A growl left me and I balled my fists. I’d tear her luxurious locks out. “I’d take him if he lived in a barn. I’m not a superficial, greedy bi?—”
“Goldilocks.” A strong arm slipped around my waist. A finger tilted my chin up.
I had to be hallucinating. Hearing him in my drunk dreams. Feeling his strong hold around me. How strong were those drinks? But when I looked up, it was into his soft pecan eyes, glittering with affection. “Tenor?”
He studied me. “Am I really everything you want and deserve?”
A hot tear rolled down my cheek and he caught it with the pad of his thumb. “Yes.”
“Good. Because I’m in love with you.”
“I’m a little drunk,” I whispered. He’d caught me yelling at his ex. He hadn’t even looked her way. “Are you really here, or am I hallucinating?”
“I’m really here. Madison used your phone to call me.”
I frowned. Was that why she had looked guilty when I came out of the bathroom? Or when I’d gotten in Katrina’s face? Both? I’d thank her later. She’d given me the chance I thought I had lost. “I’m really sorry. The book was so thoughtful. It was perfect. Just like you.”
“I’m not perfect, and you showed me that’s okay. You were right. Words weren’t enough. I have to show you I mean it.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Katrina pushed her hair back and struck a sexy pose that’d dislocate my hip. “She’s drunk and she’s crazy.”
“Enough, Katrina,” he said, his voice hard but his attention only on me. “Like my girlfriend said, you’ve done enough talking.”
She made a disgusted noise. “Yourgirlfrienddoesn’t know what she’s talk?—”
“Don’t you dare insult my daughter or her boyfriend,” said a man from behind me.
I frowned and spun, still in Tenor’s hold. “Dad?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Tenor
Ruby’s blue eyes were wide and a little too glassy for my liking. The mass of curls around her head made me itch to bury my hands in them. She wasn’t in a skirt, but in her cuffed sweatpants, she looked cute and cozy. Perfect for sitting on my couch to read a book and to strip off later.
Fuck, she was gorgeous. “Sorry I couldn’t answer your text. Bob—Robert showed up on my doorstep. Sort of.”
He’d confessed to hating the name Bobby, so I’d quit using it since he was earning a B-plus in not insulting me.
She glanced from me to her dad. “I don’t understand.”
Robert shrugged. “Thought maybe you’d answer the phone if I made nice with your boyfriend. I know I was a bastard to him, so I needed to talk to him anyway. He’s easy enough to find and he agreed to meet me at his place.”
Ruby still looked perplexed. “Did Mom tell you to?”
“She didn’t have to,” he said. “I asked her if she thought this guy would throw me on my ass, though. She said I deserved it.”
Ruby glanced back and forth between us. “You’re friends?”
“I doubt that’ll ever happen,” he said almost sadly. “I was pretty bad, Rubes.” When I opened my mouth, he pointed at me. “I’m not going to quit calling her that. I’m her dad and I get to call her a nickname she hates.”
As long as it wasn’t meant to be derogatory, I wouldn’t interfere. “That’s up to her.”
He nodded and met his daughter’s stunned gaze. “All I care about is that he’s good to you.”
I doubted we’d be friends, but after talking with him, I was optimistic we could be amicable. He was loud and brash like Ruby had described, but I had learned a lot about that boy who had bullied me. “No, we’re not friends. But he’s apologized?—”
She put her fingers on my lips. “He what now?”
