“Natalie?” Tyler’s sad eyes were back on her.
Locking them out, she pulled in a breath. “So you feltguilty and decided to play the knight coming to my rescue,” she huffed,infusing her tone with as much indignation as possible. “I can take care ofmyself. Physically and financially.”
A slow bob of his head. “I knowthat. I didn’t when I met you.” He cocked an eyebrow her way. “You’reindependent, resourceful. You don’t need anyone—especially a dumbass likeme—helping you.”
On the verge of agreeing—primarily with the dumbass part—amean little poke stopped her. He was quick to put himself down, and she hadneither the desire nor the energy to jump aboard his self-pity train.
A moment of silence later, he slowed at a yellow lightbefore it turned red. She felt his eyes lasering intoher. “Natalie, right or wrong, I wanted an excuse to be around you. Plain and simple. I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”
Had anyone ever said anything like that to her before? Andmeant it? She was temporarily stunned. Disarmed. Word-impaired.
Cody had charmed her with a slick silver tongue, but he’dbeen smoke and mirrors. A hamburger without the meat.No substance.
She softened for a moment, thenstopped herself. Deception couldn’t be forgiven. When trust was broken, it wasirreparable. Black and white.
Steely resolve narrowed her eyes. “Let me see if I have thisstraight. You see a woman you’re attracted to—who happens to be dating a guyyou put in the hospital—and act like you’re rescuing her whilepretending to be someone you’re not. Is that your MO?” Outrage surgedagain.
“It’s not my MO. I don’t have an MO,” he said soquietly she barely heard him.
Her brain was short-circuiting, flashing disengage inglaring neon. She needed space to put order to the jumble inside her. Butinstead, she ran headlong into the storm.
“Is this why your last girlfriend dumped you? She found outyou were a liar?”
He heaved a strangled breath and shot her a pained look thatsent a pang of guilt through her. She ignored it.
“No. She wanted serious, and I’m not a picket-fence,family-dinner kinda guy.”
His words echoed in her ears: It was a casual thing. Genuinelycurious, Natalie tossed out, “Why?”
Finger tapping a rhythm on the steering wheel, his eyesfastened on something beyond the windshield. Had he heard her?
“Too cold?” she prodded. “Your kimono’s closed now?”
She thought he whispered, “Smartass.”
“I tried once and got burned. I don’t want to get that closeagain.”
The light turned green, but he didn’t move. Rankled by what,she wasn’t sure, she motioned toward the windshield. “Can we go already?”
Horns blared behind them. His jaw firmed, a muscletwitching. He rolled into the intersection at a glacial pace. Smotheringsilence blanketed them as he puttered along busy streets. He had picked the worstroute. It would take them twice as long to get home, and all she could dowas stew in her juices until she could escape him and think straight.
The list of pros and cons floated through her consciousness,and she nearly laughed aloud. She had plenty for the cons column now.Mentally, she crumpled the list and chucked it into the trash.
When he turned onto her street, she spotted Drew’s Subaru,and her lungs seized.
Shit! Might as well get it over with in one bloody go.
She sprang from the car before Tyler-T.J. could open herdoor. He followed her through the front door, muttering about getting Ford andgetting out of her life.
Drew looked up from a big-ass sandwich he was wrestling in both hands, full mouth chomping, mayonnaise leaking fromone corner of his mouth. His eyes darted over her shoulder and widened.
“Nice of you to help yourself to my food again, Bro.”She dropped her purse and jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “Meet Hummer Man,Tyler ‘T.J.’ Shanstrom. Don’t kill him in thehouse, please. I don’t want blood everywhere.”
.~* * * ~.
Fuck me and my horse, can this get any worse?
When T.J.’s eyes first landed on Drew, the question shootingthrough his mind had been, “Who the hell’s the douchebag looking socomfortable in Natalie’s kitchen?” Cue up jealousy. Yep, the old green monsterhadn’t visited in ages, but he was alive and well and ready to throw his weightaround. T.J. was oddly relieved that the guy facing him was Natalie’s bigbrother.
Drew rose deliberately, sizing T.J. up as he chewed hissandwich. Tall, though not as tall as T.J., he had a lean, powerful build andhis sister’s coloring—except his dark brown eyes, which held none of Natalie’sgolden-copper light.
Inwardly, T.J. applauded Drew’s obvious hostility; herbrother should want to pound him, especially if he was snapping thepuzzle pieces of T.J.’s lie together. Hopefully, T.J. wasn’t about to find outhow strong Drew was. No question he could take him, but it would give Nataliemore reason to hate his ass, and she had plenty of ammo stockpiled as it was.
T.J. gave Drew the “Hey, how’s it going, we’re all coolhere” man-nod. His gaze boring into T.J., Drew swallowed. “Dafuck,Nat?”
Yep, that’d be my reaction too.
Natalie erupted in laughter, yanking their attention herway. Drew shot her a perplexed look.
“Drew, the good news is he’s not a porn star or a drugdealer.” After a few hitching breaths and a swipe at her cheeks, she burst outlaughing all over again.
Borrowing from Drew, Dafuck?“Uh, excuse me?”
She flapped a hand at him. “Drew … We thought …” More hystericallaughter.
Drew gave her an eye-roll. “Breathe, Nat. Use your words.”At least he wasn’t fixated on T.J.—for now.
“Oh my God!” She whooshed out a few breaths. “I’m betternow.” Her expression told a different story; she looked as though she mightdissolve into hysterics again.
Another shuddering breath, and she folded her arms acrossher chest. “I couldn’t figure out what you did for a living. And D-D-Drew …” Apause while her shoulders shook. “Drew thought you were either a porn star or adrug dealer.”
T.J.’s thoughts swam. Was this funny? No clue. “Why?”
“Oh God, this is hilarious!” Her voice cracked. Seeming torecover, she began counting off on her fingers. “One, your badass Hummer. Two,you’re in really good shape.”
He checked his grin—he liked that she’d noticed. Maybe this wasfunny.
“Three, you know celebrities like Beckett Miller.”
So do you.
“And finally,” she said with a note
