“I didn’t bring you up here for a casual night together,” Chris said, his tone almost stern. “You need to know that now, because if that’s all you want from me, I can’t give it to you. I can’t because . . .” He released a long breath, something beyond tender and special settling in his expression. “I care about you a lot, Hallie—I have real feelings for you. Serious romantic feelings. I was going to tell you before now. I wanted to tell you last weekend, in fact, before your mom called. So I want you to know that this isn’t a jealous reaction to Derek. Yeah, I was jealous, but I was going to
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