“Like you last year?” My tone sounds almost contemptuous, but I don’t mean it to. I’m just curious. Always curious.
Tyler stops walking, abruptly halting in the middle of the lobby. He cranes his neck to stare back at me, his expression immediately hardening as he narrows his eyes. I bite down on my lower lip and wait for his outburst, for his aggression to take over, but it never does. He just shakes his head and yanks me into the elevator.
“206,” he says quietly as he presses the button for the second floor, and he barely looks at me in the seconds that it takes for us to get there. His fingers are still wrapped around my wrist.
Unit 206 is at the front of the building. I stare down at the doormat beneath my feet, finding it more interesting than it actually is, studying the pattern. Normally I wouldn’t care, but it appears tequila is creative and enjoys the art of doormats. I only stop when I’m pulled into the condo.
And God, it’s really pretty.
The living room is basking in the glow from the sunset that’s shining in through the floor-to-ceiling windows around the room. Everything has a deep orange cast to it and it looks really beautiful. It’s the type of sunset that you only ever see in photos, and most of the time they’re photoshopped. But up here in this condo with the huge windows overlooking the beach, it captures the essence of real beauty. I stare at it for a while.
“Here,” Tyler says softly from behind me, catching my attention. I finally tear my eyes away from the windows and look at him. He’s holding a glass of water, which he forces into my hand. “Drink it. Now.”
A smile toys at my lips as I lift the glass and take a long swig, only now realizing how dehydrated I am. It feels refreshing and cool against my throat, so I end up drinking the entire thing in a matter of seconds.
“Sit down,” Tyler orders. He takes the empty glass from my hand and nods in the direction of the couch behind me. When I don’t move immediately, he presses his hand to my shoulder and directs me over.
“It looks so pretty,” I say once I’m safely perched on the couch. I stretch out and get comfy, my body slumped back against the cushions, my eyes focused on the windows. If I listen closely, I can just about hear the faint pumping of music. “Doesn’t it?”
“Sure it does,” Tyler says from a few feet away. I rotate my body to face him, crossing my legs and watching him in silence as he fills up the glass again by the faucet. He brings it over to me, his hands wet, and then he dries them off on his jeans once he’s passed the glass to me.
The quietness of the room contrasts with the noise of the party across the street, but there’s something relaxing about it all, about the faintness of the music and the brightness of the sun as it dips below the horizon. Tyler sits down on the edge of the couch, several inches away from me, and just stares while I drink my second round of water.
“You need to sleep this off,” he tells me. He’s still looking at me in disapproval, and it feels odd having our roles reversed. Normally I’m the one dealing with him. “Come on.” Reaching for the glass in my hand, he takes it away from me again and places it on the coffee table. He moves his hand back to mine. I flinch, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Delicately, he pulls me up onto my feet as he stands, his other hand grasping my waist to prevent me from losing my balance. “You good?”
“Good,” I confirm.
He turns around then, but he doesn’t unlock our hands, only squeezes his fingers around mine while he leads me through the kitchen and into a hall. We stop outside the door at the very end, and Tyler shoves it open to reveal a small bedroom. He pulls me inside.
I slide off my shoes and kick them to the side, almost unconsciously, and make a move toward the huge bed that’s occupying most of the floor space, but Tyler slides his hand under my knees and scoops me straight off the ground and into his arms instead.
His face is only inches from mine, so the only thing I can do is stare at him. There’s nothing else I can do. His eyes are so beautiful, so intriguing, that it’s impossible not to find yourself drawn to them. He’s not even looking back at me, but I can feel his heart beating through his chest and the way it’s speeding up. And then, almost as quickly as he picked me up, he’s gently laying me down on the bed and pulling back the sheets.
“I’ll go get your water,” he murmurs, almost shyly, and bites his lip as he turns and leaves the room.