Thank God.
She went through first, Conrad following, his body hardening in a split-second’s rush. Silently, reverently, he led her toward the central elevator bank. To keep from racing, he counted in his head the number of hours, minutes, and seconds they had until his zero-dawn-thirty flight home.
He hugged her to his side as they waited for the elevator to arrive. His hand discreetly roamed the curve of her waist and hip and bottom, his body shielding hers and his impatience from anyone who might be looking. The elevator arrived, just as another couple joined them. The four of them entered together. Clair pressed the button for the fourth floor. The others were heading for the sixth.
The car seemed to be taking forever. When they arrived, Conrad managed not to throw Clair over his shoulder like a caveman and cart her off to her room. Barely. They strolled together instead, hand in hand, the hallway quite possibly growing longer with each step, until they finally reached her door.
His heart had lodged in his throat. His pulse was throbbing as if he’d been shot with adrenaline—or he was an eager kid again, and this was his first time. She reached into her bag for her card key. They were almost inside. And then his phone blasted to life, startling them both.
He sighed. Silently cursing, he fished his phone from his pocket to scan the display.
“It’s your mom’s number,” he said. “Harper should be in bed by now. I need to take this in case there’s a problem.”
Clair swiped her card and held the door open so he could enter first. “Of course you do.”
Conrad punched his smartphone’s display to end the call. “I have to take a red-eye back tonight.”
Which Clair had already figured out, listening to his end of the call and watching disappointment consume his features.
“It’s Harper’s first time having me be farther away than a shift at the hospital.” Conrad pulled her close. “It sounds like your mom and Rachael are doing everything they can to settle him in at her place. But he wouldn’t stop crying until I promised to be there when he wakes up in the morning.”
Clair nodded. Conrad was an all-in father whose son needed him. Just as he’d always been an all-in friend to her and an all-in husband to Amanda.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “This sucks.”
She made herself smile. Like he’d said, things were only going to get more complicated.
“Harper needs you tonight more than I do,” she said.
Conny looked anything but convinced. “You’re going to knock them dead at PetClub headquarters.”
She nodded, when every needy thing inside her wanted to beg him to stay.
He took her hand in his, and damn it if the confusion, exhilaration, and worry careening through her didn’t trickle from the corners of her eyes. He squeezed her fingers and waited patiently for the kaleidoscope of emotion to subside. She swiped furiously at her eyes.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she told him.
“Absolutely nothing’s wrong with you. And tomorrow, you’re going to rock your new business partners’ world.”
“They’re not my partners yet.”
“I was at dinner tonight.” Some of his easygoing charm slipped away. “I saw the excitement in your eyes while you talked customer service and market strategy until Waterston and Russell thought you hung the moon. You’re home, Clair.” The truth they’d been dancing around for two days suddenly owned the air between them. “Moving to Charlotte is going to make you so happy.”
“You make me happy, too. And your life’s in Chandlerville.”
Clair could for the first time empathize with her mother doing whatever she had to, to hold onto the man she wanted to build her life around. Barbara had been right—there were no easy answers once you’d found your one and only. And Conrad was Clair’s.
But what if having him in her life meant giving up ALL PAWS’s future?
She sank to the edge of the bed. She wasn’t her mother. Clair wanted marriage and a family. She was more certain than ever that she wanted them with Conrad. But she couldn’t turn her back on the rest of who she was, to make that one dream come true.
Conrad joined her. “Things just got real, huh?”
“How are we supposed to do this?”
She could feel it all slipping away, feel herself letting go of the exhilaration of finally having true love within her grasp. And she hated not knowing how to hold on. She couldn’t even say the words to him. She’d been trying to find a way all night.
I love you.
How hard was that?
But she couldn’t get it out.
He kissed her gently. “Make your deal. They’ll give you whatever you want, mark my words. It’s a no-brainer.”
“Is it? And when the merger’s done, and I sign the contract, then what?”
“Then you remember this moment, and me telling you that I love you, and that I feel like the luckiest bastard in the world to be here next to you, cheering you on.”
“You… What?”
“I love you, Clair Summerville. Not just as a friend, or as the guy whose life you saved, because you were there for me every day I’ve needed you the last three years. But as the man who wants to spend the rest of my life with you, whatever it takes to figure us out. I don’t have all the answers. I wish to God I did. And you don’t have to say anything back. I’m not trying to crowd you. But before I leave, I want you to know how I feel.”
“Oh, Conrad.”
She launched herself into his arms, treasuring hearing him say those three words for the first time as a would-be lover, as her soul mate.
So why could she still not own up to feeling the same way?
“I love everything about you,” she told him instead. “I have for so long. I always will. But…”
“But what?” he lifted her hand to his mouth for a kiss. “Everything’s going to be fine, remember? We’ve had our whole lives to get ready for this. You’ve let me in this far. We’ll work the rest out. Because I know you, Clair Bear. I believe in you and the life we can make together. You’re not going to quit now. Not on your business deal, and not on us.”
