Clearing my throat, I mentally gathered my wayward emotions, physically pushing out of his embrace. “Mr. Townsend, I—”
“We’re way past the Mr. Townsend bullshit, Destiny.”
Another lump stuck in my throat at the sound of my name from his lips.
“Tyler. It’s only two syllables. Say it. Ty-ler,” he urged.
“I-I, what?”
“Ty-ler.”
“Ty-” my mouth began to recite without my permission, “-ler.”
“There it is.” He grinned, the desire in his gaze practically burning me. “Get used to calling it, loudly, softly, in between. Practice makes perfect, and you’ll have plenty of practice with it.”
“Tyler, what the he—”
“See how easily it falls from your lips already.” His eyes dropped to my lips and he ran his tongue along his own bottom lip.
Moisture pooled in places that were indecent for public exposure.
He bent lower, completely crowding my personal space. “How long do you think I’m going to let you play this game?”
My eyes widened as I pulled back and stared up at him. “Excuse you?”
“You heard me. How long do you think I’m going to let you keep this up?”
“Tyler, what are you even talking about?”
A heart-stopping, lascivious grin spread over his face. “Avoided saying it for so long, now you can’t stop saying it. I knew you could take direction if pushed a little.”
I scowled at him, not willing to admit that I did indeed enjoy saying his name.
“I don’t take direction from anyone,” I hissed.
“You will, Destiny. You will.”
Another pool of moisture wrenched from my body at the assured tone he’d said those words. I blinked my eyes closed, needing at least a short reprieve from his penetrating gaze.
“Destiny, we have to go.”
I pushed out all of the air in my lungs, extremely grateful for Leslie’s interruption.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Townsend,” Leslie stated, looking over at Tyler, apologetically.
“No worries.” He kept his eyes trained on me as he responded to Leslie, “I needed to head out myself. Practice tomorrow. Destiny, I’ll see you next week.”
It sounded more like a warning than a parting.
“Sorry, girl,” Leslie stepped in as she wrapped her arm around mine. “The husband got upset that we were out so late.”
Her words barely registered as I watched Tyler back up and slowly turn to walk away.
“Wh-what?” I turned to see Leslie eyeing me, cocking her head to the side. I cleared my throat. “What were you saying?”
“Since when do you know Tyler Townsend?”
I shrugged. “Uh, I don’tknowhim. I was hired by the Cougars for their training camp series on financial planning. No big deal.” I shrugged again.
