‘Oh.’ I gasped and pressed the phone against my chest. It was the first time either of us had used the L-word and although warm fuzziness flooded my entire body, it felt incredibly soon to be saying such things.

Did I love him?

I liked him a lot, I enjoyed spending time with him, and he’d definitely changed the way I felt about sex. Before Dan, if someone had asked me if I’d rather give up sex or chocolate, there’d have been no contest. He’d shown me that sex could be as good as it was in romance novels and yes, even better than chocolate. He always made sure I had a good time; in fact, he made it all about me—about my satisfaction, my pleasure, putting my needs before his time and time again. I hadn’t even known that type of man existed.

But did I love him?

Maybe I did … Maybe I could. Maybe it wasn’t something I should worry about tonight. Not waiting a second longer, I called him.

He answered barely before the ringing began. ‘Hey. How’s things? How’s Payton? How are you?’

It was so good to hear his voice. ‘She’s good, considering. She’s sleeping. I’m better than I thought I’d be. Thankful she’s okay. Where are you?’

‘In the waiting room at the end of the corridor.’

‘What? This corridor?’ I asked, already on my way to the door. Had he overheard my conversation with Adrian?

‘Uh-huh.’

I glanced at Payton—she was definitely asleep—hurried out the room and down the corridor to find Dan sitting on a plastic chair, a TV playing some Disney movie on low volume in the corner, a bag of Smiths chips on his lap.

He put the chips and his phone down on the seat beside him and stood. ‘Hello.’

I ran right into his arms. ‘I can’t believe you stayed.’

‘I wanted to be close in case you needed anything.’

‘You are the sweetest man in the world, you know that?’ Before he could answer, I grabbed hold of his face and kissed him hard. He tasted of barbeque chips and coffee and I couldn’t think of a sweeter combo.

‘You’re pretty sweet yourself,’ he said when I finally broke our lip-lock.

Still holding each other, we sank down on the plastic seats and my head fell against his shoulder. ‘Sorry about having to deal with Charlie and Adrian. Was it awkward between you?’

I felt Dan shrug his shoulder. ‘Wasn’t too bad. Saxon was there, so we didn’t really say much to each other. I got the impression he didn’t like me much though.’

‘Saxon?’

‘No, silly. Adrian.’