Page 99 of Craig

"Christ!" he muttered, wondering how the hell he was supposed to go back to business as usual after this.

*****

"Everything okay?" Dylan looked up from the text he was responding to as she walked back into the room.

"Yes." She plopped back down next to him, her expression still a little dazed.

"I should be totally mad with him."

"Why?" Dylan tucked the phone back in the pocket of his worn leather jacket and gave her his full attention.

"He took over."

"He loves you and in my book, that's all right. More than."

He reached over to put his hand over hers.

"The guy is all the way gone over you. I saw it when I first had a talk with him."

She sent him a frowning glance. "A talk?"

Dylan grinned.

"He kept that from you too. I wanted to ensure he wasn't using you."

He shook his head when she opened her mouth to snap at him.

"Big brother deal and that's what I'm here for. To run interference. But back to my point."

"I saw it clearly that he was way into you and mentioned it. He was a little embarrassed to be caught like that, but he muttered something about if you knew, you wouldn't agree to the fake marriage."

"Oh God!" Leaning back, she closed her eyes.

"He managed to break through my resistance. Everything makes sense now. Because of him."

Dylan contemplated her happy and carefree expression for a few seconds before responding. "He gave me hope as well."

She blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

He fiddled with his watch and avoided her eyes.

"I reached out to Sherry. We're meeting for supper. At her place. She's still single and..."

He shrugged. "We want to take another shot."

He jolted when her hand snaked out to grip his.

"Oh honey, that's wonderful! I really liked her."

She recalled the stunning caramel-complexioned lawyer with her infectious laugh and stunning hazel eyes.

"I'm in love with her and was too scared to admit it. You and Muldoon have given me hope."

Turning his hand over, he gripped hers.

"I thought that I was like him. That I would end up screwing things up and hurting her. I didn't want that."

"We're not like him." Her fingers tightened on his.