“My problem, Ty,” I started, not giving one shit about the fact that this huge man was obviously angry and angry enough to let it penetrate the impenetrable shields he kept up to cover his emotions, “is that I wanted to have breakfast with my husband not be left to it. What, were you gonna leave me out there all day?”
It was then I noticed his body had gone still but I was still angry. And I knew why I was angry. I was angry because I was reacting to something different, something important, something big and it had nothing to do with breakfast and everything to do with life being total shit and me never being able to latch onto anything good, anything clean, anything right and I sensed, no matter what secrets the man standing in front of me had, he was all three of those things. Therefore right in front of me I had something I wanted and there I was, in a position where I couldn’t let myself have it, not until I knew I was right. But I wanted it, not later, but right then and that pissed me way the hell off and I was taking all that out on him.
“Hello?” I called. “Did you hear me?”
Then he spoke and when he did it was soft in a way that made my body go still.
“You wanted to have breakfast with your husband?”
“Well, yeah,” I replied. “We did that yesterday. It was nice. I mean, I’m the kind of person who can be alone and I have no problem doing that but why be alone when you can be with someone you like being around? And we’re in Vegas and we have a vacation day. It isn’t often you get to be in Vegas on a vacation day so you should live it up. If you don’t want to hang at the pool, that’s cool. So we have breakfast, go shopping, go to some crazy Vegas museum or do the Star Trek Experience. I heard that’s cool and not just for geeks. But whatever we do, we should do something. And all of this, by the way, was something we could have discussed over,” I leaned in to drive my point home, “breakfast.”
He stared at me and I let him.
Then he rocked my world again and he did this be saying in a different kind of soft voice, “Baby, you wanna have breakfast with your husband, all you gotta do is pick up the phone and dial. I’m covered, you eat, I sit with you and drink coffee. But you want me, anytime you want me, that’s all you gotta do.”
I didn’t speak and again I couldn’t breathe and there were a lot of reasons for that. The first, he called me “baby” which was the second time he did that but the first time he did it without an audience, the first time he did it in that soft voice, the first time he did it just him and me and I felt that word rushing through my blood with a warmth I never wanted to leave. Second, his soft voice was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard in my life. And third, him telling me anytime I wanted him, he was a phone call away was the kind of thing I’d wanted my entire life and never, not ever, had and there he was, giving it to me.
“Lexie,” he called.
“Navarro propositioned me at the pool,” I blurted to cover all the profound feelings I couldn’t quite deal with feeling right then and he gave me yet another reaction.
His torso jerked back, his brows snapped together, his eyes narrowed and his big man energy swelled to fill the room.
“What the fuck?” he whispered.
“With Bag of Bones watching,” I went on.
“What’d he say?” he asked but each word lashed out like a whip.
“I didn’t let him say much of anything. He said he wanted to talk privately about an offer he’d like to make me. I said I didn’t wish to talk privately with him and reminded him I was married. He did a little pushing. I made it clear I wasn’t interested. He gave up and walked away.”
Ty stared at me.
“Still,” I continued, “it was an asshole thing to do.”
Ty kept staring at me but he was doing it like he didn’t see me.
“Ty?” I called.
His eyes focused on me.
“Throwin’ sass,” he muttered.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re not hungry; you got cornered when I wasn’t at your back and that’s why you’re pissed.”
“Well, no,” I said. “We were in a public place. He didn’t push it and told me he knew the answer I’d give him but it was worth a try. Anyway, I can take care of myself but I thought you should know and I thought you should also know Bag of Bones was part of our audience. I don’t know what’s going down with him but, well… whatever it is, you should know.”
He stared at me again and I didn’t mind because I was used to that.
Then he moved straight into rocking my world yet again and I minded that because you never got used to that.
“It’s good you’re not pissed but I am. I fucked up. I used you last night to help me get somethin’ I needed and doin’ it made you visible which put you where you were this morning. And I don’t like where I put you this morning. That’s on me and I also don’t like that that’s on me. But it happened and right now all I can do is promise you that won’t happen again.”
It was my turn to stare at him.