Page 45 of The Plus-One Deal
“We don’t make sense,” said Claire, plucking the thought from my head. “We’re both busy people. Last night was just…”
Perfect,my heart screamed.Beautiful. Life-changing.
“A fantasy,” I said.
“Exactly. Not real.”
I glanced up at Claire, but she was looking away, her head turned to watch as we made our descent. I couldn’t read her expression, or what she was thinking. Maybe she’d never wanted more than one night. To satisfy her curiosity so she could move on. Thethought made me angry, and I bunched my hands into fists. Then I relaxed them and arranged my face in a smile.
“I’d never want to do anything that’d cost us our friendship. I think if we tried to make this more than it was?—”
“I know. You don’t have to—” She sighed. “You’re preaching to the choir.”
I opened my mouth to say something more, but there was nothing. Our brief fling was done. The wing dipped behind Claire as we banked for our landing. I watched the city turn beneath us, and I felt lonely, but what could I do? I’d done the right thing here. Claire had said it herself. Once our wheels hit that tarmac we’d go back to our work selves, and this time no sunset would break us out.
We landed to cheering from beyond the partition, our passengers relieved to be home at last. I sat staring at my laptop as they got off first, and then it was only me and Claire left. She zipped up her laptop case and our eyes met.
“Well,” I said.
“Well.”
“I guess this is it.”
She got up to go, but I couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t stand to let her walk off onI guess this is it.I grabbed her hand.
“Wait.”
Claire frowned. “What is it?”
“Kiss me goodbye.” I wanted to pull her toward me, but I didn’t. I thought she might walk away, but at first she just stood there. Then she came closer, and slowly leaned in. I could feel herbreathing, the heat of her body. A strand of her hair tickling my cheek. Her lips brushed mine, barely, and I felt her sigh.
“As fantasies went,” she said, “it was a good one.” Then she kissed me at last, and my heart leaped in my chest. My whole body responded, every nerve flashing joy.Yes, my heart said.This is it. Hold her. Throw your arms around her and never let go. Never, no matter what. This is love. Yes.
She whispered my name. I held my breath. If she told medon’t go, I wouldn’t. I’d stay. I’d stay and we’d try this and maybe,maybe…
“See you next time,” she said, and then she was gone.
CHAPTER 18
CONRAD
Istepped off that plane and didn’t breathe for a week. Didn’t have a second to come up for air. I had my two acquisitions and a whole mess of admin, and on top of that, some copyright suit. Some artist claiming the new Constel tower was his design from a movie. It seemed ridiculous on the face of it, but I’d seen the movie. I’d posted a screenshot showing the tower in question, and captioned itthe city I’d build if I could build my dream city.That had been years ago, but his lawyers had found it. Now, they were calling it a statement of intent. I had to admit, his towerdidlook like mine. But I hadn’t designed the thing, just said what I wanted, and not in such detail as to evoke his vision. My architect arriving at a similar endpoint was an unfortunate coincidence and nothing more.
“It’s not going away,” said Joe, leaning on my desk. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’d think about settling.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, where a headache was forming. “No way. The guy has no case.”
“He has public opinion.” Joe tapped on his phone. “People are posting these side-by-side shots, little details the same. It’s goingviral. Can we even be positive itisjust coincidence? What if that architect?—”
“Ripped off a movie? Don’t you hear how that sounds?” I took a deep breath to keep from exploding, but my anger sparked anyway, hot in my belly. “She’s won awards, for Pete’s sake. She’s world-class. She’s got to rip off some artist no one’s ever heard of?”
“Maybe not on purpose, but hear me out. What if you described to her, without even knowing, this building you saw on the set of a movie? Then she took that description, and maybe she’d seen it too. Maybe she filled in the details, again without knowing, and?—”
“That’s absurd. I’m not going to settle.”
“It wouldn’t take much to make him go away.”
I clenched my fists at my sides and willed myself not to yell. This was nothing, a nuisance, soon to be quashed. Nothing to get worked up over, but I was fuming. If I opened my mouth, I’d bite Joe’s head off.