“What do you mean, you didn’t accept PetClub’s offer?” Conrad demanded.
“Yet,” Clair said through their cell connection. “I haven’t accepted their offer yet.”
Conrad wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands, the call hands-free on his Smartphone’s speaker. It was the middle of the night. Once again it was Clair, not an emergency, waking him up.
Or maybe it was both.
He still hadn’t cobbled together enough conscious brain cells to understand what had happened in Charlotte, or why she was home earlier than she’d planned.
“I met with their executive team yesterday,” she chattered on, as if her leaving without a final decision on the merger were no big deal. “I took a tour of their headquarters and listened carefully as we talked through the details of their proposal. And then I told them I simply didn’t have what I needed yet, to give them the answer they wanted.”
“Clair…” No way was she backing out on this deal. “I don’t want to fight with you about this, but—”
“But, ‘If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight.’ Right?”
“Don’t quote The Art of War to me in the middle of the night.”
“Technically it’s morning.”
“That’s not the point.”
“The point is that I caught the first flight into Atlanta this morning, because I couldn’t wait to talk with you about my decision.”
He checked the clock on the side of his bed. “Five a.m. is not early. It’s not morning. Not when I just got home from work. My shift ran long. We had a multiple-vehicle accident roll in at two. The babysitter slept over. I just closed my eyes.”
Actually, he hadn’t been able to sleep at all. Or, despite his assurances to Clair before he’d left Charlotte, think about anything but how close he was to losing her. The prospect had
tortured him all night after rushing home to Harper, and again when Conrad had collapsed into bed an hour or so ago.
He wanted her.
He wanted them.
But not like this.
“PetClub’s offer”—he dropped his head into his hands—“is your dream come true for ALL PAWS.”
“Yes, and those executives were eating out of my hands at the contract negotiations, just like you predicted. But ALL PAWS isn’t the only priority in my life. Not anymore. And I made that clear to the board.”
Conrad felt his heart turn over in his chest at the absolute certainty of her declaration, and the easy way she’d said it. Clair Summerville was a beautiful, smart, headstrong woman who would be a catch for any guy, if she’d ever allowed herself to be inclined to get caught. If he was the man to finally persuade her to do that, he couldn’t help but smile.
But he wouldn’t be the reason she settled for less than everything she deserved. Even if it meant him getting out of her way.
“Don’t string Russell and Waterston along because of me,” he said. “You’re giving up your chance to—”
“I’m not giving up on anything. You were right about that, too. I countered their offer, we’re still in negotiations, and that’s where we’ve left things for now. PetClub is re-considering their options. So am I.”
“This is crazy, Clair. I’m not going to let you do this.”
“Just try to stop me. After I get there and tell you everything I have to say. Your sitter’s sleeping over, right? She’s around until morning? Hang tight. I’m almost home, Conrad. I’m coming to you this time. See you soon.”
Clair had intended to head over to Conrad’s later in the day, after dissolving into a couple of hours of dead-to-the-world sleep.
But, rotten friend that she was, she’d called him from her car as soon as she’d left the airport. And of course he’d answered, the way he was always there for her whenever she needed him.
And yesterday as she’d sat in the contract meeting with PetClub, minutes away from signing their deal memo, she’d finally been certain that she needed Conrad and Harper and the life they could make together—in addition the phenomenal success she knew she would make of ALL PAWS and PAWSMatch, with PetClub’s deep pockets and market presence backing her.
She pulled up to Conrad’s house, dawn’s first light breaking behind the trees rimming his backyard. His Jeep was parked in the driveway. His babysitter’s hybrid hung at the curb, where Clair parked, too.
His front door swung open. Out stepped the scruffy-looking, exhausted, not-quite-awake man she’d rushed home to see. He looked worried, and raring to argue her out of the reckless choice he thought she was making. But when she stepped out of her car, his smile was immediate.
She raced up his front walk, launching herself into his arms.
“Oof!” He caught her close.
“Gotcha,” she whispered against his neck.
“Always.” The break in his voice made it a solemn vow. “I’m here for you, Clair, whatever you need. I’ll always have your back. But you’re not letting PetClub slip away. You’ll regret it if you do. You’ll resent me, if I’m the reason you give it up.”
She kissed him and pushed away—but only far enough to stand on her own two feet.
“I’m not giving up anything,” she said. “I agreed to all of their terms except one. I made it clear it was my deal breaker. And then—”
“What one thing?” Conrad dug his hands into the pockets of his oldest, softest-looking pair of jeans.
“That I’m not changing my home base.”
His expression grew grim. When he crossed his arms to argue, she held up a hand to stop him.
“I told them I couldn’t move away from my family and friends.” Even her meddling mother. “That my support network here is an essential part of how I’ve made ALL PAWS and PAWSMatch such a success, and PetClub would be crazy to mess with that formula. But most important, I made it clear that I’m not leaving behind the man I’m asking to marry me.”
“But you can’t…” Conrad blinked.
Everything about him softened, melting.
