Page 68 of Just One Night Together

Instead he stood in the middle of the empty park, the snow falling silently around him, as the nurse in the oncology ward told him that his mom was gone.

Then he bowed his head and wept silently, feeling more alone than he ever had.

* * *

“Hello to thoseof you at the North Pole, or its closest equivalent,” Kyle said, his cheerful voice coming from the speakerphone.

“Let me guess,” Cassie said as she slid into her seat. “It’s sunny and warm in San Francisco.” A foot of snow had fallen in Manhattan over the weekend and the city was a mess. There had been power outages and transit delays, although things were returning to normal.

“Beautiful,” Kyle enthused. “Not too hot. Crisp wind off the ocean.” He paused. “No snow.”

“Go ahead,” Cassie said. “Rub it in.”

“I hate that stuff,” Kyle said. “Give me fog or even rain any day over the white junk.”

“Doesn’t the cool temperature cut into your surfing?” Cassie asked as Damon entered the conference room.

“Northern California is why God made wetsuits, Cassie.”

“He’s just frisky because he went surfing today,” Theo said, also on the speakerphone. “Kyle here thinks he’s becoming a Navy SEAL.”

Damon snorted. “I don’t think so,” he muttered under his breath, but the guys in California obviously didn’t hear him. He pulled out a pad of paper and tapped his pen on it. “Are we having a meeting or what?”

What was his deal? Cassie knew that Damon’s expression was more inscrutable than usual and it wasn’t like him to be grumpy. When did she last see him crack a smile? It had been too long. Was he that annoyed that Ty had made him work the previous Friday night? He’d certainly been in a mood since the weekend. Cassie had been relieved to have a Friday night to herself but was torn between feeling that Damon should have taken his turn sooner and her sense that something was wrong.

“Hey, has that tattoo done its magic yet?” Kyle demanded.

“Not so much as a nibble,” Cassie had to admit.

“Early days yet,” Kyle said, his tone encouraging. “It’ll happen.”

Cassie wasn’t so sure.

Ty came striding into the meeting, looking as delicious as ever. Cassie did love a man in a suit. She’d been crazy for this one for a long, long time, but Ty was off-limits now. Was that the problem? She’d already found the love of her life but he’d married someone else?

“Sorry to be late,” Ty said, taking his place and opening his briefcase. “Do we have an agenda?”

“Not officially,” Cassie said and he smiled at her. Her stupid heart went thump but she kept her expression bland.

“No problem. I’d like to talk about adding to the team,” Ty said. “We’re really stretched thin and Cassie’s done too many night shifts. I’m going to suggest that we hire one or maybe two people to manage the dance club.”

“You’re delegating my baby!” Kyle complained.

“Only after you abandoned it,” Cassie countered.

“And of course, Damon isn’t going to give up his Friday nights with Natasha,” Kyle said.

Damon frowned but didn’t reply.

“He did last Friday,” Cassie contributed.

“Only with encouragement,” Ty added.

“And what did Natasha think of that?” Kyle asked brightly. “Has she pined away from neglect after surviving one Friday night without your loving touch?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Damon growled, biting off each word.

Cassie exchanged a glance with Ty. That was the closest she’d ever heard Damon come to losing his temper.

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