Page 54 of Perfect Together

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Tyler met Macyat her family’s restaurant, and they planned to go to the art festival together. He had to admit she was a good sport about being his sidekick, considering she believed his main goal was to win back Nicole. What Macy didn’t know was that Tyler knew a losing battle when he fought one. He understood Nicole was serious about living her own life. He even got that she was involved with another man. Hell, she didn’t return his calls, and he’d be a fool to think otherwise.

“Earth to Tyler.” Macy waved a hand in front of his face. “You alive?”

“Just thinking,” he told her.

She hopped onto the stool next to him. “About what?”

He glanced over and met her gaze. Honestly interested blue eyes stared back at him. She was so different looking from Nicole, less exotic, her pale face making her large eyes stand out. But her genuine concern for him made him feel something different from ever before.

“Have you ever been torn between doing what’s right and family loyalty or expectations?” he asked.

She propped her chin on her hand. “Not the way you probably mean. Family comes first, but we’re all so strong-willed that we always clash when it comes to what we want. Like Aunt Lulu got all upset last year and quit here to go work for a supermarket. Then she got hurt and my family circled the wagons and took her back immediately.” She shrugged. “But I’m thinking whatever’s bothering you is bigger than that.”

“What makes you think something’s bothering me?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Do you really think I’m buying this whole Nicole-and-I-are-meant-for-each-other thing? One look at you and I get the sense that it’s killing you to chase after a woman who isn’t interested.”

With her insight, the anxiety that had been riding him since he’d arrived in town eased somewhat. “You got that, huh?” He leaned in closer.

She didn’t pull away.

“Yeah, I did. So why are you doing it? What kind of family would have you sacrificing yourself and your dignity?”

She was so close, he wanted to lean in and kiss her. More than that, he wanted to explain his motives, but doing so would put her in danger and he already had one woman to look out for. He couldn’t drag another into his problems.

“Let’s just say that the rich are different, and I don’t mean that in any insulting way.” With regret, he forced himself to straighten up and pull away.

Disappointment flickered in her eyes. “Sucks for you,” she said in her blunt way, looking at him with pity.

And making him feel uncomfortable in his own skin.

She sighed. “I’d rather just make ends meet than suffer with that kind of obligation.”

“Me too,” he said, surprising himself.

He must have shocked her too, because she smiled at that.

“But I can’t,” he said.

“Why not?” she asked, still interested, but the light in her eyes had dimmed.

He hated disappointing her, but he knew that he had. “That obligation runs pretty deep.”

So deep that he’d sacrifice himself for his father? He asked himself outright for the first time. Before now, he’d gone about blindly doing as his father asked, but Tyler wanted more for himself than a family business built on corruption and lies. More than a woman who didn’t love him—and whom he couldn’t love, if he was responding to Macy this way. So no, he thought, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself for his father.

But before he could extricate himself, he needed a plan. He even wondered if talking to Nicole’s cop was an option.

“Ready to go?” Macy asked when he didn’t elaborate on the situation.

“Sure.” He pushed the idea of talking to Sam aside, to mull over before doing anything rash.

Macy headed to the back of the restaurant to get her bag. He was coming to know her routine as well as he knew his own, he mused.

As she returned, he couldn’t tear his gaze away. Her tanned legs were long beneath the cutoff shorts, and on her feet was electric-blue toenail polish. Her white sandals had a heavy fringe. She was dynamite in a petite package, and he enjoyed every minute he spent with her.

They arrived downtown, parking and walking from far away. Obviously, the festival was a huge draw. Macy liked art and so did he, which gave him a rush, thinking finally they had something in common. As they passed the various artists set out with their canvases and work, Macy’s eyes lit up, and she paused at every landscape they saw.