Page 31 of Perfect Together

By the time Sam strode away, Nicole was shaking inside, and she hoped her nerves didn’t show on the outside.

“Shall we sit?” Tyler asked.

She nodded, aware of her friends at the front of the diner, along with the other familiar faces who’d come in since she’d arrived. Serendipity was a small town, and like most, people here enjoyed good gossip. Nicole’s ex-fiancé and her new relationship with Detective Sam Marsden would certainly provide this morning’s talk and entertainment.

***

It took everythinginside Sam not to turn around and watch Nicole and her well-dressed, clearly rich, everything-Sam-was-not ex-fiancé. It took even more fortitude for him not to sit back down with Cara and Macy and wait for Nicole to finish with her talk. Instead, he strode straight out of the restaurant, headed for his car, and drove away, deciding he’d be better off doing work around the house. At least that way he’d be productive and not pathetic.

He hadn’t planned to compare, but clearly Nicole had a type. Both he and this Tyler Stanton had light hair and light eyes, his hazel, the other guy’s green, but where Sam was more of a guy’s guy, Tyler was obviously more of theGQvariety. Khaki pants, polo shirt, short hair that wasn’t barbershop cut. Which raised the question—what was the classy Nicole Farnsworth doing slumming with a Serendipity cop? And how long would her walk on the other side last?

Knowing he was in a precarious position, Sam asked himself what the hell he was doing. For a man who didn’t want to invest emotions or his heart, he seemed to care too damn much.

He’d been blindsided by a woman once before. This time, his eyes were wide open, so if and when Nicole walked away, Sam had known the possibility existed going in.

And he’d have nobody to blame but himself.

***

Nicole couldn’t readher ex-fiancé because Tyler was still focused on what had gone down with Sam. So was Nicole. At least he wasn’t angry, but he had alluded to interesting information about his past. She couldn’t begin to imagine what had happened to him, nor did she have time to think about it when Tyler faced her across the table, his expression tight.

“Tyler, why are you here?” Nicole got right to the point. Better she know immediately what she was up against.

He folded his hands on the table and took a visible, relaxing breath. “I came for you. I came to see what kind of hold this town has on you and why you felt you had to leave home—and me—to settle down here.”

Nicole expelled the breath she’d been holding, hoping things were as simple as he claimed. This, she could deal with.

“I already explained why I broke up with you. I don’t want to hurt you, so please don’t make me say it again.” She stared into his green eyes, hating that he was putting her in the position of having to rehash the breakup.

“You said we didn’t have sizzle. Chemistry. Then I come here and find you with that cop.”

“Detective,” she replied, then realized she was echoing Sam and managed not to smile.

“That detective is the reason you left me.”

“That’s ridiculous. I barely knew him when I was here last.” But he had been the catalyst that made her realize what she had with Tyler wasn’t enough. Still, why tell him and dig at his pride?

Tyler ran his hand through his closely cropped hair. “I’m not going anywhere, you know. I’m staying until you come to your senses.”

Nicole stiffened. Such extreme behavior was not Tyler’s normal MO, and now she had to wonder—again—whether there was more to him being here. What did he know? Was he aware of his father’s activities, and on what side of the illegality did he fall? She knew what her heart told her, but she couldn’t risk her safety by mentioning she knew his firm was money laundering. What if he suddenly turned on her or, worse, called in the Russian mob to handle her if he couldn’t?

“I don’t... You can’t... What?! Why would you stick around?” Nicole finally sputtered.

Completely unruffled, he replied, “Because we belong together.” He reached across the table in an attempt to place his hand over hers, but she was quick enough to shift her shaking hands to her lap.

His eyes flickered with disappointment.

“I’m happy here,” she told him.

He raised an eyebrow in an arrogant expression she knew well. Tyler was many things—a gentleman, yes, but also occasionally entitled. “We’ll see.”

She shook her head. “I’m going to go about my life,” she warned him. And that meant seeing Sam.

“You do that. And I’ll be here to remind you of everything you left behind.”

Why? Because he thought they were such a love match? This determined behavior in the face of her rejection was so unlike him, she believed to the depths of her soul more was going on than he was saying.

“Go home,” she tried once more.