Tyler looked at his watch. “I just came by to let you know I was leaving,” he said, and I stood back up, not realizing his visit would be so short.
“Oh,” I said as I moved to him again. “Oh, I thought maybe you were staying for lunch.”
There was disappointment in my tone. It was surprising that he’d come by. A good surprise, and that sparked something inside me. Hope?
Lana would have told me that I’d set the standards bar literally on the floor.
“Can’t,” he said, taking my hand.
“You could have just texted me,” I said, and I think a simple text would have hurt less.
“You’ve been so distracted lately that I wasn’t sure if you realized my flight was today,” he said.
I ran my hand over my face. It was true. I had been in another world since starting this project.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re right. I’ll make it up to you when you get back.”
He pushed my hair back, the touch feeling foreign on my skin with Gavin in the room, as if my body was rejecting every brush and contact with him.
And when Tyler kissed me…
It was lingering and more passionate than he’d kissed me in months. Andawkward—so awkward that I ended up pulling away from him before he wanted to let me go. I wasn’t even sure if I’d kissed him back.
Fucking hell.
When we parted, Tyler cupped my face in his hand and gave me a smile. “I love you,” he said. “I’ll call you when I get off the plane.” He glanced past me to Gavin as he started backward, and he nodded in his direction.
“Erosin,” he said.
“Drake,” Gavin replied with a nod.
I didn’t move or look at Gavin as Tyler left the room and strode across the floor, just making it in time for the elevator. Once the elevator door closed, Gavin let out a whistle I knew was meant to mock me.
“Fucking Styx,” he muttered. “Someone thinks they need to claim their territory.”
“Something tells me if the tables were turned, you would do the same thing,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Though probably more to the effect of squeezing my ass or throat.”
Gavin scoffed and pushed off the desk, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he strode my way.
“If you were mine, no other being would think they had a chance,” he said.
“You think your presence is enough to deter anyone else?”
“No,” he said. “But the way you respond to me is.”
He hovered an inch from my folded arms, and the absolute heat radiating off of him made my knees weak, causing a pulsation between my thighs. My jaw went taut at the confidence of his words. I waited for him to continue, refusing to give in.
“He didn’t kiss you just now to make me jealous,” he continued, a twinge of dominance in his stern tone. “He kissed you to remind you that you’re his. That the ring you wear on your finger means your heart, mind, and body belong to him.”
“Why would he need to remind me of that?”
“Because he could see the way you look at me. The way your body follows mine,” he said, his voice deepening.
My lips pressed together thinly, though the shake in my breath didn’t help my case. “Once again, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” I managed.
“Then why didn’t you kiss him back?”
My fingers creased on my arms as I tried to push down the frustration suddenly swimming through me.
