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I took a deep breath, trying to brace myself for something horrid.
“Okay.”
I watched Tyler’s smile fade as he reached down toward the floor. He gestured for me to look where his hand had moved to.
I leaned over and followed his eyes as they moved down with mine.
He pulled the hem of his jeans up to reveal a prosthesis.
“I was injured. An IED.”
I swallowed, feeling the gravity of his brush with death. “Okay.” My emotions took me by surprise. He was an honest-to-goodness hero.
“Took part of my leg.”
“Yeah,” I said and brought my hand to where his was. I interwove my fingers with his without a second thought. “You were lucky.”
His eyes lifted to mine. Depths and depths of emotions in those unreadable blue eyes. “Lucky?”
“You survived,” I said, running my thumb over the back of his hand.
I moved with him as he sat back up after lowering his pant leg. He gave me a tentative smile. “Well, there ya go. That’s that.”
I reached across the table and took his hand. “Tyler?”
“I understand if you’ve changed your mind.”
“Because of your leg?”
“Yeah. It’s cool. I get it.”
The idea that he could think I was shallow enough to judge him because he had a prosthetic infuriated me. “I could give two fucks about your leg, Tyler.” I spat out the words without thinking I should perhaps be a little more sensitive.
His mouth fell open.
I kept my eyes pinned to his, resolute in my stance.
He closed his mouth and eyes and nodded.
I tried for a lighter approach. “I mean unless that’s the kinky shit you were talking about.” His eyes snapped to mine. “If it was, we might have a bit of a discussion ahead of us. But—” I lifted my shoulders and let them fall as if it wasn’t the kinkiest thing he could come up with.
Tyler’s laughter boomed out of his chest and into the noisy space. “You are fuckin’ hilarious, Marisa. Gorgeous as all get out. And, Christ,” he trailed off. “You wanna get outta here?”
I grinned. “Absolutely.”
He signaled the waiter, asked for the check, downed the rest of his drink, and then his water. “Best to be properly hydrated,” he said with a wink as the waiter returned.
“That’s a generous tip,” I said at the stack of bills Tyler threw down. He hadn’t given me a chance to pay my half, which I had intended on doing. I didn’t expect him to pay for my expensive meal. I had calculated the cost of our drinks and meals, and Tyler was way over the amount I had added up.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I laughed loudly, thankful for the influx of people, and allowed Tyler to take my hand and lead me out.
Tonight with Tyler was going to be un-fucking-believable.
