“I didn’t think I needed you,” she said softly.

He didn’t know what to say to that and he probably shouldn’t have said what he did, but taking a chance he said, “Sometimes the things we need most are the things we think we don’t.”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. “I mean that I didn’t know that I needed Claire the way I did, but now that I have her, I can’t let her go. Ever. She is a part of me now.”

She paused and then asked, “I’m not following.”

Wracking his brain for words because all he could think was ‘Just love me,’ he let out a breath before saying, “I mean that I’m here when you need me. Maybe you ignore me because we are just having fun and you forget that we are friends too.”

She took in a deep breath before clearing her throat. His heart stopped because a feeling of dread filled him from the top of his head to his toes. Maybe he should have just shut up; maybe he shouldn’t have said anything and just listened. Damn it, he couldn’t lose her, he needed more time. He needed to prove that he was what she needed. That she could love him. All she had to do was let go.

“You’re right,” she said, causing his eyes to close tightly. “But I don’t forget, Phillip. I know that we are friends. It’s just hard for me to open up to a man, but with you, it’s different. Easy.”

He opened his eyes, looking out at the skyline of Phoenix, and smiled. “Good, it’s easy for me too.”

“I owe you a blow job for being there for me.”

He laughed loudly, his face hurting from smiling so hard. He shook his head before saying, “Despite the fact that I would be there for you without the blowjob, trust and believe that I’ll take you up on that one.”

She giggled and he could just imagine her, her face bright, her eyes shining with tears, while her hair fell into her face. Man, he missed her. It hadn’t even been a week, and he was starving for her.

“I need to go clean up my face. It’s horrible.”

“I doubt that. I bet you look all gorgeous and sexy.”

She laughed. “I have a snot rag in my hand, my nose is red, and my eyes and lips are puffy.”

“Gorgeous.”

“Thank you again, Phillip.”

“Anytime,” he said with a promise.

“I can’t wait to see you in Chicago.”

“I can’t wait either.”

“Okay, well, I’m gonna let you go. I need a shower to wash away this funk feeling.”

“Sounds good, babe. Talk to you later.”

She said bye and he hung up before letting his hands fall between his legs, his phone dangling from his fingers. Everything she did, she said, told him she cared for him more than just a f**k buddy. She had to feel it too, but he didn’t know and he didn’t know how to ask without scaring her off. He wanted this to be easy. He wanted to tell her, ‘Hey, I love your ass, and I think you should love me too.’ And she would response with, ‘Sounds good to me, let’s do this. I love you.’ It would be perfect but he was too scared to do it, and that was sad. He’d never been scared of anything before. That all changed though when Claire and now Reese came into his life. Both women held his heart in their hands and could crush it at any second. He was at their mercy and the more he thought about it, the more he knew there was no other place he wanted to be.

Chapter 21

GOING TO the bar with Erik and his teammates, Karson King and Jordie Thomas, was probably not the greatest idea before having to leave for his flight. But in his defense, he had two hours before he needed to be at the airport to go home for Claire’s parent-teacher conference. He was catching a redeye to be there in time for it in the morning, and then turning right back around to be back in Anaheim to fly to Colorado with the guys. It was going to be gruesome for the next twenty-four hours but oh well. He had to be there for Claire. Even if he weren’t looking forward to it, it would be nice to see Claire and maybe sneak in some naughty time with Reese.

He hadn’t talked to Reese that day, and it was her fault. He had tried and even felt the pang of jealously when she didn’t answer. He didn’t know what was up, but he didn’t want to seem like the jealous boyfriend so he refrained from calling her over and over again. Instead, he sent her a few texts wondering what was up, which she promptly ignored. This was unusual for him. Usually if a girl didn’t want to talk, he would ignore her, not even caring. In this case, he did care and he wanted to know why she wouldn’t answer but again, he didn’t want to be a bother, so he ignored the urge to pick up his phone again and text her once more.

“Dude, stop staring at your phone and look at the rack on that Asian hottie.”

Phillip looked up to Karson, who was grinning at him, pointing out the woman he was speaking of. He was right. She was hot and did have a great rack, but she wasn’t Reese. Phillip could sit there and point out all the things that Reese had better but instead, he said, “Not in the mood.”

“What’s up with you? You’ve been weird lately.”

Shrugging, Phillip looked back down at his phone. “I’m not being weird; I just have no interest in any females right now.”

“He’s crushing on my sister-in-law,” Erik said, nursing a beer.

“Oh, what’s her name, Reese? Yeah, she’s super hot.”

Phillip looked up and glared. Within seconds, he was madder than hell and wanted to gut Karson with a hockey stick. Yes, he understood that might be very hard to do since it was a blunt end, but he was mad enough to make it work. Setting Karson with a look that could kill, he said, “And mine.”