Waiting for Your Love (Echoes of the Heart) by Anna DeStefano Read Free Book Online

choice in the matter. It’s just…”
    “It’s just that I’m trying to make up my mind which of us has become more unhinged.”
    She leaned into him finally, as if she couldn’t help herself. Her sweet lips brushed his neck before she buried her face in his shoulder.
    “Now, Conny? After all these years. It’s really not a good idea.”
    He tilted her chin up and kissed her soundly. The way he should have years ago, before he’d met Amanda and had Harper. And then had lost so much that he couldn’t have imagined ever wanting anything again. Even something as perfect as having Clair Summerville for his own.
    She hesitated, and he cursed himself for pushing her so quickly, in such a public place. But then she was kissing him back as if she couldn’t help herself either.
    “Best idea I’ve had in a long time,” he teased.
    He smiled into their next kiss. But then he tasted her tears. And the misery in her expression gutted him.
    He flinched away.
    It’s really not a good idea.
    “Clair? What’s going on?”
    She stared at the patchwork of grass thriving against all odds beneath the enormous tree.
    “Tell me.” Something still wasn’t right. Something more than the suddenness of his proposition. “Just don’t try to make me believe that you don’t want me. You’ve been fighting your feelings for me for a while, right?”
    The fight leaked out of her. She rested her cheek on his shoulder. “I had no idea you were wanting me back. Not like this. And it’s amazing, Conny. This morning felt so good. And standing here with you now, knowing that what’s happening between us isn’t just you helping me out of a jam with my mother… It’s another kind of dream. The real kind. But…”
    She allowed him to circle her in his arms, the way he did his son when Harper was upset and needed to believe that Conrad would always be there to help make things better.
    “But?” he prompted.
    “But it’s too late,” she said.
    It took him a full ten seconds to realize she was serious. “Too late for what?”
    “To start something like this.” She gestured between them. “If I’d thought there was any chance… If it hadn’t been for Amanda’s death and everything you and Harper have been dealing with starting your lives over in Chandlerville, maybe you and I could have had time to try.”
    He captured her hand and kissed it. Of course she was skittish. She’d watched her parents’ empty relationship rock on for decades after they’d fallen out of love with each other.
    “We’ll make time to figure everything out now, Clair Bear. It’s not too late.”
    She shook hear head. “I’ve been approached by this massive pet concierge company based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. PetClub’s looking to expand into Georgia. They researched the success of my PAWSMatch app and got in touch about that first. Plus, they’re eager to expand into storefronts in the North Georgia market. They made an offer in late June to buy PAWSMatch outright, and to merge ALL PAWS into their corporate structure. I’d go in as a full partner—on top of their purchasing the rights to the app. Their offer is so ridiculously over the top, they must think I’m crazy for not immediately jumping at the chance.”
    “That’s great!” Conrad twirled her around. She’d worked her ass off for an opportunity like this.
    “Is it?” She wound her arms around his neck, clinging. She stayed that way even after he eased her body down until her toes touched the ground.
    “I know the app is your baby,” he commiserated, “and it’ll be hard to turn it and control of the rest of your business over to someone else. But you’d be part of the merger, and I presume involved in the decision making for how to blend what you’ve created into their business model. You’ll make it work. You’ll make even more of a success out of all of it.”
    Didn’t she know he’d be cheering her on, every step of the way?
    “I’d have to move,” she