Pleasure Bound

“Why not? It seems pretty clear Marie has chosen you … or is going to.” He shrugged again. “And that’s the way it should be. You saw her first.”

Ty leaned back against the desk and crossed his arms. “Are you doing this to make up for what happened with Ashley? Because you don’t have to do that. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Zeke glanced at him warily. He’d wanted so much to convince Ty of that years ago, but Ty wouldn’t listen.

“I know it was Ashley who caused the problem. She pursued you. I chose not to believe it at the time because…” He sighed. “There was something else that was really bothering me.”

Zeke nodded. So Ty had felt this thing between them even back then.

Ty uncrossed his arms. “You know, we really should figure out what’s going on between you and me. Especially if we want to keep our friendship alive. Otherwise it’ll just get in the way.”

Zeke’s gut clenched. He paced across the room, then turned back to face Ty. “As much as I want our friendship to work, I don’t know how it can with this situation with Marie. I overheard you tell her you’re in love with her. And she said she loves you, too.”

Ty’s eyebrows quirked. “What about you? You’re in love with her, too, aren’t you?”

“Of course, I am.”

“Did you tell her?”

Zeke banged his fist on his thigh. “Damn it, I tried not to fall in love with her, because I knew you were. But … damn, when she told me she loved me … I couldn’t help but tell her back.”

Ty raised an eyebrow. “Now that you know she loves me, you figure she’ll choose me?”

“Of course she will.”

Ty smiled at him. “My question is, why does she have to choose?”

Twenty-five

Marie opened her eyes to see Ty place a tray beside the bed.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Mm. Breakfast in bed.”

Marie sat up and he placed the tray over her lap. He fluffed her pillow, then tucked a second behind her. She smiled, then took a forkful of the herb omelette.

“It’s delicious.” She took another bite.

He poured cream into the full coffee mug on the tray, then added a spoonful of sugar and stirred. She took a sip. He turned and walked toward the door.

“You’re not joining me?” she asked.

He smiled. “You enjoy. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Once she finished her omelette, she leaned back against the pillows and relaxed while she drank her coffee. Ty returned a few moments later.

“Where’s Zeke?” she asked.

“Well, I have bad news for you.”

Her gaze darted to him, her heart stammering, as he took the tray from her lap and placed it on a table by the door.

“What is it?”

“Zeke’s in jail.”

Her eyes widened. “Why? What happened?”