Tangling With Ty

Back at the front door, wrapped in the blanket now, she hauled the door open.

Nothing.

But since she still heard sounds, she tiptoed down a few stairs, thinking any moment now he’d pop into view with his grin, holding donuts and coffee, and she would offer to be his sex slave forever.

“Nicole? Is that you?”

Shit. Suzanne. Nicole whipped around and lifted a foot to race back up the stairs, only she tripped on an edge of the blanket and ended up facedown on the stairs.

“Honey, you okay?” Suzanne came into view holding some sort of brass frame. At the sight of Nicole sprawled in her blanket, with her naked arms and shoulders peeking out, she stopped short.

“Don’t ask.” Nicole managed to sit up.

Holding the back end of the frame, Taylor came up behind Suzanne. “Rough night?”

Nicole tugged her blanket closer and remained silent.

“Hmm.” From Taylor, that was a loaded hmm.

“Tell you what, let’s skip you for a moment and get right to me. I’m selling this antique brass quilt holder today, and I can’t be here. Neither can Suzanne. I was hoping you’d be in bed with Ty all day and could handle the transaction for me.”

“Ty is gone.”

“He’s gone out to get you caffeine?”

“He’s gone out, all right. Slunk out.” Nicole scrubbed her face with her hands. “Happy now?”

“Ah. We’re back to this being about you.”

Nicole dropped her hands and glowered at Taylor. “I’m the one sitting bare-ass naked here.”

Taylor sat on the step next to her. “You and Ty do it last night?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Did you?”

“Yes! Okay? Three times! Now is my humiliation complete?”

“Did you happen to mention you love him during any of those three times?” Suzanne asked.

Nicole resisted the urge to strangle her. “Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

Nicole glared at Suzanne, who continued just to look at her serenely. Confidently. Smugly.

“Did you?” Taylor pressed. “Did you tell him?”

“No.” Nicole thought about how perfect the night had been, how many times they’d turned to one another, how she’d wondered how that much happiness could fit into her chest. “He didn’t say it either.”

“Maybe he’s just as scared as you,” Taylor said very gently, and put her arm around her shoulders. “Love is fairly terrifying.”

Nicole looked deep into Taylor’s eyes and saw a haunting pain. “You know this for a fact, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes.”

Suzanne sat on Nicole’s other side. “Tell him. See what happens.”

Nicole drew a deep breath, but never having been a coward, she stood up. “Yeah. Okay.”

“Great, but…honey?” Taylor tugged a little on the blanket. “Much as I think Ty would appreciate what you’re not wearing, I think you should get dressed first.”

NICOLE DID get dressed first, and then drove straight to Ty’s house. There was a car parked next to his, and boxes in the driveway.

He was already leaving.

Well, she thought with a deep breath, he’d be taking her heart with him. Chin high, heart hammering, she knocked on his front door. Tell him, she coaxed herself. Just tell him.

The moment he opened it, she swallowed hard and said, “I love you.”

For the longest heartbeat in history, he just stared at her. Then from behind him came a voice. “Ty?” A woman came up behind him, tall and beautiful, with bright blue eyes.

Since no big hole had opened up and swallowed her, Nicole took a step backwards. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” said the woman. “I’m sorry.” She turned to Ty and smacked him on his arm. “You big lug, why didn’t you tell me you had a girlfriend?”

That was it for Nicole, she whirled and ran toward her car, fumbled for her keys, and had just opened the driver’s door when she was whipped around.

Ty stood there, his piercing blue eyes narrowed against the sun. He put his big hands on her arms and held her against the car, and when she would have wriggled free, he simply pressed his body in close.

As if he hadn’t done the same thing all night long.

She closed her eyes and fought for control. “Please,” she whispered, out of breath from the adrenaline and emotions running through her body. “It’s been a long, humiliating morning. Just…just let me go.”

He was out of breath, too. “Not until you repeat what you just said.”

She opened her eyes, but kept her mouth stubbornly shut.

Ty sighed and gentled his hold, sliding his hands up to cup her jaw. “Nicole-”

“I’m late for work.”

Still breathing unevenly, he put his forehead to hers. “I shouldn’t have left this morning without a note. I realized that after I was halfway home. But I woke up early, and you looked so tired, and…and I needed to think. I went home and there was a message from my sister.”

This made her open her eyes. “Did you find her?”

Just like that, Ty’s heart tipped on its side. She was shaking, visibly upset, and yet she could put it all away to ask about his sister.

Because she loved him.

It made him start shaking. “She found me, that’s her in the house.”

Nicole looked over at the young woman standing in his doorway with his own see-through blue eyes, his own dark, do-as-it-pleased hair, his own cool, easygoing smile that told the world she was tough-as-hell while on the inside she was terrified.

“Have you talked?” Nicole asked quietly.

“We’ve started.”

“And I interrupted.” She winced. “God. I’m sorry, I-”

“My sister and I will have our time.” He cupped her face. “But right now it’s our time. Nicole-”

“The boxes. I…thought you were leaving.”

He gave her a half smile. “It sure as hell would be the easy way out, and I like that, believe me. Or I did, until last night.”

“What happened last night?”

“I realized I was an idiot.” He stroked his thumbs over her jaw. “An idiot who loves you right back, Nicole.”

“You…” A half laugh, half sob escaped her. “Really?”

“Oh, darlin’, if you only knew how much.” He pulled her close. “I thought I enjoyed the wandering, you know?” He buried his face in her hair. “It kept my past off my heels. Moving around, I wasn’t just a screw-up, a nobody from nowhere and no one. But then I ended up here, and suddenly there were these strings on my heart.” Pulling back, he smiled. “California for one. God, I love it here.” He ran a gentle finger down her earlobe. “And then I had a sister who wanted me in her life. That messed with my head for a while.”

Nicole smiled. “She’s stubborn. Like you.”

“Yeah.” He stroked a hand down her spine, keeping her tucked close because he couldn’t get enough of her. That had given him some bad moments last night, not being able to get enough, which had led to him stupidly getting out of her bed before dawn. He’d convinced himself he shouldn’t get used to having her around all the time, because she wouldn’t want that. But now he wasn’t ever letting go of her again. “And then there’s you,” he said, kissing her softly. “You, darlin’, were the strongest string of all. I’m never cutting you loose. Say that’s good for