“Ty—” I was cut off with another peck to my lips.
“Destiny, I just spent the last few hours watching my third youngest brother confess his love to the woman he plans on spending the rest of his life with. I also watched my oldest two brothers and father barely leave their wives’ sides throughout the entire day, and all it did was make me miss you even more.”
I frowned. “So you want something with me because you’re envious of what your brothers have?” I pushed against this chest but his hold on my waist was firm.
“You’re so fucking cute when you’re angry. But no,” he paused to kiss my lips again, “I don’t envy my brothers. Not in the way that I’d want to steal their happiness, anyway. I’m happy for them. And never, before you, have I ever coveted what they had with their spouses. Hell, I was the brother who teased the shit out of them relentlessly and reminded them of the days they’d said they’d never marry. But my father told me something today that reminded me of the fact that while I’d said a lot of shit in my day, the one thing I never said was that I wouldn’t marry. I’ve always been honest about wanting my own family. And I knew when I met the right person I’d just know.” He stopped, staring down on me.
I was sure my heartbeat was pounding so fast and so hard that he could hear it.
“I knew the day you walked into that lecture hall.”
What was I supposed to say to that? How was I to respond? No coherent thought could even manage to make its way to the forefront of my mind.
“Now,” Tyler began, just before dipping his head and pressing another kiss to my opened mouth, “open the door, Destiny.”
An order.
That’s what his words were. An order. And I was the last woman to take orders from a damn man. So when I turned, key in hand, and began unlocking my front door, I knew I’d officially lost my damn mind.
Tyler Townsend had driven me insane.
That was the only explanation that fit. But even that awareness didn’t get much more than a passing thought when Tyler bent low behind me, his hot mouth connecting with the side of my neck. I closed my eyes and pressed backwards against the hardness of his body, as we fumbled into my condo, neither of us alert to the fact that my lights were already on.
I swung my arm out wildly, searching for the wall switch, only then realizing then that it was in the upright position. Again, that was quickly dismissed as I assumed I’d likely left my light on when I left the previous day. Tyler’s moans in my ear and his lips and tongue on my body had left me with no awareness of my surroundings save for him.
I spun to face him, briefly opening my eyes just before his mouth covered mine again.
“Please, don’t let me interrupt anything.”
Resha’s voice caused me to jump out of my skin. I was pulled firmly against Tyler’s body, as he stood erect, looking over my head. His arm was so tight around my body that I could barely breathe.
“Resha?” I asked out loud, my back still facing her thanks to the tight hold Tyler still had on me.
“Who else would be in your place this late?” she retorted.
I sighed. “It’s okay,” I whispered to Tyler, consolingly. Only then did his grip loosen just enough for me to turn around. I had to struggle a little just to be set free from his hold.
“What’re you doing here?” I questioned, rushing over to give her a hug. It’d been nearly a month since we’d seen each other in person. Thanks to her work, Resha was often traveling.
“And you must be Tyler,” Resha stated after we hugged, entirely ignoring my question.
I turned to watch my cousin and best friend move into the living room space of my open-floor plan condo, to stare Tyler down. I watched as the two sized one another up. Resha liked to pretend she was intimidating, when in actuality she was barely an inch taller than I was, and though curvier in a size twelve body, she was much more dainty.
Tyler’s face finally expanded to his charming smile—funny how I was now able to discern which smile he was adorning at any given moment.
“Glad to see you made it back safely from Europe,” Tyler finally stated as he moved closer, taking her hand in his and pressing a kiss to it.
Resha actually dipped her head, giggling.
I rolled my eyes.
Seriously?
Resha was supposed to be my eyes and ears when my own discernment had gone out of whack. Tyler caused my entire thirty-six years worth of common sense to short-circuit. I needed Resha to be the one to knock some sense into me where he was concerned, yet here she was being charmed by him as well.
“Like I said, what are you doing here?” I placed my hand on my hip, breaking up the little love fest. I’ll admit there may’ve been some jealousy on my part as well.
“Sheesh. It’s been four weeks since you’ve seen me. You’d think she’d be happy,” Resha tutted. “I was stopping by to make sure you got in safely but I see you got in just fine.” Her voice rose a little as she looked toward Tyler. “Also, I wanted to talk about the live show of our podcast. We need to discuss the details on that. Plus, I need to tell you how my trip went. And I stopped by—”
