Code for he’d met a woman.
Considering he’d been pretty damn horrified at seeing his “sister” naked this morning, he was probably in someone else’s arms right now, trying to banish the image from his mind. The thought made Julie’s stomach twist. She took another long swallow of her wine. Not that she’d ever thought Tommy would see her naked, but having him blurt out the sibling comment verified everything she’d always known.
Tommy would never see her as anything more than a sister figure.
Somehow she had to start thinking of him as a brother and get rid of all that other stuff. She’d been truthful with him about dating. She did date. Just not as much as she’d like to. She’d also been truthful that her schedule kept her from meeting many eligible men, and the few she’d met online had ended in disaster.
Every once in a while she’d meet a guy, though, and they’d start dating. Sometimes it didn’t work for her and she ended it, but more often than not, the guy ended it. Mostly after meeting Tommy. She used to always be upfront that her best friend was Tommy “Lightning” Sparks, and the guys always thought that was so awesome…until they met him. Then they seemed unable to handle the pressure of dating a woman whose best friend was an MMA super-fighter.
Some hung around for a few more dates, some called it off that same night, and others just never called again. The ones who gave her a reason said they weren’t looking for anything serious, and men didn’t fool around with girls who had a best friend who could put them in the hospital.
Now she kept Tommy to herself, hoping some guy would fall for her and not be intimidated by the other important man in her life.
She was a good woman. She worked hard. She was attractive. Independent and loyal. Any man would be lucky as hell to have her, if she did say so herself. And if Tommy Sparks didn’t want her, somewhere out there was a man who would love to have her.
The front door opened and she was surprised to see Tommy storm in and slam it shut. What was he doing home so early? He stalked into the kitchen and started making a racket, slamming cabinets and the fridge. The lid of a beer bottle popped off.
She started to rise, to go and ask him what was wrong, but when he came to stand in the door of the living room, he glared furiously at her, as though she’d done something wrong.
Immediately, she was on the defensive. She sat down again. “What’s crawled up your ass?”
A snarl came from him as he stalked into the living room. He slumped on the other end of the couch and stretched one arm across the back, staring straight at the wall in front of him, jaw clenched. Then he guzzled the beer.
“I’ve had the mother of shit days. The worst ever,” he finally muttered.
Since his freaking house had burned down a couple of days ago, she’d disagree with that assessment, but Tommy tended to see things differently than she did.
“Want to talk?” she ventured.
“Nope.”
“Are you going to be a douche for the rest of the night?”
“Most likely.”
Okay then. She took a sip of her wine. She’d seen Tommy in many frames of mind, and after more than two decades with him, she’d believed she’d seen them all, but this was a new one. He had completely shut her out. He never shut her out. “Then how about going to your room to sulk?”
Slowly, very slowly, his head turned toward her. Anger had made his green eyes darken to a moss green. “I’m not sulking. I’m trying to wrap my mind around the fucking unimaginable.”
She couldn’t tell if he was angry at her or at whatever had happened. It was the first time in a very long time she couldn’t read Tommy at all. And it left her feeling very unbalanced.
“Is this what you do every night, Julie? Come home, sit on the couch, drink some wine. Watch TV? That’s it?”
Were they going to have this argument? Again?
“No. I do go out. Melody comes over. You come over all the time.”
He scowled at her. “I’m not some kind of standin boyfriend, am I?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Where the hell did that come from?”
The scowl deepened. “You don’t date. In fact, have you ever even been in a relationship? Any guy I’ve met, I haven’t seen him a second time.”
She ground her teeth. “That’s your fault, asshole. You try being a woman who is best friends with a professional fighter, and see how many men are willing to stick around. Besides , you’re one to talk. You jump from woman to woman like you’re terrified you’ll die if you stop.”
“Not terrified, Julie. I do it because I enjoy every fucking second of it.” There was a nasty edge to his voice she’d only heard when he was really furious. “You’re like a damn spinster. When’s the last time you were actually with a man? Maybe if you’d let a man at you, you’d relax some.”