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“My, that’s a formidable frown…” Bella observed, when she returned with a glass of something in her hand. She thrust it toward Ty, who had no choice but to take the glass from her. “You look pissed off, Tyler. Did someone upset you?”
She stood beside him and smiled smugly while she watched Vicki interacting with Loathsome Teddy Lloyd.
“They seem to be hitting it off, right? I knew they would. Teddy is a great guy…stable, steady, stoic…”
“Stodgy?” he inserted acerbically.
She paused for a beat before chuckling. “Maybe a little. But I think it’s a lovely counterbalance to Vicki’s flakiness.”
That made him frown. “She’s not flaky.”
“I thought you had no opinion of her.”
She had him there. He shut up and took a sip from the glass she’d given him. He grimaced when the sickly-sweet lukewarm soda hit his tongue.
“I suppose it’s pointless to tell you to relax and enjoy yourself, right?” Bella said. “There are quite a few women here who have been asking me about you. I’m happy to make introductions.”
“I don’t fraternize on the job.” And he had the measure of those women. They’d been dismissive of Vicki and would undoubtedly be the same with him, once they learned what he did for a living. He didn’t care what they thought of him, but he didn’t appreciate the way they had looked at Vicki.
“Of course, you don’t.” Bella gave him another one of those condescending pats, and he gritted his teeth.
“You don’t have to stay with me. I’m not a guest.”
She gave him another long, measuring look before smiling. “I like you, Tyler Chambers. If you ever pull your head out of your butt and make a play for Vicki, I’d be on board with that.”
She ambled away before he could fully process her words, but when they sank in, he scowled, and unthinkingly took another sip of soda.
God, disgusting stuff.
He growled beneath his breath and set the glass on the coffee table, before finding a corner where he could stand and survey the crowd without being in the way.
Teddy was a surprisingly engaging conversationalist, Vicki liked him, and happily exchanged numbers with him. Before she knew it, an hour had passed, and she realized that the one G&T she’d been nursing all evening was having a somnolent effect on her. Added to the fact that it was a weekday, and Fridays were generally massively busy, she decided that it was time to call it a night.
She said her goodnights and cast her eyes around the room for Ty.
He was standing in a corner, kind of staring into the middle distance, looking like he had mentally checked out. It must have been boring watching her and Teddy sit there and chat for an hour. She refused to feel bad about it, he was always banging on about how it was his job.
She made her way to the corner, where it appeared that most people were giving him a wide berth, and she watched his eyes flicker as awareness crept back in. He met her smile with nothing but a quick nod. His eyes drifted to a point behind her, and she guessed he was looking for Teddy.
“Hey,” she greeted. “I’m ready to leave.”
“Alone?”
“Of course not,” she said, with an incredulous laugh, and his expression froze. Who knew he could look even colder than usual? Fascinating. “With you, silly.”
His face relaxed marginally, and there was a brief flash of…something in his eyes. Okay, what was that? Was that relief? She swore he heaved the smallest sigh of relief.
Which begged the question, what had he thought she meant?
“Right. Have you said your goodbyes?”
“I have.”
He nodded and pushed himself away from the wall, to lead the way to the door.
“Aren’t you going to say goodnight to Bella and Pete?”
“I’m sure they’re not expecting me to.”
“But…”
“I wasn’t a guest, Vicki.”
“But…”
He ignored her and kept walking, leaving her no choice but to follow.
Vicki didn’t mind the inevitable silence on the drive home. She was tired and not in the mood for yet another futile attempt at conversation with Ty. At some point, she just had to accept the fact that he didn’t want to talk with her. That he wasn’t interested in any semblance of a friendship, or even a friendly acquaintanceship, with her. She didn’t know why she kept trying. But tonight, she was happy to just leave him to his brooding silence.
Thus, her shock was absolute when he spoke just before they reached her building. “You seemed to like him.”
“Uh…what? Who? Teddy? I did. He’s nice.” Smooth, Vicki, she chastised herself for that foolish response.
“Not nice enough for you to break out those condoms, though.”
Whaaaat the hell?
“We’re having lunch on Sunday. Who knows what’ll happen then?” She had no idea why she’d said that. Just to see his response maybe. She currently had no interest in cultivating an intimate relationship with Teddy. But she liked him enough to hang out with him a bit more, to see if maybe an attraction could develop between them.
