Page 68 of Tempt Me

“No, I said the words before, but I wasn’t totally sold on the idea. Now I am.”

Indigo’s golden-brown eyes study me. His face is stuck on a frown. Finally, he goes soft and nods.

“Sleepy doesn’t like sleeping in my room as much as yours.”

“He’ll adjust.”

Seeming calmer now, Indigo scratches behind Sleepy’s ear and asks, “Why are you out here?”

“Hunter needs a break from me, and I didn’t want to go fishing with Pork Chop and Golden.”

“So why bug me out here?”

“Well, I was thinking about setting Siobhan up on a date. Can you think of anyone who might work?”

Indigo’s relaxed gaze flips to hateful in an instant. “Why does she need to date anyone?”

“She’s lonely, man.”

Indigo blinks rapidly as if my words take him off guard. Just as quickly, he shakes his head like I’m wrong.

Realizing he’s shutting down, I start talking, “Her best friends are hooked up. That’s gotta sting. I figured since you’ve had hate boners for every man she’s tried dating, we could work together to pick someone.”

“There’s no one.”

“How do you figure?”

“She still wants Sync.”

“He cheated,” I say and then add, “A lot. If it was just once and they broke up, I might think she was still hung up on him. But he really drove that knife in her heart and twisted hard. Siobhan held on for as long as anyone can and still have an ounce of pride. Their love is dead. Why should Sync get to have fun like he always wanted, but Siobhan’s stuck alone?”

“No one is going to be as good as Sync.”

Frowning, I start wondering if I’ve completely misread things. Maybe Indigo is gay, but his heart belongs to Sync. I almost laugh at how I just keep guessing rather than asking the damn question.

“Do you want Siobhan?”

Indigo’s expression breaks me a little. This reaction is what I really feared. Not him flipping out or giving me the cold shoulder. It’s this pained expression right here. The agony of knowing he might not ever get what he needs to be happy.

I saw that look on Bear years ago, after he accidentally killed Natasha’s friend and she ran off. He’d been so close to claiming the woman of his dreams. Then, he was left alone and in pain.

For years, I’ve been on the brink of the same painful realization. I’ve scared off men Hunter showed interest in. There weren’t many. I wanted to believe she was only dating them to push me away.

But deep down, I worried one of them wouldn’t flee in fear. He’d win her heart like I couldn’t. Then, I’d been stuck knowing I got so close to everything I needed to be happy.

Such nagging emptiness won’t kill a man, but it’ll hollow him out. I see the same pain whenever someone mentions Xana to Noble. My VP had been young and in love just like Elvis was. Except he didn’t get to keep his dream woman, and nothing will ever fix his pain.

I’m still afraid that’ll be me. Even if Hunter loves me, she can be stolen away by her stalker or an asshole who wants revenge against me. I’ll never truly break free of the fear.

But at least, I’ve gotten my shot. Indigo is just sitting back and letting the pain eat him from the inside out.

“Siobhan is a good woman,” I state when he goes silent.

“Why are you bothering me right now?”

“Because I remember how jealous I was of Bear when he got his second chance with Natasha. I wanted to be with my woman like he was with his. Now, I think maybe you have someone you want.”

“Hunter always wanted you. I was around when you two started drooling all over each other from moment one.”

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