Claire’s back stiffened, prompting Aidan to run a reassuring hand up and down her spine.
Dylan answered the phone with a curt “Hello”. Then he stopped, listened, and sighed in resignation. “It’s only three p.m. here, but happy New Year all the same, big brother.”
Since she could only hear Dylan’s side of the conversation, it was difficult to get the full scope of what was being said, but Claire understood the gist of it.
“Yeah…no, nothing major, just chilling here… Good, because I’ll be there too…yeah, I’m flying in to see Mom the day after tomorrow.” Dylan paused for several seconds, and then his face twisted in disgust. “No fucking kidding, Chris.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Right, of course. Uh-huh…yeah, whatever…I’ll see you Tuesday.”
He hung up and tossed the phone to the other end of the sofa as if it carried the Ebola virus.
Claire met his eyes. “What do you mean, you’ll see him Tuesday?”
“I was actually coming to talk to you about that before you raced in here with your good news.” His expression conveyed a whole lot of annoyance, but she knew it wasn’t directed at her. “I was going to tell you not to book anything commercial. My Coast Guard buddy got back to me and he’s agreed to fly me home the day after tomorrow. My Lieutenant Commander approved my leave request, so I have a day pass to see my mom.”
Right, because he still hadn’t spoken to Shanna, Claire remembered. And now she also recalled that her and Chris’s return flight from Paris had been scheduled for New Year’s Day, so he would be back in town the day before Dylan flew in.
“What did he say that made you so mad?” she asked quietly. “When you swore at him?”
Dylan’s mouth tightened. “He said, and I quote, ‘I guess I should give Claire a call when I get home’.”
A gust of anger swept through her. “He guesses?” She stumbled off Aidan’s lap, too pissed to sit still. “You know what? I’m coming with you on Tuesday. It’s definitely time for me to have a talk with your brother.” Sarcasm filled her tone. “You know, the talk we should have had the day of our wedding.”
Rather than argue, Dylan just nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. Now stop pacing and c’mere, honey.”
She inhaled deeply and willed herself to calm down. Chris might be an ass, but she refused to let him affect her this way. She wasn’t normally an angry person, and she hated this awful feeling of rage constricting her chest.
This time she slid into Dylan’s lap, exhaling in a slow rush as his arms came around her.
“What should we tell Chris?”
Dylan frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, your mom knows that you brought me back to San Diego, so he’s going to find out I stayed here. And I’m a terrible liar, so if he asks me what you and I did, my stupid cheeks will reveal the truth.”
Both men laughed. “She’s got a point, bro,” Aidan said from the other couch.
“I don’t plan on telling him that I slept with you,” she told Dylan, “but if he suspects something and calls me on it, I don’t think I can lie.”
“You don’t have to lie. If it comes out, it comes out. Chris is a big boy. He might not like that we’re dating, but he’ll get over it.”
She blinked. “We’re dating?”
Dylan rolled his eyes. “Of course we are.”
Confused, she slowly turned to Aidan. “Are we dating too?”
Those adorable dimples made an appearance. “Of course we are.”
“Oh.”
She was still trying to wrap her head around that when Dylan grasped her chin and forced her to look at him. “What, did you think you were here as our live-in sex slave?”
“Well, no, but…”
“This is more than sex, Claire.” His vivid green eyes shone with sincerity. “Don’t you get that?”
Emotion clogged her throat, then damn near suffocated her when she glanced at Aidan and glimpsed the earnest intensity in his eyes.
“It’s more than sex,” Aidan echoed huskily. “Much, much more.”
“You sure you don’t want me to stick around?” Dylan opened Claire’s door for her, then got into the driver’s seat.
“No, this is something I need to do alone,” she answered, but her tone lacked any and all enthusiasm.
He pulled out of the rental agency parking lot and merged into traffic. It was just past eleven in the morning, a bright, sunny day that didn’t match his cloudy mood. He was anxious about seeing his mom, anxious about Claire seeing Chris. If there’d been a way to avoid either confrontation, Dylan would have jumped on it.
They didn’t say much as he navigated the city’s never-ending hills and twisty turns. The sun was so bright Dylan popped his shades on, then chuckled when he saw Claire’s pink cheeks.
She sighed happily. “You look so damn hot in those Aviators.”