Tell Me You Need Me (Search and Seduce #1)(44)

He clutched his throbbing knee but nothing compared to the fear, the relief, the instant flood of countering emotions. Was this how she’d felt when she’d come to the hospital and seen him?

He couldn’t remember really seeing her or hearing what she’d said. He’d been too busy trying to leave.

“Christ,” he muttered. “The event.”

The restaurant anniversary she’d been working hard on was tonight, and she’d left it to come to him because she was worried.

And I dismissed her.

“You okay?” East asked. “You look like you could use a beer.”

Actually, he could. Maybe taking a breather to figure out how to tackle the situation with Chloe was best. He also needed a minute to sort through what he was going to say. Because his world had been crumbling around him, but he was only realizing it now.

He could try to make this work with Chloe. Surely, he could make this work.

She loves me…

The word rolled in his mind, over and over. She loved him, which made him damn lucky. But she hated that she loved him, and he’d just f*cked up royally.

East raised a brow. “So I thought I heard Chloe earlier… I take it you’re having lady problems?”

Gage finished lacing his boot. “You could say that. Thanks for telling her to freak her out.”

“Hey, there was spotty service and she hung up and rushed over here before I could tell her it was just your leg. Besides, I figured you’d want her to know.”

Yeah, he did. But he didn’t know she’d react that way. Now he was on the brink of losing her for good. Maybe he already had— No. He wasn’t giving up on his mission. It was his most important one yet.

“I’ll make it work,” Gage said.

“Uh-huh. Because you know what’s best, and surely you can waltz in and out and Chloe will fall in line.”

Gage glared at him. It’d already been a long day, and now East was pulling this shit again. “What’s your problem?”

But East came back with his own glare. “Watching you screw this up from day one is getting annoying. Chloe doesn’t do commitment. She doesn’t wait around. And you want both from her just on the promise that you can make it work.”

“Yes!” Gage slammed his hand on the bed. “I have to make it work, East.” He took a deep breath. “I love her.”

East’s eyes shot wide. “Well, hell. That puts you in a big shit storm then.”

“I have to talk to her. She’s mad I was going to go back out. Now I’m not since the parents were found, so problem solved.”

“Man, you are thick,” East said. “If you think that’s your problem, you’re in bigger trouble than I thought.”

“She’ll understand I couldn’t have sat around and done nothing while people were in trouble.”

“Oh, I agree. She’ll understand—in fact, I bet she already does understand. But it doesn’t change that you f*cked up. You put the need to be there for others before taking care of yourself. You know you shouldn’t have gone back out. You would’ve told any of us if we were injured to not go because we’d put everyone at risk going out with an injury. You’ve got something way worse than hero syndrome. This is bordering on suicidal. And the worst part is that you’ve got a woman screaming at you with a reason to wake up and see what you’re doing, and you don’t give a shit.”

Gage scowled. “Yes I do!”

“Then stop putting yourself before her. Fuck, stop putting yourself before both of you. If you want to be a couple, you have to stop thinking about what you need. This is about more than you. It’s about both of you now. It has nothing to do with your job. You’re showing her she can’t trust you to make a smart decision.”

East’s words hit really f*cking deep and Gage almost choked on the realization. He was right. Chloe was terrified of commitment, yet she’d dropped everything that mattered to her to be here for him. And all he’d told her was to wait.

“I really f*cked up,” Gage said.

East clapped his hands together. “Ding, ding, ding! Now you’re getting it.”

Only now, Gage had to do something about it.





Chapter Twelve


“Damn!” Chloe threw the wooden spoon across the room. She wasn’t one for dramatics, but she couldn’t take any more. The event was in twenty minutes and she was on her final attempt of crab cakes—and it was more burned than the last batch because she’d left it to run to the hospital only to have her heart broken.

She looked around her restaurant’s kitchen. Guests were arriving downstairs and she’d have to welcome them soon. Without crab cakes, success, or Gage. She was alone.

The place was quiet and smelled like burned crab cakes and failure. And the stupid part was that she was still waiting.

Waiting for him to come back.

Waiting for him to make it better.

It hurt just thinking of him, because a part of her had been waiting this whole time.

Was this what it had been like for her mom? She’d always assumed her dad had been a jerk who never deserved her mom’s love. But maybe there’d been something more there. Gage was the man who’d broken down her walls and made her greatest dreams and fears come true.