He stepped closer and took her back into his arms.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“Marry me, Conrad. That’s what I raced all the way home to ask you. I don’t need to talk about my negotiations with PetClub. That’s done, and they’ll come around. They want PAWSMatch—they want me—a lot. But I’m not moving to Charlotte. I’ll commute to North Carolina whenever I absolutely have to, and I’ll teleconference the rest of the time. I’ll travel as much as they want me to. It can work this way.”
Conrad linked their fingers together. “Of course it could work. You can make anything work. But the other thing you said. You asking me to—”
“Marry me? I…” She licked her lips, reading only shock in his expression and wondering whether she’d miscalculated. “I told Waterston and Russell I couldn’t leave my whole life behind, no matter how lucrative a business move PetClub would be for me. Especially not the man I love, my soon-to-be husband, and my…”
“Stepson?”
She nodded.
“You love me…” Conrad whispered, as if he wasn’t certain he’d heard right.
Or was he regretting being the first one to say it, now that she’d returned the sentiment and was pushing for so much more? After all, his plan had been to take things slow, and to make sure they knew what they were getting into.
Her smartphone buzzed in her pocket.
She dug it out, read the text message and smiled.
“Mr. Waterston.” She held up the device. “PetClub’s agreeing to my counter. Their lawyers should have a new offer ready for me to sign by the end of the day.”
Conrad stood there mute. Too shocked—or appalled—to give her a clue what he was thinking.
“Look…” She backed toward the curb and her car. “It’s early, and I’ve sprung a lot on you. Why don’t you call me later when you know whether or not you want to—”
“Yes.” He caught her arm, his eyes filling with morning light.
“Yes, whether?” She tilted her head, trying to read him. “Or yes, not?”
“Yes, I want to.” He kissed her, smiling now. “I want you. I want you here in Chandlerville with Harper and me. I want you to climb as high and as fast as you can, up PetClub’s corporate ladder. I want to share all of that with the sexiest, craziest, smartest best friend a man could have. I want to love you forever, Clair Summerville, as my wife.”
Those last few words were muffled by her return kiss.
“I want to take you inside now”—he cupped her face in his palms—“and never let you out of my sight again. When Harper wakes up, I want to introduce him to his new stepmother.”
Clair was crying.
She realized they both were. But they were laughing, too. It was Independence Day all over again. Wild and free, they were both starting over, moving forward to the amazing future they could make together.
She hugged Conrad, never wanting to let go. “I can’t think of a more perfect way to spend the day than telling Harper, and maybe taking him out for a cupcake to celebrate.”
“For breakfast?” Conrad asked.
“We’d need to pick Buster up on the way. His owner is desperate. I know it’s last-minute, but would you mind if we—”
Conrad pressed a finger to Clair’s lips. “If I’m going to marry a pet concierge mogul, I guess I’d better get used to celebrating big events with a side of poodle pampering.”
She disengaged herself and checked her watch, then gave him a sly smile.
“If Harper and his sitter will keep for an hour or so”—she led Conrad toward the house—“I can think of another kind of celebrating we could start getting used to, before the rest of the day takes over.”
“Roger that.” Conrad picked her up and rushed her inside so quickly she squealed.
“Mission parameters accepted?” she teased.
He paused just beyond the threshold, kissing her soundly.
“Making sure our love lasts forever,” he promised. “That’s my life’s mission now—every crazy, busy, overwhelming day we have together.”
Read All the Echoes of the Heart Stories
Here in My Heart
Let Me Love You Again
Christmas on Bellevue Lane
His Darling Bride
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Excerpt from His Darling Bride
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Excerpt from Let Me Love You Again
“Come on, Law,” said the older man behind the bar of McC’s Tavern. “Don’t leave me in the lurch.”
“I can’t cover tomorrow night, Rick,” the bartender said to what appeared to Mike Taylor to be the pub’s owner.
Rick plunked a pint of ripe strawberries onto the bar. “I got no one else to cover second shift.”
“And that sucks,” Law commiserated. “But my last final’s Monday morning. And I have a wife and daughter who’d like to get to know me again, once I’m not chained to campus and my course work every hour I’m not hauling ass here. I can’t blow my shot to finish my undergraduate degree ’cause Paisley crated her cat, strapped it on the back of her Harley, and went trailing after some dude.”
Mike’s full attention lifted from the local paper he’d been reading at the bar. He pushed away his half-eaten lunch and nudged up the brim of his Stetson. The other men’s conversation had officially become too entertaining to tune out.
It was an early-August Thursday in the small community of Chandlerville, Georgia. McC’s was midafternoon empty. He’d been the place’s only customer for the last half hour while he’d lingered over a cheeseburger, sweet potato fries, and a draft. The bartender and owner had mostly ignored him since Law pulled Mike’s beer and Rick ran his food out from the back. The two were prepping for their evening shift, making numerous trips to wherever they stored supplies. Replenishing booze and napkins and swizzle sticks, and the menagerie of condiments that mixing popular drinks demanded.
Waiting for Your Love (Echoes of the Heart) Page 8