Then I pointed out, “But, isn’t this whole gig for me to be available to –?”
He shook his head, his arm swung out to the side; he set his coffee down by the TV then crossed his arms on his chest. “I told you when I laid it out for you, none of my shit would blow back on you. This morning, my shit blew back on you.”
“Ty,” I said gently, “it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“It’s good you think that, Lexie, but I don’t agree.”
I tried to assure him, “He was relatively gentlemanly about it.”
“I don’t give a shit how he was about it. I don’t like the idea of you bein’ out there alone and a man like Navarro thinkin’ he can get in your space. Your space is your space and you get to decide who’s in it. At the very least, Navarro should think your space is my space and I get to decide who’s in it. Either way, he got in your space, that does not make me happy because him doin’ it means I gave you my word and then I broke it.”
“You didn’t break it, Ty. You can’t be responsible for his actions.”
“I tell you to cross your legs often?” he shot back.
I pressed my lips together.
“Right,” he clipped.
I walked the short distance between us and put my hand on his bicep.
“Honey, you aren’t responsible for his actions.”
His chin was in his throat as he stared down at me but he didn’t reply.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” I muttered, looking away.
But I looked back and that was because I had no choice but to do so when Ty’s big hand cupped my jaw and forced my face to his.
“Don’t keep shit from me,” he ordered quietly.
I nodded and whispered, “Okay.”
“For however long this lasts, you play wife. That’s all you do. You don’t put up with shit from anyone and especially not because of me.”
“Ty, guys hit on women they’re wearing wedding rings or not. What he did was the same thing. Who’s to say that, he didn’t see me last night but saw me at the pool, he wouldn’t have done that anyway?”
“I’m to say it because last night he saw you watchin’ me lose, your face givin’ it away that you didn’t know that was the way I was playin’ it but you still laid your jewelry at my side without hesitation and kissed my jaw before you walked away. He saw a woman take her man’s back. He’s a guy who’s got no shot at findin’ a woman like that because the women that gravitate toward men like him are not your kind of woman. And he wants what I got. And I showed him that. So, he might like what he sees by the pool but he took a shot at it because I showed him what’s behind the tits, ass and legs. He can get tits, ass and legs anytime he wants. What he can’t get is what’s behind yours.”
There it was again. A Ty-style compliment that couldn’t be beat.
“Ty,” I whispered.
“It won’t happen again.”
“Okay but you need to know, I’m not mad at you for that. I don’t even care about that. I’m not actually mad at you about anything. I really am hungry and wanted to have breakfast with you.”
“Okay, I know what you need me to know but I need to know you get it that it won’t happen again.”
Good. Clean. Right.
Right there. In front of me.
Shit.
“I get it,” I said softly.
His hand dropped.
I instantly missed it.
“Okay,” he said and took a step back so my hand had to drop. “Get in the shower. I’ll order room service and get you fed. While you eat, we’ll decide what we’re gonna do on your vacation day.”
I nodded but asked, “Are you going to let me pick what I want for breakfast?”
And again, he gave me a gift. His lips tipped up a half a centimeter.
Then he replied, “You didn’t let me pick my coffee.”
So maybe he also had a sense of humor.
Good.
One step closer to knowing what I thought he was was real. An important one.
“Fair enough,” I muttered, smiling at my feet and turning to my bag.
He got on the phone and I gathered my stuff as I listened to him ordering me blueberry pancakes which sounded really good. Then again, I was super hungry so pretty much anything would sound really good.
Then I went into the bathroom, shut the door and turned on the shower.
In the shower, I listened and heard the TV even over the water.
So I knew a door, a wall, a shower and the TV would drown out me doing what I needed to do.
So I did it.
After, I felt much better.
Even so, I knew what would make me feel even better.
But I wasn’t going to go there.
Not yet.
*
Ty
Ty lounged on the bed, eyes on the TV and mind in the shower.
That was how he heard it when Lexie made herself come. It surprised him, he wasn’t expecting it; the noise was slight but also unmistakable and unbelievably hot.
He closed his eyes and muttered, “Fuck.”
Then a knock came at the door.
His wife’s breakfast.
Chapter Six
Amos Moses
Ty