Page 99 of His to Love
One side of his lips kicked up at the outer edge. “Want to tell me about it?”
I glanced around my apartment that he had completely taken over. The smells of something cooking in the kitchen almost stole my attention before I looked back at him. “I thought we agreed on six o’clock.”
It was only five. I snuck out a few minutes early so I could have plenty of time to get ready for wherever Tyson was planning on taking me.
“We did. I wanted to get here early and get everything ready.”
“This?” I waved a hand in the air. “What is this?”
He pushed off the doorframe and headed toward me, not stopping until he was just a foot away. I had to tilt my head back slightly to maintain eye contact. “We still have things to talk about,” he said. “I thought it’d be best done in private.”
“And breaking into my apartment was the only way?”
He shrugged, unashamed. “It seemed the easiest way.”
“And you cooked?”
He laughed quietly and held out his hand. “No. I had my grandma make dinner, I’m just reheating it.” I placed my hand in his and followed him into my own kitchen, not unaware of the fact that he seemed just as familiar in my space as he did in his own. “I brought the wine and Grandma made some lasagna. It should be done soon if you want a glass of wine while we wait.”
I wanted a bottle. I figured I’d need it. My mind overflowed with questions and thoughts.
“A glass would be nice,” I said instead.
I took a seat on one of my barstools while Tyson headed to the fridge, saying as he opened the door, “So tell me about your day. What made it so good?”
I debated for a moment before answering. I wanted to get right to the questions I had, but I liked the feel of this. Tyson waiting for me when I got home, him serving me, him wanting to be with me.
I wanted this to play out for as long as possible.
“Simone promoted me to Associate Planner yesterday.”
He arched a brow and looked at me while he uncorked the wine. “That the reason for the celebrating last night?”
“Part of it.” I shrugged. “The rest was trying to drown my sorrows.”
Sadness flickered in his gaze and the air stalled between us before he popped the cork and poured a glass of pinot grigio. He slid me a glass and I took it, thankful for the distraction.
“Should we talk now or after dinner?” he asked, placing his palms on the counter. He was braced like he was ready for an argument.
My earlier decision to let this fantasy play out changed.
“It’s probably better to talk.”
“Right.” He nodded and turned toward the oven, flicking a switch at the back. “Let’s go to the living room.”
He gestured for me to go first and I waited as he reached back into the fridge and pulled out a beer for himself. A sarcastic comment about him helping himself in my own home was on the tip of my tongue, but I bit it back.
“I joined the FBI soon after college,” he said, stating it plainly as soon as he sat down. “I can’t lie and say that after my football injury I knew what I was going to do with my life because I struggled for a long time. But I could never stop thinking about my father’s death and the men who caused it.” He paused for a moment, arched a brow, and waited for me to respond.
I had nothing to say. All loyalty to my own father had evaporated when I learned he had been selling girls to line his pockets.
When I stayed silent, he continued. “My mom took my father’s death hard and she’s never fully recovered. I was away at college, rarely coming home, and she was in the house I grew up in with only her memories. Eventually, after she moved to Florida, she started coming back to herself, but I’m going to be honest and say the rage I still felt simmered inside me for a long time. Perhaps it always will.”
“I get all that, Tyson,” I said softly. “I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t understand why you took a job with the FBI, or why you even wanted to go after my father. What hurts is that you lied to me and that I trusted you.” I blinked and took a large gulp of my wine. “All those days you talked about your work, all the times you stopped us from going too far at the beginning…everything makes sense now.”
“Then you know I tried to wait. That I didn’t want this shit between us, but damn it, Blue. It’s you and it’s me, we’re inevitable.”
He was right. I not only knew it, I had spent all day deciding I no longer wanted to stay away from him.
