"Yes, thank you."
"Great. I need a refill." He knew Sarah would be listening in somewhere, and when he entered the drawing room, he had proof. She sat on the sofa with tears running down her face, a smile pulled as far as it would go. He shook a long finger at her. "You are a very naughty girl."
She brushed off the tears and said, "You like him."
"I most certainly do not. I'm just feeling magnanimous after my stellar performance with the socialite."
"Oh sure." She knew that wasn't true. If he didn't like Connor, his mood wouldn't have mattered a bit. He would have yelled something like, "How I feel about Sarah is none of your goddamn business and if you're so pathetically insecure maybe you don't deserve her!" Sarah almost started to press the issue, but thought better of it. She laughed to herself: Not wise to poke the bear.
Connor entered the room and Sarah ran to him, giving him a hug and peck on the lips. "You all right?"
"Yeah, fine, just really tired."
"Do you want to take a nap?"
"No, I should get home to shower and change, then head to the office. I missed a deposition and there's going to be hell to pay."
"I'm so sorry, can I help?"
"No, I'll take care of it, but do you mind if I just go home to sleep afterwards and see you tomorrow?"
"Sure, whatever you want."
Jackson could hear the worry in her voice. Was the human having second thoughts? Connor must have sensed it as well, because he put his arms around her. "Honest, I just need to take care of some things and I really need some sleep. I love you, and I will call tonight, we'll make plans for tomorrow, okay?"
That seemed to put her at ease. "Okay, I'll walk you out." When she returned to the room she asked, "Do you think he really meant it?"
"Hell yeah, that boy almost punched me for you."
She sat close and beamed. "I'm soooo happy."
He put his arm around her shoulder. "If you're happy, I'm happy."