“So tell him. Talk. Then at least you two can have good makeup sex. I don’t know what Tyler wants from me.”
Nicole rose from her seat. “Then I suggest you find out.”
“Good idea.” Macy stood too, her expression lighter than before. “But not until whatever this situation is, is resolved. I want him free. From the past and from you. No offense intended.”
“None taken.” Nicole understood how her friend felt. She headed back into the other room to find Sam and Tyler sitting in uncomfortable silence. “We’re back.”
Tyler jumped up first. “Macy, can we please go somewhere and talk?”
She shook her head. “Not now,” she said sadly, and Nicole’s heart hurt for her. “Come to me when you’re free—of everything. Then we can talk.” Macy turned and walked away.
“But—”
“Let her go,” Nicole said quietly, placing her hand on his arm. She waited until Macy had disappeared out the door before meeting Tyler’s gaze. “She has her pride, and this situation is screwed up. She doesn’t deserve it. When you’re free of your family mess and yeah, of me, then you go to her. And see if you two can start from scratch. Get to know each other and see what happens.”
He groaned and nodded. “You’re right. Which means this fucking mess has to end.”
She blinked, surprised at his choice of words. Tyler Stanton never cursed. “I agree. Sam?”
“On it. I’ll go talk to Mike. See if he can make some calls and find out why the feds are stalling on making a move on your old man.”
Tyler paled but nodded.
Sam grasped her hand and pulled her through the house and into her bedroom. “I’m not leaving with you angry.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to fight with you either.”
“Is that what this is? Our first fight?” he asked with an endearing grin.
“Yeah. Because you decided what I should know and when.”
He shook his head. “It won’t happen again.”
“Promise?”
“I’ll do the best I can.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s such a male answer.”
“Hey, I’m a man and a cop. I just want you safe. What do you expect?” he asked in a gruff voice.
Having already decided she’d made her point, she leaned in close and kissed his cheek. “Great makeup sex?” she asked, deliberately light, letting him know it was, in fact, finished.
Unless he pulled crap like that again.
His eyes darkened at the suggestion. “As soon as I get home.”
This time it was she who reacted, her nipples pulling into tight points. “Hurry back.”
He pulled her against him for a hard kiss. He didn’t keep it short, slipping his tongue between her parted lips and giving her a preview of what he intended later on.
A little while later, Sam had left, leaving Nicole alone with Tyler. They stared at one another, the silence stretching between them, merely waiting to be broken.
Tyler walked to the bay window, staring outside onto the street. Nicole used the time to study the man she’d almost married. No doubt he was good looking . . . in a more refined way than Sam’s gruff, sexy appearance. And no question he was a good guy. She should never have doubted him. But he wasn’t the man for her.
Still, they had history and now they shared something more—the pain of discovering that their fathers weren’t the people they thought they were. For Nicole, she’d always known her father wasn’t a man she looked up to. He’d never been there for her, not as a little girl, and not as an adult. But did his behavior cross from uninterested, uncaring parent to criminal behavior?
If forced to choose, she didn’t think so. At least, she didn’t believe he’d let anything terrible happen to her.