My ego still feels bruised, certain Tyler’s playing some kind of head game with me. And I hate the fact I can still smell him and recall the warmth and strangely erotic feeling of his tongue against my skin. I brush my fingers across the same expanse of skin in an attempt to rid the memory.
“There he is,” Vanessa says, pointing back toward the steakhouse we ate at the night before last. He’s wearing a pair of jeans and black tee that reveals some of the ink I’d seen last night when he came down to go swimming—before everything got ruined by that stupid dare. His dark blond hair is finger-combed to one side, but these details quickly fade as he raises a hand and places it on the waist of a short brunette who is all hair, boobs, and ass, wearing a skin-tight red dress and black heels that spell s-e-x.
He waves at us, and for a second, I think he’s going to bring her over here and make this moment even more awkward, but instead, he faces her and says something that makes her laugh. Then he bends, kissing her mouth and burying his hands in her hair.
“He seriously ghosted us to hook up with some chick?” Nessie asks.
“They were in the restaurant. I doubt they hooked up,” Cooper says.
“It doesn’t open until five,” I point out, my attention still on Tyler, watching his hand slide down her back to cup her ass.
“He had to fire someone. Maybe she’s the replacement,” Cooper says.
“He kisses all his employees?” Nessie asks.
“Is it our place to judge?” Cooper asks. “We got a couple more hours to hang out and have some good food. It hardly seems fair we’re going to be pissed off about this when we got to stay here.” Leave it to Cooper to not only be reasonable and logical but also stick up for the manwhore.
I scrub at the same spot on my jaw again, hating the fact the memory is stained there and burns more prominently, as she reaches for him before waving goodbye and blowing him kisses.
“Hey,” Tyler says, crossing the rest of the distance to us. “You guys ready to go?”
“We’ve been ready to go,” I say.
Tyler’s blue gaze travels to me, humor shining like he knows I’m irked, which only annoys me more. “Sorry about that. I got a little carried away after meeting Opal.” He turns, waving at the woman again.
She waves back, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from saying something that will make me sound either jealous or snarky—neither of which I am.
“Well, let’s get going, shall we?” He spreads his arms, walking toward the front doors of the hotel.
Nessie rolls her eyes and shrugs, following after him.
“Would you mind switching seats?” Cooper asks in a hushed tone.
“No way.”
“Come on. Please? I’ll owe you so big.”
I shake my head. “Hard pass.”
“Chloe,” he whines. “Come on. Do this, and I will try and get you a day at the Redwoods.”
“Sit by Satan for a maybe? Terrible negotiating skills, Sutton.”
He gives me an exhausted stare that plays on my emotions—a similar expression to the one Ricky bestowed on me so many times when he thought I was being difficult and uptight. “Fine. Fine. But you have to orchestrate it. I don’t want him thinking this was my idea.”
Cooper’s brow knits, and he laughs. “Why would Tyler care?”
It’s not intentional, but it twists that knife that got lodged in my back last night when they left me in the pool with him alone.
I shake my head. “Never mind.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulders and gives me a brief squeeze before hurrying to catch up with the other two.
Our bags are already loaded into the back of the Tesla, and I don’t miss the look one of the valets shoots Tyler, likely because he was also expecting us three hours ago, and it’s led to confusion for them as well.
Cooper walks around the car and gets into the seat behind Tyler, laughing at something Nessie said. I pull in a breath, reminding myself this leg is just shy of eight hours. I’ll finish my book, take a nap, start another book, and we’ll be there. Thank God for e-books.
The valet opens the passenger door for me, and I square my shoulders as I slide onto the soft leather of the front seat, working to ignore Tyler, who turns to look at me. “Asked Coop for a favor?” he teases.
“Are you ever humble?”
“What’s that?”
I fasten my seat belt, ignoring him as I open my book and hug myself as close to the door as possible.
Three hours into the drive, and I’m considering potential rules for the rest of this trip, starting with I get to sit in the back seat because right now, as Cooper and Nessie sleep in the back and I reread the same page for the fourth time because Tyler keeps looking at me, I’m debating walking to Austin.
“Why are you looking at me?” I ask, turning to face him.
“Are you ever humble?” he returns my earlier question.
I roll my eyes and take a deep breath through my nose to keep myself from yelling because although I’m known for having a lot of patience, Tyler manages to defy that fact and pushes me right to the brink of my sanity.
“I’m tired,” he says. “I need you to talk to me. Keep me awake.”
“Wake Cooper up.”
“He’s tired.”
I rub my fingers along my forehead. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Football?”
I frown. “Seriously?”
“Do you have something you’d rather talk about?”
There are a thousand things I’d rather talk about, and considering he was naked and licking my face last night and accusing me of wanting him the night before and then kissed another girl’s lipstick off, it seems there’s a much larger issue we should be talking about—or possibly several—but I scoff and
