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“Then what’s the problem?”

“What if we ruin this?” She gestured between them.

He sighed. At least he fully understood where she was coming from, but after last night, he wasn’t going to let her go that easily. He’d fight for her. “We won’t. Last night was more than I could have imagined. If you need time to process it, I’ll stand behind you for as long as you need. Don’t regret it.”

“I don’t regret it,” she said.

“Then think about it instead of deciding right now that it can never happen again, please? That’s all I’m asking from you. I’ll give you space about it, but don’t shut it down, please?” He was on the verge of begging and didn’t like it, but he hoped she’d listen to him and at least think about it.

Her shoulders fell, and he felt like an asshole.

“Okay,” she answered.

“I’ll just get out of your hair then.”

He put his plate in the sink and went back to her bedroom, looking for his shirt. This wasn’t at all what he had expected after last night. Disappointed, he picked his shirt up off the floor and slipped it back on.

Not that he blamed her. Hadn’t that been his exact fear of even kissing her?

Walking past her still at the bar, he slipped his shoes on and headed for the door. There was no point in staying, and he couldn’t even kiss her goodbye.

“Let me know if you hear from the police or the insurance?” he asked.

“I will.”

“I won’t bring this up about us again while we deal with the restaurant. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t call me.”

She nodded. “Will you let me know if you hear from Jake?”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

He opened the door and headed down the hall. What a fucking roller coaster of emotions these last few hours had been. He’d respect her need for space as long as he could.

He would ask for time, ask her to think it through, but he’d never push her too hard. If she gave it thought and decided she didn’t want to be with him, well, that would fucking suck, but he’d accept it.

The worst part wasn’t her second thoughts though. Or even those thoughts mirroring his own. No, it was the fact that he was pretty sure they’d already ruined their friendship.

He went home, showered, and went to work, hoping for a distraction from his thoughts. It was short-lived as every thought came back to Kayla. Everyone had heard about the restaurant by now, and it seemed every single person in his office stopped by to talk about it.

Jake called to say they were looking for Lauren’s mom, her name lost somewhere in the conversation. Not that it mattered what it was. All that mattered was the damage she had done, probably in some misguided attempt to get money out of them.

His phone was full of texts from everyone asking how he was doing and if there were any updates. The one person he wanted to hear from was keeping him in the dark.

It was late in the afternoon when Kayla finally called. He had to take a few breaths before answering as excitement built at seeing her name on the screen even though he knew it was likely she was calling about the restaurant.

“Hey,” Evan answered.

“I heard from the insurance company.”

He resisted the urge to swear. He knew she must be calling about business, but it still hurt to know that for sure. “What did they say?”

“He’s already been out to the restaurant. I didn’t know or I would have been there.”

“Why didn’t they call us?” They should have.

“They did. I fell asleep and didn’t hear it. The security people called Cade and got permission to let him in when I didn’t answer.”

“I’m sorry. Did you get some good sleep at least?”


Tags: Toni Denise Romance