Page 100 of Lawton

Amber glanced away. "What?"

"Just tell me," I said.

"Brittney? Um, I don't get what you mean."

I looked out toward Amber's car, still sitting in the driveway. "You come here alone?" I asked.

"Uh, well…"

I strode out of the house and slammed the door behind me. Silently, I stalked past Amber and headed toward her car.

"Lawton!" She called "Where are you going?"

I didn't bother answering. From the panic in her voice, she knew damn well where. AndIknew damn well what I'd find when I got there.

Sure enough, through the car window, I spotted Brittney hunkered down low in the passenger's seat. I yanked open the car door and stared down at her.

She blinked up at me. "Oh hey Lawton." She glanced around. "I was, uh. I guess I must've dozed off." She looked past me, toward Amber, who'd followed me out here. "Jeez, Amber, why didn't you get me up?"

Over my shoulder, I heard Amber say, "Because you weren't asleep." She paused. "Were you?"

I turned toward Amber and spoke very slowly. "Don't bring her here again."

From the passenger's seat, Brittney sputtered, "What? Why?"

As an answer, I turned and stalked back toward my front door.

"Hey!" Brittney called. "What'dIdo?"

She knew what she did, so I didn't bother answering. But Ididstand on my front porch, waiting with arms crossed, until their car pulled out of the driveway and out of sight. Afterward, I went to the control panel and made damn sure the gate was locked.

An hour later, my cell phone rang. It was Chloe, cancelling our plans for that night, saying something about having to work after all.

I didn't like it.

Yeah, I was disappointed to not see her. But it was more than that. For some messed up reason, Amber's question had me thinking. For the millionth time, I asked myself what, exactly, Chloe was hiding.

And then, for the millionth time, I reminded myself that I was hiding something, too. After all the hours spent together, through all the talks, all the walks, and yeah, all the sex, I still hadn't told her how we'd first met all those years ago.

But now, I had a reason.

I wanted to surprise her at just the right moment.

Chloe might not know it yet, but she was my forever girl. When the time was right, I wanted to make it official, and I wanted it to be a surprise.

When? I didn't know. Soon, I hoped. But not until I knew she'd say yes.

Still, Iknewshe was the one. Now, all I had to do was make her know it, too.

Chapter 44

The next night, Chloe and I were sitting in my hot tub, soaking up the heat while the cold November air settled around us.

All day, I'd been doing some thinking. Two weeks – that's how long I'd been seeing her. All this time, I'd never taken her out, not even for dinner. Yeah, we ordered upscale takeout all the time, and my housekeeper made a killer lasagna. Still, it didn't seem right.

It was time for me to admit it. I looked to Chloe and said, "I'm being a total ass."

"Really?" She gave me a mischievous smile. "How so?"