I poured a glass of bourbon and sat staring at it until one in the morning before I finally broke down and picked up my phone.

“Miss me already?”

“Fuck you, Tristan.”

“No thanks. How’s the house?”

“The house is fine.”

There was a long stretch of silence while I sipped my drink.

“How’s the family?” I could hear the damn smile in my brother’s voice.

“Everyone is fine.”

“Brother, that’s twice now you’ve used the word ‘fine’ in under a minute. Since it’s the ass crack of dawn and my house hasn’t burned down and the family is okay, do you want to tell me why you called?”

“Can’t I just want to say hi?”

“No. Talk.”

I had no fucking clue what to say. I wasn’t even sure why I’d actually called him. Yes, I was; I needed to vent to someone and have them tell me that I was right, that I hadn’t overreacted.

“Damon, does this have anything to do with your new secretary, my house-sitter?”

“Who have you talked to?”

Tristan let out a low chuckle. “Really, you need to ask?”

“Sophie,” we both said at the same time.

I didn’t answer his original question, though; I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Soph says that you’re in love with her.”

“I don’t know. Yes, and at the same time, I can’t see myself with her because we are so fucking different. Have you ever wanted to shake someone so hard. and at the same time you still had feelings for them?”

“I know that feeling very well.”

I pulled the phone away from my face to look at the name. I was shocked to hear Tristan of all people say that. For all I knew, he’d never been in a serious relationship and had the patience of Job, which is what made him a great doctor.

“Want to tell me what happened?”

“What do you mean?” I shoved one hand through my hair.

“Don’t act like a dumbass. Something’s happened, that’s why you’re calling me. What’s happened?”

“I got pissed at her because she disappeared for a few hours. No phone call, no text, nothing. She has some crazy ass person following her and even tried to run her down.”

“I’m guessing you lost your shit?”

“Yeah, sort of.” I bent down and picked up my drink and took a long gulp of the bourbon.

“How’d she handle it?”

“Not well. She doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with what she did.”

“Was there anything wrong? Or were you just hurt?”

“Stop being such a fucking doctor and just be a brother.” I paced back and forth through my living room. Tristan laughed, he fucking laughed at me. “It’s a respect thing.”

“I get that. But did she do it on purpose because of lack of respect or was there another reason?”

“What’s your point? I was calling because I needed someone to talk to.”

“No, you were calling because you wanted me to tell you that you were right. I can’t do that unless you can tell me that she deliberately made you worry. Was there an accident on the side of the road and she was helping people and couldn’t get to her phone? Was she with her kid and didn’t realize that they didn’t have service? I mean, Damon, come on, step back and look.”

“Fuck you.”

“Yep. Love you too. See you soon.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I disconnected from Tristan angrier than I had been before I’d picked up the phone, but not at Katy, at me. I’d totally overreacted.

* * *

Friday morning, I headed into the office early, needing to get some stuff done before a ten o'clock meeting with a pompous rental property developer that gave us a lot of business but had an air of entitlement that drove me up the wall. When his dad was in charge, we loved working with the company, but now that the son took over, I was seriously thinking of cutting ties, but shit, we made a quarter of a million in pure profit from them alone every year.

"Good morning, Damon." Katy stood in my doorway. "I wanted to remind you that you have Mr. Archer at ten. I'll get the conference room set up."

"Thanks." I stared at her. “Katy.” I was desperate for some sign that she was going to let me apologize. When she didn’t walk off, I took it as my sign.

“I’m sorry. I overreacted, I was worried, I know none of that is an excuse but all I could see was that fucking black Charger.”

“I know. I’m sorry that I didn’t call. I truly hadn’t realized it had been so long. I stood with the girls talking for most of the time.”

I gave her a slight smile before she walked off. I dropped my attention back to my computer but was shocked when she spoke.

"Got a second?"

I slid my chair back and pulled my glasses off to set them on the desk. "Sure." My heart picked up its pace when she closed my office door and then walked to me. She didn't sit but came to stand next to me.

She rested her butt on the edge of my desk and looked off and out the windows. "I'm sorry too. This is all new to me, I'm not used to any of this. Bee will be nine at the end of the month, and I've been on my own since I was six months pregnant with her. I like you, I really like you. I just don't know how to be a couple. Maybe I'm not good at it."

I slid my chair over so that my knees were spread on either side of her legs and I could bring my face into her stomach. I placed kisses against her light green shirt, feeling the rise and fall of her abdomen as she breathed. "Maybe we will learn this together, okay?"

She nodded. "I'd better go get stuff together for Archer, he's such an easy client." Katy rolled her eyes, and I let out a laugh.

"Well, he seems to like you. At least he's a lot nicer to you than he is to me."