Room-maid(29)

I tugged my hair up into a messy bun, using hair spray to tame the flyaways. I went back into my room to go through my jewelry box to see what I had to wear. I had a pair of square sapphire earrings deemed not worth enough money to be put into the family vault.

The diamond tennis bracelet Brad had given to me glittered inside the box. For a moment I was tempted to pick it up and put it on. But only for a moment. I closed the jewelry box, leaving the bracelet behind.

I grabbed a pair of black heels and then gave myself a once-over in the mirror I’d hung up on the inside door of my closet.

Satisfied with what I saw, I dug through the top closet shelf to find a small black clutch. I headed out toward the foyer to transfer over my ID, debit card, cell phone, and lipstick from my purse.

Tyler had apparently been sitting on the couch, waiting for me. He stood up when he saw me and my breath caught as I skidded to a halt, dumbstruck by how handsome he looked.

At some point I was going to have to get used to the sight of him in a suit. It emphasized his broad shoulders and the darkness of it highlighted his light-blue eyes. I gulped.

“You look nice,” he told me with a smile.

You look like I want to bear your children. Shaking off my gut response, I smiled back and said, “So do you.” As far as compliments went, “nice” was on the bland side, but I’d take it. If I’d been entirely truthful in returning his compliment, what I would have said was that he looked choke-on-your-own-tongue good, but I didn’t feel it was appropriate to say so.

“Should we go?”

I grabbed my purse and made the transfer of stuff I thought I’d need. “I’m ready,” I told him, as I reached for my coat.

“Here, let me.”

It had been a very long time since a man besides my butler had helped me put my coat on. And it was a totally different experience to be standing so close to Tyler, because he smelled like heaven and radiated a delicious heat that made me want to get even closer to him. The feel of him standing just behind me, so close that we were almost touching, made me tremble slightly. It took me two tries to get my left arm into the sleeve, but I finally managed it.

When he put his hands on my shoulders for a brief moment after I’d accomplished the apparently impossible task of dressing myself with assistance, it took all the willpower I possessed not to lean back into him.

Oblivious to my plight, he pushed the button to the elevator and I gave him a shaky smile, hoping he didn’t sense how nervous and excited he made me.

Now if I could just remember that nothing was going to happen between us, everything would be fine.





CHAPTER NINE

The charity event was, as so many of them were, in the ballroom of a hotel downtown. There was a DJ playing innocuous music in the background, trees with white Christmas lights surrounding the room, tables and chairs set up on the outskirts of the dance floor. A few couples danced, but most of the people were congregated around either the open bar or what looked to be a silent auction.

There was a podium up front on the stage near the DJ and I wondered whether we had missed the speeches or if we’d be forced to sit through them while the Women’s Texan League congratulated themselves on how amazing they were for what would feel like an actual eternity.

“Can I get you a drink?” Tyler offered.

I figured with how pretty he was I should probably keep my wits about me. “Just a club soda for me. Thank you.”

“I’ll be right back.”

I tried to tamp down my jealousy when I noticed all the female gazes that followed him to the bar. I found an empty table and sat. My phone buzzed inside my purse and I took it out.

There was a text from Brad.

So much for not contacting me. He hadn’t even made it an entire week.

Annoyed, I clicked on the text. It said:



It was hard to tell with Brad whether this was just a friendly but completely misguided text, him forgetting that I’d asked for no contact. Or if he was just ignoring the fact that I had ended things and was still holding out some hope that he could “win” me back.

He couldn’t. I wanted more.

Speaking of more, my eyes were drawn to where Tyler stood. He had run into somebody he knew at the bar and I watched as he shook hands with the other man. The man must have said something funny, because Tyler laughed, and I wished I were closer so that I could hear him.

Brad got what he wanted because I was thinking about him and our relationship, but none of it was good. I remembered when I’d been talking to him at my parents’ house and had told him that we should move on and find other people. At the time I had thought it was strange that Tyler had popped into my head. But I realized that it was because he was the first person I’d been this attracted to, ever. It was quickly becoming a more intense crush for me than the one I’d had on Brad when I was fifteen.

And if I were still that teenage girl, I’d probably be scheming to figure out a way to get Tyler away from Oksana and to fall in love with me. But Tyler had been beyond clear that all he wanted was a friendship and for boundaries not to be crossed. I could do that. Even if part of me (okay, nearly all of me) resisted. I could respect what he wanted and just enjoy what he did offer, his friendship. I’d just spent the whole day with him. He was a fun guy to hang out with. That could be enough.

I couldn’t really control whether or not I was attracted to him. The constant flutter in my stomach when I looked at him testified that I was. And there was nothing wrong with that. It would only be wrong if I tried to push it to be something more.