Page 103 of Perfect Together
He rested the package wrapped in brown paper against the wall.
She took a minute to drink him in. His sandy brown hair was combed and lightly gelled; he was clean shaven and wore a pair of tan slacks and a light-blue short-sleeved collared shirt. Typical Tyler; he looked every inch the groomed and well-styled man she’d fallen hard for. The only thing different was the nervous glint in his eyes and the uncertain expression on his handsome face.
“You said not to come back until I was free of everything.”
Clasping her hands behind her back, she merely nodded, waiting.
She wouldn’t have thought she’d want a man to beg for her, but after the way he’d taken off after Nicole, leaving her alone at the art show, she realized she needed him to wonder where she stood. To work to prove himself to her. For her.
She wouldn’t tell him that he’d won her over by showing up with whatever was beneath the wrapping. She had a hunch she already knew—which meant despite running after Nicole, he’d paid attention toher.
“Well, I am. Free of Nicole, my past, the family business and the expectations that came with it... all of it.”
As he spoke, her heart lightened... a lot. So much that she knew that at this moment, her life just might be doing a one-eighty.
He drew a deep breath. “And so I’m here. Bearing gifts.” He grinned. “Or should I say a gift?”
Tyler looked into her bright-blue eyes and waited... waited... and then she gave it to him.
She returned his smile with the first open, honest one he’d seen. “Come on in,” she said.
He followed her into her home for the first time. He took in the wild splash of colors, vibrant and alive, and laughed. “This place suits you.”
“Yeah? You don’t think it’s... gaudy?”
She folded her arms across her chest, a defensive gesture he couldn’t mistake. “Umm, no. If I thought it was gaudy, I wouldn’t have said it suits you.” He stepped closer and grasped her shoulders. “You, Macy Donovan, are not gaudy. You’re outspoken, honest, you don’t take crap from anyone, and you’re real. Added to that, you’re beautiful. You were it for me from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Macy’s heart squeezed in her chest. Finally, she thought. It was her turn.
***
Tyler meant whathe’d said. From the second he’d seen Macy, no other woman existed. Unfortunately, the craziness around him still had.
Her eyes opened wide. “But you were still chasing Nicole then.”
He wanted to forget all about Nicole. Hell, he already had. She was his friend and nothing more, but he owed it to Macy to explain.
“I think I told you before... Nicole and I were always good friends. When I look back now, I believed we were doing the right thing by getting married. Making everyone happy.”
“Were you? Happy?” she asked.
Honest,he reminded himself. “I thought I was.”
She tipped her head to one side. “But?”
“She broke up with me, and I ran after her, but that wasn’t about love. That was about family. Safety. Obligation. And it’s over. From here on out, it’s all about you.” He ripped the paper off the landscape; he’d gone to great pains to first find the artist, then acquire it.
A soft sigh escaped her lips. “You really were paying attention to me.”
“Every minute, even if I did have to run off. Which I handled badly, by the way. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes blazed brighter. “I don’t want your apology.”
“You don’t?”
“Nope.”
“Then what do you want?”