I shook my head. This wasn’t really getting to the meat of what I was after. I wanted to hear her say that she cared about me, or that she’d changed her mind about loving and leaving. I wanted to know what was different and why she had kissed Sean. Basically, I wanted into her heart, and anything less would be a disappointment.
“Okay,” she said seriously, putting her wine glass down. “You’ve been asking me to spend the night ever since we first started going together.”